Days Two, Threeee, and FOUR

So days two, three, and four have been quite interesting.

I finally met the Chris, the guy I will be working with at Graffiti. That is exciting. He has two friends in town. Julio and Jose. They are all from Puerto Rico. I met with them near Wall Street Tuesday night and we went on the Staten Island Ferry. It was awesome. The view of the city was beautiful at night. After the ferry we went to a small food place where I ate my very first Falafel. We met up with a girl named Chelsea who is from the church as well. The food was awesome! Fried chick peas, pita, cucumbers, tomatoes, and yogurt sauce! Right up my ally. I know a lot of my friends at home think that sounds disgusting. My food tastes are definitely broadening. We went to see the huge Christmas tree in Rockefeller center after dinner. The entire way there the boys were quizzing me on my Spanish. They'd point to a sign or an object and expect me to tell them the translation in Spanish. It was fun. I thought I had to go to a different country in order to utilize my Spanish, but I was very wrong. New friends aside, I have heard far more Spanish spoken than any other language so far...especially in my part of town. The only language I've noticed that most people do not speak is English. In fact, a lot of the grocery stores have all their product labels in Spanish only. I like it.  I have yet to see a light eyed white person in Woodhaven (fyi- Callaway or Lynn Haven is to Panama City as Woodhaven is to Queens-- that way you know what I'm talking about.) It's my neibah-hood, yo. Where my peoples is at! Haha. Just kidding : D

New years Eve I woke up and cleaned the house a bit. I went outside to get my sick roommate some stuff from the grocery store and it was SNOWING! It was cool. I am SO SO SOSOSOSO appreciative for Mrs. Hall. Had she have not given me her wool socks the night before I left, I would have been a lost cause. I quickly found that hiding my face behind my scarf was a good idea as well. My face went numb after about two minutes. They said it got down to about 1 degree. I went to the Museum of Natural History with Jose, Juilo, and Chris. We went to a cafe afterwards. I had my first snowball fight on the way there. That soon stopped when one of the boys hit a stranger that walked by mistaking her for me. She didn't think it was as funny as they did. I just had a latte since I was meeting up with Chelsea ( new friend from church) in Chinatown to eat dinner. We met at a Malaysian place...Now I did say my tastes were broadening, but when I ordered my dish, I ate most of it until I found a chicken neck among my food....needless to say my tastes aren't broadening that much. I am trying though and when I leave I am determined to be more open minded about food. After dinner I went to Brooklyn to Chelsea's apartment. We had pie and watched the ball drop. There were about six girls there. One is a full-time missionary to Indonesia. It was interesting hearing her story. Others were from Texas, California, one was Jewish. It was an interesting smattering of people. They all made fun of one of the hostesses on NBC who pronounced the name Ryan like "Rhine." I was definitely the butt of jokes being from the South. I miss the accents. Everyone from home will kill me, but I decided to go home after the ball dropped. I know it's supposed to be unsafe on the subway past midnight, but for whatever reason I felt I needed to go home instead of stay in Brooklyn. I was fine on the way home because tons of people were also going home from Times Square, so it wasn't like I was by myself or anything. I met a young girl named Carolyn on the way home. She's a senior in highschool in Manhattan. We talked for a long while. She wants to do broadcasting and likes kids a lot. I got to tell her what I was doing in NYC and why, and she told me about her life. It was really cool. She was so full of life. I gave her my number and said if she needed anything or wanted me to cook her dinner that I would be more than happy. Her mom works nights. I hope I hear from her.

Yesterday I made the conscious decision  to relax. I finished a book I have been reading, The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers. I've read all her books in that series now. I'm going to buy a new book today. I found a Target and wanted to cry with joy. You'd be surprised at what makes you excited when you don't have things like Publix, WinnDixie, Wally World, or pretty much anything convenient or moderately priced within an hours drive. The only other thing I did yesterday outside of the house was go to Chelsea's place in Brooklyn where she graciously cooked me all kinds of vegetables. I was so appreciative. That was my first home cooked meal since I've been here.

Now it's about noon on Friday. I'm going to shower and get out on the town. There is Michael's somewhere close and I am in need of some supplies to make Michael (good friend from Niceville/UCF) a present. We have a holiday where we send presents just because on January 7th, so I need to get to working! Also I need thicker gloves, leg warmers, and super durable/waterproof snow boots.

Just being her for 4 days, I've been to every borough and on almost every subway train, also some local buses. Let me just say that it is an absolute miracle that I have not gotten on the wrong bus or subway yet. Those of you who know me from home know that it would be very like me to end up in a different state or in jail for some obscure reason like spiting on the subway rail or something heinous like that. The Lord is ordering my steps and on the way home last night I just laughed out loud and thanked Him for guiding me around this massive city. 

The Lord is so good. He is teaching me things in the quiet of my apartment, and also on the streets. He is teaching me boldness. Stay tuned for more on that if you can! 

I can't get any more pictures up here for one reason or another. I'll be working on getting those up. I start working on the 5th so I will update you after my first day of work. Once I start, I will be working a lot of hours, but I won't forget about you guys.

I love you all and hope everyone is doing so well at home.

Cody

Me and Jose( and Julio's sweet glasses)