Since PR...

I am back! I worked for a little (and got lots of holiday gifts- mostly chocolate), had a work party (at a warehouse/ artist commune in Red Hook), and went home to CT last week (so nice to chill out). Osho came to visit for Christmas, which was nice. We ate a lot of food and walked in Northwest Park with my dogs.

Over last week, I started another blog called WE CONVERSED (weconversed.tumblr.com). It is a passion project where I get to talk to my friends, write, and be creative. I am trying to ask questions that really get to the heart of who it is I am talking to and inspire readers (or at least, that's the plan). The blog is something I hope to continue even once I start work again this Thursday, but I know I will be on a bit of a time crunch. I am very happy with it so far (regardless) and interviewing people on and off.

In the rest of my time, I have been doing a lot of eating and coaching. I have eaten at Momofuku Noodle Bar (get the captain crunch truffles!), Fishtag, Bricklane Curry House ($10 buffet?!?), BoxKite coffee (just opened on my block), Sumtum Der (all about those papaya salads), and Macaron Parlor (hazelnut milk cookie is to die for). I also bar hopped into East Village Social and Bua, saw Anchorman 2 (it was ok), stopped into Strtand (always a good time), and skated with Osho (so nice).

Later today, I am going shopping with the bf and meeting him after work. We are going to a warehouse party in Brooklyn for New Years with a few friends, which should be super fun. TBC...

xoxo
S

Puerto Rico!!!

I went to San Juan and this is what I did:

Monday was devoted to arriving in San Juan. When leaving the airport late Monday night, we traveled with ‘The Candyman’ in a taxi. The Candyman (that is what people actually call him) was sitting next to me on the plane and was giving both Osho and myself advice on where to go and what to do in San Juan. He was a local cab driver and waited for us to pick up our baggage and leave together via cab. He was nice, but we were a bit taken aback by his friendliness. We stayed at The Water Club, which was right on the beach in Isla Verde. Some other perks included our building being furnished with neon lights, a rooftop pool, and top rated restaurant called Zest. The weather was a bit humid, but otherwise pleasantly warm with occasional light rain showers.

Tuesday, we visited the beach right in front of our hotel and figured out the bus system to get to Old San Juan. We waited a while for the bus, which took us through an interesting route that revealed a few poverty-stricken areas with empty building and broken down cars. When we asked for direction on where to get off, we received a cacophony of replies from several bus patrons of where to go. Osho and I agreed that everyone was just being friendly and helpful, which was kind of nice. Once we arrived in Old San Juan, we stopped into a coffee shop and picked up some amazing coffee (we both got mocha frappes, which had a strong coffee flavor and grainy texture). We were half starved and asked the barista for an ‘authentic Puerto Rican’ food recommendation and ended up at El Jabarito. Overall, I thought the food was good, but nothing spectacular. We got shrimp in garlic lemon butter with onions, rice with red beans, fried plantains, and chicken empanadas. The shrimp and red beans were pretty damn good while everything else was ok. Then, we went searching for a few places we had researched before hand and ended up at the fortress El Moro. It was really big, old, and had an amazing view of other parts of the island and the sea. Besides the beautiful view, this major fortress was also near a gorgeous cemetery.  We continued our journey around Old San Juan via the free trolley and stayed on the entire way around. We then visited the famous Spicy Caribe spice shop (but I didn’t get any hot sauces because I didn’t like the samples I tried very much), Cigar House, Don Q (for a free rum sample, which I didn’t like very much- too strong and fake tasting), and the ‘best coffee in Puerto Rico’ at Café Cola’o (we thought the other place was better). We returned via bus (different route) in much less time and a different scenery (we went through Condado where I considered staying hotel-wise, which was very clean and beautiful). Once we got back to the hotel, we stopped by the beach for a quick dip, but it was too cold. We tried the pool, but it was also too cold. The sun had already set, so we grabbed food at Zest, the restaurant downstairs. We got sea bass with shrimp mofongo (mashed plantain specialty), clam chowder croquettes, and seafood chowder. Osho also ordered a disgusting martini, but let’s not talk about that.

Wednesday, we went back to Old San Juan after spending a bit of time lounging at the beach by our hotel. We immediately headed for Punto de Vista, a dive-y restaurant by the bus station. The food was AMAZING! We ordered a lot of food (and came back later for dinner, but agreed lunch was better): shrimp mofongo (to die for), fish tacos, and rice and beans. For dinner ( only a few hours later), we ordered chicken mofongo and chicken tacos, as well as amazing octopus salad placed in fried (savory) plantains. In between lunch and dinner, there was torrential rain. We decided to run through the rain since it wasn’t letting up and headed for the Bacardi Factory via ferry and a very short taxi ride. The factory was the home of the largest rum distillery in the world and the Bacardi company’s taxes apparently fund a large part of the economy of Puerto Rico. The tour was interesting to the extent that I didn’t know much about rum or the company’s history. Although the entire affair (mini trolley ride, film, tour, tasting, and visit to the gift shop) was like an hour and a half commercial, I would say the actual tour was largely historical and scientific rather than merely BUY BUY BUY. I tried both the Dragonberry and Wolfberry flavors, which I decided I didn’t like because I strongly dislike sweet drinks. I bought a bottle of regular Bacardi because it was only $10 after taxes and I promised friends I would bring something back. I think the visit was definitely worth it. After returning via taxi and ferry to Old San Juan, Osho and I awkwardly galloped through the rain to our new favorite coffee shop in Puerto Rico- Café Cuatro Sombras. We each bought a bag of their coffee (which smelled amazing and apparently is available online at http://www.cuatrosombras.com/ if you want some bomb coffee ;) ).  At night, we went kayaking in the bioluminescent bay within the mangroves. Every time the water moved by boat, fish, or paddle, the plankton in the salty water would light up. The area was very dark, which made the plankton easy to see. They were much more concentrated in an open lake that we reached. Apparently, each plankton can only release its light every 24 hours meaning each one can only light up in response to movement once per night (there were a lot so seeing them wasn’t an issue). I had expected the water to glow blue, but the tiny plankton literally looked like diamonds were scattering across the water. It was so cool and beautiful. Adding the fact that Osho had never kayaked before, the entire excursion was quite the adventure.

Thursday, we had planned on visiting the rain forest El Yunque and Puerto Rico’s famous Luqillo Beach. However, it was raining and flooding nonstop all morning so the trip was postponed until Friday. We decided to sleep in a bit and get lunch at our hotel out of convenience, but also because there was not really another option if we wanted to eat because it was raining so hard outside and half of the street our hotel was on was flooded. I got a chimichurri steak sandwich, which was ok even though I was starving. Osho really like his Ahi Tuna sandwich. We headed over to the Puerto Rican Museum of Art nearby, which was structurally beautiful and had an interesting garden in the back. The art was definitely different than I expected in the sense that it did focus on island culture through different lenses than I had experienced as a tourist and found myself reading more about pieces and how they related to politics, race, and history in PR. Since it was still raining, we headed over to the casino near our hotel. Anyone who knows me would know I am not into gambling, but Osho had wanted to go play a few games and I was a bit curious regarding what would happen. Osho put down $80 and sat at a $10 minimum table for Blackjack. He started winning and probably tripled his winnings, so invited me to play with some of the money. I figured it was harmless and played a round or two before separating the amount of money he paid plus a bit he earned into a ‘don’t touch pile’ to make myself feel like the rest of what we were using was play money. We stayed for about 45 minutes total and starting losing towards the end, but had a good time overall. Plus, Osho walked away with a little bit of money. Overall, it was kind of fun, but definitely not something I would do regularly (even though I was trying to be responsible about playing). We were both very tired and decided to stay in for the rest of the day to watch a Millionaire Matchmaker marathon. We also ordered from a tasty beach restaurant down the street called Al Alambique, where we got mussels, octopus mofongo, octopus salad, and ahi tuna with coconut rice. Everything was amazing and we had no regrets about how we spent the rainy, but relaxed day.

Friday, we actually went to El Yunque and Luqillo Beach on a tour. We had been told both were must see places, but El Yunque required a tour guide. Our guide took us up through the rain forest by bus and told us revelant history and nature facts. Next, we picked up food at a local spot within the forest and ate crab and shrimp tacos. The tacos were more like fat filo dough rolls with seafood than meat inside a corn chip. After, we hit the beach, which was gorgeous. Osho and I picked up a coconut mojito and cut open coconut (fresh coconut water!) to drink on the beach. It was a nice and relaxing time. Once we headed back to our hotel, we spent some time at Carolina Beach before changing and heading off to dinner at Al Alambique again. This time, we tried the scallops with coconut rice and re-ordered the mussels and ahi tuna over coconut rice. After, we headed over the airport and watch Sherlock Holmes before falling asleep in the sky.

For the rest of the weekend, I am coaching and sleeping. Very tired.

TBC…

Xoxo

S 

Wisconsin for Thanksgiving

My creative juices (and perhaps ability to think) have dried up.

It is the first time in a long time where I have traveled somewhere and didn’t have any work I HAD to do. I don’t have any papers to write or jobs to apply to. I can just chill out. Plus, I haven’t been reading as much as I would like or watching as many shows. I will have a bit of time to catch.

Plus, even when I get back to the city, I will be able to hang out some more because I am going to be on vacation the following week- in Puerto Rico. I feel like I really needed a break. Have been feeling constantly exhausted with working or coaching every day. Lately, I have been working really late and didn’t have time to go to the gym, which has been depressing to say the least.

There is part of me that wants to fall asleep and another that is invigorated by all of the possibilities and time to be spent frolicking.

Right now, I should focus on going to Wisconsin, but it is hard to stop my mind from wandering into sunsets and sand. For now, I am excited to see my family and don’t think I will mind the (even colder) weather too much. I also won’t mind the abundance of food that comes with Thanksgiving, either. The combination of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah this year seems interesting enough- I actually bought a few people gifts mid-Amazon binge (I regret nothing).

I wrote a while ago that I thought I would have everything figured out by November. My assessment is that this is somewhat true because I am much more used to my job and have a better idea of where certain other aspects of my life are going. I never really felt like I was floating around, searching for some meaning in my life, but there was a large part of me that wanted to understand and feel more comfortable with my decisions. I still might go back to school relatively soon, feel more serious (whatever that means) with the boo, don’t know if I will be spending another year in my apartment or not (I would like to, but this doesn’t have to be decided yet), and have my short term traveling planned (October weekend trips, Wisconsin, meet the families in the city, going to Puerto Rico).

I also planed my birthday while waiting for the plane since I was so early. New learning: bottle service is expensive. Then again, I already knew that.

Thanksgiving was nice and I got to see most of my relatives. I returned to the city Friday night with my parents and brother. Everyone slept at my apartment and it went ok. Saturday, we brunched with Osho at La Palapa. After my parents left for home, Osho and I looked at animals at an animals shelter near by and picked up hot chocolate at Birdbath. We ventured over to his apartment, where we ate dinner that his mom made with his parents and brother (delish). Sunday and Monday morning, I ran chores.