The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NYC
Entry 5

Happy Birthday to ME!!!  Today I become the ripe old age of 27!  Ahhhh! 

My honey took me to dinner around 11:30pm so at Midnight I began my birthday stuffing myself with yummy Brazilian BBQ.  Dan took me a restaurant in Tribeca called Churrascaria.  Highly recommended. 

More presents arrived for me in the morning today!  I received four of the best presents I could ever ask for... EVER!!!  I was most definitely surprised!

Last night after dinner, the boys and I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City before going to sleep at 4AM.  Around 7:30AM, Duy and Laura show up while I was dead asleep!  I was SURE I was dreaming.  After catching up for a little bit, we all went back to sleep.  Around 10:30AM, Cuzzie and Dennis show up too!  Aaahhh!  Even though, I was already surprised and shocked from seeing Duy and Laura, I was sure I must be dreaming again, but I wasn't!!!  YAY!   I love all of you guys!  Thank you thank you for coming to spend time with me on my birthday. 

Cuzzie and Dennis just arrived so they are still tired... haha

My presents and me in Times Square.

And now... dinner and partay time!  Whoo hoo!!!!

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NYC
Entry 4

Haha, I've had complaints about lack of updates from back home... so here's a blog, although mediocre.  I don't have any big news!  I hope to tell you soon about a new job.  *sigh* 

On a happier note:  Spring is in the air... aaahhh.  Look at the beautiful flowers in Union Square Park!  It's like a crown on the top of my head.  haha.  The weather is getting warmer and the city is beautiful right now.

How often do you see this back in OC?  Maybe LA, but not OC.  I mean, he was just chillin' there, not begging for money or anything... just hangin' out?  How strange is that?  LOL.  Frickin' Elmo.  Maybe asking for directions on how to get back to Sesame Street. 

Just a random night out on the town.  This was taken in a bar, literally 20 steps from our apartment building... haha.  We have a lot of cool bars within walking distance from our apartment. 

I received these in the mail today from my good friend Mikey from Vegas!  YUMMY!  He sent me red velvet and chocolate birthday cupcakes from Kumquat Bakery right here in NYC.  You're the best, Mike!  I was really surprised.  Love you!

I also received this from my parents-in-law and sister-in-law.  Thanks Mom, Dad, and Kim!  Love and miss you all!  (No, they don't read my xanga... haha.)

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NYC
Entry 3

The weather is getting awesome and it's beautiful here!  It's a lovely 71 degrees today... sigh.  We can see the beginnings of the flowers blossoming on the trees.  Yay!  We are looking forward to many afternoons in the park and hanging out in the sun. 

We are in the process of interviewing and finding jobs.  How you like us now?!  What?  Lil kids in suits?  Ugh.  We know.
 
 

The other day we did our laundry for the first time since we've been here.  Doing laundry in New York means dragging your dirty laundry to the laundromat and making sure you have quarters... haha.  Dan use the useful time waiting to study for his next CPA exam.

Our first friends to visit!  Frances and her boyfriend Brian are here for a few days.  We ate lunch at S'Mac.  It's right around the corner from our place and then walked to Greenwhich Village for some Magnolia's cupcakes. 

Random News:

LOL... Nam found the video of me stage diving and crowd surfing at our wedding on some forum under a thread about weddings. 

Here is the quote that was used under our video, "If a bride can't do choreography, she can at least do this." 

LOL.  I guess that was my 5 minutes of fame in this lifetime.

Until my next entry, ROCK ON... Kids!

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NYC
Entry 2

It's still cold here in NYC for OC standards, but it's getting warmer, I can tell.    Here I am walking down our street and also a photo of our street corner.

For our first Saturday here, we strolled around getting acquainted with our area to figure out where the laundromat is, the dry cleaners, the bank, etc...  We walked to the nearby Thompkins Square Park, which is only a few blocks from our place.  It's also a dog park so if anyone brings a dog with them, we can take them here. =)  Here's a photo of Nam and Johnny walking in the park and a photo of the doggies!

At night, we visited the apartment where Heath Ledger lived, for Dan.  Here we are in front of his door in Soho.  (tip:  Soho is the area South of Houston St.  And Houston is pronounced How-ston, not like Houston, Tx )  We live in the East Village so we are only the next neighborhood over.

We went bar hopping around our area.  Since we live near NYU, we saw a lot of students out.  At one of the bars, we made a couple new friends.  They aren't even from New York.  They were both Brazilian... haha.  We told them how we went to Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro and I shared with them some of the portuguese words I learned... hehe. 

Of course what do we do on Sundays?  We have to go to Sunday mass so we found a church that is very close to us.  We didn't realize how close it was until we stepped out our door and heard the singing.  We realized that the elementary school building across the street from us was actually a catholic school.  If only the church had a back door, we could just walk across the street instead of going around the corner.  An interesting thing about mass is that during Our Father, people didn't really hold hands so it kind of threw me off... haha.  At first I thought I made a mistake when I raised my hands to hold the person's next to me.

Chapter 4 South America:  Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru
Cast Memebers:  Me, Dan, Nam, Frances, Duy... we're down to 5!

Ah, finally a country where I know somewhat of what is going on because....... they speak spanish!  Yay.  Now if anyone tells you can get by in Brazil using your spanish, they are wrong, unless that particular Brazilian speaks spanish.  So right when we get to Cusco, we head to our hostel.  We loved it right away and you could tell this was a party hostel.  That morning while checking in, there was a Chilean guy who was just coming in from partying all night.  Haha.

CUSCO!!  We took a long desperately needed nap in our very comfortable bunk beds
and headed out on the town.  We realized that... Damn, we have really
bad headaches and it's very difficult to breathe.  It turns out, people
weren't lying when they said that being in Cusco would be like that
since its altitude is very high on the Andes mountains.  The trick is
to chew on coca leaves or drink coca tea.  I don't think it worked for
us... haha.  Still, we had a great time strolling around town and
enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting a glimpse of the immense
culture the surrounded us.

 

On the way to Machu Picchu, we decided to visit the Sacred Valley first.  We visisted the valley via bus.  We were able to see many ancient and interesting sites and of course... the native Peruvians.  If we thought we had our exercize on our Amazon trip, this showed us that the Amazon had nothin' to show us... haha.  We hiked and hiked and climbed and climbed and, still, the altitude didn't help.  There were moments where Cuzzie and I had to take a breather right on the side of the hill... LOL.  Cuzzie was right... after this trip, we'd be Toned and Tanned! 

Machu Picchu!  Machu Picchu is an ancient Mayan Ruin site that was never found by the Spaniads because it is so well hidden in the mountains.  From the Sacred Valley, we took a train to Aguas Calients where we spent a night to get ready for our sunrise trip up to Machu Picchu.  We thought it would be tough for us to get up at the butt crack of dawn, but we did it!  We were up and out the door by 5:30AM.  When we got up to Machu Picchu, the sun hadn't come out yet so all we saw were clouds and we were in it since Machu Picchu is so high up.  We felt as if we were in heaven or some chinese kung fu movie.  Being up at Machu Picchu was an amazing experience.  It really was spiritual and being there simply feels unreal.  Make sure to prepare for the breathing difficulty and the tough hikes up and down the ruins!

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NYC
Entry 1

We have just conquered our 2nd night here in the Big Apple.  And yes, you've guessed it... life is different here.  Here are some differences (just to name a few):

- OC:  To enter my home I use my key to unlock the front door and I walk inside.
- NYC:  I use the key to unlock the gate which takes me into a little patio where I have to open another door to get into a little foyer.  I, then, use the same key to unlock a second door to get inside the hallway and proceed to walk up 3 floors where I finally use another key to get into my apartment. 

- OC:  40 degrees is considered cold!  I was freezing today.
- NYC:  Everyone tells me it's a beautiful day and I should enjoy the sunshine... haha. 

- OC:  When my hubby asks me to go get him some gatorade, I get in the car and drive to 711.
- NYC:  I walk to the nearest little convenience store, which is around the corner. 

- OC:  When I look outside my bedroom window, I see my backyard and my neighbor's backyard.
- NYC:  When I look outside my bedroom window, I see a fire escape (Yeah, just like on Friends!), a busy street, and an elementary school building with kids in class.

- OC:  Transportation = Car
- NYC:  Transportation = Feet, Subway, Bus

- Major difference:  OC house payment costs less than NYC apt, but OC house is triple in size. 

So that was just to name a few.  Of course, there are a lot more differences. 

We went grocery shopping today at Trader Joe's because we had absolutely no food or anything at our place.  It was PACKED.  It was a good thing that the shopping carts were only about a quarter of the size of the carts back at home.  It made it easier to maneuver around the store.  There'll be another reason which I would find out at the end of the shopping trip.  We waited in line which wrapped around the perimeter of the store, but it wasn't too bad.  So we paid and the grocer put our things into our bags.  Yeah, another reason why I think the carts are made small is so you don't buy too many things.  And the reason being, you would have to carry all that home while walking!  The boys each had 2 bags and I had 1.  Good thing there were 3 of us.  Cousin Thuy had to grab a cab home because she couldn't carry all her things all the way to the subway and walk back to her place. 

So if you ever move to NYC, folks, here's a tip to remember when grocery shopping: back in OC, a trunk is used to carry your groceries home.  Here in NYC, its only purpose is to carry your junk. 

Ahhh, the essentials for the fridge... Soy milk (cuz I don't like regular milk), regular milk (for cereal, I like regular milk with cereal), green tea (to boost your metabolism and help you from gaining more junk in your trunk... cuz whatcha gonna do wit all dat junk inside yo trunk?), gatorade for those thirsty boys I live with, OJ (cuz why not?), water (cuz Cuzzie and Dennis says I need to drink water cuz I never do), and eggs (cuz eggs can be scrambled, made sunnyside up, eaten with rice, by itself, and all sorts of eggcellent ways!)

Cousin Thuy has lived here for 6 years now and has been a great help our first couple of days.  Thanks Cuz!

Until next time, folks!

Chapter 3:  Iguazu Falls
cast members:  Me, Dan, Nam, Frances, Duy, Hieu

The Iguacu Falls are an amazing sight to see.  They stretch out forever and ever and border Brazil and Argentina.  We visited both sides, but each side took us a full day to explore and we still weren't able to do that.  Out of all the cities we went to, Foz do Iguacu had the nicest weather.  It reminded us of home and we did not get attacked by bugs.  Another plus was that our hostel (Bamboo Hostel) was very nice and close to the bus station.   The staff at this hostel has got to be one of the best I've experienced.  They have so much knowledge and were so willing to help us with whatever we needed.  They also had laundry service which we took advantage of!

The Brazilian side was pretty impressive.  We walked all the way to Devil's Throat in the heat, but once we got there, the spray of the falls cooled us down.  Pictures of the falls do not do them justice at all!

We took a raft ride that took us right up to one of the smaller falls (the main one would have killed us!)  We got DRENCHED!  While under it, there was nothing we could do but scream and laugh... LOL.  Cuzzie and I tried to wear rain coats, but the force of the water still soaked through.

The Argentinian side was a lot tougher to get to.  We had to take a bus to the border and then officially exit Brazil.  Then we took another bus to the Argentinian side to get our entry stamp.  From there, we took another bus to Puerto Iguacu.  From THERE, we finally took another bus to get to the park and when arriving at the park, we had to take 2 trains to get to the area where you can get to the Devil's Gorge where you have to walk for a long time to actually get to the site.  Sigh.  It took a loooong time.

On the way back we followed all of the same instructions, EXCEPT ONE!  We forgot to officially ENTER Brazil again.  We just stayed on the bus and passed the office and when we got back to the hostel, I asked the owner if there would be any trouble if we didn't get our entry papers and he told us that we were not in Brazil then and therefore could not EXIT Brazil if we didn't have our entry papers.  AAHHHH!  You don't understand.  It took us HOURS to get to the Argentinian side and then hours to get back... and not to mention it's hot and to realize we had to go back and finish one final step... GRRR!  So the owner of the hostel called us a taxi and gave the driver instructions to take us to the office and make sure we get our papers and stamps and wait for us and take us back.  Now that's a good hostel owner. 

Chapter 2:  The Amazon!
Cast members:  Me, Dan, Nam, Frances, Duy, Laura, Quang, Hieu
(chapter 1:  Rio de Janeiro & Carnival 2008)

I researched a great deal for a guide to take us into the Brazilian Amazon.  After going through all of my options, I booked us an excursion that would require us to be a bit more rugged, not stay in a lodge, and we would sleep in hammocks aboard a small boat.  I finally went with Carlos because he was actually born in the amazon and lived through throughout his boyhood.  He also has many articles that were written about him in some guidebooks.  I am sooo glad we went with Carlos because we all had such a memorable learning experience.  If you want information, just contact me.

To get to the Amazon, you first have to fly to the city of Manaus.  Our guide met us there where we slept for a night and headed out the next day to the port to board our boat where we spent 3 days and 2 nights sleeping in hammocks.  We left the boat for treks through the jungle, boat rides through canals, fishing, and other excursions.

 

Carlos took us on a jungle trek our first day.  It was hot and a pretty tough trek.  Carlos took us to his friend's house, who lives in the amazon.  Carlos and the friend cut a branch off of this tree and when they chopped the branch and tilted it, a LOT of water came out of it.  We all took turns taking a drinks... very fresh, I must say.  They also took us to another tree and let us taste the sap.  Very sweet and nutritious.  Carlos also used me as an assistant by putting my hand on a tree and letting a million gigantor ants crawl on me and then smooshing them on my hand.  It can be used as bug repellent and lemme tell ya, we needed more than that since the 8 of us were practically mauled by mosquitoes the whole time.

Another activity we did was go piranha fishing.  I caught 3!  Not too bad using a stick with a string at the end and a fish hook.  We used raw bloody pork meat as bait.  Those suckers are vicious!  One piranha that I caught bit my hook in half!  Carlos says that one piranha once bit someone finger off straight through the bone.  Shutter!  As a group, we caught a good amount for dinner.  Muahaha.

There are a lot of animals in the amazon.  While taking a boat ride, a bunch of kids in canoes rowed up to us and threw a bunch at us to hold and take photos with.  Of course, we gave the kids some money, which they were very happy with.  In the next few photos, you'll see snakes, sloths, monkeys, and caimens.

Here they come!
 

We visited the floating house of our captain.  He built it with himself... pretty impressive.  The reason he built a floating house is so that when the water rises really high during rainy season, so will his house.  Smart!

We went hunting for caimens in the night!  Carlos catches them with one bare hand while the other holds his flashlight.

We got to see the Meeting of the Waters.  This is where the Rio Negro and the Rio Amazon meet, but the waters don't mix due to their density and other factors.  Pretty cool!

• We did so much and learned so much.  Carlos was a great guide and his crew was wonderful and fed us well. 
• On our first night, Carlos and I, along with the planner of another group of 30 college students planned a beach party.  It was fun meeting all of those Semester At Sea students.  Hieu was quite popular among them for his wildness... lol. 
• Carlos took us to a humongous tree where we were attacked by ants, bees, and mosquitoes. 
• We jumped off our boat and went swimming in the Rio Negro. 
• One night when we went on a night time boat ride, we were amazed at how the stars shined so brightly because we don't get to see it back at home with all the city lights.  Fireflies flew all around us and in the trees making it feel like we were in a movie.  Nam even caught one in a bottle... haha.
• Carlos took us to this lake that had great big lilly pads.

Note:  100% deet still did not protect us from the mosquitoes and since we were outdoors all day long and slept outdoors each night in hammocks, there was nothing to protect us.  I had over 40 on my arms and hands alone.  One night I tried to get smart.  Even though, it was hot, I decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt to sleep thinking those bastards couldn't get to me.  When I woke up the next morning, I had bites ALL over my hands and fingers.  ARGH!!
Another Note:  If you like to bathe everyday and like to sleep in a comfortable bed with air conditioning when it's hot, this trip is not for you.  LOL.

I probably did not cover everything we did, but it will definitely be a trip that we will all remember.

We conquered the amazon!!

 

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and Carnival 2008!
Cast members:  Me, Dan, Nam, Frances, Duy, Laura, Quang, Hieu

So finally, I have made some time to sit down and blog about our trip to the other Americas!  In the next couple entries, you'll be reading about our trip to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico.  I will blog the stories according to the city and sight we visit since it will just require too much time to sit here and blog out the whole month and 6 countries in one entry... haha.  I have time since I am mostly at home packing for our big move to NYC and hanging out with my loved ones.  Enjoy the stories and photos!

My main reason for going to South America when we did was because of Carnival 2008!  The celebration began on February 2nd and ended on the 5th.  Needless to say, I planned it so we arrived in Rio on the 2nd just in time to let the games begin!!!

Before we arrived in Rio de Janeiro, we stopped in Sao Paulo for a few hours.  Below, you see my hubby standing in front of a church doing his rendition of a photo of Heath Ledger's Joker in the Dark Knight movie.  Yeah, my hub's a geek.

Of course, if you go backpacking with me, you are bound to stay in hostels pretty much the whole way through.  Our first hostel was in Rio... Bamboo Rio Hostel.  I was anxious to see how everyone would react on staying in one because people hear horror stories about it all the time and it does take a certain type of traveler to be able to stay in one of these.  People think I like to stay in hostels because it's cheap, but it's more so for all the opportunities to meet other travelers from all over the world.  I'm happy to say that more than half of the group was happy to be there.   Not surprisingly we met a ton of people to hang out and party with.  Our group was nicknamed "Cali."  Haha.

Going to Carnival, the Samba Parade is one of the must-see things so of course we made a trip out to the Sombodromo to check out the parade.  We watched different schools perform in the parade and all were great.  The crowd is cheering and singing and it is absolute craziness!  I can't even imagine how many people were there.

You cannot go to Rio without hitting up the beaches so we hit up Ipanema Beach when the rain stopped briefly.  The rain came back, but not too badly.  It rained almost the WHOLE time we were in Rio, by the way.  The beach was beautiful.  We ate some pretty awesome snacks from street vendors and even joined in on a street parade that came by!

We were lucky that on the one day we decided to take an excursion around the city, it didn't rain!  It was a little cloudy, but the day was still very productive.  We visited Christ the Redeemer, the statue on top of Cordocova, and took a cable car up to Sugar Loaf.  We took a van around the city and learned so much and saw many great sights such as the big Brazillian soccor field!

If you've watched City of God, then you might be familiar with what a favela is.  It is a "shanty town" in Brazil, but not necessarily a slum or ghetto.  Favelas are filled with sewage and drug dealing and said to be dangerous, but I found a guide to take us in and didn't want to miss the opportunity!  Since favelas are built on the side of the mountains, we first had to take a motorcycle taxi up.  I volunteered to go first.  Scariest ride I ever took for various reasons!  We dodged pedestrians, cars, and buses and when he dropped me off I was standing in the little town by myself for a good minute or two.  Eeks!

And last, but not least... our party pics!!!  When I say, the whole city parties... I mean, the WHOLE city parties and all the gazillions of people that came to Rio for Carnival.  We partied in the rain and we partied hard until the wee hours of the morning, but it was oh so worth it! 
~Here's a story from our first night of partying... We arrived in Rio and "pre-partied" at the hostel before we headed for Lapas.  That's where we were told to go party.  We teamed up with a group from Australians and some people from England and headed out in about 6 taxis.  Cuzzie had to go pee really bad so we split up from the rest of the group and lost them for the whole night.  At Lapas, it looks like a big rave with a stage.  We watch a live band and just dance with everyone, walk around, or do whatever.  It's a pretty awesome party.  When we decided to go home, we realized that none of us knew where our hostel was and how to get back to it.  We forgot to bring the address!  Here I am, getting way too drunk and throwing up to help Duy find our way back, but he did it, even with the language barriers!!  It took us about 3 hours to get back to our hostel and this is all in the RAIN!  We toughed it and partied again each night thereafter, anyway... haha.