A City Confession

I love venturing into big cities. They're full of so much excitement and energy. It's amazing! I love the foods, the sites, the lights...everything! I even like the crazy amounts of people everywhere. I secretly like to pretend that I, too, am on some crazy work agenda and rush from subway station to subway station all hurriedly. It gives you the opportunity to be pushy on the escalators and, also, you get to look like you know what you're doing rather than looking like some lost tourist. So fun.

Okay, so here's the point of my post: I'm not a fan of the homeless/poor population that seems to make an appearance on every street corner. It's not because I don't have a heart or that I'm annoyed by them and wish they'd stop asking for help. It's more for the fact that my heart is a little bit sad at the sight of these poor peeps. I mean, come on now. They're freezing and then they have the dogs with them and ahh! So sad. I always look at my mom when I see these people thinking, "Just a euro, Mom!" But she always tells me, "It's just a game. This is what they do. Some of these people are very well off without your money." I still can't help but to feel bad passing them.

One time, when I was seven years old, my dad took me to breakfast in Newburgh. For those of you that don't know, Newburgh is filled with people that could use a little extra help to say the least. Well, we were waiting for a store to open on Broadway (yeah, Broadway!) and a guy passed that was asking for spare change. My dad told me not to make eye contact...but I did. I told my dad that he looked really sad and we should give him some money. I think the guy heard me because he then came to my dad and asked if he had spare change. Of course my dad gave him some. I mean he had a poor person on his one side and his seven year old daughter with a sad face because of this guy on his other side. The guy thanked my dad, and, if it was all for show, he deserves and award because his thank you sounded very sincere.

Another time, I was in London with my mother. My mother, unlike my father, has no problem saying no to anyone. As we were walking around near Westminster Abbey, my mom got ahead of me. An old lady came up to me and asked if I had any spare money for some sort of charity for children. I said that I didn't have money but that my mom probably did. My mom, seeing that I'm talking to some strange lady, comes back to me. I tell her that she has to give this lady some money for children. My mom flashes me the look of death and then tells the lady that she has no money for her and pulls me away. I was upset to put it lightly.

Yesterday (mhm, yesterday), I went to Cologne with my mother and one of her friends. The train ride was soooo long so, naturally, everyone had to pee as soon as we got of the train. On the way to the bathroom, there was a man sitting on a blanket. In his arms, bundled up, was his yellow lab. Oh, the pitifulness of this sight! I looked at my mom and even she said "aww." But then said, "Oh, please!" when she saw my face. As we passed, I snapped a picture. Why? Well, mainly because I've never seen such a sad sight and I wanted people to believe me. I did do it subtly, though. No worries. Anyway, the bathroom was really close where this man was. My mom asked if I was coming to the bathroom but I said I didn't have to go. Lies, I know. As they walked down the stairs to the bathroom, I walked over to the man and put a five euro bill in his bucket. If my mom finds out, chances are I will be either mocked or scolded. I know she reads this blog so I'm already preparing for it. But, seriously, who could just pass this man without feeling a bit sad?

so far this week:

- I don't sleep anymore. Seriously. Rarely can I fall asleep before 4:30am and I usually only sleep until 8:30am. I think it's been too long to blame this on jetlag. It kind of sucks to say the least.

- I've been babysitting. A lot. I don't mind, it's actually kind of fun...until there's pee everywhere and the baby won't stop crying and the dogs won't stop barking and it's just SO loud! Everything eventually works out and everyone is smiling again. And then I get to go home and enjoy the silence. Motherhood is not looking like a fun time. I actually found a book at one of the houses called, "Motherhood is not for Sissies," so of course I had to read it. It was filled with pictures and a quote on each page. Some that I remember are:

"There is a reason it is called labor."

"Laughter is like changing a baby's diaper. It doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for a while."

"That million dollar smile doesn't come cheap."

"I figure if the kids are alive at the end of the day, I've done my job."

And the last page read:

"And if all else fails, pray."

Honest to goodness, I have prayed that the baby would finally fall asleep at nap time. The crying was starting to make me wonder if there was actually something wrong. There wasn't. Just tired.

- My mom has been baking Christmas cookies all week. Every night the house smells like some new treat. I don't mind. She made peanut butter cups. Holy goodness!

- I went to my old high school's band concert. One of the songs they played had a bit of that song "Sleigh Ride" in it. As I was listening, this got whispered in my ear:

"Hey, what does this song remind you of?"
"...Christmas?"
"Hahaha, noo, Elf!"
"Ah, how did I not catch that?!"

Yeah, I was really upset with myself over that one. But after it was said, I couldn't stop picturing scenes from that part of Elf!

- I have been playing Words with Friends with a bunch of people. I was doing pretty good but the tables have turned. I don't like it. I also don't like that I can find really good German words to play!

- I'm convinced that my cat is the Grinch's helper. He chewed through the wire of the Christmas Tree lights. The tree ornaments aren't on the tree because he takes them off as soon as they go on. Candy canes have been found on the floor...and in the his mouth. Also, the he took down some of the window lights because, hey, that looked like fun.

- The distribution of presents may not occur in the Rice house on Christmas morning. My mom and I took too long to order some of the gifts so we're just printing out pictures of what we got everyone and putting them in a box. When the presents get here, they get here. The fact that presents are coming is pretty great by itself. After taking my mom to a Relief Society activity in New York, I didn't think presents would be given this year at all. Someone said something about kids getting three presents on Christmas because Jesus only received three presents and why do we deserve more than him? Well, that was just a great thing for my mom to hear. That night I remember I asked her if she did any Christmas shopping while we were there in New York. She said, "Jesus only got three presents. Why do we need any?" Awesoooome.

- I've come to realize that I can quote almost every line to Matilda, Madeline and Elf. I was aware that I was pretty great at quoting Elf but I didn't realize how much I knew of Matilda and Madeline until I watched them again. I surprised myself! And, yes, I watched them recently. I found all of my childhood movies! Of course I watched them!

- My dad hit a car last night. Only the mirror, nothing severe. When explaining what happened to my mom, she said, "You drive just like Emily! Riding the curb!" It's okay, Papa Bear, I have yet to crash. That was a compliment in disguise.

- I went out the living room window today to avoid accidentally letting the cat out the door. The patio table is right outside the window. It's not like I climbed out the window, walked around, then came back in. I just opened the window, sat out on the window sill a bit to grab what I needed and then climbed back in and landed on the couch. I did this while my dad was explaining how things were back in his day. 25 minutes later he is complaining the cat moved the window decoration to the other side of the window. I asked if he really didn't notice me open the window and go outside. He said 'no'. What? He was sitting right there!

- We had a late night cookie decorating session. I think we did pretty good! I had a problem keeping the icing in the bowls. Messy messy!

George. He's Cute.

This has been one rough week. I'm not sure if I'm jetlagged or just recovering from all the sleep I lost over assignments and exams. Either way, I'm SO happy it's finally the weekend. I still have one more paper to write but it's for Old Testament. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Story Time: When I went into the bathroom to begin getting ready this morning, I found sweet, little George just chillin' in the sink. How cute, right? I even took pictures of him. Then I kicked him out. I turned on the water in the sink and let it run. I know, you're probably picturing all of the cute little otters losing their water but hey, I like to brush my teeth with hot water. Weeeeell apparently George put the drain plug down as he was laying in the sink and next thing I know, flood. Lovely. Thanks, George. It's your fault the otters are dying.

He's lucky he's adorable.

At Baggage Claim, Ya Gotta Take the Luggage in Your Name

Hello. I'm now back in my cozy bed in Deutschland. I've missed this bed so much! I've missed my whole room! And my dad and the countless number of pets, too. I'm just happy to be home!

Winston missed me. He's been following me around all day.

We had a pretty easy trip back. It was long but at least there wasn't any turbulence or medical emergencies. I don't know why but "if there is a doctor on board please indicate so with your flight attendant call button" tends to be said on most of my flights. We did, however, have a bit of a delay leaving JFK. We taxied out to the runway but it turns out our plane engine was broken so we had to go back to the gate and wait while the maintenance men fixed it. I watched all of Jurassic Park while this was going down. Yes, Jurassic Park. I'm already aware of how cool I am so there's no need to mention it. I also watched The Princess Diaries, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and Pretty Little Liars while in flight in case you were wondering. Delta has added so many movies to their system. They had everything from Charade to The Lorax to Jane Eyre to The Hangover. It was ridiculous but very much appreciated. What was not appreciated was the seat. It was so uncomfortable for whatever reason. I felt bad reclining it because of the man behind me and, therefore, I was sitting straight up the whole time. It was probably good for my posture. Just go with it.

Baggage claim. This was slightly embarrassing. You know how when you're standing in baggage claim, you watch the bags coming up and before they drop on the conveyor belt, you try to see if it's yours? Well, I do that. I saw my purple suitcase come up and as it dropped, I and everyone else saw two tampons hanging on for dear life out of the newly formed hole in my suitcase. Before it made its way to where I was standing, I made it through the entire five stages of grief. First, I was in denial. It just couldn't be my bag and I was not picking it up. Second, I was pretty upset. Who put that hole there allowing this to happen?! Then, I hit the bargaining stage. I asked God if He would be willing to make the tampons disappear if I gave Delta it's Sky Mall magazine back. It was a no go so then I hit the stage of depression because, honestly, this was pretty tragic. By the time the suitcase made it's journey to me, I was already accepting the fact that I was going to have to pick up this sad looking suitcase. So I did. One tampon managed to fall back into the suitcase while the other fell completely out and made a few trips around the carousel until who knows finally ended it's ride.

If you're wondering how this could even happen, I'll tell you. I just throw things into my suitcase because who the heck cares?! Well, now somebody the heck cares. Me. I always thought I'd be the only one to see the mess I make out of a suitcase. Oh, me and the security people but I'm sure they see worse things. Thanks to my cheaply made suitcase, I'm now investing in a cosmetic bag, you know, in addition to new luggage.

It's Christmas Time in the City!

Yes, it is! I love when the city is all decked out in Christmas decorations. The city has such a great feel to it during this time of the year. It's so cheerful and welcoming. I don't want to leave!

My mom, aunt, and I went down to the city on Tuesday. None of us really knew where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do so we just walked around. Here's some of the pictures I took:

The ice skating rink in Bryant Park. "Put a positive spin on your life." Yeah, okay.

Love, love, love.

The only tree with it's own security guards.

It's too hard to hold a camera the right way. Come at me, bro.

These ginormous soldiers surround the skating rink in Rockefeller Plaza.

Like the headlines? New York news is never boring.

Union Square Christmas market!! Almost as good as a German one.

A little German street : )

Overall, it was a great trip. We didn't do much besides walk but it was good to spend time together. Some funny things happened liiiike my aunt getting hunted down by Elmo, my aunt saying she found the "Jewish Christmas Tree" and my mom kicking a random lady on the train.

"Mom..did you just step on that lady?" -Me

"No...I kicked her." -Mom

We even got to go to lunch with my cousin, David. He made reservations at this amazing Italian restaurant in Times Square. Amazing. They had the best pasta with olive oil, garlic & broccoli. I loved it. 

Must I leave this incredible place? Why? WHY? WHY?!