I'm home.

What can I say? I had a good trip. I saw a lot of things, most of them touristy, but a few of them not. I met relatives, and made observations on strangers. 

(Conclusion on that, by the way, if you insist, is that all the people I met on the street were very helpful and friendly. With storepersons and securitypersons, it varied. Yes, America does seem to have some issues with safety and security, both in inadequacy and overcompensation. But I never felt unwelcome, and I certainly discovered some very human, compassionate things.)

Goodbye, 'Murrica! 'Bye, all! Thankyou for coming on this journey with me. Let's do it again sometime!

Melon

This morning my cousin took us to a great place to have Southern BBQ. Well, we went to the new restaurant that had opened as part of the chain which had started in his college town and spread. I loved it!

Then began the approximately 24-hour plane journey back to Australia. So I’m almost notoriously bad at doing real-world things like handling airports, banking and the like. This time I left my laptop in my luggage when I checked it in. I checked at every stop if TSA had let it go through (lithium-ion batteries are not supposed to go in luggage, and my laptop was ON, I might add), because it would be a major pain if it doesn’t get on a flight, because if it got stuck in, say, Atlanta, I have pretty much no way of getting it back.

Other than that, it was a pretty smooth journey. At one point mid-journey I noticed this. Guess who?

(L-R) My mother, myself, and my older brother.

 Interesting to see how we’re passing the time on the flight in the same way – or are we?

Took a tour of the UN headquarters in NYC this morning. I saw that it really is an amazing organisation – it’s really inspiring to see the displays they have, including depictions of the Declaration of Human Rights and the Millennium Development Goals, and to be in the rooms where big decisions are made – the chambers of the General Assembly and the Security Council.

Also confirmed the things that will have to be on to-do list the next time I come – among them Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, the Lower East Side and The Strand bookstore.

P.S. Edited the junk food image from a few entries ago because I realised I’d forgotten some. :P

It’s my last couple of days “in” NYC (still commuting of course) so I’m doing all the quintessential New York things I still haven’t done – Broadway, Central Park, The Met, Macy’s.

Central Park was beautiful. I loved seeing people sleeping and reading there – probably locals. I saw many people doing different forms of exercise there too.

I saw a matinee on Broadway, but found it wasn’t really any different from seeing a show in any other theatre. Maybe I would find it different if I was watching an evening show? I bet it’s great to live where you could see a show whenever, though.

I’m liking New York more now that I can ignore some of the huge expectations built up by friends.

I really like Philadelphia. Maybe because I didn’t have my expectations built up like New York and DC, but also because it’s a nice combination of old and new. Not to mention – Philly cheesesteak at Pat’s? I got a pleasant surprise – it’s good stuff!

Scrapple, however, which I had with pancakes at The Dutch Eating Place (Start Your Day The Amish Way), must be an acquired taste.

Also saw the LOVE statue today – I like how small it is. I was warned it’s underwhelming, but I love that such a tiny statue created such a well-known icon.

Dinner was at a diner back in suburban New Jersey – not the burger and shake kind, the family restaurant kind. I discovered it’s LOTS of good food (with a huge variety!) for a ridiculously low price. If I lived here, I think I’d be at the diner all the time.

I admit back in New York at first I did not want to visit the 9/11 Memorial. I have always somehow not really been able to connect with the event, and I expected it to be a bunch of museums and photos and accounts of the event, and somehow I just wasn’t interested. But my brother insisted we go, so I went.

It was well worth visiting. It was actually a park on Ground Zero with a few memorials – the two pools where the Twin Towers stood were classy, respectful and beautiful. I love that the names around the pools were arranged thoughtfully; fulfilling requests and showing connections. I was embarrassed to admit, though, that I didn’t know about the WTC attacks of 2/26/93.

So today I visited the Pentagon memorial. It too was done well, and although very simple, provoked thought. I certainly can relate a lot more with the events of 9/11 than I could before.

 Arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania today, to see the history of American development. It is interesting to see a country with so much more history than mine. I used to think we’d both been around for about 200 years. Not true! USA was a nation before Australia was even settled. Not to mention the difference in structure; America had to fight for independence from Britain, agree to a common set of ideals and even afterward there were still battles. Australia just kind of agreed to be a nation (after the officials went on a cruise and partied, or so I’ve heard) and the power of the states comes from the federation. I visited the hall where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed. It’s amazing to think of a convention where people negotiated terms being held so long ago.

Today I continued to see the sights of DC. I’ll share something I found interesting today.

According to Newseum, the Nordic countries have the most free news (freedom of press) in the world, and are the most democratic and least corrupt. They are also in the world’s top 5 for the highest newspaper readership. I think this is fascinating – my companion suggested that perhaps that is the case because they trust their media. I wonder what else causes high news readership?

It was outside there that I saw a protest targeted at the International AIDS Conference taking place in the city.

The other thing from today is that we had dinner in a popular restaurant that evening. As usual, at the beginning of the meal our waitress introduced herself and talked us through the menu. It was a tapas place so we chose a few things to begin with and then chose a few things later in the meal. When we wanted to order those our waitress was nowhere to be seen. We waited a little bit, and as she didn’t appear, we asked somebody else, who said she would, to take the order. When our original waitress re-appeared to ask how things were going (we had expected her to do so earlier), she seemed put out to hear it. “You ordered with somebody else?” She recommended another item on the menu and took our order for that. At first I thought we had committed a large faux pas by ordering with someone other than our assigned server, but then I had it pointed out to me that we had given her a chance and she had nowhere to be seen, so we did what was right.

An update on the safety thing – I have seen more crime here (yesterday I saw a man chasing another man, “Stop that man!” and the chasee finally stop and return an item; a block away, I saw a group of young people calling the police while one of them held fabric to his jaw). But that data might not mean anything at all.

Today we began wandering what I now call the city of Parthenons, after the abundance of buildings with grand front pillars in exactly the same style as each other.

I saw the White House, of course. There was a big fence around its garden so we couldn’t get the photos one would want, but there were still a lot of tourists taking photos with the House in front of the fence. It was interesting to see what tourists do at the White House gates – pose for photos reading The Economist, pose for photos ‘climbing’ the fence, and taking photos of their stuffed animals with the White House (that guy was related to me).

We had Five Guys, ‘cause we’re fans of Obama’s Five Guys addiction, which was not bad – the burger was pretty normal other than the standard two meat patties, but the chips were really good.

I actually wasn’t that interested in those iconic buildings, but I did enjoy the museums. One of the most fun parts of the day was seeing my cousins go crazy in a CVS, helping me fulfil my American dream of eating all the standard junk food fare.

Edit: I forgot some! Here we go:

To those affected by the events in Aurora, CO, I have only one thing to say:

We too are affected. Our thoughts are with you.

I roadtripped from New Jersey to Virginia today. I’ll be spending the next couple of days in Washington, D.C. It’ll still be a squeeze to fit in as much as we’d like to in just a few days, but I think it’s a more achievable task than the one we have before us in New York City (which mission I will continue next week upon my return to NJ).

During much of this trip I’ve had songs in my head: Downtown, Oklahoma, Santa Fe, Good Morning Baltimore, Country Road, and so on. That’s right, because all I know of most places in the United States is from popular culture, I have a medley of music in my head – Broadway, folk, pop, you name it – which plays every time I hear a word which triggers a musical memory.

After arriving in VA, I followed my brother to the Udvar-Hazy Center, one of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museums.  The planes were displayed wonderfully, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was displaying a history of war. It was cool, but sort of mindbreaking, that they could display equipment used in both sides of a war – if they can obtain a weapon from the other side (in peacetime, presumably), what is the relationship between the warring parties really like?
Making small talk with my newly-met cousins later in the day, my brother stated that he loved New York City. A well-travelled cousin agreed; it was one of his favourite cities. In answer to a question about the USA, my brother replied that he would also like to visit San Francisco, Seattle, and so on. This made me think.  Although I have my own reasons behind why I may not respond with the same level of emotion as other people to commonly enjoyed experiences, I am finding that a cause could be that I simply have different interests to other people. I am not as interested in those cities. In the United States, I would like to visit the Deep South. I want to visit Ohio. I want to visit New Orleans. I want to visit places which are truly different from my own. These responses are all instinct, though; none of these are opinions I have consciously formed (not to mention I know next to nothing about the geography of the USA).

 More on personal safety in this country. I was walking down the main street of Alexandria, VA this evening when my brother halted next to me. I’m not sure we should go any further, he said. The waterfront was just a couple of buildings ahead.  Why not? I asked. It might not be safe, my twenty-something brother replied. I was quite surprised. Yes, it was night, but there were two of us and it was the main street of a fairly well-lit small town. It hadn’t crossed my mind that it might not be safe. We took a few steps forward, past a few cars which were stopped but with engines still running. Those are cops, my brother said, seeming relieved, and continuing ahead. I personally didn’t feel any safer because there were cops around. After all I’ve heard about cops in America, I have to say that at times I view them as much of a threat as, well, other things. I feel guilty about this, because I have a lot of respect for police and the jobs that they do. But I have to admit what my first instincts were.

Finally ‘did’ Times Square this morning, by which I mean took the chance to look around, not just go through it while running for the bus. I liked it, but I don’t know if it’s that much more amazing than the other big cities I’ve visited (Hong Kong being the one that springs to mind). I did like that it’s probably the one place in the world where you will see Elmo, Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse within 3 metres (I’m sorry, 10 feet) of each other.

I visited Grand Central Terminal today. Standing on the stairs looking down onto the crowds going through the station, I found it just as peaceful as the High Line. 

I know that I will have much too little contact with people here to be able to have a good understanding of how they treat foreigners. But just to keep you updated, so far I have found pretty much all the Americans I’ve encountered to be polite and helpful, always saying excuse me before pushing past (I remember asking my mother two weeks into a Hong Kong trip how to say ‘excuse me’, because I’d never heard the expression before) and offering to give directions or advice whenever they realise we’re lost or tourists.

P.S. Poppyseed bagels with lox spread are amazing. Unfortunately I was on the go so I didn’t grab a New York Times to go with it, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Something that made me stop and reflect today actually has nothing to do with America. On my way down to NYC this morning, I passed the scene of an accident with a fatality. It really bothered me. I’m off to have fun and experience the world today, but today, someone else lost their life. I really hate road tolls and road kill; it is one of the most pointless, avoidable ways to die. I thought about this carefully before getting my driver’s licence (for the record, I haven’t got it yet, although I have had some lessons at the wheel); whether I was willing to take the risk that I could kill someone, even if it was “just” a bird. I know roads and automobiles have given civilisation a greatly improved way of life, but sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it.

I’m sure you will be pleased to know that for the true American experience I am trying to experience as many American foods as possible, particularly the brand names I’ve heard so many times but never experienced. So far I have done pretzel and hot dog from a food truck, Snapple, purple cow, Dunkin’ Donuts and pastrami sandwich, but today I purchased Peeps, Twizzlers and Butterfinger, and there is still a lot on my list, such as Twinkies and Kool-Aid. I’ll keep you updated.

Highlights of New York City for me so far have been: The Shake Shack, because I love diners, the High Line, because I love peace in the middle of a busy city, buskers on the subway, because they really do bring entertainment to the subway, and Katz’s Delicatessen, because it’s a place with lots of character.

Something I will need to contemplate further is how differently personal safety is considered here compared to what I have experienced in Australia. My brother and I were trying to think of ways to get home at night so we didn’t have to be tucked in by 9:30 every night and miss half the big city experience. We suggested walking home from the bus stop in suburban New Jersey, but my cousin vetoed the idea. I wouldn’t walk home after dark, he said. Not even in the suburbs? I asked. No, he said. Although, he admitted, you are speaking to a guy who’s been mugged. A bit later, when we once again considered the idea and he ruled it out, my brother thought aloud, what kind of place is this?
A place where anyone can carry a gun, my cousin responded.

It strikes me as interesting. Back where I’m from people don’t really consider suburbs like the one we’re staying in dangerous to walk in at night, especially for men. My brother and I bowed to my cousin’s superior experience of the place and went home early, but there is a part of me which thinks I would do it anyway – not every day if I lived here, but once or twice now because this is one of the few chances I get to explore NYC. However, I think this is my invincible-young-person attitude talking, which isn’t necessarily the voice I should be listening to.

Today, I saw New York City. Originally I had thought to start from lower Manhattan and work uptown, perhaps to acclimatise a bit before seeing Midtown, where all the iconic features of New York are, and maybe also because I expected that the rest of New York would be dull if I saw Times Square first. However, fate had other plans. As the bus terminal is located on 42nd Street, my first impression was of all the lights and billboards as I emerged from underground… right into the heart of Times Square. I liked it; I felt comfortable amidst the lights and bustle, as I always have in the heart of any city. (I’ve always thought it was because I was born in Hong Kong, the 24-hour city of Asia; I have big city in my blood.) However, after walking through it for about 5 minutes my companions mentioned that it was overwhelming. My response: Overwhelming? Hardly! I wouldn’t have minded even more bulb lights and shops.

Before I continue with the other things I saw, I have to mention something which I believe greatly affects my experience of New York City. I am visiting the city that never sleeps… but I have a curfew. Because we are staying with relatives in a suburban area of adjacent New Jersey, we ride a bus an hour to a bus stop near their house, where they pick us up each evening. Because they work early, the latest we can be at the bus stop by is shortly after 10pm. This greatly disappoints me as I am always interested in the nightlife of every city I visit. However, in the United States I am underage, so one wonders how much nightlife I could have experienced even if I had all night.

When exploring both suburban New Jersey I saw the flags in the yards and noted how much patriotism Americans possess. Seeing downtown New York, I noted how the quality of ‘Americanness’ is used in branding, again reflecting the amount of patriotism Americans possess. Where in Australia we would have stores marked Lawrence Dry Cleaners and City Stationery, America has American Dry Cleaners and American Office Supplies. All public transport in New York has the American flag on it; I think you could live in Australia for 6 months and still not know what the Australian flag looks like. I haven’t visited many countries, so I don’t have an answer to the question: is America particularly patriotic, or is Australia simply particularly un-patriotic? I would not be surprised if it were the latter: it fits in with our laid-back, larrikin stereotype. I suspect, however, that it is a combination of both: while we Aussies may not be patriotic, Americans are particularly so. What I have heard and now seen of America seems to support this.

Something that did surprise me, however, given that it seems to be fashionable to harbour a certain amount of negativity towards Americans, is the generous and understanding attitude I have come across in the city. I noticed a busker playing the guitar and did a double-take, for his guitar case was filled with not coins, but notes. Moving closer, I was reminded that the States have a one dollar note – yes, that explains it. The lowest note denomination in Australian currency is five dollars. But does that explain it? In Australia buskers’ instrument cases and hats contain a few silver coins, valued much below a dollar. This case was overflowing with one dollar bills! As the exchange rate can be considered at parity, the comparison is easy. Americans are much more generous to buskers than Australians are. I can think of two explanations: firstly, that it was a tourist area, and so the donations could actually have been from tourists. So, non-representative data collected. The second explanation is that Americans are used to tipping, and giving to buskers could be considered tipping. The second thing that contributed to my construction of Americans as understanding and generous was in a convenience store. I was purchasing a couple of postcards worth $1 each. He asked for $2.16, including tax. I handed over a $10 note – “Sorry, I’m out of coins,” I said apologetically. Apologising for giving over a note for something worth very little is a habit of mine. I was expecting to receive $7.84 in change (and to refill my coin supply). Instead, he replied “Gotcha,” and gave me $8 in change. I didn’t realise ‘til I had left the store. I checked the receipt for confirmation. Sure enough, “Amount paid” read $2.16 and “Change” read $8.00. My cousin confirms that this is common. Now, while we don’t encounter this situation back home because tax is always included in the price shown, I do not hesitate to state that if I were missing 10% (our Goods and Services Tax) at the counter, I would not have had it waived.

Lastly, it is still interesting to observe the interaction between my now-American cousin and my brother and myself. Today it was my cousin who voiced something that surprised me: the cognitive dissonance he experiences whenever my brother or I open our mouths and an Australian accent comes out. “Weren’t we all from the same country at one point?” he asked. He was technically right; he had been in Hong Kong until college, my brother grew up in Hong Kong until he was 7, and I was there as a baby. He did acknowledge that the dissonance was less when he heard me because I’ve had an Australian accent as long as he’d known me. “It sort of comes with the package,” he explains. But the way my brother talks is definitely “weirding him out”. I see now that it goes both ways.

I’ll try to keep this short because I’m low on time. I’m seeing the iconic landmarks tomorrow, and I’d like to be awake for it. Luckily, I’m sure in this place there’ll be 24-ounce coffee available in case I need it. (Speaking of which, I’m considering whether or not it’s in my best interests to buy a trenta from Starbucks. Y/n? And if yes, of what? They didn’t seem to have green tea frappuccinos, which are the signature drink in my usual Starbucks…)

I wasn’t sure if my New York holiday experience would be any different from anyone else’s (I feel like the only one among my peers who hasn’t done it) but I’ve realised it is: I’m staying with my aunt in suburban New Jersey. This means I am getting the All-American experience of staying in a timber house with an American flag in the front yard, shopfronts displaying serif fonts, firewood in the garage and deer in the yard. It’s beautiful country. On a walk today I was struck by how patriotic the place is. There are American flags in many yards (although my cousin did point out that people probably haven’t taken down their July 4th decorations) and every mailbox reads not only "Mail" but "U.S. Mail".

Guess which part of American life I did today? I went to the Mall! :D I don’t have many thoughts to say, actually, (maybe because it was a very short trip) except that it was fun seeing a shopping centre full of shops I’m not familiar with. The other thing of note is that I saw a stereotypical American sight: an overweight woman sitting in the mall greedily eating an enormous ice-cream. Reserving judgement, however, until I’ve seen more of America.

And my cousin! I knew the minute I got a Facebook message saying I will see y'alls soon when y'all come over that my suspicions of him having become every bit the All-American college boy were absolutely true. He’s got the accent (it’s still blowing my mind every time he opens his mouth), the love of fried chicken and grape soda, and raves about college basketball on Facebook. How did 5 years of college in America transform the endearingly dorky Hong Kong boy so completely? (Kevin, if you’re reading this, we still love you!) It’s amazing to see!

I’ve obviously grown up with American media because the American accents sound so familiar and comforting. I was happy the minute I settled in to see Delta staff, and smiled inwardly at the woman’s voice heard announcing instructions at LAX. I’m surprised to find how much I actually enjoy hearing the American accents!

Imagine my shock when I picked up my luggage in LA and found the lock unlocked. You can guess where my thoughts went immediately. I asked the only person around, an airline representative, about it, but she only suggested that it could have been TSA, except that Australia doesn’t have a TSA. I took a quick look; nothing appeared to be missing, and more importantly, nothing appeared to have been added.

Surrounded by signs about the criminal impact of smuggling, and about to go through Customs, I decided to ask the customs officer. He only advised me on how to make a claim to the airline, should I wish to. I actually voiced my concern about tampering but he only advised me to make sure nothing was missing before checking it in for my connecting flight.

Well, if no one else was going to be concerned, then I wouldn’t either… if that was possible. I did another check, more thorough this time, but images of illegal substances hidden in the shopping bags in my luggage I hadn’t bothered to open still flashed through my mind. I got through Customs without incident, though, so Iguess if I’m carrying anything I shouldn’t be, it’ll either be gone by the timeI get my luggage back and we’ll all be none the wiser, or it’ll come with me to a suburban house to NJ. Both Customs and Security in the US intimidated me. I didn’tlike all my fingerprints (all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs!) and retina being captured by Customs, and unfortunately I hadn’t been thinking quick enough to get out of the x-ray. And even then the x-ray didn’t seem to be enough for them…They picked up something on me which meant I earned both the message “the female has a zip on her sweater, does that make a difference,” delivered inmonotone through the walkie-talkies, and a pat-down from another officer. In transit, I spent my first (and only) four dollars on a bottle of apple juice to take meds with, and ended up unexpectedly with a handful of change – some silver, some copper tiny coins. I had a quarter, though! How exciting. I’m in America! :D

As I fly over Georgia on the way to New Jersey (still not having set foot on US soil outside of an airport), I think, I’m in another country. But what is another country anyway? We fly all this way to be in adifferent country, but countries are all socially constructed. Nations, borders and the like are all socially constructed. So is culture, and history…Okay, I think it’s time for me to sleep.