We hope you didn't cry too much for having to wait an extra day to get our update. :) We know we missed you all and often think of you and how fun it would be to have each of you here in New York with us.
This week was full of adventure and fun...we were able to see so much of the city and the people in it. One of our favorite things is having the metro that takes us anywhere we want to go. There are many things we are able to do and see because of it...but every once in a while we also get the added pleasure of seeing the "unique" individuals of the city in the metro. Some are homeless and asking for help in very unique ways (playing instruments, break dancing, Michael Jackson dancing, singing, or they just stare at you and tell you that you must be saved), some are just commuting, going to their next stop and they smile and say hi and tell you directions to the greatest places in New York. We noticed that the people here, in general, are very nice. At first glance they may look very closed-off, but if you smile at them...it's like you are the sun warming their entire life up. They are polite to you. We also noticed they all dress the same....mostly in black, the girls with boots and down feather coats and the boys in orange/tan leather construction worker shoes with suits on and beanies for their hats. It's funny how in such a big city...everybody tries to look the same. They call themselves the best dressed people in the States...but we laugh and don't think that is true. We also enjoy seeing the famous people of the world in this city. Mat enjoyed seeing the Giants football team, who had just won the super bowl, and were parading around the streets by his school. Sorry, Eddie (Poe's husband), that the patriots lost.
For valentines day, we planned a big adventure to see all the sites. We were going to do so many things, like see a movie outside in the park and go to the top of the Rockefeller center to see the city at night. But the movie in the park was the night before and the "Top of the Rock" is apparently an overpriced and expensive way to see the city when you can go to other places for free. So we ditched those ideas and went to Italy for our valentines dinner. Really....we did! It was at an Italian restaurant in "Little Italy"...just across from "China Town". Totally makes sense, right? Ha ha, not really. But when you enter those cities...it's like you are really in that country.
The waiters at the restaurant didn't sing for us, but they did have heart shaped balloons at each table, gave us a complimentary dessert on the house and a heart shaped box of chocolates. We felt very fancy there...at a place where we thought it was just a regular priced Italian restaurant. But the workers made it a very special occasion for us.
After dinner, we went on the Metro, with a fancy bouquet of roses from Mat, and rode it to Grand Central Terminal. It took our breath away!!!!! We watched the movie "Arthur" before going and liked learning what we did about it from the movie...but nothing could prepare a person for how breathtaking it is to see it with their own eyes. It's big, beautiful and so FULL....there are so many things there and SO many people. We enjoyed just staring at the ceiling and the walls. We plan to return for a "Date Night" as it provides good entertainment and offers many unique things, like a whisper wall!
Our next stop was Times Square, where we enjoyed seeing what we thought would be an AMAZING, COMPLETELY AWESOME computerized heart beating inside of glass pillars, but it turned out to be just a computerized heart beating inside of glass pillars and it wasn't very amazing or completely awesome...although still fun to see.
We also saw the building for "The New York Times". We feel like we are so fancy here.
On the way home, we waved hello to the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings.
We hope you all had a wonderful valentines day and felt the love of those in your life. We also hope you enjoyed some good heart shaped foods...maybe that will be a tradition for us. We had heart shaped brownies, eggs in heart shaped toast, and heart shaped strawberry cake. It was fun!
We went to the temple again this Thursday. Thursday is the perfect day for us to have as "our temple night". We get on the metro, walked passed a metal globe, passed the Juilliard school...and TA DA...there is the Temple. It feels like going on an adventure ride and the final destination (the temple) is our cozy, familiar, and welcoming home filled with peace and blessings. It's so wonderful to be able to have a temple nearby and be able to go each week. We promise we are working on getting a picture of it.
Saturday, Mat stayed home and worked on his assignments. Serena went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It's a block away from our apartment and is free for now during the winter. It has many many greenhouses, one for each different type of climate: tropical, warm weather, dessert, etc. They also had a pond garden and a garden for Bonsai trees. Around the Gardens, there is a cherry tree pathway which will bloom sometime around the end of April or beginning of may. They also have a rose garden, natural forest, herb garden, Shakespearean Garden, Scented Garden, Rock Garden, and many more things. It is beautiful now during the winter, even though many of it is not in bloom. We look forward to going there together, especially when the gardens are in full bloom.
Sunday, Serena was set apart in her calling as a primary teacher. She went for the first time and was a little scared to find out how crazy of a world primary can be, but looks forward to preparing her first lesson and hopes it will go well. We are still waiting for Mat to get his calling...he did get his home teaching assignment and it is for the same girl that Serena is a visiting teacher for. Her name is Alejandra and she is an exchange student from Columbia living in New York for one year with a Jewish Family. She seems very lonely and wants more friends and we look forward to bringing her along with us on our upcoming adventures. She will be our new big teenager "daughter" that we can adopt.
After church, we thought it would be romantic to go for a walk on the beach on Coney Island. We got there and walked around on the board walk, sat and enjoyed the cold wind, seagulls, and the fake statues of palm trees in the sand. It was funny. Coney island is known for being an amusement park area and it is true. Although not used for those purposes in the winter, it looks like it would be a fun place in the summertime. Mat was very VERY excited to see that they have an annual hot dog eating competition there, and couldn't stop talking about how exciting that would be to win that contest. The winner last year ate 68 hot dogs. We don't know if they win more than a metal for all of their hard work, but Mat was very disappointed to find out the competition is in July and we won't be here for it. Maybe he will secretly fly out here to compete...we will see I guess.
Stay tuned for next weeks edition where we will tell you about our adventures past the Lady Liberty to Staten Island. Know that we love you and that we are doing well. Mat is preparing for his mid-terms this week and Serena is still working on her job. Have a great week and we hope to hear from you soon (or see you, that would be even better).
Love,
The Peltzers
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