CharmaineTwq's

And I lived; naive and so young.

Thursday, 13 September 2018

PArty in tHe USA

This is going to be a pretty long blog post considering how there were just so so much to do in the first month here. So the first "draft" for this post is written on 22nd August (now HAHA), which means it hasn't exactly been a month yet but still.

Okay, let's start this with departure.

5th August 2018

I cannot believe it has been almost 3 weeks since I left home. I remember crying so hard the night before because I know I will miss home so so much. I hugged Chang to sleep that night. That is going to be the last time in a very very long while before I can do that again. Still feels surreal to be here, alone in this big big city.

I spent that Sunday doing everything I would have done on a typical Sunday where I am not feeling lazy. Woke up for breakfast at Wang Cafe. Ordered tons of Kaya Butter toast.. Really love them. Was considering whether to get myself the Mee Siam set meal instead. I didn't. I'm regretting it now.

It was pretty crazy because I was still packing some of my stuffs up till the moment I left home. If you're wondering, yes, I ended up not bringing some stuffs here and there. But really, it was nothing important, so, good job to myself. (And perhaps Chang and Mama because they were helping me pack too)

The day passed really quickly and YEP fast forward, we were just pushing the luggage over to Popo's house and loading them on the car. My baby told me that for the first time, when he was loading the lugagge for me, he felt "It's really happening".

Had dinner at the airport. Got my fav Honey Green Milktea at Koi. Omg was so disappointed that they do not have grass jelly?!?!?! Had to settle for pearls, sad.

Dis my bb and I waiting for my koi.. :>

So so so many people came to send me off. Am honestly very touched.

MY SHandball team. :") Thank y'all for coming and I'll defo miss training with y'all (omg I really am missing it already)...

This really ridiculous glue pose we had back in Y1...

It's up to y'all to make SHandball great this year. :")

Mananah.

I like this photo so much more but it's really yellowish.. Horrid lighting :(

Thank you guys for coming down!!! And for the really awesome NYC Food Guide and photos (omg right?)

Super glad to have kept these friends. I guess you can consider them my childhood friends!!

Took this with Yiqi first because she said she had to leave before the others came but-

She stayed. HAHA.

Tanama!! Really cool that I'll see him in December because he'll visit Jacq hehe.

Aw man my main men from Sec school.

Ps. so glad to have met up with Yuan Han and Vicky the week before I fly.

BEStie!!!! Thanks for caring and acting like an elder bro I never had.

Thanks for coming Giam!!! ReALly hope you will be able to get into NOC SV :") So so happy to see you working hard towards it.

Ty for coming Shuqi!!! Please be a more responsible human/driver!

Aw l00k iz da only Level 5-mate I have there :") Sad, but everybody was busy with their stuffs. :( But nonetheless, ty for coming Phyloy!!

Lil' bubble from T1 to Sheares to Block E to NM lecs. Keep me updated on juice and hot tea ok.

Ty for coming!! (LOL Reng Tian couldn't make it in time, sadly!!!!)

(crying face) WiLL mISs yOu although all you do is bully me...

mi bffffffffff sOBbles will miss u too. :") Please be happy.

Ahhh waD a WOnderfULLLLLL year (or two) w these lads. Really one of the best takeaway from hall. If any ragrets, it'll be not having enough time to take solo pics w everybody FAK....

MY BUBBZY CHEYCHEY. This idiot ran off to buy Koi I almost missed her bc I was really just rushing to go in already (lol, my fam actually).

I love you so much!!! Please be nice to yourself, take care of yourself when I am not there (physically), and use the metal straw I bought you!

My Uncle-In-Law who rlYYY(!!) loves and dotes on me so so much.

mi fatty was actually rly sad that I was leaving.. :"(

This woman really didn't want me to go btw.. LOL BUT Yas mum, thanks for supporting my decision and also supporting me financially hehe.

<3 <3 <3

SUPER love this d2ble couple feat. tiny mum.

MY ULtimate fav elderlies heheeeee love them. Popo is super worried that I'll gain a lot of weight in NYC... LOL her priority of concern worries me. jk!

The real papi! Heh, don't worry about me, I'll be fine :-)

Also!!! Super thankful for papa (& mama who is in Japan) Chang because y'all have been really friendly and nice to me!! Thank you for coming down to send me off, I am REALLY TOUCHED... :")

I REALLY didn't cry until we have to take a pic.. (ps he was the last person I took a pic with, if you don't consider Chey who was buying Koi). I really couldn't help it. From seeing him almost everyday in hall to not seeing him and being able to be with him physically sure hella sucksss!!!

BOohoo!!! Didn't even get a nice "last pic before NOC" photo with my bae thanks to my cry-y face.

For sure, I am going to end off this series of goodbye photos with this huge ass family photo.

Unlike most kiddos my own age, I am really SUPER close to my Mum's extended family. I really love and miss them so much and I know they do too! Super thankful for every single one of them and the kind of support they've been giving to my family and I. See you guys in a year!!! Also, if you look to the left, you see baby and papa Chang at the corner. LOL SO CUTE RIGHT.... HAHAHAHHAHAA

Oh and I stole a kiss from my babyyyyyy right before I entered. LOL I could faking hear the L6 guys laughing and making unnecessary comments. And yes, they still do every now and then. Haha. Bae was shook, I mean, I just had to.

BABY IDW TO LEAVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Cried so badly when I entered. So did most of my family members.. LOL aww I'll be alright.

How lucky am I to have something so hard to say goodbye to?

Moving on. That night was pretty darn shit. Our flight delayed like MAD and also we missed our transit flight thanks to the delay so we had to wait an additional 5 hours for the next available transit flight... :(

Our "house". If you look closer, Sarah is actually down there behind Chesna but she wasn't ready for the photo.

I'm a real strong believer of foreshadowing in real life.

And I believe that this is a foreshadow that points to the eventual decision Sarah made to move out of our house. HAHAHA.

My first time on Qatar. And yeah, Claudia's right. It's really pink.

The following photos will just be some of the in-flight meals I had.

lol so my dumbass went to ask for Hindu diet because it was the only non-beef option I saw avail online. Didn't know you could just choose the non-beef option when they actually present you the meal. I mean, the Hindu meals were not bad but I just really wanted the normal food because they taste a lot better imo. :(

The free breakfast meal we were given due to the delay in transit. The portion was so huge?! Like, we were expecting 1, if not 2, scoop of scrambled eggs. Mind you, the scoops were relatively big. But nope, that guy deadass gave us three and still gave us bread, hash, sausages and tomatos. omg... None of us could finish this.

Us with the huge ass teddy with a table lamp piercing through it!!!

This is in the second flight (Doha -> JFK).

Chip was great and dats also me watching Brooklyn 99 while otw to Brooklyn (hehe).

Junel can't stop talking about how disgusting the pie was.. but I thought it was OK. Oh but, I REALLY love the coconut muffin thing they had. omg..

Right. We arrived. So so many luggages for 5 girls. I took this pic to send to bae because I was like "omg rly pretty luggages" (ok I didn't say that but I'm not gonna say here what I said, tho it isn't anything bad). HAHHAHAHA

Oh right, almost forgot the mandotory plane shot.

6th August 2018

Okay so we split up after landing. Junel and I got picked up by her Dad's friend. Really nice and helpful uncle who helped us carry our 4x luggages up two flights of stair.

And because our house wasn't ready, we had to crash a senior's apartment. Super thankful that they allowed us to stay there though. They even on the air-conditioner for us (they don't usually use it because $$$) SUPER TOUCHED.. :")

Ded ass shag after the 2 hours wait + 7 hours flight + 5 hours wait + 14 hours flight.

Dis us going out for the first time. Forgot why was she sitting at the stairways but yup, basically.

Some grocery shop near Phoebe's place. I must say that the flowers here are really much prettier AND cheaper than those we have in SG...

I have tons of crappy photos like this... Okay, I know we've been complaining a lot on housing since we came to NYC but what exactly happened, nobody really knows, unless you heard from us personally la of course. Lemme try to sum up the whole housing story as nicely as I can:

Basically, we paid deposit and application fees for house A. But after visiting house A in real life, we felt like the vibes in the neighborhood ain't exactly the best... So we wanted to keep our options open and continued looking at more houses. Also, on top of the bad vibes we got, there were some conflicts (ok they're not exactly conflicts but I don't really know what other words to use, pardon my lack of vocabulary la ok) between my housemates. House A is a 4 bedroom apartment. And so Junel and I are sharing a room, leaving 3 rooms for the other 3 girls (quicc maf). But there was this really small room in the house, probably the size of a hall room but it looks worse because unlike the hall room, this is more squarish while the hall room is more elongated. So, the problem was - none of the girls wanted the small ass room but since Junel and I were already sharing, we couldn't take it. But ultimately, the biggest bOMb a$$ news that dropped on us was that...........

*wait for it*

Somebody got shot (yes, to death) at that exact apartment 3 years ago........................................................................... So, of course, we wouldn't wanna stay there anymore right.... Like, despite all the other problems, we were already READY to move in the NEXT DAY when Mervyn dropped this on us.. Omg y'all should have seen the look of DESPAIR, SHOCK, AND HELPLESSNESS on our faces as we sat on the Subway, not knowing what to do. But I guess this is where the bad vibes were coming from... Talk about hunches. Yikes.

TLDR: Somebody died in the house we paid a deposit for so we had to find a new house.

7th August 2018

Okay so by then we were still house hunting everywhere in New York.

Train station at Phoebe's. PS She stays in Queens.

But Junel and I went to Broadway Lafayette for the first time.

Dude this place is amazing. Junel and I got our FIRST meal in NYC here.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese bread (?) or was it a burger or sandwich, whatever it was, it was AMAZING. DUDe... The bacon was super crispy, cheese was melty and OOzing out. I don't know man. Maybe because it was literally our FIRST meal here so it felt special and diggidy bOMb a$$ amazing.

YAS DIS US w our glo up oily ass faces.

Went grocery shopping for a bit and found the legendary Oreo O's people buy back from Korea. Okay so it's from the same producer as the ones found in Korea - Post, but it only costs less than 4USD each. And honestly, they don't taste as amazing as it sounds... Like, I wouldn't oay 10SGD (or more) to get one in SG.

We had some NOC event at night. Our first Townhall meeting. Since it was the very first one, it was mainly information sharing and settling ourselves down in New York.

Bonus: Free NOC-Sponsored food. Omg this is my first pizza her and I thought it was amazing.. Omg so the red one is a PORK PEPPERONI (lord how rare are these in SG) tomato-based pizza while the white one is a CLAM white sauce pizza. Heaven is definitely a place on earth.

8th August 2018

Can't exactly remember what were we doing in Chinatown but yeah, we were.

Tried this supposedly "good!!!" bubble tea - Kungfu Tea. I'm so glad I paid a little bit more to get Honey Green Milktea because it tasted decent. Junel got the normal Milktea and it sucked on its own bOBA bALls.

I remember us meeting the rest of them at Shake Shack for lunch but Junel and I went to this Chinese cafe to eat some Chee Cheong Fun before that.. LOL their CCF was super sticky and not as nice, ESPECIALLY since they don't serve the sweet sauce... omg jfc.

On the subway to Shake Shack to meet the rest.

Also, we passed by TNYT's building in Manhattan.

I must say that Manhattan vs Brooklyn is basicaly - Expectations vs Reality of NYC.

We then went to Ikea to shop. Okay, we didn't exactly shop since we didn't have a house to shop for. We just looked at the stuffs to consider what should we be getting by the time we come back after we secure a house. :")

Sunset is nice.

My face is too.

Then for dinner, Junel and I met Phoebe and treated her to this Greek restuarant at Carroll Street. My first Greek meal here in NYC, and in my life too.

So I ordered some roasted pork pita bread but they mixed Junel and my order up and gave me beef and her pork. LUCKILY i was vigilent af and realized that the meat looked weird... My Gongong would have been so proud of me if he knew.

Some weird complimentary snack. Am also super glad that time first time we dined out in NYC was with somebody who is already familiar with the payment and tipping system. Lol, wouldn't wanna overpay or underpay and get chased down the streets.

Phoebe then brought us to Van Leeuwen for ice cream -- this place eventually became Junel's favorite ice cream shop in NYC (or at least for now). It's a pretty nice place with good chill vibes. But then again, that's basically the whole of Carroll Street... Oh, we almost rented an apartment here on Carroll Street but didn't because too expensive + rooms too small.

This is a VEGAN peanut butter ice cream. It's made of cashew, coconut and cocoa butter. Cost me 6 USD though, sad.

And yes, did face mask that nighty.

9th August 2018

LOL FIRST NATIONAL DAY SPENT ABROAD - SAY REAL.

So at this point we were still apartment hunting and this is our agent (of the many).

Also, Junel and I didn't pay for our pizza here because we thought Avril's dad paid for us but turns out he didn't, but neither did we...

Went to this cool area for coffee afterwards to discuss housing matters.

Pretty cool cafe.

My first coffee here in NYC btw.

Decided to take some pics of my housemates-to-be because why not?

Really love this shot though.

Saw this wall when we were leaving and yup this pretty much sums up our first week in NYC.

Also, that night, I went (to Phoebe's) home, cry while eating my 凄惨 maggie cup noodles, and skyped Chang. LOL WAS SO STRESS @ the fact that we were homeless ok.

10th August 2018

Went to view Junel's dad's friend's subordinate's wife's sister's house. LOL

It was in Flushing, Queens. Dude it's basically mini Hong Kong over there.

Honestly super good vibes because it feels like home, the house is pretty spacious too! Just that the place is too far from work.. I mean, it's in Queens. (2 of us work in Brooklyn and 2 of us work in Manhattan, just saying)

We also saw our first Gong Cha outlet there HAHA.

Went back to Manhattan's Chinatown to meet Avril and Chesna, we ate Chinese food for the first time in NYC. :")

We ordered the lunch set and dAfOk... This is basically ONE PERSON's lunch set. But really, it was so huge it's comparable to a 小 or maybe even 中 from a typical tze char store back in Singapore.

Just look at this faking thing. BUT, lol I finished the whole plate myself because I really miss Chinese food.... HAHAHHA.

Their brown rice is literally just rice that's brown. LOL

There's complimentary soup for the lunch set and omg REALLY SO HAPPY... The lunch set costs $6.50-ish before tax and tips. Omg, so worth it.

Photo that scare the living daylight of me when I took it because the train honked.

Met up with Terence and Kush's house for dinner at this area called Red Hook.

The bar is called Brooklyn Ice Bear - Nice ambiance but pretty tiny place.

Had my first beer here in NYC - Miller High Life. Honestly enjoyed it because it was literally to the lighter side (which I like).

So Chesna, Junel and I ordered their pulled pork sandwich and their bacon-wrapped, cheddar-filled sausage bun to share. (OMG NOW THAT I SUDDENLY THINK ABOUT IT, WAS DA FKING SAUSAGE MADE OF BEEF AH?!?!?!?!?!?! I DON'T THINK SO BC I WOULD'VE CHECKED BUT I CAN'T RMB......) The sausage bun looks chao da and shit but bruh it tasted so much better than the pulled pork bun - which was really dry and meh..

IT WAS A SUPER SCARY WAY BACK FOR JUNEL AND I BTW. Here's the story -

Basically, we were told the area ain't exactly the safest place for two lone girls to be at at 12am. We missed the bus to get us to the nearest train station (Carroll Street, amazing place) and waiting at the bus stop already felt off.. so, we did the most right thing two sane lone girls would - we Ubered. BUT, because we were not financially stable enough at that point so we Ubered to the train station. You think that's all but NOPE. We had to change train. And I really think it's ridiculous how we had to tap out and walk to the other station. So yup, what else would you expect from this two -100 Luck XP people? We got lost. Omg, it was really so scary because the place was so dark and there's just construction sites everywhere. Omg.. We were about to walk into this dark ass alley to find out way (because fk you Google Maps) then Junel was like "Should we turn back?" and without any hesitation I went " Yup!" and we literally turned our heads and started walking back towards the main road - at least it was lighted and filled with some humans. Then Junel did the smartest thing any lost person could have done - she asked this lady where's the station and turns out she was going to the same station so the three of us walked there together and ended up at the dark ass station you see above.

TLDR: Junel and I got lost but found our way :-)

11th August 2018

I can't remember when did we settle on a house but I think it was today. I THINK. wHATEver. Gone were the homeless days anyways. But ya, this whole housing thing really made me OpEn my smoll Asian EyEs and see through some people. Like really. Humans can really be so selfish despite everything. :")

So this is one of the better day of the shitty week I guess?

Went Manhattan with Junel, had Wendy's for the first time!!

I think it's pretty sad that I don't eat beef. Notice how I say I don't and not I can't. I technically can't because Gonggong would be upset (!!) but yeah, I just don't want to la. I mean, I haven't had it for the past 21 years so why start now. bUT, yup, it's quite sad because that'll mean I can't try all the amazing bomb ass burgers they have here in NYC.

So my fat ass bought a cookie - notice how it's in a paper bag because it'll bring me to my next point.

And the same dumb ass went to keep half of this cookie inside her bag. So the oil seeped out and stained her bag. :") Nice $0.99 cookie nonetheless.

Yup, fancy not-so-cheap thrift shop.

We then went to another thrift shop that's partnering (?) with Salvation army. That one was really.... not so fancy. And also, dirty, dusty, run down, and smelly. LOL. bUt, it was really a lot cheaper so I thrifted an Armani Exchange sweater for only 6USD. (but subsequently when my dumb ass did my laundry, I didn't put it in the netting and hence there is a hole at the back now). Almost thrifted an iron for our house but the shop owner didn't want to sell it because it was something that the woman before us was supposed to get but she forgot. Nice shop keepers. Also, saved us the 7USD we would have spent on the iron if they sold it to us because Kush gave us one. HEHE. They have 3 irons in their house - Kush's, Shrad's, the senior's. LOL.

12th August 2018

So the housing thing got a bit confusing before we finally end up at our current house. Long story cut short, on this one day (I forgot when), we paid deposit for this place and decided on it. But the very next day, this Chesna come text us to ask about another house. It's really near Kush's house (literally across the street) and is cheaper, with bigger and MORE rooms (4 rooms!!!!!!! - oh, at this point there's only 4 people in my house BTW). So we decided to go for this house. But the process of getting there was REALLY tough. Basically had to fork up close to 19,000 USD in one day LLOOOOLLL.. INsane. We all had to go to the banks and shit, take out our life savings, borrow from people, transfer money from SG, bla bla bla. It was SO tough but I must say, it is really worth it. Love our current house. AND we all said yes to it WITHOUT even viewing the damn place because we trust Chesna and her hard selling. LOL. If anything, it'll just be that our Chinese landlord is super skeptical and distrusting of us + our 10% Broker's Fee (omfg leh, normally if we're students, the landlord will offer to pay some such that we only end up paying 1 month worth instead of 10% of the 12 months' rent ZZZ). She even wants us to pay 4 months up front every 4 months. Jfc. WE ARE ALL CHINESE PEOPLE (and also, broke students) SO WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN. But yep, we did some quicc maf and even if we were to forfeit our initial deposit made for the first house (House B, NOT House A), we will still end up paying less. But good for us, we ended up getting back majority of the deposit for House B BUT not House A... Knn the House A agent is really shit okay. They basically hid facts about the house, didn't get the house ready by the agreed deadline (but we thank god for this) and still don't wanna pay us the deposit?!?!?! Name and shame time - the agency is called SimplyBrooklyn (http://www.simplybrooklyn.com/) Boo!!!!! Dishonest, crappy, and rude agents - Especially this guy by the name of Simcha.

Second time at Ikea. Context: Ikea is located in da middle of nowhere so to we have to take a bus to get there and it's not really near anywhere so it really is quite a hassle to get there.

This time, we're shopping for furniture!!! :")

Contacted some delivery guy to help us get the furniture to our HOME!!! :") Took this 3 sec vid to convert it to a gif to send to our SECC group chat because this dude asked Junel if she was from Philippines. LOLOLL DED.

I THINK I saw Keith from the Try Guys.

OH, almost forgot. We had this amazing foot-long Bahn Mi from Manhattan Chinatown.

Yup, I guess this is all there is for a debut NYC blog post. I think the information and details here are BOmb a$$ enough for a post to kick start my documentation of life in New York. And if you remember the very first few lines of this post talking about the day I started working on this post, today is September 12th and I am finally done with it. LOL It wasn't that time consuming but I was just super busy with work and everything. Yoddles.

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