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It has officially been nearly one month since my little family unit returned from New York City, more specifically Manhattan, & I am already longing to go back there. We only visited Manhattan for a long weekend (approximately 3 & a half days), so it all felt very rushed & went by faster than a flash of lightning. Leading up to our little family vacation, I was a complete bundle of nerves. We had a majority of the important logistics planned & set in place, but all of the uncertainties that comes with being a new parent were creeping into my thoughts almost daily.
Aside from worrying about how my little bean would handle her first airport/airplane experience, I was very anxious about keeping her safe, not only from human dangers, but she has a tendency to pick up everything she sees on the ground…a trait she learned from her grandma always picking up crumbs & lint off the floor in our house & teaching her to do that too. Now, it has become a habit of my little bean, where whenever she sees something on the ground, she immediately wants to pick it up and put it in the trash. Every time we go out, we can’t walk more than 20 steps without telling our little one not to pick up things left on the street. I am somewhat of a germaphobe, so you could probably already tell I wanted to wipe my little bean’s hands every 10 seconds. However, I am happy to report that I was able to curb my germaphobia & not whip out my anti-bacterial hand wipes every time she touched something. I was too hot to pay attention to my germaphobia anyway.
The weather over the weekend was pretty awesome. Jian used to live in Manhattan (in the mid-to-late 90s), so he knows all too well about how hot the city summers could be there. In the weeks leading up to our trip, Jian was obsessively checking the weather forecast to see how insanely hot it was going to be when we got there. He always complained about how unbearably hot New York City summers could get, & he was hoping it wouldn’t be that intense while we were there. Luckily for us, the weather cooled down a somewhat (it was only in the low 80s Fahrenheit, compared to the forecasted 90 degrees), but the 60+% daily humidity really kicked our asses. It even rained on the day we were leaving. We got lucky & our flight barely made it out before the red alert warning was issued by the weather center for the impending thunderstorm.
Before heading to New York, we researched the hell out of all the food we wanted to eat while we were there (a.k.a. bookmarking tons of Instagram reels). Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs, & we were naïvely trying to cram 10 days worth of meals into, technically, 3 days of being in New York. Even still, we were able to tick a couple of our must-eat spots off of our list. We started our food journey with a New York City staple: the bacon egg & cheese breakfast sandwich at Gregory’s Coffee (not planned). We ate the most delicious desserts at the very first American location of our favorite Japanese cakery, HARBS. We had our first Korean gastropub experience at OSAMIL & celebrated Jian’s milestone birthday. We couldn’t go to New York without eating its iconic Italian food. That’s when we met up with Jian’s second cousin for dinner at L’Amico, & yes, we had iconic New York style pizza there. Meeting with very important family friends who helped Jian & his family get settled in New York City after immigrating was held over a special brunch at Mark’s Off Madison. Brunch in New York would not really be brunch if we didn’t have the smoked salmon, scrambled eggs & bagels platter (which we did). We pretty much ate all of the signature New York City foods minus cheesecake & the chopped cheese sandwich.
While we were in New York we ended up not visiting much of any landmarks or famous places. The only major landmarks, for lack of a better description, we actually spent time visiting was The Metropolitan Museum of Art & Strand Book Store. Sure, we walked through various popular neighborhoods & districts like, the Flatiron district, Union Square park, Bryant Park, East Village, etcetera, but we didn’t go to the actual “touristy” places like Central Park, Times Square, The Empire State Building (even though our hotel was 4 blocks away), or all the other famous places seen or depicted in movies & TV shows. One place I wish we had visited was the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. We were staying in Koreatown, & the memorial was on the opposite side of town in the financial district. So with our little one in mind, we decided not to make the trek across town & spend most of our time exploring the areas closer to our hotel.
Speaking of hotels, we stayed at the Le Meridien Hotel on 5th Avenue. (Just saying the name 5th Avenue reminds me of Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, & the book Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson.) True to typical New York City fashion, the hotel was very compact. We have stayed at the Le Meridien hotel chain quite a few times. In fact, we’ve stayed at the Le Meridien Hotel Pasadena in the past, & as we expected, the Fifth Avenue version of Le Meridien was very New York city apartment-esque, compact yet very efficiently designed.
For our stay, we had originally booked a corner suite with a city view for our trio, however since we were arriving before the hotel’s check-in hours, the original room we had booked wasn’t yet available. Our little one had vomited on the plane from the bumpy landing at JFK airport (who knew she gets motion sickness like her mom?). She got a little bit of it on her clothes, which meant we were kind of desperate to get any available room so we could quickly drop off our luggage & change her clothes. Ultimately we ended up staying in a Gran King room with a terrace (a.k.a. outdoor patio), which was more than adequate for us. Here are some room photos for your reference. Please excuse the messiness. I didn’t get a chance to take any first impression pictures, & had to hastily take photos after we had already settled in.
Planning our little bean’s first ever airplane ride to New York City was a piece of cake; Jian & I are pretty seasoned travelers. However, traveling with Jian’s parents was chaotic. The two of them were like kids in a candy store with an unlimited spending limit. They wanted to do so many things & see various friends scattered throughout the boroughs, yet Jian didn’t want them to explore the city by themselves in case they were to get lost. It was difficult at times to coordinate our daily plans as everyone had their own individual agendas. Pile on the heat & humidity on top of all that, you know people are bound to get easily tired & cranky sometimes. However, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip & are making plans to go back to New York again next year in the spring. On the next trip, we are absolutely not traveling with any grandparents, just our own little trio.
Next up, we are going on our ginormous adventure back to Japan, but with our little bean this time. This one’s also going to be a chaotic trip, but at least it will be organized chaos because it’ll just be the three of us, which is a whole helluva lot easier to manage. I really, really hope I can write another detailed blog post again like I did back in 2016 when I went on a group tour with my relatives. I don’t think my little bean will let me have much computer time after this trip, but we’ll see. Until the next one, cheers!
What brings you peace?
Lots of things bring peace into my life, big things, small things, random & silly things. I do not meditate, or bullet journal, or do specific arts & crafts like knitting or chrocheting. I guess those types of things provide more of a calmness than peace, but I also suppose those two things can go hand-in-hand most of the time.
Here is a list of things that bring me peace:
- Not having any major physical illness or impediments
- Making lasting memories with my child
- Having easily accessible child support within my family
- Having the best partner to raise a child with
- Having a much less strained relationship with my older sister
- Building even deeper relationships with my older brothers & core friend group
- Still having members of the older generations in my family (Most, if not all of the elders in my family: grandparents, parents, aunts & uncles are all gone.)
- Being in a comfortable financial status (*knocking on wood* 🤜🏻 🪵 🚪)
- Having the means & ability to travel at least once a year
- Eating my favorite ice cream flavor
- Having one more cup of coffee
These are the core things that bring me peace. Everything else just seems like boasting. I will leave it at that. Cheers all.
What’s the story behind your nickname?
I am very annoyed at the moment because I wrote an entire post about this prompt, posted it, but it never published on my blog. My original draft was never actually saved either. So, when I went to check back, the only draft copy I had was blank. Other than that, here is a rundown of all of my nicknames.
When my dad was alive, he would often refer to me by my full English first name. Occasionally he would call me 妹 (mèi, the shortened version of 妹妹, which means little/younger sister). In fact, within my immediate family circle, I am often referred to as 妹 (mèi)…little sister, as I am the youngest child. My mom even calls me 阿妹 (ā mèi)…mostly. She also calls me by my full Chinese name, but only when she is very mad or very serious. (No, I am not going to reveal my Chinese name.)
The only person, however, who does not call me “little sister” is, in fact, my older sister. She just calls me Mel, the shortened version of my first name. Jian & most of my friends from all of my various circle of friends, also refer to me as Mel. Very rarely do they address me by my full first name.
One nickname that I go by jokingly within my friend groups, that I also use on the internet is “Melsenpai”. This nickname has more of a cultural meaning for me, & has absolutely nothing to do with the “I Hope Senpai Will Notice Me” internet meme.
Politeness has always been a critical facet of Japanese culture. Ever since the feudal era, when Japan was a highly stratified society, use of honorifics – which can be defined as polite speech that indicates relationship or status – has played an essential role in the Japanese language. When addressing someone in Japanese, an honorific usually takes the form of a suffix attached to one’s name (example: “Asuna-san”), or as a title at the end of one’s name or in place of the name itself (example: “Negi-sensei,” or simply, “Sensei!”).
Description courtesy of: DelRey Manga, Kodansha, & Ballantine Books
Sempai/Senpai: This title suggests that the addressee is one’s “senior” in a group or organization. It is most often used in a school setting, where underclassmen refer to their upperclassmen as “senpai.” It can also be used in the workplace, such as when a newer employee addresses an employee who has seniority in the company.
Description courtesy of: DelRey Manga, Kodansha, & Ballantine Books
I have been using the “senpai” honorific as a nickname for many years. It just so happens that I am the oldest in age amongst all of my friends, so they jokingly call me “senpai”, not as an actual status symbol or seniority title, but simply because I am their elder. In the beginning, when this nickname was first circulating amongst my friends, I had some sensitive sentiment towards this name. Back then, I was very sensitive towards revealing my age & had negative feelings regarding my age. I still have an extremely hard time talking about my age bracket, but I have become more comfortable with the “senpai” title, & have grown into that role, especially since revealing that one of my biggest & most defining traits is being a take-carer.
Can I count the times when people have mistakenly called me Melissa or Melanie as being called a nickname? Probably not. Hopefully this post will actually publish this time. Sheesh. Cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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