the concrete jungle

last weekend, went to visit cindy in the big apple.  it was such a refreshing weekend!

coming into the weekend, i was a little nervous.  cindy was my closest friend in undergrad, but the past 2 years after undergrad, when she left for new york and i remained in ann arbor, i think we changed and grew into different people from when we first started becoming friends our sophomore year in college.  so i was a bit anxious.  would it be awkward when i saw her?  would our growing differences become loud and clear upon our reunion?  what would we talk about?

but my fears were soon put to rest the moment i saw her.  despite a rough shuttle from laguardia into midtown (new york traffic truly knows no rules.  do those white lines on the street mean anything to nyc drivers?), when i saw her outside the gershwin theatre on broadway, we started right from where we left off.  while she whisked me to a handful of stores in times square, we immediately engaged in comfortable conversation.  it was as if she had never left ann arbor.  though our conversation topics had clearly changed and grown since our undergrad years, the quality of comfort and ease remained.  despite our growing differences, despite distance, despite time, despite lack of face-to-face time, our friendship retained the same tone, the same air, the same feel.  meeting her again on broadway street, our friendship felt exactly the same.

thursday night in midtown -- my first impression of NYC: bustle bustle bustle!  the anarchic, chaotic bustle of the streets, the unending pedestrian bustle on the sidewalks, and the scintillating, flashing bustle of the nyc "skyline"

inside the hershey store

the far superior M&M store

could not get enough of this crazy scene!

inside the disney store's princess castle

an unnecessary ferris wheel in the toys r us store

its superman!  gosh i love superman. :)

a comment about nyc (or more like midtown) before going into the rest of that first night with cindy.  nyc...is crazy.  its legit crazy.  the cars honk the millisecond green light goes on (has anyone in nyc heard of patience?), and there seems to be no adherence to the guiding white lines on the roads delineating lanes.  and this apparent blindness to the concept of personal space in the vehicular sense translates to the pedestrian realm as well.  the sidewalks are incessantly filled with people.  i wonder when times square is bereft of living beings.  its craziness.  there was a day when cindy and i were racing through broadway street to try and get to the wicked musical ticket lottery giveaway, and its a miracle that i was able to keep up with cindy as she weaved past kids, couples, and geriatrics.  its craziness in nyc.  when i think about the city of chicago versus nyc, chi-town is definitely a lot cleaner and a whole ton prettier.  i mean, come on -- there are bags of garbage on the sidewalks of the big apple.  come on. 

but while i celebrate chicago for its steel beauty, its architectural glory, its incomparable dazzling skyline, new york city -- while not exactly beautiful in comparison to chicago -- teems with life in a way that chicago could never match.  new york literally bursts at the seams with life.  and thats what i enjoyed, appreciated, and fell in love with about the city of new york.  though not necessarily pleasing to the eye, there's something that wafts up the nose, that screeches in the ear, thats felt beneath my fingertips that makes new york so...new york.  loud, crass, constantly moving...and alive.  its so alive.  while chicago is beautiful, its sterile compared to the teeming life of nyc, life thats on the screens, on the streets, on the subways, on the sidewalks, in every single crack of this spirited city.

the ubiquitous nyc subway

cindy's neighborhood: the new york stock exchange

off to the "first stone street" (apparently) for a late dinner

i visited a lot of different places and ate a tone of food during my weekend trip to nyc.  but the best highlight would have to be the late night dinner i shared with cindy the first night i arrived in nyc.  we were crammed between two noisy tables at this pizzeria, and i wondered how we would share a decent conversation in a place so loud and crowded.  but over a proscuitto & arugula pizza and a sausage & broccoli rabe pizza, conversation breezed between us.  for 2 hours or so, we chatted away, updating each other on our lives, sharing our concerns and struggles openly, the words just flowing out, as if we were in the middle of an already existing conversation, not some massive opener to a soliloquy.  it was so comfortable, so easy, so smooth. b/c we've both grown as people, our conversations -- undoubtedly -- have also changed since undergrad.  but at the same time, they retain the same quality.  and being able to talk with cindy face-to-face again was truly the best part about this trip to nyc. 

new york hot dog @ the infamous shake shack

the shakeburger...definitely a lot better than the hot dog

bj joined us later for lunch

the second day, i got to see bj too!  or as i've told him so much in the past, my one older brother.  haha.  it was great to see him.  he's one the few older brothers with whom i've felt comfortable and could be myself around.  its funny to think that we were in life group together when i was a sophomore...i can't remember a single conversation that i had with him then.  it was only after that life group, in the years following, when i finally got to know an older brother i'm so thankful to be friends with.  over the years, he's been a patient listener, someone who i've gone to with questions and for advice, someone who i've trusted and relied on for help and support, someone who's always been there regardless of the circumstance.  i chuckle at some of the times i've shared with bj.  there have been plenty of times i've acted like a complete nincompoop, and throughout all those times, he's kept a level head and watched my back.  he's shown me a lot of love, help, and support over the years, like an older brother should.  before him, i didn't have someone to call an older brother.  and now, in him, i know i always will.

bryant park

ahhh!  saw tom colicchio's wichcraft!!!!  man one of the coolest things about nyc is seeing famous culinary staples!

bj in front of his new workplace...bbc!  dang dude!

the empire state...got nothin' on the sears tower

korea town!

pinkberry

columbus circle

the cnn towers?

bouchon bakery!!!  omg!  from daniel boulud!!  just died and went to culinary heaven...

central park

little chocolate bouchons!  omg so good...daniel boulud is a genius!

NYU campus for...

...banh mi! 

say hello to my new favorite sandwich.  ever.  banh mi.  boo yah.

the famous pomme frites!

pomme frites avec mexican ketchup, rosemary garlic mayo, sweet mango chutney mayo.  i'll be honest.  this stuff is a bit overrated.

on the last day, cindy casually shows me alexander hamilton's grave.  casually?!  its alexander freakin' hamilton! 

chinatown

dim sum for brunch

best dim sum i've had...but then again, im comparing this to windsor and ypsilanti haha

OMG ITS THE DOUGHNUT PLANT...was soooo excited for this

got the tres leches and fresh mango doughnuts -- omg best doughnuts EVER.  no joke.  im drooling at the recollection.

i loved my trip to nyc.  loved it.  loved experiencing the city (i have officially fallen in love with the big apple), but more than all that, loved seeing my older brother (one of my fave people in the world), but more than all that, i loved being able to hang out with cindy again.  seeing her again made me miss her all over again and reminded me of how blessed i am to have a sister like her.  on the plane back home, i was filled with a renewed sense of gratitude for her.  she was the one i leaned on while i was in undergrad.  she was the one i laughed with.  she was the one i shared most of my life with back then.  she was the one who was always unfailingly there for me.  she was the one to support me.  i have always felt so loved and so taken care of by her, and this trip reminded me of those qualities.  while i was in nyc, i was so well taken care of and loved by both bj and cindy.  it was beyond hospitality.  it was love.  and thats the quality i was able to pinpoint on my return back to chicago.  despite the differences between me and cindy and the time that has and will pass between us, the enduring quality that our friendship will always retain is this aspect of love.

i think thats why God so sovereignly brought her into my life my sophomore year.  over the years, a lot of people have asked me how cindy and i were friends.  i don't blame them -- we're on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.  our likes, dislikes, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, gifts, love languages are completely disparate.  while we were in undergrad, whenever people asked me about my relationship with cindy, i had wondered what God's purposes were behind the friendship.  but i see now that this friendship represents God's love for me.  it always has, and after this trip, i realized that it always will.  this friendship showed me the first glimpses of His love in a very real and tangible way and will continue to do so in the many, many, many years to come. 

i smile as i write this post because i have such a rare and special friendship with cindy that i know doesn't come often and doesn't come easily.  this sister who has relentlessly and consistently shown me so much love has reflected God's own relentless and consistent love for me over the years.  God knows me so well.  my sophomore year, He brought this sister of love into my life, knowing that receiving and understanding His love was going to be an important journey for me, way before i even realized it myself.

thank You, Lord.  thank You for brothers like bj who was the first older brother with whom i felt comfortable and could trust.  and thank You so for my friendship with cindy, and Father, You know exactly why.  :)

sophomores

juniors

seniors

first year out (summer 2010)

May 2011