Parents in the City!

Two weeks ago my parents made their way out to the big city for some fun in the big apple!

We had a great time showing off our new neighborhood, Central Park, taking a sunset cruise around the harbor, seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoying some fabulous eats!


We also went to the Dragon Boat festival in Queens, though not as cool as I'd hoped it would be, there was still some neat stuff.








Dad and I in Central Park.


View from the boat on the sunset cruise.








On Liberty Island.








Ellis Island Exhibit.




Brooklyn Bridge.



Thanks Mom and Dad! We had a great time having you for a visit!!

Year of the Tiger!

As much as possible I have been trying to make the effort to get out in the city and soak up all the cultural events that it has to offer. One of my favorite events of the year is the Chinese New Year parade. It's such an explosion of color and energy and the streets are packed to the brim.

Below are a few photos from this year's event!






These tubes are exploding streamers, one went off about every 10 seconds. They completely littered the streets after the event.






They passed out both Chinese and American flags and sung both anthems before starting the festivities, which I found really interesting.






I have no idea who this guy was or what his role was...




The Chinese Pillsbury Doughboy?


Marital arts instructor.

BAM Souq Festival

This past weekend I headed out to another festival at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the same place that held the Dance Africa Street Fair 2 weekends ago. This week they are having a Muslim culture festival and put on a Souq as part of the festivities. A souk is basically a market place, Emily and I made our way through lots of crazy ones in Morocco.

Though this one, being as that is was held basically in a parking lot, couldn't compare to the real thing, it was still fun to walk through. It was also a much nicer day this time around and I managed to get a few pictures.



They had some fun dancing as part of the cultural portion.







Arts and Crafts.





Perfumes and oils.





Drums.



After the souk I made my way over to Fort Greene park and enjoyed a nice walk and some time in the sun!

Chinese New Year!

So, it's no secret that I'm not a New York girl. I'm learning, slowly, but surely. But, it's still not my all time favorite place to reside. However, as noted in my New Years Goals, I'm trying to put out a worthy effort to make that change. I promised to attempt fun New York things, that can only be done in New York, to get myself to see that maybe it's not half bad on this East Coast side of things.

Of late, we've gone to the New York City Ballet, (I got free tickets from work), eaten at a bar that gives you FREE pizza with each and every beverage purchase, seriously, a free whole pizza, with each $4 beer. This, was a pretty damn good deal. I'm taking a pretty awesome photography class, and most recently, attending the Chinese New Year's parade in Chinatown.

The ballet was a good time. We felt cultured for the evening. It was four parts, each part a very different ballet. The first one was super modern, a little too interpretive dance for me. They seemed to get better as they went on. However, I'm going to have to comment on the 4th section. I understand that male dancers dance in tights. (side note, what are male ballerinas called??) I have no issues or qualms about this. However, in the final part of the ballet, the male dancers were costumed in flesh colored tights, with little suit jackets. All of us (myself, alex and my co-worker and her boyfriend) agreed that this likely wasn't the best possible option. I swear I'm a cultured individual, but, I couldn't help it, these men looked pants-less. It was very distracting, to say the least.

The free pizza. Well, that was just awesome. If you come visit me, I will take you. Promise.

Photography class will be discussed with photos in the next post.

Chinese New Year! This was a great afternoon. It was a gorgeous day which made it all the better. Alex and I took the J train out to Chinatown and enjoyed the crowds and the confetti. I don't think I've ever seen more confetti. It was SO very festive, we both loved it. The streets were packed, not just with Chinese, but all types of people to watch the festivities. I had never been that deep into Chinatown, it was really interesting. It wasn't just the cheesy shops selling everything under the sun, but reminded me somewhat instead of the streets of Cholon in Ho Chi Minh City. Full of life and rich with culture.