Flex day #1

Sorry for the picture overload. It's just that this past weekend was such an exciting one.

At 5 something am Friday morning my friend Hunter flew into JFK International Airport. He'll be living here in the city doing an advertising internship for DDB. Since Hunter has never been to New York before, I thought I'd be a good friend and help him find his way from the airport to his new home. I had to leave from Jersey at around three in the morning by bus to Port Authority and then take the A train all the way to the other side of Brooklyn. It was worth it though.

I decided to make Friday one of my two days off for the summer. Hunter and I crashed until midday in the I. House and then proceeded to explore the city. We checked out the agency where he'll be interning. We also toured the big New York Public Library Research Center. My goal has always been to own a NYC library card. After going to the Sprint store to get a bill with my current address on it and filling out a library card application, I was later denied. Apparently to get a library card in the city you have to actually live in the city. Go figure. I wanted to cry, but luckily Hunter was there. I held in the tears.

After looking at some cool shops we made our way to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). Friday afternoons Target pays for everyone's admission, so we got in free. I'm so glad we went. It's amazing.

That night I booked it to a place called Bound Brook, NJ to see one of my favorite bands: Cafe Tacuba. Even though I was by myself, it was still a ton of fun. (None of my friends are Tacuba fans.) First off the venue was a small Latin club in the middle of nowhere. Even the lead singer, Ruben Albarran, made a joke about how funny it was to play in such an obscure town. Secondly, Cafe Tacuba rocked the house. The crowd of about 300 went wild.

There were some difficulties involved however. Since I had just come from the city, I still had my backpack with all sorts of cool things on me. In Latin American culture there is no such thing as customer service. The bouncers there refused to let me enter the show with my pack and also refused to let me check it in. They essentially told me to either lose the bag or forget about the concert. I ended up walking two blocks down from the club and hiding my bag in someone's bush.

The other difficulty was that after the show the next train for home didn't come 'til after five in the morning. Luckily I met this girl Iliana who introduced me to her Cuernavacan friends Tania and Dany who let me crash at their place for the night. Tania and Dany host the Latin segment for Rutgers University radio station. They fed me flautas con arroz and kept me company into the wee hours of the night. I accidentally slept in and missed Saturday morning's correlation. Oh well. Saturday was a 2-day anyway. I'm loving where I'm at in Newark.

Today all sorts of random people were at church. I saw budding creative Kenny and long-time friend Camille. After church I hung out in the city with my new Venezuelan friend Tony. I met Tony on the bus on my way to Cafe Tacuba. I love making friends in Spanish. Even though I've made lots of Latin friends on the mission and selling security, I guess I've always felt like it was not so much me they liked as what I represented. It's nice to feel accepted by the Latin community simply for being me.