To be quite honest this last week went by so fast that it is a pretty big blur of what things I did on what days in turn I got fairly far behind on my blogging, now for the sake of time I’m to just make a blog for the week.

I do remember on Monday we went to the Fountain House for a tour. You may be asking yourself what The Fountain House is and so was I until midway through our tour of their facilities. From what I gathered through our tour The Fountain House is a place where people with metal illnesses can come and work and become functioning members of society. That is why I was confused because it looks and is a full-fledged employment facility with many employees, but the employees just happen to have in some way or another a mental illness.

At some point in the week we ate at Café Habana, which is a Cuban restaurant and in my opinion one of the best in the city. Our waitress was hands down one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I don’t even know how do describe her so I wont because I don’t believe I could do her justice. I know on Wednesday Haley and I went to the Dakota again, which is were John Lennon was shot and then we walked through the park for most of the afternoon. On Thursday Jon and I went to the Museum of Natural History and it was amazing. I had no idea that there was even a museum that big that existed. Most of the exhibits were taxidermies of real animals from across the world and of course many castings of dinosaur bones.

Luckily today is fresh in my mind and I can tell you most of what I did. To start the day we had a late lunch with my mother at Café Habana again because the people that went before and the ones that didn’t really wanted to go. I especially wanted to go to see if the beautiful waitress was working again and she was. I know it’s impolite to stair, but once again I could not take my eyes off of this women. Eventually she caught me looking at I was embossed, but she smiled every time she saw me looking at her. So at the end of the meal with nothing to loose because I leave tomorrow and will never see her again I told her how I felt about her. When I approached her she knew that I wanted to say something to her so she met me half way through the restaurant. She smiled and said “can I help you” and I said “I don’t know if this is going to mean anything to you, but I have been in this city for over a month and you are by far the most beautiful women I have seen” she smiled and called me cute and told me that I made her week. Then she thanked be but I told her “no, thank you” and I walked out of the small cramped corner restaurant and I knew I would probably never see her again. Then the group us went to do some last minute shopping and stopped at a coffee shop that had the best cupcakes in town. They actually were voted the best cupcakes in town and they deserve that award, they were amazing and filling. Later in day Mariah and I went to Canal Street to get some last minute NYC novelty souvenirs to give people back home for gifts, the street shops were closed up for the night. After a short time also shopping around Union Square we went home. Once we got there we began to pack all of things up and clean the apartment. Now it’s two in the morning and we are all still awake and have to be up and ready to go in less than five hours.

This morning my mother and I had to get up pretty early to go way uptown to a church to help serve lunch to over 200 people in need. This New Cares project was the biggest one I have been to. There were a lot of volunteers helping out at this church. The church it was held in is the largest church in North American and I can believe it. It was massive; it looked like something from Europe. After we finished with the project my mother and I took the bus all the way back downtown to the West Village. She wanted to sit down somewhere and eat, but today was my fourth day in a row doing New York Cares projects and I had no energy. So I told that I was just going to grab some pizza, go back to the apartment and eat it then take a long nap. That is exactly what I did and when I woke up we watched the NFL playoffs until it was time for bed. I have to admit it was nice to not be going a thousand miles an hour and just being able to have a regular Sunday with pizza, naps, and football just like back home.

We had to wake up early today to meet our team leader for New York Cares at the 59^th street station. Once all of the volunteers got our meeting place on the platform of the D train we headed way uptown to the alternative housing center to meet the kids that we were taking to the Transit Museum. Once we got there we were assigned a kid to chaperone during the remainder of our NY Cares session. My kid was fourteen and was taller than me, he was the oldest of the kids that lived at this housing center, so he was very responsible and I knew we would be every easy to chaperone. We gathered the kids and went to the subway station to begin our roughly 45 minute train ride to the museum in Brooklyn. When we got of the train we stopped at a McDonalds to get the kids and ourselves something to eat. Eventually we made our way to the museum, which was located in an old subway station to emphasize it’s purpose of being the Transit Museum. It was filled with all of the history behind the old subway trains and buses, but the kids were not to interested in the history so we went down to the old platform where there were many old subway cars. They had subway cars dating all the way back to the 1930’s and it was pretty cool to see how far we have come from a technology standpoint. After hours of climbing around the subway cars and fake driving buses we headed back to the housing center that collectively took over an hour. We said goodbye to our kids and we made our way back to the Village, which took about another 45 minutes. We in retrospect spent most of hour day on the train and waiting in subway stations. When we eventually got back to the apartment we were all bushed, so I power napped most of the late afternoon. After my great nap Jordan and grabbed a bite to eat. Once it got a bit later we when to a sketch improve comedy show in the East Village. It was a great show and unlike anything I have ever seen. Once again I need to get a good night sleep again because I have to get up early again to go help serve lunch at a soup kitchen with my mother in the morning. Today was another productive day and energy level at the moment is testament to our long day.

Today we were lucky enough to get a in dept tour of Carnegie Hall with our guide being a graduate of O’Gorman High School from my hometown. He graduated before my mother ever taught there, but there was still a personal connection with all of us being from the Midwest. Our to was amazing, we were able to go all over the massive historical building. The main concert hall was like nothing I had ever seen before, it was all still original design and kept in its authentic state other than some twenty-first century sound equipment. The famous acoustics were nothing short of magical. On our tour we given access to every nook and cranny, most places we went none of the normal tours were allowed. After the tour we headed back to the apartment, but once we got there my mother, Jordan, and myself realized we were starving so we went to the historic White Horse Tavern that has been there since 1890. We had a great meal and afterwards went back to the apartment and once again I left as soon as I got there to go to Brooklyn with Haley and Jordan to fill one of Haley’s prescriptions at Target. Once we finally got there I realized how late it was and I needed to be in Harlem for a New York Cares project by 5:30. So I got on the train and made my way back to Manhattan and eventually uptown to Harlem. Tonight my New York Cares project was to read and do arts and crafts with kids for the ages of 7 to 10. The kid I got was less than cooperative to say the least, but I just think despite the fact he just did not feel like reading, he just wanted some one to talk to. So we talked about football and professional wrestling and many other things that he was interested in. By far though he was a big fan of pro wrestling like on T.V. and when I was in elementary school I followed enough pro wrestling because of my friends that I was able to keep up in the conversation with this young, but avid fan. After I finished the session I decided to walk down from 103^rd street to 72^nd street to catch the 1 train going downtown. It was a long walk to get there but nice to walk along side Central Park for 31 blocks. When I got home I realized I was beat and now I’m going to get a good nights sleep so I can have some energy tomorrow so I can keep up with the kids we are taking to a museum with New York Cares.

Today I went to a coffee shop in the east village to catch up on some of these blogs and have a little time to myself. The coffee shop was packed with student and businessmen, but the people working there found me a nice little spot where I could sit and write. After awhile I had to make my way back to the apartment to quickly eat and then make my way uptown to the Broadway Church of Christ to help with handing out sandwiches to the less fortunate. It was a good turn out today at he sandwich line, but the line moves quickly and things are rapped up pretty quick. After finishing with the sandwiches we went back to the apartment again to get ready for New York Cares activities that we all had to go to. Some of us had activities together, but like me others went to other things solo. Tonight I went to the Village Nursing Home to hang out and talk to people with Alzheimer’s and I was a blast. Since I was a little kid I have always for one reason or another visited nursing homes and I have always been good with talking to the elderly. I spent most of my time with a women named (for New York Cares polices I can’t disclose names so I making one up) Linda, she was in her late seventies and was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Linda was defiantly the sharpest out of the group and was very quick and witty. Linda was born in Europe and a slight Austrian accent witch I love talking to people with accents. To be honest Linda was kind of a dirty bird she would tell me thing such as that she had be married twice but “had many lovers”, things like this was what made her special because she had no filter talking to me. She was talking to me like she had knew me for years and that we were old friends so she could tell me anything. I had a great time talking with Linda and hearing her stories of her life in Europe and many other interesting things that had happened to her over her years. On side note I came to the conclusion that many of the people that volunteer in The New York Cares program are doing it not to only serve and help out, but to also meet other members kind of like a blind dating service. Anyways I had an amazing time talking with Linda and playing games with the rest of the elderly at the nursing home. Afterwards my mother and I went out to eat a very small, but good Mexican restaurant and we caught up on things. I need to get a good night sleep so I can get up early to go on tour of Carnagie Hall tomorrow.

Yesterday was Wednesday and after eating so more pizza for lunch Ann and I went to go see “The Lion King” (the play) it is just kind of a must see at least once kind of thing in the theater world. It was in a huge theater with escalators and flat screen T.V.s, it was just very modern and massive. We had great seats for the show right next to the aisle so we could the processions that came thought the aisle through out the show up close. The costumes and set was one of the intricate things I had ever seen on a stage. I mean the stage would move, raise, and transform into it pieces of the set. The costuming alone was one of a kind. They had very animal in the kingdom, but played by humans. It was no wonder why the cast were so physically fit, it as very physically demanding show with the choreography and to operate the costumes. I’m glad I got to go see it and now I can say I have.

I just like movies better

On Tuesday Jon and both knew that we needed to check off things on our “to-do list”, so we decided to go to Battery Park and get a distant view of The Statue of Liberty. I guess last time at Battery Park I did not look around very much because I noticed things that I did not see before. For instance I had no idea that they had names from people that served in the Navy and Air Force. I also did not notice the old Navy brick cannon bunker that has been there since pre WWII. It was pretty foggy out, but we could still see the outline of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Jon and I both pitched in to donate money to a group of guys that were raising money for a youth basketball team in Harlem. Then we made our way back to the apartment to get so grub and see what the others were doing. I got the idea of going to a movie because frankly I have seen enough theater to last me a lifetime and I’m way more into film then I am into theater. So Jon and I made our way to the Movie Theater to see “The Book of Eli” which go great reviews and that is always good for me because I’m kind of a movie snob. Now I loved Denzel Washington in “Philadelphia” and “Hurricane” and I thought those were his best roles in his career yet, but I was proven wrong after going to see “ The Book of Eli”. I can’t tell you much about the movie because I do not want to give anything away, but I strongly recommend this movie to anyone that appreciates a good cinematic adventure. Quite literally Jon and I were speechless after we left the movie theater because of awe of what we just saw. That was a pretty great way to end the night.