Feeling nice

Estelle brought me to this Malaysian Restaurant (over here, Malaysian = Singaporean) opened by a Singaporean guy last night and the food was so good. I can't believe I had fishball Kuay Teow last night; I thought I wasn't going to slurp kuay teow for half a year! It was so unbelievably satisfying...such a pity that I was too full to finish my food. I definitely must bring Taitong, Cat and Erwin to try the food there sometime.

It snowed after dinner, brrr. We took a walk back to Estelle's place and she showed me the walkway along the entrance of Columbia University (the school she attends)...

...my goodness, it's so pretty.

I bunked over at Estelle's for the night and her bed was so much more comfortable that I slept more than I ever have since I got to the states. This morning, we had a nice brunch made of coffee and french toast before she showed me more of Columbia as it is in the day. It's really so different from NYU... much more typical of an American University with it's own campus and all the Gothic architecture. It has an old, ancient feel to it, with all the statues, pillars and famous names carved out on the buildings, which I actually like better. And the common room at her dorm even had a piano... it's been a long time since I've touched those keys, but my fingers were too numb to play.

In the afternoon, I took the subway down to 59th Lexington to meet up with the rest at Central Park. I got a little lost and had to detour, but at least I can somewhat get around on the sub on my own now. We didn't see very much of it because it was way too cold, but it was lovely, especially all the trees. If only it was summer... I can see myself sitting there alone in the afternoon, reading a book, or just jogging.

But the wind was so strong today, and I've never been as cold as I was today in my whole life. In spite of wearing 4 layers, I was so cold that my feet, ears, fingers, cheeks, everything was numb. And I kept wondering whether my toes would drop off without me knowing. We took shelter in an eatery for awhile, but Taitong and I were still so cold that we couldn't speak properly. The wind just kept blowing and blowing... I think we all reached the limit of how much cold we could possibly bear... and decided to spend the next hour just browsing the shops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art even though we had no plans to view the exhibits. I think I would have been contented standing there until tomorrow morning. The Met looks interesting though, really can't wait to check it out. The store really had a very interesting colletion of books...and those on sale were really cheap. I was so tempted to get this one about advertisements of the 1960s, just that I don't know how I'm ever to carry such heavy things back. (And Chris, I got you a nice birthday present from there!)

Anyway, I think this is a pretty cool shot we took at Central Park!

The next time I visit Central Park, I'm wearing 2 jackets, 2 trench coats, 2 gloves, 2 pairs of long johns and 4 pairs of socks (I wore 2 today).

The rest were meeting some other Singaporeans for dinner, but Estelle was coming over to my place, so I left the Met early and walked all the way from 82nd to 59th street because that's the only subway I remember... so cold I didn't really care how ridiculous I looked with a hood on my head and my lips covered with the collar of my jacket. Or how I was walking behind a very tall lady all the time to shield myself from the wind.

But... I found my first ZARA in New York! The sales are pretty good... thank goodness size 36 is too small and 38 is too big, or I probably would have bought another 3 pairs of pants. Besides, whatever shirts I like from Zara, I probably would have bought them even before they're on sale. Nevertheless, just walking into the store made me a happy girl... picked up their directory, and I discovered, the nearest Zara is just 8 streets away from where I live! Yay, I can probably walk there whenever I'm depressed from now on.

I'm feeling really nice, warm and happy now, nicer than I've had in a long time. For one, I walked into Bath and Body Works when I got out of the subway on the way back... and the sales were really good... (there're just too many sales over here, help.) Picked up a pumpkin and cinammon shower gel... except that I'm feeling incredibly stupid right now... why didn't I buy enough toiletries for the next 5 months?! It's good soap and shampoo which come in various wonderful frangrances... and it's even cheaper than the crappy soap I bought from the discount store which I don't even trust not to give me rashes. It's the last day of sales tomorrow, maybe I should just walk over again.

And I had some time after Estelle left, so I finally managed to organize the stuff in my room a little. Found a makeshift toiletry bag, figured out where to place various stuff... I'm not a partiularly tidy person, but at the very least, I need an organized mess. Whenever I get back, I expect to know where to put my things and actually put them there before I can even relax... and get showered and changed into slacking clothes before I can even think of enjoying my dinner...

So tonight, my life finally had some semblence of normality. (And I finally had some time to put on face mask too, haha.) It's funny how small things can make one so contented now and then. =)