So Long, Farewell

Yesterday was a VERY long day at my job. I tutor students at the Writing Center LaGuardia Community College, which is part of the City University of New York. It was a long day not because it dragged on, but rather it was my 9am-9pm day (with a break, of course). Monkey was well prepared:
An energy drink and a huge dictionary - the tools of champion tutors. Even though the hours are long on Wednesdays, it is very rewarding. At the end of the day (8:37pm to be exact), Monkey was still able to keep me awake:
When I work till 9pm, my fiance Mel picks me up. He was in the mood for Japanese, so Monkey, Mel and I headed over to our favorite Japanese restuarant, Ariyoshi. Monkey helped Mel pick out what to eat:
We ended up with the kiji-don/udon special - chicken teriyaki, tempura udon, and red bean and green tea ice cream. Yum!

Today, Monkey prepared for his next stop on the trip. While he made his goodbyes, my mom and him got together for a very special photo:
A Manitoban meets a Quebecan, and proudly show their passports.

Thanks for hanging around Monkey!

No Broken Plates - Yet

First, I need to say thanks to Lisagh for warning me about Monkey - no one really breaks plates anymore - we throw flowers instead, and it's now illegal in Greece to break plates - (though his arrival is more than cause for celebration!) but you never know.

Today he tagged along as my mom and I ran errands today, and got to see a bit of life in Astoria. It was raining on and off this morning, but by the time we left it was quite sunny. I decided to lend him my dad's aviators, and he totally rocked them:
He climbed into my bag, and armed with the "Mamma Mia!" movie soundtrack, we were ready to go.
Our first stop was Staples. My mom needed to send a box to her brother in Florida. Monkey read aloud the address to me, while I entered it into the computer:
After that, he helped my mom and I pick out some new school supplies. I start grad school in the fall in Philadelphia, my sister is in her last year of college in NYC and my mom is going back to school for her bachelor's degree. So picking out the perfect paper clips, highlighters and post-its was the mission of the morning (especially when Staples has such cute paper clips, in an all-you-can-fill tupperware!):

Today's booty: a monthly calendar, highlighters with post-it flags, monogrammed post-its, more sticky flags (so useful with textbooks) and the most amazing preppy plaid 3-subject notebook:
After Staples, we headed over to Titan (pronoucned "Tee-TAHN" as opposed to the regular "tie-tan") Foods, which is a local institution. It is the largest Greek food store in Astoria, and one of the most well known in the Tri-State area. In fact, people from Connecticut charter buses so that they can do their shopping. Monkey was particularly intrigued by the olive bar (about 15-20 different kinds of olives):
And the yogurt display case; when I was a kid, I didn't like Greek Yogurt that much, but now that Fage has started importing to the US with honey and strawberry/cherry jam on the sides, I gobble it all up. Great for breakfast. Mmm...
Before we left, we got a picture together in front of Titan:
Something caught his eye; there was a poster of a person completely covered in face paint. I translated the sign for him:
It asks the viewer, "How Greek are you?" It's an advertisement for satellite television, so that you are still connected to the "patritha" or the "fatherland" as you can get the actual channels from Greece in addition to your local channels.

The next stop was mainly just for me and Monkey, since my mom had to go home: Curves. I joined recently during a fitness study trial with Avon because they had a good deal; I saw very good results, so I decided to stick with it. Boys are NOT allowed, but for today, my local Curves made a gracious exception for Monkey. He decided to try and fill out the measurements worksheet:
He was also able to try out some of the machines:
Monkey and I were both exhausted, so we headed back over to my house. Later in the evening, we and the rest of my family convened at a friend's house for a bbq, where he finally got to try a frappe. I was surprised that he is not bouncing off the walls at this hour (these things are a godsend for college students and workers)!

Opa!

Monkey has arrived here in Astoria, NYC!

On the location list that Lisagh wrote down earlier, my location is listed as East Elmhurst; however, that is just something that the post office came up to describe my part of Astoria that is not really Astoria, but the locals still call it Astoria regardless. Quite confusing! It drives us locals up the wall - I have gotten Flushing, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst on my address in the mail. Unlike Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx or Staten Island, we in Queens list the neighborhood as the town in our address; we do not put down "Queens, NY 12345" as the last line in the address.

Some interesting facts about Astoria:

1. It was renamed after John Jacob Astor.
2. My junior high school was named after the Steinway family, who makes the pianos. The factory still exists, as well as the Steinway mansion (which looks like a haunted house).
3. Goodfellas and A Bronx Tale were filmed in Astoria - Robert DeNiro used to eat at Elias Corner, which was a hop, skip and jump away from my elementary schoo.
4. Astoria has the oldest and the last beer garden in NYC (which is behind my elementary school, and 3 blocks away from the apartment that I grew up in).
5. It's famous for having a high population of Greeks (either Greek-American or immigrant) outside of Greece (though Melbourne can give us a run for our money).

One interesting fact about Queens as a borough is that it is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. I mentioned before that Astoria is the Greek haven; in fact it's nickname is Little Athens. Other parts of Queens correspond very strongly with the place that immigrants have come from.

Monkey is doing quite well. He rested for a bit:
But soon, a curious creature rambled up the stairs to join him - one of my two cats, Cleo:
She is always at our heels; I told her that he was resting, but she doesn't care really. She IS a cat, after all. When Monkey woke up, he didn't mind the intrusion, but was rather keen on making friends:
I think he might have been a bit smitten and just watched her for a bit:
We are currently in the middle of a heat wave in NYC, so Monkey asked for a cold beer. Unfortunately, we do not have any beer in the house. Instead I gave him an italian ice (pina colada flavor, so pretty close) and he joined my dad (who just got home from his construction job) in watching the local news and eating ice.
Topic of the day: the current heat wave in NYC, and how we should conserve our energy (two years ago, all of Western Queens plunged into a blackout, and the Red Cross had to come in as well as electric crews from other states to repair the damage and no one forgets the big blackout in 2003 which crippled the whole northeastern part of North America).

Still, all is well, and we are cool. Tomorrow there will be plenty of beer as we are heading to a bbq hosted by my mom's godson's family, but I told Monkey that there is something WAY better than a tall cold beer on a hot summer day: a tall, cold Greek frappe.

Opa!