A little update from this wonderful crazy city - the Big Apple before our West Coast and Central America adventure!
10 highlights:
1. Jono's graduation was all super and of course all American - huge tv screens, guest speakers, loads of photos, champagne and a final ceremony with all graduates (14 000) and their guests ( total= 50000 people) enjoying a morning of celebration as each Dean announced his/her faculty. Each faculty had some token to represent their fields - dentists ; toothbrushes, International Affairs; globes of the world, Journalism students waved newspapers, teachers college: apples, engineers: huge hammers..... a real spectacle! Jono's parents ( Elaine and Graham) and Jono's brother and sister-in-law (Dylan and Tas) were also there which was very special.
2. Seeing the Empire State building lit up in the colours of Columbia ( light blue and white) on grad day from a very trendy bar in Brooklyn.
3. Intrepid: the impressive war-time ship that is now permanently docked along the Hudson with Tom Cats, Black birds, a submarine and space shuttles all on display.
4. Ballet at the the Met - it will never get old. We saw an impressive 3-act piece ending with a lovely Can-Can with dazzling costumes and oh so wonderful dancing. And the MoMa - Kandinsky is just as magnificent as ever!
5. Memorial Day in New jersey at Jono's friend - Dan's uncle's place. And I thought South Africans liked to braai - we ate a total of 8 different types of meat dishes with potato salad being the only non-meat dish! Delicious!
6. Red Farm - this amazing Asian restaurant with a delightful hot soup, a skewer with duck, litchi and a potato crisp, amazing pork belly ribs, and great cocktails.
7. Walking in the park and along the DUMBO promenade looking back at the city. And an evening well spent at the Baseball at Citi Stadium where the NY Mets played the Dodgers and the home team won in the last inning to our delight. The entertainment around the stadium was great including a kissing cam and several competitions with all contestants being winners regardless of skill. We ate hotdogs and drank some beer. I officially feel like an American! :)
8. Catching the mouse in our apartment - the day before moving out. It was a victorious moment as this was a Super Mouse that refused to die.
9. Moving all of our stuff into storage so we can go traveling on Monday for two months. The crazy story here is that this was the same storage facility that was used to store the Mona Lisa in the 60s when she was on display in the Met. How ridiculous - it only cost $36 then!
10. Finally, being here with Jono is just marvellous! Even a simple coffee together is just incredible. We set off on Monday for an adventure camping along the West Coast and then riding chicken buses through Guatemala and Belize to go trekking and diving, Mexico for a Margarita or two and then hopefully some dancing in Cuba. We will be back in NY on July 30 and Jono starts work on 31st! The long distance and count-downs have been so worth it. As I am sure you can all imagine I cannot stop smiling!
Thanks for all the support and love from home. We will have a couch in our new apartment and all are welcome!
Lots of love
Jo and Jono
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