New York: A second time around.

I never thought I’d be given another chance to visit the Big Apple this soon. My first time was last January where I joined the other National Facilitators of Micah Challenge for a week-long of planning and orientation workshops. At that time we were mostly “confined” in various meeting halls and the closest to a NY experience is taking the subway.

Determined to see more, one evening after dinner along with a few co-participants mostly from Africa, we braved the cold night to visit Ground Zero and ride the ferry to see up-close the famous Statue of Liberty. We were chilling as the cold weather was even made colder by the strong winds. Later we were told it was below 10 degrees centigrade. But we enjoyed seeing the “nothingness” of Ground Zero, No wonder it was named so. There was this eerie feeling knowing that something big as the Twin Tower used to occupy this spot. We had fun riding the ferry back and forth and see for ourselves this famous lady statue. Though our feet and legs hurt because of the long distance walks we had, for a moment we were satisfied and smiling tourists. We had pictures taken in known tourist spots of NY other than generic-looking meeting rooms. For all its worth, my first time in NY will long be remembered.

And so with this opportunity to visit NY once again, I planned and set aside a time to be a tourist. My priority was to visit Central Park. And I am especially grateful to Estella – my best friend in High School – and her husband Henry for making my dream come true. The icing on the cake, so to speak, was a string quintet from Julliard School of Music who played such lovely classical music by the pool of Betsaida. I could have stayed all day just listening but soon they had to leave. We got there towards the end of their repertoire. Sayang! Still my first Central Park experience will long be remembered. And to think we only managed to cover a little over a fifth of its entire area!

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