Allentown, Pennsylvania

May 30, 2012

Eva (aka Jenellie, I will use these names interchangeably) is one of my oldest friends. We met in seventh grade, when she moved to Phoenix from Michigan. Throughout our years of school together, you could always count on us to wreak havoc and cause drama. Thankfully, and regrettably, she moved away from Phoenix at the end of our Junior year, when she went to England and regions of Asia to be a missionary. She is an extraordinary young woman, so I boarded an airplane on May 30 to visit her in her new town of Allentown, Pennsylvania. I enjoyed my traditional pre-flight Starbucks drink, and boarded the plan with the rest of my first-class companions. I enjoyed an in-flight breakfast, extra wide chairs, and a nice business man next to me, who engaged in small talk about my college, the book I was reading, and my Philadelphia plans. Six or so hours later, I was greeted by Eva and her mother at the end of the terminal, where they bought me a bag of chips, a soda, and warned me that dinner would be late.
May 31
It was a Thursday, and was also decidedly my day to rest and relax and become acquainted with the Pennsylvania time zone. It was a glorious day, spent on the most comfortable bed I have ever sat my butt on (Eva has a wonderful bed from Ikea. I've coveted it for our entire friendship.), watching 24, the popular tv show.

Ready for the movie!

Two episodes in, we decided the goal of our vacation together was to finish the entire first season of 24. I believe we watched 4 episodes, the entirety of disk 1, that day. I napped through episode 4.
After, we decided to go see the midnight premier of Snow White and the Huntsman, the creative spinoff of Snow White where Kristin Steward cheated on her vampire husband with the director. All in all, we found the movie to be quite wonderful, but the 20-minute drive back to her house at 2 am was priceless, because I know all of her buttons, and at 2 am, I thought it was a good idea to push them. Eva expressed her annoyance by turning off the radio, and blasting the air conditioning.

June 1
I fell asleep around 3 am, only to wake up at 6 and go to a "volunteer appreciation" breakfast, because Eva worked at an inner-city school during the year. I really had no need to be there, but it was great, because it was the only real bacon and eggs I had during my trip, and I got to watch a little kid (5th grade) rap an awesome inspirational song that I don't remember right now.
The rest of Friday was spent--you guessed it--laying on Jenellie's bed, watching 24, because tomorrow was to be spent in New York City!
(Side note: We went to a local amusement park called Dorney Park--it was combo water and amusement park. Eva's friend Michelle accompanied us, and we had a wonderful (if freezing) time--I just don't remember which day this happened on. I'm feeling it may have been the First or the Third, but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is that it was fun--traipsing around in our bikinis in the middle of Pennsylvania. I even got to pretend I was an employee, and snuck into the employee cafeteria after Eva and Michelle, who are both actually employees on Fridays, and we ate yummy amusement park food for a small portion of the price. Simply, we had a good time.)
June 2
We woke up before we were ready to. It was at 7 in the morning, but we were up late the night before, visiting Jenellie's co-workers at Chick-Fil-A.  We piled in the car, with fruit in our purses and toast in our laps. I slept the entire way through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and woke up when we were going over the bridge into New York. What a sight! I'd never been in a city so big, bustling, and dense. It amazed me that there were signs posted "No Honking, $300 Fine." The streets were all one way, and seemed confusing, but Eva's mom knew where we were going--a multi-story garage where we left the minivan all day as we walked around the Big Apple.
First, we stopped by all the large television broadcast stations. I was able to see Thirty Rockefeller (NBC), the corner where the Today Show is filmed, as well as the Fox National News weather broadcast. I was even able to meet the meteorologist, and watched him (live!) as he commented on the scorching hot weather I had left behind in Phoenix. After he was off the air, I was able to shake his hand (tell him I was attending Walter Cronkite School of Journalism), and learned that he was from Prescott, Arizona! Even though I'm not a major fan of Fox's news, it was still a wonderful experience to meet someone who is on national TV daily.
After our encounter with Mr. Meteorologist Guy, I ate my pear before it became too squished in my bag, and we stopped by a French bakery, snagged some goodies, and walked on. The macaroon I bought was heavenly. Before I knew it, we were on 5th Avenue, where I was able to see all the big stores--Sak's (which is really just called Sak's there, not "Sak's Fifth Avenue"), H&M, Hollister, Coach, as well as some even bigger names I don't remember. We also stopped inside St. Patrick's Cathedral to look around, but a graduation was occurring. A graduation. In St. Patrick's. I wish I could have graduated somewhere cool like that...
Our stroll down 5th Avenue ended at Central Park, where I posed the question, "Where do the ducks go when the pond freezes?" I was disappointed when Jenellie, her mother, and her father all showed blank expressions, and tried to give real answers. Does anyone read good books these days?
We took some photos in the park, on a bridge, by a gate--the basics. It was really beautiful, though. I stopped to think a few times, how glorious it is, a full 843 acres (thank you Wikipedia) in the middle of the city, lush and green, and beautiful.
In full New York fashion, we soon hurried out of central park on to the next adventure--a sort of Saturday Market down one of the other numerical avenues. Eva found enough scarves to satiate her needs, while her mother knocked out her Christmas shopping list purchasing scarves for all the ladies at her church group. I didn't really find much at this public market; I was too anxious and excited for the upcoming subway ride.
The subway we took went from downtown to Chinatown/Little Italy. The subways were much cleaner than my mother made them out to be (she is obsessed with all the rats found in NYC. Ob-sessed.), and there were postings of "raticide" application at the far end of each track, where they were basically unreadable. I assume that was done because, a) law requires signs to be posted, and b) if anyone actually could read what the signs said, they would evacuate the subway. But, hey, it was a fun experience, and the stench of rat poison went away as soon as you got in the subway. I, personally, was rather impressed with the art inside the subway. Anyway, the ride was quick, and before I knew it, we were off the subway and walking around Chinatown, on our way to SPQR, an authentic and delicious Italian restaurant in the Italian district.

The walk was filled with the scent of fish, and Chinese characters. I pretended like I could read them, but goodness knows I couldn't. We walked straight, turned a few corners, and we were at SPQR, where we all ordered delicious Italian dishes. The lunch talk was filled with yawns, and discussions of current plans. It was nearly 2 pm, and we were all tired. We decided to head to the boat tour, and battery park, an hour earlier than our tickets were posted for, but it was no issue--they let us on the earlier boat with no problem.
From the harbor tour boat, I was able to see the Statue of Liberty for the first time, as well as Ellis Island, where my Great-grandfather Dragutin Kalcich came over from Croatia. Sadly, all I wanted to do on that boat ride was fall asleep. I was absolutely exhausted. We all agreed that it was time to head back to the van, after a stop at the large M n' M store, where Eva bought $15 worth of M 'n M's. It was a chocolate party.
I quickly fell asleep once we were in the car, and I honestly don't remember anything else about that day except how good it felt to sleep.
June 3
Sunday was a bum day, too. Jenellie's Dad is a pastor, and her mom is a prominent womanly leader in the church, but we didn't attend Sunday morning services. We slept in late, ate lunch, and watched more 24! We were probably on episode 13 by the time we left for the brand-new 6:43 pm church service. It was a nice service, definitely the first service at that hour of the day, and I probably paid more attention to the rain pouring on the gym roof than the pastor preaching, because I remember how loud the rain was, but don't really remember what the lesson was. I do remember the after party, where there were chicken wings, bleu cheese dressing, and really yummy smoothies. Jenellie made a few new friends, and we played Catch Phrase together, where I officially embarrassed her by answering her question, "Amanda, how do I drive?" with "Terribly." Thankfully, everyone found it hilarious, we laughed, and went home when it closed up at 9:30 pm. And slept.
June 4
Intercourse. Pennsylvania. Oops, sorry. Intercourse, Pennsylvania. It's a city filled with the Amish, small boutiques, and adorable scenery. We spent an hour and a half driving there, and spent an equal hour and a half browsing the shops, fudge store, and sitting staring at a field.
It was a perfect time to kick back and simply enjoy the beautiful scenery that Pennsylvania offers, as well as learn a lesson.
A lot of houses in the country prominently display metal stars by their door, over their windows, at the apex of their house, wherever. I wanted to know why, so I kept my eyes peeled for the stars while we were in stores. Eventually, I found one. Turns out the stars are symbolic of a perfect family structure. The top point is representative of God. The two middle points are representative of parents, because they are supposed to look up to and obey God. The two lower points represent children, as children are supposed to obey their parents as well as God. It was nice to see some old-time Christianity in the back country of the USA.
Eva quickly became bored with the quaint town, and urged we go home. I didn't want to argue with her, it was her gas we used to get there, and her gas we were going to use to get back--how soon she wanted to use it was completely up to her.
June 5
I got the picnic I had been asking for the entire week. We packed sandwiches, blueberries, and some other goodies and headed out to Trexler Nature Preserve, near Jenellie's community college. We sat on a bench, while Eva froze to death, and I enjoyed my sandwich and blueberries in the glorious outdoors that God created.
I wanted to go on a hike, but Eva pleaded, begged, kicked, and screamed, to go back to the car. So we compromised--an hour exploratory car ride through the back roads of Trexler(town?), Pennsylvania. We may have become a little lost, but we eventually made our way back to her house safe and sound, after seeing many nifty covered bridges. We continued our tradition of finishing the day with a few episodes of 24, and before we knew it, we were done with the entire first season! It was beautiful, and then she made me watch Glee. Which was better than I expected, but still disappointing after the first few episodes.
June 6

We spent most of the day talking, reminiscing, and enjoying our friendship. We talked about her decision to return to England for mission work (this coming January!), my love life, our friendship, our futures. I boarded the plane with sadness, but without regrets. I had an excellent adventure in Pennsylvania, with a dear friend. I certainly would not have traded this trip for anything in the world, especially because I don't know when I shall see Eva next.