Back Like Crack 2 – The Vacation Continues

Well as promised I will now cover days 1 - 4 of my vacation.

Well after stopping at Wendy’s at 1:00 in the morning (something we couldn’t do here at home simply because Wendy’s don’t have those opening hours here) I called my family back home to let them know that I have reached safely. Sleep came easily and I’m not ashamed to say that I never even changed my travel clothes.

I jumped up at about 8:00 a.m. and had a shower and changed and by 10:00a.m. was on the road with my sister-in-law to get out of the house and to get accustomed to the transport system in New York. We went to downtown Brooklyn and while she went on her errand I had a chance to walk around this more upscale part of Brooklyn. The bus transfers were easy enough but this uptown downtown directions were a pain to understand. Not to mention that in the US they drive on the wrong side of the road (well at least to us Jamaicans anyway). My only purchase was a magazine for my future travels.

On the way back home included a stop at the local corner market/West Indian store for some fruits and fish. The rest of the day was spent sleeping and watching TV.

Friday was my first tour of the shopping district and I actually got a NY haircut. Not much else to report for Friday. Discovered a store called Bobby’s Department Store. I will equate it to a downtown Macy’s i.e. half the size but they sell everything just not with the Macy’s price tag.

Saturday was a trip to the Kings Mall. Huge and confusing and in some cases a disappointment since I spent so much time looking and not a lot of time buying. Tiredness didn’t help any and all I wanted to do was get home and sleep. Where did Saturday go? by the time I was out it was time to go back home. TV took the night and grateful sleep.

Sunday morning was to be an attendance at a wedding for my wife’s distant relative. The bride is the daughter of my wife’s cousin. The wedding was a joke by itself. My uncle in retrospect said that I went to a street dance and a wedding broke out. Well on the way out of the apartment, a car came speeding down the road and tried to take a sharp right turn and slammed into a parked BMW belonging to one of the other tennants. The driver tried to leave to no avail and was obviously disoriented from the crash which shattered her windscreen and messed up the car royally. Even if she had driven off she probably would not have made it to the bottom of the street.

The wedding was to be at 9:30a.m. at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Now in Jamaica weddings are an all day affair so starting one at 9:30 appeared to be overkill IMHO. WRONG again!!! When we got there the location chosen was obviously chosen to exclude any prying eyes…could we find the wedding :S After roaming for close to 20 minutes in this enormous place, a lady came to the top of the hill and called us over. I was in time to hear the pastor declare the couple husband and wife. A good laugh was had because apparently we were not the only ones who were lost and incidentally, I am the only one who actually witnessed the wedding of a couple that I only knew as family. My wife’s family who lived in NY and actually knew the couple were slow on the hill and so missed the entire thing. Lots of picture taking and chatting followed. What can vaguely pass as a reception followed at the family house. I have never seen people argue over food and place in the line when dealing with their own family. I’m sorry for the bride who will have to deal with her new “family” on an ongoing basis. The groom’s family was behaving so badly that we never even stayed for much of the reception.

On my return home it was time to prepare for my trip to New Jersey where I was to stay 4 days with my Uncle. I would be required to try out my new found public transportation skills. My niece dropped me at the train station and off I went armed with my metro card to Penn Station on NY’s dangerous subways (according to the movies). The ride was uneventfull and I actually got on the right train and found my way to Penn Station where I was met by my uncle. It was remarkably easy once you figure out the trains going to Manhattan and the Bronx are uptown and those going to Brooklyn are considered downtown.

The NJ transit train from Penn Station to Brick Church in NJ was equally uneventful. 

The next part of my story will be days 5-8 coming soon to a blog near you.