01 Jan 07, Mon - New Year Day

Today was a totally lazy day. There was no destination to go. The weather was pretty gloomy when we came out. It was drizzling just like in Washington. Becky wanted to print out some photos to give to Charlene. So we headed to a store near NY hostel.

After Becky done her stuff, we walked by Washington Park. We went into Nordstrom which is a department store. I thought it was cool to visit Nordstrom as I read about this department store from 1 of my modules in NTU. Later we ended up at Macy's. The department store was so huge. More than 7 storeys with each level carrying different fashion items. The place was also selling many branded handbags. However, I did not buy anything as I had no mood to shop.

After the sightseeing tour of the super huge Macy store, we went to have dinner at a Philly steak restaurant. Had seen the word 'Philly' many times and we thought it would be good to at least try out the steak. What we chose were the normal steaks and it was just so-so. I guess if you want to eat good food at NY there is a need to spend much more on the food. Too bad we are still poor students, can't afford to be so indulgent.

The picture which has a glove on the ground nearly freaked us out when we first caught that sight. We thought a person had really gone under the train and was trying to climb out. It looked so real. And then we realised it was just glove that someone had dropped and probably the wind blew it near the tracks.

The unlucky time came when we got back to the hostel. We were exposed by the security guard in the hostel that we were not the authorised people to get into the building. As mentioned earlier, there was only 1 set of keys and that was with Charlene. However, Becky had 1 of Charlene's identity card (student card) and we always tried to bluff our way into the building. Becky impersonating Charlene while I was the visitor. The rules was that the person who stays at the hostel (Charlene) has to bring her visitors. No visitor can enter the building without the accompaniment of the host.

It was so unlucky that the guard on duty today noticed the difference of the picture and Becky's face. The floor leader was summoned while we waited for Charlene and Kelvin to come back. I guess it was our impatience to get back to the hostel. If we had decided to wait for the two, then there wouldn't be so much trouble. We were afraid that the building management would kick us out as we only had 1 more night to stay. Would be flying back to Vancouver tomorrow. Luckily, they didn't kick us out but they made us filled up a green form with all our particulars. Hopefully, Charlene wouldn't be implicated in this matter. As she is on scholarship, Becky and I were definitely worried that she might be punished for breaking the rules. But the girl was cool about it. In fact, she hoped to move out of the hostel as quickly as possible and maybe this incident might be a blessing in disguise.

Spent the night trying to pack our stuff. Regretted bringing so much winterwear as it wasn't really that cold after all.