Boston with Janelle!

Well, July has been a busy month but a great one so far. This post is about my trip to Boston. My roommate Janelle's family went to Boston for their family vacation. They were celebrating anniversaries and the Great American Birthday, 4th of July. Being the hospitable family they are, they invited me to come visit them for the weekend.

It was the first time I had seen highways in about two months! There is something about leaving the concrete jungle and seeing small towns and rest stops that is a bit comforting. The bus driver was 30 minutes late to pick us up, and she did stop at Burger King for 15 minutes (I guess she needed her whopper fix), but arriving an hour late, we finally made it to Boston.

We went on a whale watching cruise the next morning. We saw 20 whales during our expedition! It was so neat and relaxing.


Here Janelle and I our reenacting Titanic, one of our favorite movies. In the words of Billy Zane, "I Have a Child!"



The next day we went to the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation. First of all let me say, Plymouth Rock is a let down. I was expecting it to be a great landmark, but it is not. Here is a pic. I am sorry if this crushes your visions of the discovery of America...I'm sorry. You need to know the truth.



However, the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation were really cool. There were a lot of people dressed up pretending to live on the plantation or the Mayflower. I don't know why, but this kinda freaks me out. It is like I am in the Twilight Zone or something. Weird. Janelle and I had a lot of fun finding things that "weren't legit" during these visits. Here are a few.

Electricity on the Mayflower...not legit.



Pacifier at the Plymouth Plantation...not legit.


Cameron and Rolando at the Plymouth Plantation...not legit.


But overall it was great. Look at how intent Cameron and Rolando are listening to this guy talk about his life. I think he was supposed to be the town priest. I really can't remember.

On Sunday, we went into Boston to see the Boston Pops. While we were waiting for the show to begin, Janelle, Charissa and I explored the city.


Boston is a beautiful city (minus all of the Red Sox stuff EVERYWHERE).


Janelle and I even went to the Cheers Bar.




And maybe not everyone knew our name, but the guy next to us wouldn't stop talking to us. He was on a date with a Russian girl (who didn't speak English and he didn't speak Russian) so he just started talking to us. It was really weird. Janelle made me take a picture, so this is me with our truck driver friend and what we seemed to think was his mail order bride.



This was the first year that I actually enjoyed the fireworks show. It was really great! It was over the river. There were even people on their sailboats watching the show. I've decided the next time I go to Boston, I want to go sailing...preferably on the fourth of July so I can see the Fireworks.





It was such a great weekend. Janelle's family is wonderful! And I just love Janelle! She is a once in a lifetime friend. In the words of that little rascal Stimey, "You only make a once in a lifetime friend, ONCE in a lifetime."

-Han

Celebrities

So, being in NYC I have had a few celebrity encounters.
The first was at the Today Show. They are doing a summer concert series where you can attend free concerts at the Rockefeller Plaza. Christina Aguilera was performing and my friend Megan wanted to go. We decided to get there at 6 am. And....that was too late. Bummer. We were at the concert but so far back that I couldn't see anything! (Although I could hear her and we were even there for the run throughs so I'm pretty sure I heard Fighter like 7 times.)

We decided to go to the back of the stage because we could tell that not many people were back there. When we got there we noticed a line of people waiting to file in to the back of the stage. We kinda just stood around plotting our next move, when a security guard said, "Do you girls want in". Um...duh. He let us in and even though we were in the back. We were totally close. I even shook Al Roker's hand!



Xtina can sing! Some of her new songs are good too!!



Then last Sunday we went to the Tony awards. We left at around 12 and the awards didn't start til 6. We were pretty much the first people there. So Channing and I decided to get sushi before and then we headed back out to wait...



And wait...



The celebs should be grateful for my dedication. Look how incredibly wet I am in that picture! It was cold too!

Anyway, eventually the people started arriving. Most stars stayed on the Red Carpet, but some came over to visit the fans like...



Harry Potter! Hay-Po! He was so close that I felt it was necessary to touch his arm. After I did that the security guard shook his finger at me with a scolding glare. Daniel Radcliffe is really tiny.

We managed to get Paula Abdul, Ryan Reynolds, Mark Sanchez from the New York Jets, and Will Schuster from Glee to wave at us. That was sweet. We thought the night of celeb sight seeing was over when all of a sudden WILL SMITH stepped out of the last car to pull up. He came over and I shook his hand!



Here he is coming toward us!



This was after he touched my hand! You can see me! So exciting!

I'm sure there will be more fun stories to come!
-Han

Birthday Weekend

So, I'm not so good at this blogging thing. I mean, really this lack of blogging isn't helping me land a book and movie contract a la the Julie and Julia blog. So anyway, I can't just cram all of my adventures in to one post, so I'll do a little at a time and hopefully eventually catch up. So this post is about my birthday.

My birthday was May 28th and I turned 22. For my birthday my dad came to visit! We had a blast.
First we went on the Staten Island Ferry. This is a free ride past the Statue of Liberty to Staten Island. We took pictures and tried to explore Staten Island, but then we quickly realized you can't really do much without a car, so we went back. On the way back we took a picture in front of a bridge that we thought was the Brooklyn Bridge...it wasn't.



Also...notice dad's face. hehe.

So another great story I love, Dad has found that he has a bit of a heart for the homeless. We were going into the subway and there was this guy asking for change and dad was like "you know, I have some here in my pocket". He put the change in the man's cup. The man then proceeded to say "bless you man, you're awesome" as he was extending his fist for a fist pound. Then my dad and the homeless man shared in a brotherly fist pound. It was heartwarming, and semi-hilarious.

Dad took me to see West Side Story on Friday night. I was happy and shocked. (He isn't much into people breaking into coordinated, harmonizing, and unison dance and song) But it was nice and we had fun. I especially enjoyed the moment during intermission when dad texted mom saying it was "half-time". ha.

Saturday we set out for Yankee Stadium. It was pretty much amazing. Did you know that Yankee stadium has a Sushi Bar. Yep. Talk about classy!
Favorite Moments
1. Swisher's walk-up song was "Push It" by salt n peppa. hahaha
2. When Jeter gets on base they have a screen flash that says "Jeter Meter" so clever!
3. This guy.



4. The overwhelming presence of Yankees fans. I didn't feel like a minority.

Things that were NOT my favorite
1. The fact that people where different teams shirts to this game. I can respect that they may be wearing a Cleveland shirt because that is who the Yanks were playing, but why were people wearing Cubs shirts? I even saw one Football Jersey! Come on pal...wrong sport. I developed a pet peeve when i saw this. Kinda like my pet peeve about mixing different team paraphernalia.
2. If you were wondering, the Yankees do not allow air tight containers into their stadium. So, those of us who brought our spray SPF 30 to the game had to throw it away and buy a $5 mini-tube inside.

On the way home dad got to experience some Subway entertainment when a little old man with no teeth spoke and sang a monologue in which he was supposed to be a man and his wife arguing about something. It was interesting.
When we finally got home, (which was late. That game lasted forever!)We went upstairs and the Getz family had a cake for me! It was so nice! And the cake was delish!

Sunday dad and I went to Central Park. We got a Jamba Juice and walked around. It was a really pretty day. Dad kept pointing out different parts of the park convincing me that it was where they filmed Home Alone or other scenes from movies...of course I believed him. I never learn.

We walked down 5th Avenue and saw them filming scenes for The Smurfs movie. Neil Patrick Harris is in it! He wasn't there though. It was an extras scene at FAO Schwarz.

And that was pretty much our weekend. We had so much fun! It was definitely one of the best birthdays I have ever had. Thank you all for your calls and texts. I'm lucky to have so many great friends! Love you all!
-Han

1 week in.

Hello friends,
It has been one week and I have
a. Mastered the F train
b. Seen Mary Poppins fly over an audience and Bert walk on the ceiling in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins
c. Thrown up in front of many people in a trash can during a morning run on the island. (to which I've decided to stick to the workout room for a while)
d. Ate the best scone OF MY LIFE!
e. Heard a man preach-barking in the subway...weird

New York is an interesting place. For the first few days I barely spoke (which probably means I still spoke often but...) just because I was taking it all in. It is impossible not to get a bit of culture shock here because New York is a city full of so many different cultures. Every day is a new experience. Every day I learn something new.

I've moved into my apartment and I have mostly been hanging out with the Getz family. They are very fun and hospitable people. I am lucky!

Then my good friend Paula came on Wednesday! We went to a tea room for breakfast and then stood in line FOREVER to get tickets to Denzel Washington's play Fences. Well, they were all sold out. I mean duh, it's Denzel. However we are dedicated fans and we waited in a line of cranky people to get tickets to Saturday's show. Well, we got them...even if they aren't next to each other and partial viewing :) Denzie...you are loved.

We have finished up all of the promotional pieces for the service camp that we are planning for August. Be praying for the camp and the students that will be attending!

Till next time,
Hannah