My American Vacation, Part 2: The Wedding and Philly

The actual justifiable reason for my month long vacation was my close cousin Tristan’s wedding to his wonderful fiancé Naomi with whom he has been in a relationship for 7-8 years. Tristan is almost perfectly spaced between me and my older brother (I’m 24, he is 28, my brother is 31), so naturally when we are around each other we interact like brothers. He’s intellectual and worldly so we have great conversation and interaction. His fiancé has a wonderful sense of humour and culture about her along with a very enthusiastic personality. The couple interacted just like best friends and I think they have something that will last. So I felt I needed to attend this once-in-a-lifetime event. Even if that mean spending over 1.5 months Malaysian pay for plane tickets, and another month’s pay for spending money total for my American vacation. So I rode down to Philadelphia from New York with a few of the groomsmen in the wedding; from the interaction during the ride, I knew it would be a fun time around all the characters. I came into town the day of the bachelor party and related functions. The comedic interaction between everyone was priceless all night; the drinking and the “festivities” of the night made it even funnier; I won’t go into detail about the night’s goings-ons, part of the man code. The wedding itself was beautiful, it took place at an old mansion site. The actual backdrop for the ceremony was a lake back behind the flower-covered structure that the wedding party stood at. It was beautiful. The groomsmen all came out in shades. My little cousin Merv, the groom's little brother, is 21 and had a Kool-Aid smile walking down the aisle with a much older and very attractive bridesmaid. The reception was very nice also. After the eating was over, it turned into an open bar party event, which was fly. You saw some ppl who had previously kept refined come out of their shell on the dance floor after about drink 3. Danielle, the bride's energetic cousin from Atlanta, and G, the groomsman with the braids pictured, stole the show on the dance floor. G's smoothness crept up on a handful of different women as the night went on. Danielle hit the dance floor with the enthusiasm of Diamond Princess from Crime Mob (it's a young ppl reference, if u don't know who that is, don't sweat it). Watching my retired Air Force Lt. Col father dance is also entertaining whenever I see it. It made for an interesting night. Despite the financial turmoil that the trip has put me in for the next month and change, it was worth it. I love my family. I hope they enjoy the honeymoon in St. Martins...and my Asian wedding gifts. Enjoy the pictures below.

My American Vacation, Part 1: A Touristy Week in NY

It feels strange as an American to use the words "American Vacation" but I feel it's accurate when you actually have been living and working elsewhere and rather than just coming home and chilling, you're actually actively on a schedule seeing things and people. East Coast Tour may have been more accurate, but it's written now, so I'll just live with it. **Kanye shrug**After a quick 5 hour flight to Shanghai, a layover there, and 15.5 hours in the air bonding with a teenage Chinese chick who speaks only a few words of English, I landed at JFK Airport in New York City. This was my first opportunity to spend time in NYC old enough to truly do anything. I went there with some preconceived notions that I actually found to be outdated fairly quickly. I think in terms of stereotypes, NYC is still widely characterized by the city as it was in the 80's. Most New Yorkers I ran across were fairly friendly and personable, the streets aren't lined with homeless people and prostitutes at Times Square anymore, the subway cars aren't covered in artistic graffiti anymore (a bummer because I was looking forward to taking pictures of the artwork), you don't feel eminent danger walking the streets in the middle of the night (although I'd still recommend you know where you are going), etc. I give Rudy Guiliani a lot of credit for cleaning up the city quite a bit. Now, some rumors did end up being true: the prices for parking, housing and such are crazy expensive (see parking 'special' prices picture below). I saw an authentic NYPD beating of an unarmed and innocent homeless man, who had already been tased. 10 cops were beating him when I arrived (pictured below); his crime: dancing on the sidewalk. I wish I could say I was surprised they lived up to their reputation. But I enjoyed my trip so much because for the first time, I got a glimpse of why ppl call NYC the 'greatest city on Earth.' As a graduate from a college of Architecture, I look at cities differently than most ppl already, and NYC is a treat from that perspective. You see building in so many different styles, textures, and from different time periods sharing walls on the same block. See the picture below of the Home Depot which is in an almost victorian styled white building, you would never see that in other parts of the country, and probably the world. You see small things culturally that you usually wouldn't run into, every corner has several types of food including a Halal food stand amongst the more traditional American quick cuisine; I must have had at least 5 gyros from street vendors while I was there, see the picture below of the multi-colored bike which I randomly saw walking from the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Buildings are like living legends of Architecture and were remarkably ahead of their time when built. The Guggenheim Museum itself and its art collection were fairly amazing, I would guess I stood out as the only young African American male and the only one wearing urban wear in such a prestigious museum. Any quirky interest or even fetish you have, there is a sub community (and possibly even a museum) there for it if you look hard enough. Any kind of music, hobby, food, clothes, art, you name it and you can find it there somewhere. The Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Times Square fulfilled my quota for quirky and odd things (see shrunken head and wooden Mercedes pics below). Even the house next door to where I was staying had a fake decapitated head hanging by its eye lids hanging in the doorway (pictured below) and it's nowhere near Halloween. LOL. I got to meet Morgan Freeman (pictured below), so what if he was made of wax. LOL. The 24hour a day subway was very convenient, pretty much anywhere in Manhattan and much of Brooklyn, you're never more than about 4-5 blocks from a station. I had interesting discussions with various people, especially a gentleman I who was helping coordinate the renovation of the house I where I was staying in Brooklyn (shout out to Ms. Rita Brackeen for having me, apologies again for misplacing that set of keys) about different conspiracy theories and feelings towards the government; When I went to the 9/11 construction site and temporary museum, the side was lined with conspiracy theorists trying to 'educate' the tourists about how the attack was an elaborate hoax by the CIA. Whether or not I agree, I wonder just how strong of convictions a group of people have to make shirts, signs, and flyers to give out to people at the site of America's greatest tragedy site; it's a big step beyond talking about your suspicions in your living room. It's a spirit I can truly respect. On the walk back from the train station to where I was staying, I encountered a very public (although it should have been kept private) conversation between a cute girl with low self-esteem and her boyfriend (or whatever he'd called himself). It was entertaining if nothing else; it was like watching TV. LOL. Overall, I'm still not sure if I could live there due to the expensive living and all those ppl, but New York impressed me. And although I was underwhelmed by the women, I'll make sure I go back. Didn't get to see the Statue of Liberty, I guess I'll have to catch that girly next time. More vacation stories coming soon...