2 weeks off school and off to Boston I went, where muwciers supposedly hid nearby…only they’d mostly left for homeland.
To start off the break, I stayed in Wellesley College with Rif and Manni. Because they still had finals and papers due, I was left more or less to myself, which wasn’t bad and I did lots more drawing and walked the streets of Boston, thinking and speaking to myself. I had many a discussion, even heated debates. The college is very pretty, the old buildings mixed with the new block-ish stuff. Frozen lake and fancy street lamps added to the yumminess to mine eyes. Topping it all off with a bit of icing from the sky, a snowstorm went by the first day of my stay, and I went traying (sliding downhill on “borrowed” cafeteria trays) with friends of friends, while the two stayed to work. It was too much fun (and so began the abuse of the word “too”, the first habit to return)! Everything was just toooo good. Of course, nights were spent talking to sleep, like the good old days, of what seems like a past life now, with my good old friends.
Slater, as everyone refers to it by, quite affectionately too, is the old house by the lake for international kids. The caretaker/manager/boss lady had kindly stocked up the place with food for the kids staying through winter. And such greatness is her mind, to have stocked it with a variety of yummies, even marmite. And I was the one to first taste from that little jar of black ooze. It is a very nice old house, in which the radiators seemed to clank tonk wonkwonkwonk tink konk in conversation. They were very musical and rhythmic.
Later in the week, Rif leaves for home, and Mannat and I are in New York city with her brother and cousin. The city really doesn’t sleep. First night I arrived, I was welcomed very warmly to a Romanian Christmas eve dinner, friends of Rattan’s. Good food, company and laughter. We leave the place midnight, but the streets had showed no signs of shutting down yet. Christmas day, we made a gnormous amount of food. Let’s see…Daal enough to feed an army (but we were 5), Bhindi, Cucumber raita, salad, fish with mustard and ginger, cranberry fruit and nut bread, turron from eSpain, Rasamalais (yummm) and Fruit chaat. Plus flowery tea and sparkly red wine. Moving after this was quite a task, but we did, and went to the cinema. Returning home at around 1am, the street showed no difference in liveliness. The next day, I spent in the museum of modern art followed by the Gugenheim show on Kandinsky which were both too cool. I love art museums. That night we went again for drinks at the Romanian house. This time, we arrived home around 2.30am and still the streets were just as alive. New York got the right idea I guess. I don’t like cities much but NY is, as far as cities go, great.
I would also like to add, before moving on, that the functionings of Mannat’s family is to me, too amazing. Such fun, understanding and friendly fighting that I greatly admire. Magnified by the comically exaggerated difference in size between the two siblings.
Ending my trip in Wellesley. Mannat worked in the day while I slept, read, wrote etc.Nights we cooked: A-Z soup, A-Z pizza (which looked like a volcano after emerging from the oven) instant noodles too. Leftovers made lunch. Spent one last day in Boston, going through Chinatown and the MFA, another art museum. New Year’s eve was dinner at Bubur Chacha (malaysian restaurant) and standing frozen by the wharf watching the fireworks.
That more or less concluded my 2 week break. I will miss pronouncing my “th” with “thh” and abusing the “too” and listening to Mannat talk about Hegel, Benjamin and all those other thinkers.
For now, I’m back at SFU, moved and unpacked into my new room with a kitchen and all. First day of school gone and on to the next.