You can eat bamboo?

Okay so I had a really cool experience last night. My mentor and her husband along with their two friends brought me to another country. It is named Flushing, Queens. I have never really had Chinese food ever because I always refused to eat it when my family got it when I was younger and I guess that has always been the case, until last night. First we went to this "mall" kind of thing, which had acupuncturists instead of salons and herb stores instead of clothing stores. We went to their "food court," which consisted of 20 or so round tables all packed with asian- oh, I forgot to tell you that I was the only caucasian in this mall. All of the signs were in different dialects of Chinese with very if any small english translations under them. We walk up to this hole-in-the-wall noodle stand I am watching this very small television at the front of the line that is replaying an episode of some "places you have to eat-thing" on food network and it was all about how amazing these rice noodles supposedly were and how you couldn't get them anywhere other than China- it was pretty cool. So they ordered me something that I still have no clue what it was. All I know it was on top of rice noodles that were amazing (I ate it tonight)- very spicy, but amazing. So after we had this little venture to have some take out for me to try tonight we went to another take out place on the main street and they had bamboo? I never knew you could eat bamboo. Well, I had to try it and it was amazing! Supposedly it isn't as good anywhere else so they told me not to be disappointed if I tried it and didn't like it at another place. So we got bamboo for takeout and at this point I was confused. Were we going to eat this takeout or what? So we walk down the street and we get a table at this restaurant. This restaurant is a very different restaurant. It had no table clothes, just round wooden tables that you would see at a school chili cook-off. The place was packed! Again, I was the only caucasian and no one seemed to want to speak english. So we sit down and I look at the menu: fried frogs, lamb intestine, lamb stomach, lamb liver, live fish- served to the table ALIVE so that you can do what you please with it (where is PETA?), jellyfish, and live shrimp just to name a few. I told them I was up to try anything as long as it wasn't living when I ate it. So they ordered everything in Mandarin and I had no idea what we were getting. But, when it came... it was soooooooo good.

First course:

Fried whole fish. Yes, I ate this, but I supposedly left a lot of the good stuff- that's right, they ate the head.

Second course:

no one really told me what this was, but it was good.

Third course:

bamboo... it was soooo good

Fourth Course:

This was a rack of lamb? Or at least it was their version. It was covered in different seeds and spices that I have never tasted before- very good.

Fifth Course:

Pork, cabbage, and these noodles that were transparent. This was definitely my favorite.

Sixth Course:

This was the weirdest taste of them all. It was their version of goat meatballs in green carrot soup. Very interesting, but a very weird texture. Let's just say it was VERY fresh.

The people I was with explained to me that you couldn't get this kind of Chinese food anywhere in Manhattan, since most of the restaurants there were being run by second and third generation Chinese. Over the years the recipes change to accommodate American tastes. This results in the "Chinese-inspired" food that we are all accustomed to today. It was very interesting and very good food. I still don't think I will eat Chinese food unless I am in a similar situation.


I also wanted to include a couple pictures from the last couple days:


This is Logan (Jonathan and Cat's son) who is showing off the card that they brought me from Florida with all of the CF elementary kids "signatures" wishing me a Happy birthday- it was a huge card.


This was the night that I went to see South Pacific at the Lincoln Center- it was an amazing show and such a beautiful venue.


A couple Central Park Pictures:





A friend of mine from Sloan- Kettering with some of the cast from American Idiot- another show I saw this weekend. Let's just say it was very controversial.

Work and Stuff.

So I have been working a lot lately. Nothing really new has happened. I have been getting a lot of good data though, so that is always a good thing. Other than work I went to trivia night with friends- which was A LOT of fun! I had the best comfort foods. (I ate so much since I didn't eat for a 30 hour duration- no appetite?- weird.. especially for me) I had mac n' cheese with bacon and then had chicken quesadillas. It was soooo comforting :) Then tonight I went see South Pacific. I have seen it three previous times between college productions and the tour, but I have never seen anything like this. It was amazing. One of the best broadway shows I have seen. It was very "old" broadway. The orchestra were all in tuxedos and the audience was all dressed up- it was cool. I was one of the youngest in the audience too! It was truly amazing! I will leave you all with lyrics that I truly apply right now:

"One dream in my heart,

One love to be livin' for,
One love to be livin' for
This nearly was mine.

One girl for my dream,
One partner in paradise,
This promise of paradise
This nearly was mine.

Close to my heart she came
Only to fly away,
Only to fly as day flies from moonlight
Now, now I'm alone,
Still dreamin' of paradise,
Still sayin' that paradise
Once nearly was mine.

I'll keep rememberin' kisses
From lips I've never owned,
And all that lovely adventures
That we have never known.

One dream in my heart,
One love to be livin' for,
One love to be livin' for
This nearly was mine.

Close to my heart she came
Only to fly away,
Only to fly as day flies from moonlight.

Now, now I'm alone,
Still a-dreamin' of paradise,
Still sayin' that paradise
Once nearly was mine!"

Playing catch up.

So I have not updated the blog in a "while," or so I am told. I have been working pretty much every day for many hours trying to get as much done as I can. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday and then went to Sheep's meadow. It was nice. Learned my car was in an accident this past weekend. My sister is okay, but the car has some damage so we will see how that all works out. I went to dinner last night with my high school French teacher and her husband, which was fun. Not in a very talkative mood. I guess we will see what happens in the next few days.

Birthday Recap.

Okay, so I am going to vent. I know whining is not a good thing, but I need to write this stuff down and since I can't physically talk about it to anyone at the moment, why not write it down digitally for the world to see, right? Anyway, I must preface today with just notifying everyone that I had a pretty horrible day yesterday... very depressing to the extent of me literally running 2 hours straight in any direction that had the walk-way signal illuminated (I also ended up in Central Park at like 10pm.. not an advisable thing to do).

Today was my birthday. I woke up a little earlier than normal because my grandmother called and left her annual message of her singing happy birthday for me with my grandfather. One of the best things ever, and I anticipate it every year. So I got ready and went to work where I had to prepare for a very important meeting with my boss. Had the meeting and it went well. No screaming or tearing ideas apart, which was a good thing. From there I went for a quick lunch with my post-doc mentor and ate in the park, which was very nice. I then decided I would "reward" myself for my birthday by going to the 15th floor of the hospital and play the piano, which I got to do for a good 30 minutes, which relieved a lot of stress for the moment. I went back to the lab and worked for about 1 hour before I had a lab meeting, which was very long, but they did get me a cake. I then had about another hour of work before I had to go to Journal Club and do a presentation with a partner on a publication for a little over an hour. I have had so much on my mind lately that I feel like I did not do as well as I could have. I couldn't think throughout the presentation, which was pretty bad. All in all, the presentation went okay, but it could have been so much better. After Journal club I had a mission to go out to a nice dinner, that's all I really wanted. Before that could become a reality I had to go back to the lab in order to finish more cell culture and prepare protocols for this Saturday (a good 6-8 hours of work ahead of me). Well, we kept working and before I knew it I read the clock and it was already 9 p.m.. So I walked home and arrived around 9:30 to an empty apartment. I went to a couple rooms to see if anyone was there and no one answered. I waited for about 10 minutes and my roommate came home from dinner. So I decided to venture out on my own, which I have to admit is very depressing, especially on your birthday. Nonetheless, I walked down a couple streets to a sushi restaurant and had a couple delicious sushi rolls... lobster/mango and tuna/salmon... amazing. I then went to get gelato :)

So I guess my birthday wasn't too bad. I got to play the piano, had cake and a nice dinner. The interesting thing I have realized is that is really stinks not having someone to actually share your birthday with. It's one thing to have a million people say Happy Birthday to you, but what makes birthday's the best is making memories with people that will last a long time. I felt like today I really didn't have any of those moments, which is kind of depressing. So that was my day...

Birthday

So today is my birthday. I'm in the lab getting ready for a meeting with my boss. With my fingers crossed the meeting will go well. Then later on today after my day in the lab I have a Journal Club presentation to do. Let's hope this day goes well!

More Plays

So yesterday we woke up and decided to try to see if we could get tickets for another show. We ended up getting 6th and 7th row center to see La Cage Aux Folles for a matinée. The show is by far one of my favorites. After that show we went to see if we could win the lottery at In The Heights, since my sister really wanted to see the show. We didn't win, but instead went to an amazing Italian restaurant on Restaurant Row. SOOOOOO Good! (I had homemade artichoke gnocchi). We went back to the hotel pretty early and my family got lots of sleep- I on the other hand did not. I think I went to sleep around 3 am? We woke up pretty early to go and try out Times Square Church, which was very interesting- I combination between Christ Fellowship and what you would see on TV on the "church" channel. A little too "showy" for me. After that I went back to the hotel and my family went on a walk where they saw that the lottery for In the Heights was just about to end (3 minutes left), so they entered and both my grandmother and sister won tickets so we all got to sit in the front row for a whopping $27.50. This was my second time seeing this show and I have to say that it was great yet again- there were a couple of cast changes and I think some were positive and some were negative. After the show I convinced my family to go to the small French restaurant that Amanda's grandmother brought me to a couple weeks ago- Le Charlot. We just got back to the hotel now and I am really tired. We have been going nonstop. Tomorrow my family leaves and my life goes back to "normal." I have attached a few pictures of my sister's new crush: the guy who is from the original cast of In The Heights... oh, and Corbin Bleu.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears... Oh My

So today my family got here. I was woken up at 10 am from the text from my mother saying that they were here. My sister, mother and grandmother came to somewhat celebrate my birthday (somewhat because they will not actually be here on my birthday). We started the day off with going to the one thing everyone wanted: a diner. We had our breakfast foods and they wanted me to give them a tour of Sloan- Kettering. Side note: my grandmother is on the phone with my grandfather (they have been married 57 years), and she is telling him how much she misses him... and how much she loves him. It makes me happy to know that kind of relationship exists :) Anyway, I gave them a tour of the hospital and lab where I work and then we slept back at the hotel for a couple hours. We went to the Wicked lottery and there were over 200 people all trying to sign up for the lottery. Although odds were against us, I guess the crowd didn't know the power of prayer :) My little 80 year old grandma was in the back of the crowd leaning against a support beam praying and all of a sudden they called her name. Simultaneously the entire crowd looked back and started cheering for her as they parted a way for her to come to the front. It was very cool and my grandmother and sister sat first row center. My mother and I had to pay a whopping $126 a ticket, but we were also lucky since we were in the sixth row center (normally a $300 ticket). All in all it was a great time. My grandmother loved the show and couldn't get over how creative it was. For me, this was the fourth time seeing Wicked and I would have to say they did a great job. Tomorrow we have a full itinerary planned, so I think some sleep is in order. Here is a picture to leave you with.

I'm going to have a day off!

So today was a great... but a little unproductive day. We had seminars pretty much the entire day between the Grad Student presentations and journal club, so I was not able to be in my lab meeting today and really was not in the lab much at all. But what made this day so amazing is that my data for the past week was presented to my boss and she was so happy about how much we got done that I was given the day off tomorrow! Woohoo! My family is coming tomorrow also, so that is going to be great!

Exhaustion

I am still in the lab and I am beyond exhausted. Couldn't sleep much last night and haven't been sleeping very well for the past couple of days. All I would like to do right now is to curl up in a ball in a corner and go to sleep. I have about 3 more hours of work here if I am lucky. I am not sure if I will be able to remain awake for all of that time. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day also with many meetings in the morning and seminars in the afternoon.

In the Heights

So we ended up going to see In the Heights starring Corbin Bleu. We actually won the broadway lottery so we got to sit in front row for $27. It was truly ridiculous. I was actually told by an usher not to touch the stage. Kind of funny. But anyway, the play was great! I went into the theatre thinking that there was no way that Corbin Bleu would be able to pull this part off, and to tell you the truth the first half I really wasn't that impressed with him. The second part though was amazing (in regards to his acting). The entire show was so entertaining, uplifting, and soooooooooooooooo high energy. I was tired just watching. The dancing and choreography was great. Afterwards we waited and I have to say the cast were the most caring actors I have ever seen. They spent SO much time taking pictures with everyone and signing. Literally I think a couple of them stayed for a good 40 minutes. Cynthia (the girl who I went with from the Sloan- Kettering program) and I took advantage of this:

He really was a great and caring person and I have to say he is the first person on broadway I have seen put in his bio in a playbill that he has to thank God. That I have to say puts him above a lot of others, since not many people would have that kind of courage to bring their religion into it. Nice guy.

I forgot

So, I totally forgot to say that I went to a play on Saturday night and went to Central Park. I started my day at the lab (this was after staying at the lab until 6am that morning) at around 12pm. I did a couple drug treatments and then went to central park to find one of the sixty pianos placed throughout New York City. I walked for about an hour before I found it. I got to play, it was a pretty old piano, but the experience of playing a piano as 1,00o's of people walked by was pretty cool. There is a lot of people watching in central park on weekends. I saw random musicians playing their instruments and even got to see the rollerblading dance club- hilarious. After my central park experience I went in a cab to go theatre hoping to try and get a ticket in one of the lotteries that they have. The premise is that you put your name in a box and they pull 24 names who will get in the 1st or 2nd row to the show for $27 cash. It's an amazing deal, but I happened to be trying on a holiday weekend- not a good idea, and I didn't win. So I ended up going with a friend from box office to box office to see if they had student tickets. We weren't satisfied with their offerings, until we reached "Come Fly Away." It was $30 for an orchestra seat in the center. The performance was all Frank Sinatra songs with an orchestra on stage. The entire performance was only dance and told a story about three couples. It was amazing. It showed that you can communicate to an audience other than just through lyric, which was very exciting. Anyway, I am going to be doing the same thing tonight. So hopefully I can get some good tickets. I better get back to work :)

Fireworks

So we waited for about 4 hours at the hudson river to get a spot for the fireworks tonight. It was sooooo crowded. There were about 2-3 million people there. We were right next to the intrepid near pier 83. NBC was broadcasting from the cruise ship right next to us (The Epic). We waited in line for 1 hour and 15 minutes to get food and we ordered, they then told us that the credit card machine was down so we got free food which was cool. I am including some pictures from tonight.

Record for longest day at work... broke again.

Last night, or I mean this morning was the finish to the longest day I have ever worked. I got home at around 6 am, which means I worked over 19 hours straight. I really hope all of this work is going to pay off. Actually, some of the results we have gotten are truly exciting and are leading us to a new brain cancer treatment. It's so cool.

Piano.

Today I had a mission. To find a playable piano somewhere at Sloan Kettering- which is a lot harder than it should be. I was asking all different staff members throughout the hospital whether there was truly a piano in the hospital since I had heard rumors that there was. Well, my expedition eventually led me to the 15th floor at Memorial Sloan- Kettering. The hospital has a very famous amenity for its cancer patients- a beautiful club just for them where no doctors are allowed. They have art tables for ceramics and painting and three pianos dispersed among the very spacious area. They had fish tanks and gorgeous views overlooking the upper east side. It is a very peaceful place and they try and make the space as safe for the patients as possible and it gives them a place to escape from the never-ending reminder of the terrible disease that they have. I walked through the door and immediately saw a beautiful grand piano. In order to understand this story, one must understand that music is a very important of my life. I would always play the piano in order to de-stress from the craziness of my life. The past three weeks I have had a lot of stressors between the program and other life stressors and I have not had any piano to play (During the school year I play the piano almost every day in order to keep my stress in check). So back to the story: I entered the patient area and I had my badge around my neck and I went up to supervisor of the area and asked the policy of playing the piano. She looked at my badge and apologized and said staff were not allowed in the area and that I would not be able to play the piano. At that point I was really depressed because I have been looking for a piano for about two weeks now and I finally found one that is close and gorgeous and I really had a lot of emotions that I needed to express through music. The woman could visually see that I was flustered and I just told her kind of the situation and how I was a student and I really needed to play. She thought for a moment and said take your badge off. I took it off and put it into my pocket and she said go for it. I played for a straight hour and it was so amazing. It was therapy for me. What really was amazing about the entire situation was that I got to play for an hour and this was an emotional release for me. While I played though I would say about thirty cancer patients came in and out with all of their IVs attached and they all sat and listened. It was so cool that something that was a therapy for me had an impact on others who listened and in some way was a therapy for them. It was really an amazing moment. I watched as the patients closed their eyes and listened to the music and they seemed to be so much at peace and I was at peace and it was great.

Record for longest day at work.

So last night, or should I say this morning I have beat my record of consecutive hours at work. I started at 10:30am and finished at 3:40am = A whopping 17 hours and 10 minutes. Not only did I work this long, but I had about a total of 1 hour for eating ( 30 min lunch and 30 min dinner). It was crazy and the amazing thing is that we are doing the same thing today except instead of 5 samples like last night we have 12! So I wonder how long I will be in the lab tonight or tomorrow morning. On top of that I have a meeting tonight at the New York Academy of Science, which is supposedly an amazing place. I am not sure though how I will be able to fit it all in. Let's see how it goes. Oh, and I apologize for my incoherent sentences since I am a bit in la-la- land right now.