To My Best Friend
Love Lives On"Those we love are never really lost to us - we feel them in so many special ways - through friends they always cared about and dreams they left behind, in beauty that they added to our days...in words of wisdom we still carry with us and memories that never will be gone...Those we love are never really lost to us - for everywhere their special love lives on." - Amanda BradleyMay you find the courage to face tomorrow in the love that surrounds you today.
May the love of friends be a source of comfort to you at this time!
Central Park in Summer
Today was an outing event for my business unit, we went for a movie walking tour to NYC's gigantic Central Park. After the Gates exhibition in cold winter, this is my 3rd visit to the park, but the first one with so many people in the group and a tour guide!
There were actually a lot of movies shot either within the Park or the surrounding areas, with Sex and the City of course being a key one.
Thanks God that we also have quite nice weather. We still had the Sun up but it was not that hot and we did have some shades during the walk, plus I had my Gatorade lemonade with me. So even though, I was walking with my shoes on, I enjoyed it. What a co-incidence, I actually turned on the TV last night and I watched a program on Discover Channel - talking about the construction of New York City and of course the Central Park being one of the major project - a man-made landscape park measures 50 blocks in length from south to north of Manhattan Island! The nice idea of having such a huge park for the busy New Yorkers, plus incorporating all the cross-town traffic in the Park were among the great ideas of the engineerers.
5 Stars (out of 5) recommended for your NYC visit next time :)
Summer Break?
Yes, I did think so...as I did not follow soccer (or football!) as much as I used to be; and I thought it is over after both of my beloved teams failed to attain any championships this season. What a sad season...BUT, then I found that there are actually a lot in the so called summer break! My Fox Soccer Channel here in NYC is still showing FIFA World Youth Championship, Women's European Championship and Confederations Cup! For Women's Euro, I just used to watch some of their World Cups so I did watch some and they were great games - esp. the Germans, amazing techniques and display. The fact that they claimed 6 out of the 9 European Championships in the past tells all. Then there was the Chinese team's 3 straight wins in the Under-20 players' stage and of course the even more exciting and profiled Confederations Cup. Not just the fact that all the eight teams are current champions from their continent, but it is a practice to next year's World Cup in Germany.
Haha, so soccer is still with me ^___^
NYC Street Fairs
A couple weeks ago, I realized that NYC (and possibly other cities in the US) has a street fair organization who holds street fairs in the summer. The first one I had experienced was on the 7th Avenue, right north of Times Square area; and I met another again on on the 6th Avenue, The Avenue of Americas today.
It has an international section that they showed international booths and presentations. It reminded me the Global Village in AIESEC conferences :) I saw a Ukrainian choirs and then some Egyptian stalls, as well as some different cuisines from various countries, Mexican, Italian sausages, Bubble tea, etc...
I think it is a great idea to have such street fairs which can offer some cheap stuff/food to local people, as well as a great sunday walk for tourists, too. But that might be not a good idea for cab drivers, as a lengthy part of the entire avenue will be blocked by NYPD (New York Police Department).
Movie Night
Tonight, I went out with the friends I met here from OCM church, there are a few happy things I wanna share:
1) First of all, it was a great movie, "Madagascar". I enjoy it very much. It talked about good friends Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra went through an adventurous trip out from where they were belonged to - The New York Central Park Zoo and having all these tough times and arguing, etc...but after it reminded us what do we really want - a wild life or friendship or what is our most treasured value.
2) It is always great to have some companions to hang out with; and just simply feeling good.
3) To add on the previous point, for friends, I would like to thank Peik Wu for offering all of us the "Tuen Ng Chung" (a traditional food where Chinese will have during the Dragon Boat Festival, sorry that I do not know the English translation but it is like a wrap with sticky rice and some meats, ingredients and flavors vary from type to type...). It was like an unexpected surprise - never think about getting it in New York city and I almost forgot the Chinese festival...that reminded the Dragon Boat races at home...in my hometown and Hong Kong, as well. A feeling of sweetness ^_^
Philadelphia - The City of Liberty
Just came back from a weekend day-trip to Philly (Philadelphia, PA).
I went with my co-worker Winnie, some AIESECers in town (Pearl, Erica and Arnie), quite some walks, but I enjoyed the companies and the trip itself very much!
Philly was the capital of the United States and the Declaration of Independence was signed and announced there. And most important, the symbol for American liberation - the Liberty Bell, which is kept in the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia now. The bell itself has a crack on it but just like the idea for liverty itself - it will not be perfect but because of the imperfectness, we will treasure it much more!
I was also impressed by how "quiet" the city was. Somehow Philly is also quite an important city on the east coast, however, when we were walking on the streets, it looked so empty. However, the architecture, the Art Museum and the settings of the downtown area are all very impressive! Maybe the only complaint from me was the high humidity, the thing I hated the most for summer, even at home. Well, afterall, we had some exercises (walking tours) and then sweated a lot; so hopefully it is a good sign for keeping ourselves fit ^_^
Summer Time - Sha La La La
"Sha La La La...Sha La La La...oh, summer time..." I remember there was a song with lyrics similar to this when we were young in HK. And these days the hot weather in NYC reminds me that a lot. Sunday was quite bad indeed - about 30C/89F and 93% humidity...plus some rains. Thouh I grew up in HK, I do not really like and tolerate these kind of summer climate.
Good things about summer to me, is always about Boat Trips, Doing sports, such as soccer in High School), Seafood and the dayoffs we used to have when typhoons come and hit HK! But my payoff is SWEATING!
I am expecting NYC, as it has higher lattitude, the humidity will not be too high..and I'll see in these 2 months; but the worse thing is we are heading to Florida, which is a tropical climate -_-"
I guess I'll survive...it's just another summer; and my dream will be waiting for my most favorite season to come back - The Autumn!
New Online Album
Dear friends,
Just wanna inform you all, I have a new online album:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/calvinmcp/This is an additional site for my former one. Both will be in use, with newer pictures kept in this new MSN site. You can follow the links to both sites from the side bar on the right of this page.
Enjoy~
Back to my Tourist Role
After about 3 weeks acting like a host for friends coming in town, I am back to my role of a visitor in NYC again today!
Just came back from a fruitful afternoon touring trip to UN Headquarters on the eastern side of the Manhattan Island, NY Public Library (Humanities & Social Science), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockfeller Centre/NBC Store, NBA Store at 5th Avenue, Street Fair on 7th Avenue...it was a wonderful day. I did goto Rockfeller at night back to the first few weeks when I had a dinner appointment at Grand Central; but this is my first time, and during daytime, to check it out and take some pictures, like everybody else does in the area this afternoon. I like the UN visit the most indeed. Joined a tour led by a Swedish/Indian mixed guide for around an hour in the HQ building, we visited the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic & Social Council meeting halls and the gift shops ^__^ I learnt so much today there...sharing some of the things I know more about the world and UN below:
1) How many countries are currently members of the UN?
2) How many Secretary-General altogether since UN established after WWII?
3) How many non-permanent members in the UN Security Council? How long are their terms?
4) Why was NYC be picked as the UN HQs?
5) How many languages does UN offer for simultaneous interpretation in its meetings?
6) How many sessions do the UN has so far?
(hint: a session runs from Oct to Sep)Alright...how many questions of the above do you have an answer with now?
1) UN has 191 member country now. UN does not grant the status of independence to a country, but the country inside instead. These 191 nations have equal voting power in the General Assembly.
2) Six, including the current one Mr. Kofi Annan from Ghana. But during their official appointment as UN staff, one does not serve for its own country or acting on its behalf.
3) There are 5 permanent members the US, the UK, Russia, France and China and 10 non-permanent member nations, with each has a two-year term.
4) The current venue for UN HQs was donated to UN by the New York City, and it is an international territory, meaning that it doesn not belong to the US government but all the 191 nations instead.
5) In UN meetings, there are 6 languages offered - English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Because these are the most widely spoken languages on earth.
6) In the coming September, the UN is having it's 60th Anniversary!
