… june 2011 one month left before I went back to Bali. I decided this is the time that I have to come back to New York. It was almost summer and the weather was really nice; not too hot nor too cold. Last minute arrangement, I set the date and bought the flight ticket straight away. This time I went there all alone just by myself, so it was a lot easier to organize everything. This trip had a different mission indeed; the main goal wasn’t visit the tourist places but to experience living with the Native American family, observe their everyday life and be the part of it – this was my real dream since I was a kid –. That’s was the main reason I stayed at David DePietto’s family – my colleague – that I mentioned at ‘A journey of Dream: Part 1’ at Old Edgemont, Westchester, Scarsdale NY. A day before leaving, David called and gave me an option whether I need April – his wife – to pick me up at the airport and went back straight to his house and ‘stuck’ with his kids to the rest of the day or I could take taxi and went to Manhattan to his office, put my stuff, going around by myself until 6:00pm then went back to his house together after work. Well, I chose the second option because I thought that I can discover the city a little bit.
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| central park on summer |
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| one of the potrait of the road in Westchester, Scarsdale |
Arrived at LGA (again) at 12:00pm I took a taxi straight to 40th and Madison Avenue at David’s office to put my stuff. David was still on the meeting so I went out again to the city to visit some places. Btw, a best friend of mine from Miami was also on vacation in NYC so I called him for lunch but unfortunately he wasn’t available so I went to Bryant Park and had my lunch there. It was packed and full. NYC was so totally different now, it’s green and beautiful. Finished my delicious sandwich, I continued my walk to Time Square (again) and I still stunned by the lights and the crowed. Didn’t spend enough time at Central Park on last vacation, I decided came there again to discover more. Walked around to the middle part of the park, I saw a painter who can draw a face picture – so this idea came up to my mind. I pulled out my iPod and ask the painter to draw my best friend’s face for her birthday gift – Audrey’s birthday was a week after my vacation – and the result was excellent. Spent some time there and it’s time to went back to David’s office. It was 6:00pm sharp and David waited me in front of his office building. I was so happy met him since he’s a nice guy and he liked a family of our family already. So we went to Grand Central Station took a train to Scarsdale. Scarsdale is a suburban area which is located around 20 minutes away from Manhattan (it passed Bronxville, Harlem, Bronx, Eastchester, etc). Arrived in Westchester, the feeling was so different. It felt more ‘homey’ and relax, not like Manhattan which is crowded and busy. We walked around 10 minutes from the terminal to get to his house and I was so excited to meet April and the kids again (I met them once when the family visited me in South Beach earlier). And yes indeed, they have waited me since morning. We talked and chat a lot that evening and April made us some dinner. I felt so happy that I can make it there and finally could visit DePietto’s family.
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| the neighborhood at Westchester |
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| La Crosse - native american origin game |
Woke up the next morning, went out to the yard and felt the morning breeze; it was so cool in there. The house with no fence and the mail box in front of it with beautiful green environment; this is exactly what I want to experience. Morning activities were very hectic in the house. The mother was busy taking care the 3 kids which about ready to go to the school - Olivia in the 4th grade, Sidney in the 2nd grade and lil’ Jake in the play group. I didn’t see David that time but he showed up from nowhere when the kids ready to leave and gave them good bye kiss one by one (so sweet). I was just sitting on the couch watching TV when April took the kids to school and I found out that David didn’t go to the office that day and just worked from home I guess that just because I was there so he felt bad to leave me. A few minutes later April came back and took me for a walk around the hood to get some coffee at Starbucks. Afterwards she took me to a bigger city called White Plains and we visited the mall there. What did we do? Of course: shopping time J I love shopping very much just so you know (besides taking pictures) Got some nice stuff (includes the ‘Modelo’ t-shirt), we have to go back because it was time to pick up Jake from school. Back home after lunch (we had some sandwiches at the restaurant nearby), they took me to Olivia’s & Sidney’s school for a cultural exchange. (Earlier) they asked me to bring my Balinese costume so I got myself prepared already. At school David just introduce me to everybody that I am a Balinese (everybody = every single person that we met) and we went straight to the class. I was standing in the front wore my Balinese traditional costume and explained about the Balinese culture (the history, the ceremony, the religion, etc) and they looked so amazed by my explanation. David was more excited than I did (because he said he loves Bali so very much). And after we had a 'question – answer' session which was pretty cool too. By far, that was my proudest moment during my stay in USA.
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| flew 5 hours away to go to white castle |
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| sharing balinese culture |
Finished school, me, David & Olivia continued to the La Crosse game (a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse) because that afternoon Olivia had a game against the other team. What surprised me the most; David was the coach of the team. Really? I didn’t know that he could play. Anyway he played good though…. I had some fun by just watching the game itself – even though I really didn’t understand how its work. At dawn, we came back and it was dinner time… They asked me what kind of food that I want to eat that night. They seemed really shocked when they hear the words that came out from my mouth: WHITE CASTLE… lol Epic Fail!!! They explained to me that the WORST burger in USA, tasted bad and unhealthy. I just smile with no comment but stick with my choice… I knew this burger when I watched a movie called Harold & Kumar: go to the White Castle. I tried to find one in Miami but the result was nil. So that evening we went to White Castle which took some time to get there. Arrived there, the place was ghetto and looked dangerous. David stand beside me and just ordered 10 burgers for himself. I mean excuse me??? 10 burgers just for yourself??? He must be kidding! He laughed at me and explained to me about the small portion of the burger. Well, I ordered 5 for myself then. Got full with my burgers, I have nothing to say but thank you that he took me there (even the taste was really bad)…. Shake Shack & Five Guys were still my top favorite burgers! It was Friday and the kids were not going to school the next day so we spent some time together before went to bed….
…to be continued…. day 3 & day 4 will be continued in the next writing!
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