Hello fellow readers! It's been a long time since I last did a blog. It's been a busy time and a wonderful one at that. The journey of my life has been paved from the west to the east of these United States of America. There were so many adventures before we packed up and moved from California to New Jersey.
The first was my fiancé's graduation from UCI. I'm so proud and blessed to have her in my life. She received her PhD last year and boy we all celebrated her achievements. Then she obtained a post doc position at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Thus, our life drastically changed from the warm California sun to the cold wintry winds of New Jersey. The road has indeed been paved from California to New Jersey; the road we traveled on by our car - a Kia Soul packed with our belongings and our dogs - we drove cross-country to a new home, a new life, and new beginnings. Of course we all were excited and anxious for this long journey. It was worth the drive to stop at various places on the way. Stopped at the steakhouses of Texas, the various farmlands of the Midwest to the eastern hills of Illinois, to the skyscrapers of Chicago where I got my first taste of the famous Chicago deep dish pizza; all the way to the state of New Jersey where we arrived just in time to find a nice home in Jersey City.
It is here in Jersey City, a city of New Jersey which is very close to the border where separating us and the amazing skyline is Manhattan where in our sight lines is the amazing state of New York! Basically New York is in our backyard, not far at all! The sense that we are so close to New York excited me and made me happy to realize I'm actually on a whole new side of our country. From California Coasts of Newport Beach while living in Irvine to being so close to New York near the Atlantic beach! This made me realized we drove numerous miles in our car to New Jersey from California. The Pacific Ocean is now so far, far away - our families, our former residence, the life we have there is now on this eastern side of the United States of America. The differences of life here from the West is very different, drastically different for the roads, houses, people and boy! their food! their accents! their libraries! their climates! Are all different from the west. It's not a bad thing but a great thing that takes some getting used to. The hardest thing to get used to was the cold! And their roads (so many one way streets!) and their rules for parking (can't park on this side on Mondays and Thursdays from 8am - 10am)!! Those were confusing! Had to move the car many times being aware of the parking rules. Why? Street sweepers that come to sweep off the snow and/or trash that littered the side of the streets. But as weeks to by I got used to it. Especially the driving from Jersey City to Newark which takes you to the bridges that hover over the Passaic rivers. Drivers here honk incessantly for traffic lights or drivers that don't move, so much goes on when driving- double parked cars, have to go around them, the speed of drivers to beat a light or going around parked cars and the numerous pedestrians that don't use crosswalks to cross from one side of the street to the next. Basically, in driving in the east have to be fully aware and watch for cars and pedestrians. Not only that but watch for the snow and their icy conditions that will create icy roads. Now I love the snow, but have to be very careful driving on these New Jersey roads with more attention than ever! It took some getting used to but now I'm a professional driver in New Jersey. I learned that in order to drive here in the east must grow much more patience when being a driver.
Since we been here right before the holidays - Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Years, the snow and the cold came down. Right before we settled into our new cozy home with our two dogs there came Hurricane Sandy! We got a big wake up in our first big storm of last year! Of course our California blood got us prepared big time before the storm came. Being used to California earthquakes and the big one, we all got materials and supplies to be ready for anything. The storm wrecked havoc on Long Island and hit alot here as well. But luckily we lived in the Heights and our place is high above ground we didn't experience any outages and wind damage, we thanked God we were safe indoors. Of course our families were worried but the cell towers were down from the wind that knocked them out - so we didn't have any communications with them with our cell phones neither the internet and that gave them a big worry. As soon as we were back up, we contacted them to let our families know we came through our first eastern storm alright.
Now that was a big wake up for all of us in our first eastern storm experiences. After that a huge downfall of snow was nothing - it was cold! But it also was beautiful! Especially when Christmas came around the corner and we got a first Eastern Christmas tree and decorated and the whole home felt Christmasy. More than likely the snow covered the whole city with a white sheet, the holidays felt cozy and good. Then that Christmas came with all of us enjoying ourselves as our White Christmas came alive just outside our windows. I loved it! It was pure magic, I always wanted more White Christmases and this was our first in the East, in the state of New Jersey.
Earlier in the months before Christmas came, we made our first visit to New York! We took the Path from Hoboken to the World Trade Center into Manhattan. This was our first travel to ever step foot into New York. It was exciting and fun! We visited Time Square and all around us was the shops and the Board way productions, the dazzling array of lights and the smell of hotdogs. It was a beautiful day because the sun was out and the people were out (boy the people were in high numbers!) and the traffic was insane! No wonder people walk and take subways to go from one destination to the other. It was amazing to have hotdogs and sit in middle of Time Square because it was too much to take in! Billboards advertising each Boardway productions happening at the time - Wicked, Phantom of Opera, Book of Mormon, Chicago, etc and so many others!! I looked up at the huge clock and there was the year 2012 New Years Ball as it sits waiting for the year to be done and ready to drop for the next year (which was only a few months away!). We decided to go see our first off-broadway production, Stomp! It was fun and entertaining! We even stopped at the huge Disney Store on Boardway. In time we took the subway back and passed the uneventful day of the Twin Towers and I looked up at the site where many lives were lost and I felt the pangs of sadness at the lives lost here in this huge city. We passed this and saw the memorial site being built to honor those lives that were lost and whose lives were saved by the heroes of 9-11. As we continued to walk around New York, we stopped among the throngs of people and craned our necks up high as we saw the Empire State Building towering over us. That was an amazing sight! We continued our walk back to the subway that took us to the Path back to New Jersey and we headed home. I absorbed everything about New York in that one day and I loved it! We eventually went back and witnessed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in person. Lining up the streets the bustle of people who want to take a peek at the parade passing by. It was thanksgiving and it was a great time to see the huge balloons that made this Thanksgiving parade a sight to behold! But it was cold!! The coldness didn't bother me because I had so much fun watching these gigantic balloons and watch as Santa Clause went by starting this Christmas seasons in the state of New York! Our first Christmas in the East!
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