fabulous

What a fabulous weekend in a fabulous city! On Friday, I went to my first Broadway show. Yay! Alison's friends from CA wanted to go to a show, and since they volunteered to stand in the long line for tickets, I took advantage of the opportunity to go! We saw Hairspray. I'd never heard of it before the Broadway in Bryant Park event, but it was a lot of fun. Check out the website for more about the show. http://hairspraythemusical.com/


Saturday was a big day for exploring. I went to a scrapbooking meet-up and asked the girls there where they shop for supplies in NYC. Apparently there aren't any scrapbook stores here! They suggested a few places in two areas - one area sells stationary and invitations and one area sells fabrics and ribbons, etc. It reminded me of shopping in China, where every store on one street sells the same things. I took the subway down to 18th street and started exploring. I found a Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Containers & More, Payless Shoes, Old Navy, Marshall's, and Filene's Basement. I guess I was in a good shopping spot! Then I found a really cool paper store. It made me want to have a party just so I could buy invitations there! :-) I walked all the way up from 18th to about 42nd, and I didn't buy a thing. That's willpower!

On Sunday, I went to the Lutheran church and, after lunch near Lincoln Square, spent a few hours hanging out in Central Park. You should see that place on a Sunday afternoon. I took a picture, but I don't think it does it justice. I staked out a spot in the Sheep Meadow. http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/southend/sheepmeadow There were lots and lots of people sunbathing, reading, napping, and playing football, softball, and frisbee. What a fun place to people watch! In the evening I went to the RPC church, read for class at Starbucks for awhile, and then met friends at a little bar near school. $3.00 frozen margaritas. Can't beat that!

In contrast to my life, my sister and her husband bought a new car this weekend! What a difference... Congrats, Katie and Chris!

bryant park

Well, now I remember what I DIDN'T really like about school - stress! I had a 10 page midterm due on Wednesday, in addition to the hundreds of pages of reading. I'm glad it's finally turned in and I can sorta forget about the class for a day or so.

So that's what we did today! Alison has some friends visiting from CA, so they, Alison, Kendra, and I went to Broadway in Bryant Park. The casts of four currently playing Broadway shows - Tarzan, Hairspray, The Wedding Singer, and Rent - performed songs from their shows. What fun! And free too! We're hoping to go again next week (but sad that next week is the last one for this summer...). The only down side of the day was it was ridiculously hot and humid! Yuck.

Cast of The Wedding Singer

Cast of Hairspray

Cast of Tarzan

Cast of TC Masters ;-) Jen & Alison

plans

HE knows the plans HE has for me; they were written for me before I was even one day old.

I feel the need to write about today so in the future I may look back and be able to say, "So this was the plan..." (You don't have to read it if you're not interested...)

1st Sunday: I went to Times Square Church. It was huge, and packed! The church was started by a pastor who saw crime, etc. in the Times Square area and felt a need to minister to the people there. It has now grown into a non-denom mega church with a big gospel choir. The service was quite an experience, and I'm sure I'll go back again. In terms of theology, well, you can guess. The next day I went to class and got to talking with one of the girls. She recommended a churches, and I wrote down the name of one.

2nd Sunday: I looked up churches on the LCMS website. I chose one with the service starting at 11:00. I also wrote down the info for another church with a service at 11:30. I rushed to the subway, got all hot and sweaty, and then had to wait about 20 minutes for a train because of construction. On the subway a guy struck up a conversation with me, saying I must be going to church because I was wearing a skirt. Kinda weird, but ok... Anyway, he told me about a church called Redeemer that he and several other Columbia students attend. By the time I transferred, got off the subway, figured out which way was east, and walked to the church, I was fifteen minutes late. And, to top it off, the doors were locked! So... I resolutely turned around, rushed back to the subway, took one train, transferred, got off, figured out which way was west, and rushed to the second church. By the time I got there, I was 30 minutes late. I almost didn't go in because I knew the service would only last another half hour. It was Lutheran, after all. The door off the street opened directly into the sanctuary, and there were seriously fewer than 25 people there! The service was nice - good music, etc. Pastor was a bit hard to understand because of his NY accent! Afterwards, I talked with some members, grads of the Concordia system, for quite awhile. It was nice, and I assured them I'd be back.

The Point: I got home after that and looked at the paper with the notes from the girl in class and discovered that she and the guy on the subway had both recommended the same church. Coincidence?

3rd Sunday, Today: I planned to go back to the Lutheran church and try the new one (RPC) as well, but then Jerad and Liza asked me to meet them for brunch. If they hadn't, I probably would have gone to the Lutheran church and then spent the rest of the day studying. As it was, we ate, then I hung out at Starbucks and read for class, then went to 7:00 pm service at RPC. Coincidence? It seems to me it was more than that! I enjoyed the service and met some nice people - Charlie and Whitney were their names, I think. They were with a whole big group from Columbia Med School. Anyway, the church has fellowship groups near school, a group for grad students, and lots of other opportunities for meeting people. I'm excited to see what comes of it all... to see the plans HE has for me!

endless reading

The reading for my courses seems endless! I'd rather be out having fun, but I'm stuck reading... and procrastinating by posting to my blog. I've knocked out a couple hundred pages already, but I have a couple hundred more to go, just for Monday! Yikes! At least I'm finding it interesting (mostly), so I guess that means I decided on the right program!

I thought I'd post a couple of pictures of the move. Mom and I rented a car in KS and drove to NY, and then she flew back after a couple of days. We actually had a pretty good time, if you leave out having to clean the disgusting dorm room first. We went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and to grocery stores, tried lots of restaurants, and also did a bit of exploring. Thanks for your help, Mom!

It's a good thing we got a car with a HUGE trunk! You should have seen us trying to pack it... Mom and I BOTH got in!

This is how we moved the stuff from the car, around the corner, and up to my floor.

And here's the room. It's really small, and it was really hot. I finally gave in and bought an air conditioner after about two weeks of suffering. I did that just in time, before the heat wave came! I promise at some point I'll add a picture of what it looks like now.

day one

Well, it isn't really day one in NY, but it is Day One of this Blog. I've been looking at lots of friends' blogs, and I decided this would be a great way to keep track of my time in NY. It's pouring today, so it seems as good a time as any to start. I officially moved to NY on July 1, 2006. I'm here for school at Columbia University Teachers College, but here for the adventure of the city, too. I've already been to Central Park, Times Square, Little Italy, Chinatown, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tavern on the Green, and more. Have also riden the subway, buses, and taxies multiple times. I guess all that makes me a "City Girl." Enjoy the future posts!