We did quite a bit tonight and I feel like I'm a bit behind. I haven't been reviewing the material as much as I'd like, simply because I don't make time for it. Tonight's class focused on how to ask about someone's identity; describe people, places, and weather; and how to greet and introduce people. And as usual we ended the class singing yet another song, except that I don't remember what it's about?
After talking to a few people in class, we figured that we do have 3 more classes left. And after talking to the instructor, he suggested that the last class should be a pot-like type of thing, where we'd just hang out and practice what we've learned. I'm not too sure if that's a good idea or not, but whatever.
[Reminder to self: sign up for level 2 spanish soon!]
And now for the re-cap of my Philadelphia trip...(warning: this is a long post)
THURSDAY
I did some last minute shopping and picked up what I needed. I didn't bother going to the bank, since I could just take money out of the ATM there. Irma and Joi picked me up and drove me to the airport. They hung out with me until it was time for me to board the plane. Irma and Joi decided to get something to eat, and as we were sitting there I realized i did forget something - Jenn's address and directions on how to get there from the airport. Ugh. But it was no big deal. I just called my brother and asked him to relay the directions to me, since they were on the internet.
When it was time for me to go, Irma and Joi left. As I went through the security gate to get checked, I was a bit surprised when they asked me to take off my belt. I mean, I remember wearing this belt when I travelled before, and it wasn't a big problem then. But I guess with this whole war thing in Iraq, security has to be tighter. [Mental note: do not wear belt when travelling]. After I passed through security, I went to the waiting area and waited until we had to board the plane.
As I was sitting there, one of the cleaning staff was cleaning around me, and as she passed by she gave me the 'evil eye' as if to suggest that I'm in her way. Uh hello, why can't you wait until the people have boarded the plane before you start cleaning? What was also really annoying were these university students with cowboy hats. I'm not sure why they were wearing them, but I guess they were on some kind of field trip which required them to wear cowboy hats. Anyway, they were a bit loud while we were waiting to board the plane, and all I could think about was that these guys better sleep on the plane. By this time, I was getting tired and cranky so I just wanted to get on the plane and go to sleep.
But do you think I was able to get some sleep? Well, not as much as I'd like. Just when I was about to go into "deep sleep", the guy sitting next to me fell on top of me. Hmmm, maybe if he reclined his seat he wouldn't have fallen over? At some point, they were serving food, but I was way too tired so I skipped the meal.
FRIDAY
I made it into Toronto at around 6:30 am and waited for about an hour for my connecting flight to Philadelphia. I noticed a lot of people were glued to the TV, watching what was happening in Iraq. And if they were watching it, they were reading about it in the paper.
- Random Thought
If this war wasn't happening right now in Iraq, what would these news channels be reporting? The latest bank robbery? Stock market updates? Sports highlights? Current gossip in the entertainment world? I think it's just war news overload. I realize it's their job to keep everyone up-to-date on what's going on, but I find they repeat things over and over again. I choose not to watch the news, simply because I find it too depressing. Maybe I should keep an ear open to at least have a rough idea on what's going on in the world, but I don't. I hardly watch the news (because I'm usually not home when it's on, or I'm watching something else), and I rarely read the paper. And even then, I just read the headlines and pick and choose which articles I want to read.
Anyway, since I didn't sleep that well on the flight to Toronto, I slept during the whole flight to Philadelphia. No one was sitting next to me, so I had no interruptions. Only problem was that the plane was really noisy because it was so small. So even though my eyes were closed, I could still hear what was going on. They served food as well, but I skipped it again.
I finally landed in Philadelphia at 9:00 am and took a cab to Jenn's place in Chestnut Hill. Once I got there, we talked for a while, had something to eat, and then took a nap because she worked the night before and I couldn't get some decent sleep on the plane. We had planned to nap for a couple hours, but ended up waking up 4 hours later. Oops.
Basketball Game
After our long nap, we got ready to got to First Union Center to watch the Sixers play Atlanta. We took the subway to the arena, but got there late because the bus was late. So we ended up missing the first quarter, but it was OK since there weren't that many people there at first. We weren't the only ones who were late, and we noticed that most of the people walked in during the second quarter. I guess the time to go to a basketball game is during the second quarter? We got to our seats and watched the second quarter. During half-time, we went to get a snack. I got a pretzel and a beer (which I got ID'd for) and Jenn got a pretzel and ice cream. We hung around the concourse level and watched this band play. We headed back to our seats once the third quarter was about to start. One thing I noticed is the energy in the building. It was a close game for the most part, and I found myself cheering for them, even though I'm not a big basketball fan. Unfortunately, the Sixers lost 105-114, but I'm glad that we went.
SATURDAY
We woke up bright and early at 8:00 am (which is equivalent to 6:00 am MST). The sun was out so it looked like it was going to be a good day. We had breakfast and got ready for the day. The first stop was The Gallery at Market East. Seeing as I haven't gone shopping since Christmas, it was a bit hard to get back into it. I tried to shop but couldn't find anything. The next stop was K-Mart to get batteries for my camera, since my batteries died before I even got on the plane. I figured if I get something that I need, then maybe it would trigger the 'shopping bug' in me. But it didn't. :-(
The next stop was Liberty Bell. We had to listen to a 5-minute speech on the history of it, and then we were able to take pictures. I'm glad we went to the Liberty Bell and skipped Independence Hall, because when we came out there was a huge line of people waiting to see the Liberty Bell. Then we went across the street to The Bourse to pick up some souvenirs.
From there we walked and walked and walked (thank goodness I had comfy shoes). Our next stop was Penn's Landing, where we walked along the Delaware River. We took a few pictures and headed to South Street. There were a lot of people walking around and it reminded me of Whyte Ave. We went into a couple shops, but I still didn't buy anything. We stopped for lunch at Jim's Steaks, which supposedly is one of the best philly cheese steaks in town. And I guess it holds true since the line went around the block. We waited for about half an hour, I met people from Canada, and finally we got our food. I have to say, the cheese steak was pretty good. After lunch, we walked all the way back to where we started - City Hall (which is about 20 blocks).
We headed back to Jenn's apartment, took a half hour break, and walked some more. We walked to Germantown Ave, had ice cream at Bredenbecks (I had strawberry sorbet), and hung out at Borders. We finally made it back home, watched TV, and called it a night.
SUNDAY
Again we got up early and did the museum thing. We took the subway to City Hall and walked down Benjamin Franklin Parkway (which is said to be like the Champs Elysée of Paris), to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. When we got there, of course I had to the "run up the Rocky steps", and take a picture. I didn't find the museum to be that interesting, probably because I was comparing it to the museums in Paris (which I know I shouldn't do because they're totally different). Jenn and I just went to the wings that we wanted to see and then headed to the Rodin museum, which is much smaller than the one in Paris. And there weren't many sculptures in there.
- Random Thought
How do you know which art piece is the original, if they have them in more than one location? I mean who's to say that The Thinker sculptures in Philadelphia and Paris are both copies? Or the Water Lilies by Claude Monet are just prints? Just a thought...
Anyway, after our little art experience we headed to Franklin Mills to do some shopping. At this point, I still hadn't bought anything, besides souvenirs, and I was determined to buy something for myself. I wanted to get a pair of shoes (I know, I have enough already but I wanted to replace the ones I was wearing because they're worn out =P), and maybe a spring coat. I walked into one shoe store and they were having a 'buy one, get the second at half price' sale. Of course I couldn't resist. The shoes were so cheap, but the problem was they didn't have any shoes in my size. Ugh. And if they did, they didn't fit right. We kept walking through the mall, and I went into shoe store after shoe store. Still nothing. I finally went to the Nine West outlet and found a pair of shoes - in my size and on sale. Yay! [Side note: so now I have approximately 48 pairs of shoes (final count to be verified by the accounting firm of MMSF - hehehe)]. As for the spring coat, they didn't have anything. I was disappointed to see that they still had winter stuff out.
After another day of walking all over the place, we headed back to the apartment, then walked to the supermarket to get some groceries. We cooked dinner (yes, I actually cooked), watched a bit of TV, and went to sleep early since we had another early day the next day.
MONDAY
If you think getting up at 8:00 am EST was early, try getting up at 6:00 am EST (which is equivalent to 4:00 am MST!). The reason why we got up so early was because we had to get to the Greyhound Bus Station to catch the 8:30 bus to Atlantic City. We decided to take a day trip out to Atlantic City since it was only an hour away. Technically, it only cost us a dollar to go because the bus ticket is $14, but you get a $13 voucher which you can use at the slot machines. Not bad for a day trip to Atlantic City. We snoozed during the entire ride out there, and got off at Bally's. The first thing I noticed was the sea of slot machines - lights flashing, bells ringing. I've never been to Vegas, so I can only imagine what it's like there. Another thing I noticed were the people. The majority of them were seniors, who probably have way too much money and don't know what to do with it. Anyway, we thought it was a bit early to be gambling at 10:00 am, so we walked along the boardwalk. The sun was out, and it was nice just to go for a stroll along the boardwalk. We walked to Caesars, then grabbed a tazo chai at Starbucks. We walked the other way to Taj Mahal, where I played the slots. Now, I'm not much of a gambler so we didn't stay for very long. We took a few pictures outside the hotels, and then stopped for lunch at Hard Rock Café.
After lunch, I picked up some salt water taffy (I keep hearing about this stuff from people, and had never tried it), and then we walked back to Bally's. As we walked through the door, the guard immediately stopped us and wouldn't let us walk through the casino with our bags. Uh hello, we've been walking around all day with our backpacks and no one stopped us then. We managed to go through another entrance, and the guard didn't stop us. Maybe the other guy was having a bad day? We picked up a couple souvenirs and hopped on the bus back to Philly. We tried to take a nap on the bus, but the guy behind us wouldn't stop talking.
We dropped off our bags at the apartment, got ice cream at Bredenbecks again (this time I had mocha chip), and hung out and watched Battle of the Sexes on MTV.
TUESDAY
I woke up early again (6:30 EST/4:30 MST), just so I could give myself enough time to get ready and pack before the cab came to pick me up at 9:00 am. I was ready by 8:30 and 10 minutes later, the cab called to let me know he was downstairs. Uh, you're early. So I went down and headed to the airport. I was anticipating to hit rush hour traffic, which is why I had the cab pick my up that early. Of course, there was no traffic and I made it to the airport by 9:20 am, which meant I had 3 hours to kill at the airport. Ugh.
One of the highlights at the airport was my conversation with the airport security guy (AS):
- AS: Could you take your shoes off please?
Me: Huh? (not sure if he was being serious)
AS: In case there are steel plates in them.
Me: Are you serious? I'll take them off, but I know there isn't anything in them.
AS: You're more than welcome to keep them on, but just in case...
[other airport security guy jumps in]
AS2: Did he just ask you to take your shoes off? You better watch out for him...
Me: (turning back to AS) Do you have a foot fetish? (everyone else breaks out in laughter)
AS: (caught off guard) Nothing I can discuss at this time...
Yeah, it was a funny moment. I walked over to Terminal D and sat in the waiting area. I snoozed for half an hour, had tea and a muffin, and walked around the airport. There's only so much you can do at the airport. Finally it came time to board. The flight to Toronto was quick, and when I landed I noticed the airport seemed to be a bit different than when I was there last June. I basically had to run to the next gate because there wasn't much time between connecting flights. By the time I got the gate, they were just starting to board. I slept for half of the flight, and finally got into Edmonton.
And that was my trip to Philadelphia. Overall, it was a good getaway since I had been putting in a lot of hours at work. Plus, it was long overdue for a trip. Hmmm, where should I go next???
