uptown, downtown

so everyone in new york has a dog it seems. maybe it's just because i live right by the park, but it surprises me that you can still have a dog in a big city with little space for them to run. most of them are small dogs. i wonder if new york city dogs think about different things than dogs in hawaii or guam. do dogs notice that there are so many people in the city or do they only know and see the concrete beneath their feet? and would new york dogs know how to swim?

wednesday was my last full day at the hospital. i really really like my team, and i did see come cool surgeries while i was here. honestly though, whether it's because i have senioritis, or possibly there's so much distraction in nyc, or maybe it's because i have some hesitations with interacting with some of the harsh surgeons here (i've also met cool surgeons too, don't get me wrong)- but forever reason i wasn't balls to the wall with this general surgery rotation. and i'm okay with that. i will have tons of time- haha- and i laugh because intern year is going to be intense- to get my game face on. anyway.

anyway, so i had a great thanksgiving. firstly, on wednesday night, my friend teresa flew in from LA to hang out for the weekend. she got a hotel room at paramount hotel on 46th and 8th, right by times square. she got the 'petite room', the smallest and most affordable room- affordable by new york standards, and representative of what it's like to have an apartment in the city- small. but it does the job for the weekend. so i navigated my way by subway to get her, then we met wendy at katz deli - a classic ny experience- for dinner. mmmmmm! it's very low key, with a huge deli counter, and they give you samples of meat while you're waiting. when you first walk in, they give you a ticket and you have to give the ticket back when you leave. since the sandwhiches are HUGE, we ordered a pastrami and a corned beef sandwhich. they also give you a plate of different types of pickles. these pickles are essentially whole cucumbers that taste like pickles with a different twist. i usually don't eat meat, but i had to make an exception for this experience. we almos ordered potato pancakes with apple sauce and sourcream too, but there was way too much food. the sandwhiches were basically plates of meat with some bread for decoration. we then cruised our way to this small spanish bar and we all got different kinds of drinks- i got one with horchata, rum and cinammon, teresa got one with mango juice and vodka, and wendy got a yummy limey-tequila drink. very very strong! after one drink we headed out. wendy, headed back across the river to brooklyn, and teresa and i went to my friend dave's house to hang out. i'm always a little nervous mixing my circles of friends but teresa is great and social and can take care of herself. awesome.
dave his friends and ourselves ended up going to this cool club called the green room. it was SO FRICKEN cold waiting to get it. holy shit. and a limo full of girls pulled up in just their little dresses, no coats, no stockings, nothing! i was in a skirt with sweater tights, boots, my big coat, a warm hat and gloves and i was still cold. making it in the club never felt so good. the music was really good and we danced all night, which is something i wanted to do in new york. very fun.

i've heard new yorkers say this before but they can all tell when a club or bar is filled with jersey folks. i guess people from the surrounding states come into the city on the weekends to shop and eat and go out- i personally can't tell the difference, but new yorkers know who isn't a new yorker. i guess it's equivalent to someone mistaking a chinese person for korean when you're in hawaii. it's what you're used to.


i woke up on thanksgiving day, made my way to the gym quickly, then got ready to head out. i took the subway to times square area, and it was crazy! the macy's day parade was going on. i hoped to catch a bit of it. on my subway ride i saw this group of litereally 50 or 100 girls dressed in bright orange abd pink dancy/gynmanstics outfits. definitely stood out amongst the dark coats and the dark subway. it was way to crazy, and teresa and i were STARVING, so we went to chinatown, and found a yummy dim sum place. we were both zoning out partly because we needed food badly and partly because there was so much to watch. we thought we stood out like tourists, even with my small black 'not for tourist' book, but there were way more obvious tourists. i don't know why i'm so uncomfortable with looking like a tourist- i think it's a safety thing. sometimes though i'm people watching on the subway and get caught staring so i quickly look away and hope they didn't notice.

we ate dim sum at this place on mott street- i think it's called ping's. all i know is it was packed, there were tons of chinese people, and there was a 'zagat' sign on the door - zagat is a guide to great restaurants in nyc. the kicker was that we saw tons of chinese people eating there. we got our table early, led downstairs to a hidden section of the restaurant. the waiters and waitresses with plates of yumminess came by trying to convince us to eat their plate of food. we ended up getting mostly plates of steamed dumblings, shumai, this yummy noodle dish- they were giant fried noodles- almost like donuts- wrapped in steamed noodles. we ended our meal with sesame mochi yumminess. we were way happier!

we also had bubble tea. it was freezing cold out but we had to get bubble tea while we were in china town. we wandered down canal street, through the tourist stores full of scarves, hats, ny paraphenalia, past the vendors with chestnuts, fruit, bok choy, seafood, flowers. we acquiesced to the cold and found refuge in the subway, taking a couple different trains to dave's place.

ohmygod we ate like queens! dave and aileen made red rice, chicken kelaguen, bbq chicken, steak, beef kelaquen, shrimp in coconut milk, daigo/cucumber salad, and latiya for dessert. it was a classic chamorro meal- about 9 or 10 folks from guam and their significnat others were there. also classic in the nappage that went on. so so great!

i got home at about 10 pm last night, and slept so happily:) so so thankful!
now i'm sitting at a coffeeshop , waiting to catch the 9 am shuttle to the hospital, where i'll basically just turn in my pager and scrubs, say my goodbyes. i'll take the noon shuttle back and this afternoon i'll make a run to the post office to mail some stuff back to hawaii to ligthen my load up. today is black friday, so i will avoid shopping like the plague. it's gonna be crazy as hell, as if new york wasn't crazy enough. teresa and i have plans to hang out with our friend chan from hawaii who's visiting his family in queen's.

only a few more days in nyc! it's gone by quickly. there's still so much i want to do, but i think i did most of them. just gonna soak up what's left...