Sakura Matsuri

There is a saying that April showers bring May flowers. This April has been really cold though, so I was excited to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, not all of the trees were in bloom. Not sure if that has to do with the cold weather or not. 

Sakura Matsuri was a two day, weekend event that celebrated the cherry blossoms and Japanese culture on a broader level. While I'm glad I went, I don't think I would go again. There were simply too many people there. I was planning to buy my ticket at the door, but luckily I went with lawyers who like to plan ahead, and we ended up buying our tickets in advance. Fortunately so, because the line ended up being crazy. With tickets however, we were able to skip the line and enter through the side entrance.

When the wind blew, the flowers looked especially nice, and the park was filled with pink and white confetti.

There was a stage with Taiko drumming, and some other stuff, but I couldn't really see because there were so many people. A lot of people arrived in costume. I didn't read the instructions that said that costumes were encouraged, otherwise I would have worn one. "I could have been Sailor Mars," I said wistfully to my friend, who raised an eyebrow and shook her head, and simply said: "No." I suppose it was for the better, since it was pretty cold that day. Or I could have worn a traditional Chinese outfit, since a lot of people were wearing traditional Japanese outfits. I always like opportunities to wear things that you don't get to wear every day. 

It ended up being very difficult to walk around, since there were so many people. Everywhere I turned, it seemed that I was at risk of being run over by a stroller, or ruining someone's selfie. There were a lot of selfie sticks. I would have liked to go another weekend, when it wasn't so crowded. 

After the wedding, I had one of the best ice creams that I have had in a while, at Brooklyn Bell, the Local. All of their ice cream is made in small batches, and very creamy. The parlor doubles as an art gallery, with artwork hanging on the walls for sale. 

On another note, two friends of mine got married, also in a beautiful little park that was full of flowers. These two friends are really cute. Both are corporate lawyers, and rather unconventional (at 10 am in the morning), so it's not a surprise that their wedding did not fit the norm. Instead of having her father walk her down the aisle, the bride and groom met at the end, and walked down the aisle together. The vows were extremely well done. In particular, it reflected the uniqueness of their personalities. The two of them really love hamsters, so that was a part of the ceremony--the person presiding over the ceremony said, "it takes a lot of patience to learn a hamster's personality. Similarly, it take's a lot of patience to learn [Emily]'s personality." Both bride and groom cried, but in a very dignified way. You wouldn't even be able to tell, because their facial expressions remained normal, but there were tears running down their cheeks. Maybe that's how adults are supposed to cry.

The reception and brunch were held at the Musket Room, which has very good drinks.

Bird house at the wedding

Daffodil field at the Botanical Garden

White magnolias

Two types of cherry blossoms

A photo shoot at the Magnolia Plaza

Brooklyn Bell Ice Cream

Where Souls Meet

I've met a lot of people these past two weeks, and was going to go out with two of my new friends, a Ghanian and a German. They wanted to go to lower east side, so I looked up a bar that I had never been to. I saw reviews for a speakeasy called Attaboy on yelp, but as I zoomed in on Google maps, I saw another bar nearby called Ghost. The name appealed to me, so I checked out their website, and their tag line was, "where souls meet." I liked that, so we decided to meet there.

My friends ended up missing their bus and running late, so I anticipated sitting by myself for 30 minutes, with my cell phone, but it turned out the people inside the bar and the bartender were very friendly, so I was entertained by them. Ghost is a cocktail bar, and actually is now one of my favorite bars. The bartender, Stevie, will ask you what you like, and invent a cocktail for you. They do have a standard list of interesting cocktails as well. Stevie asked me to name some flavors that I liked, and I said, "I like things that taste like flowers." Maybe the name Ghost made me think of my rabbit Flora, who used to eat rose petals.

"I have the perfect drink for you," Stevie said. It turned out to be pink, and flavored with Rose syrup and anise, with a red rose petal floating in the glass. It actually turned out to be one of the best cocktails that I have had, though a bit sweeter than I would have liked. I tried to eat the rose petal, but it tasted pretty bad; I guess that's more for rabbits, not humans.

My friends and I went to Home Sweet Home, a dance club underground. It plays very old music, which I didn't like, but I could see it appealing to a niche clientele. It was mostly swing dancing music.

The next day, I went to a Thai restaurant called Lan Larb, which I would highly recommend. Larb apparently means chopped (or maybe chopped meat), so most of their dishes featured chopped and stir fried meat, in addition to the usual Thai fare. For dessert, their green sticky rice with ice cream was really good. Later that night, I went to a birthday party with a new friend that I met on the bus from New York to DC, who also happened to be on the same bus back from DC to New York.

An interesting thing that he said was that he wanted to "get used to being rejected," because if you never get rejected, it means that you aren't reaching high enough. Thus, if you are too afraid of being rejected, you tend to aim too low, and by overcoming a fear of being rejected, you force yourself to push to new goals. I think this probably applies to a lot of things. Given the poor job market for human rights law, I definitely got rejected many, many, many times before finding work at the UN, and presumably will be rejected many more times as my career unfolds. I think those words helped me feel better, and be a bit more optimistic about trying to move forward.

The birthday party was at a bar called Subject, another cocktail bar in LES. It was a lot more crowded than Ghost was, and also pretty good, but not so memorable.

Here are some photos for my weekend in DC; we went to a winery, and an Easter event with a bunch of little kids. My best friend's colleague has a baby who is half Asian. Her father is Korean and the mother is European-American, and the baby has Asian features, but is blond with light blue eyes. I was able to tell she was half Asian because of her eyes and lips, but a lot of people can't tell because of her coloring. One really interesting thing about working at the UN is the families--for many who work for the UN, they do so because they are curious about the world, including foreign countries, so it's not a surprise that there are a lot of interracial marriages or partnerships. My office is a few floors above the daycare, so we see a lot of children who have parents from different backgrounds. Of all of the places that I have worked, it's not a surprise that I find the UN the most open minded, and one of the most accepting.

I went to see an exhibit there recently, of a piece of artwork that was painted by Israeli and Palestinian parents who lost children during the conflict there. They united to advocate for peace, and painted a mural. I imagine that many in that situation would, instead of advocating for peace, want to kill or punish the "others" who they held responsible for their child's death. It must take a lot of courage to come to embrace your so-called enemy. I luckily have not been in that situation, but I saw the artwork with a friend, and she had said that in similar situations, families were simply exhausted, and didn't want to fight anymore. War after all, won't bring back any of the people who have been lost. The mural is temporarily on display in front of the conference rooms at the UN, though it's not accessible to the public. Photos of the exhibit, along with photos of the winery in Virginia, are below.

Mural

Photo of people working on the mural

Winery in Virginia

Dusk

I'm on the bus to DC again, so I'm killing some time. I used to be able to read and write really well while in moving vehicles, but that skill seems to have escaped me during my 20s. Now I get motion sickness. Perhaps this post will end early as a result.

Anyhow, this has been one of the longest, if not the longest, winter I have had in New York. It's April, and still cold. Today however, there was finally a turn, and it was warm, so I am in a good mood. I'm also going on a trip, so that helps too.

This post has ended. Here are some photos of dusk in New York, from my walks after work.

Statue at Columbus Circle

Globe at Columbus Circle

Art Display by Flatiron Building

Close up of one of the globes

Night at Columbus Circle

Carnegie Hall