Saturday night I went out with my college roommate to dinner and a movie. We got cheesesteaks and then grabbed a couple of cold ones before the must-see movie The Hangover at the Village Pour House (great selection of brews, by the way). It was all too familiar because she and I had visited this same bar and theater a year ago while going to the Sex and the City premiere. Except this time, we were much more sober. It was nice to have a low key but fun night in the city with a dear friend.
Today I started the day off my checking out mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral--such a beautiful and immense church. The service was just like a typical Catholic service and I have a feeling the church often has one-time attendees from out of town. The seats were filled with tourists with tour books, cameras, and I ♥ NY t-shirts. Nothing wrong with that I suppose; undoubtedly comes with the territory of being the largest cathedral in the U.S. Great experience nevertheless.
Afterward I walked down the 6th ave food festival for a bit since the weather was terrific. I didn't get anything to eat although everything looked appetizing. The corndogs, funnel cakes, and candy apples was very reminiscent of walking through the NC State Fair, except in New York City. Excluding the deep fried candy bars and cows (not deep fried cows, just cows. Live cows, I mean). I decided to go back to Chinatown and hit up a local bakery for a cheap, delicious and filling steamed bun. I returned back to the apartment to check out what was going on in the city today. Summer Jam looked fun, but expensive and probably too late to get tickets. Then I found out there was a Philippine Independence Day Celebration going on in Madison Square Park. That was PERFECT! I had been wanting to check out a Filipino restaurant in the city. In fact, I checked out citysearch and zagat to find a good one and I was going to have dinner there today (which by the way, both citysearch and zagat came up with Karaoke Bars as suggested other locations "that I might like" or that "others that enjoyed this place also enjoyed..." Haha...I'm not going to lie, that stereotype is 100% true. I am Filipino, and I love karaoke. Guilty as charged. But I digress...) so I figured this celebration would be a blend of good food, my culture, and the city. Once I got there I was immediately overwhelmed by all the brown people. LOL! Spanning from 23rd-26th Street and all throughout Madison Square Park, the celebration reminded me of an annual festival (Pista Sa Nayon) my family and I would attend when I was growing up in Seattle, WA. Except way bigger. I walked around for a bit taking it all in. It has been a while since I've been immersed in my Filipino culture, hearing Tagalog everywhere. I was then stopped by a psychic lady who prompted me that she "saw something in my future that she needed to tell me". After trying to refuse her 5 times, she insisted that she saw great things coming from "Hawaii or California" for me. LMAO! Sure...I bet she gets people with that statement all the time. Once she said that, it kind of enticed me but I'm not one to meddle in that silly stuff. So after she took me back to the reality that I was in New York, I quickly diverted my mind back to this Philippine-land that had been created in front of me. I got a plate of kare-kare (my FAVORITE that I hadn't had in years), a BBQ stick and halo halo. :)
Sitting there among "my people", listening to the language, watching the dancers on stage, and listening the Filipino rap music blaring really made me miss a part of who I used to be. Moving around so much as a military brat, I lost sight of my heritage and culture. It was nice to finally get back here. The only sad part about this whole ordeal was I was by myself. LOL! Hopefully I can get involved with some sort of Filipino organization so I can meet some fellow pinoys/pinays. :)
So I guess this weekend really wasn't about what I did that made it so exciting, but more so a preview of what I have to look forward to here in the big city. Thanks for a good time, New York. Keep it comin'. :)
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