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Hi everyone, well thats a week since ive been on so lots to update you on!. On Monday i ended up staying another night in Buffalo, i dont know why either before anyone asks, it wasnt exactly thrilling!! I didnt make it to Toronto, it was Canada Day on Sunday so the monday was a public holiday and the buses were crazy!! Huge delays and i basically just couldnt be bothered with the hassle. Also spoke to an australian woman who said she went to Toronto for a couple of days and on the way back in was charged $30 at the border to get back in to the USA. Apparently officials can do this although ive never actually heard it from anyone official. There is no set amount written anywhere. I think she was conned and no doubt that would happen to me :-).
Anyway my last night in Buffalo was eventful actually. Got talking to an English guy, James from Manchester, and he'd got a group together to go for a pint and asked me if i wanted to go so i thought, why not! Ended up me and 5 guys, none of whom knew each other. Two
english, two dutch, me and a polish guy from Qubec in Canada. The conversation was interesting to say the least!! Noone could understand each other. James is only 21 and his first holiday on his own so he's totally hyper. Some intersting discussions going on, he has dyslexia and the other english bloke was colourblind. The other guy was a bit of a twat ; he sent his german girlfriend back home to stay with her parents while hes off touring America for 3 months, he could have paid for her to come, shes a student and couldnt afford it, however why should he pay for two just cos shes skint! Huh, charmer!! Shame he's taken eh Kat! As ive said before Buffalo is dead and everywhere was closed on Monday night except a local bar. So we went in there and well - did we look out of place in there or what!!! It was full of bikers, some of them were playing pool and James went over to speak to them and i thought oh god, we're gonna get lynched here. However they were really friendly, they just look hard :-) The bartenders gave us two free drinks
each and were gabbing away. An experience thats for sure!!
So instead of going to Toronto, i headed back to New York, 10 hours on the bus!! When i got there i was knacked. I had checked into a different hostel this time, just for the sake of staying somewhere different. Its advertised on the net, Whitehouseofny hostel. Private rooms for dorm prices so thought id check it out. I knew the rooms were going to be small from the pictures and when i checked in the guy at reception said they're small but clean and safe. Yeah, he's obviously not the one doing the cleaning!! Must be his blind grandmother!! Honestly if it wasnt so late i would have checked out straight away but the other hostel doesnt take bookings off the street after 10pm so i stuck it out. It wasnt even a cupboard, the walls went right round the bed, it had no ceiling, all the rooms are just seperated by walls. There is a notice on the wall saying no cellphones on after 10pm and no talking as "dont forget, your neighbour can here you". There was things on the walls that im not even gonna
try explain on here, ill leave them to your imagination. I know i need to take the bad with the good but honestly i was mortified and nearly in tears, i never slept a wink! I kept imagining someone popping their head over the wall in the middle of the night!!
Stayed in New York for two days, it rained a lot though and i simply do not have provisions with me for the rain :-) Went to the American Natural History Museum and Madam Tussauds. It is a bit spooky in there, the dummies are really lifelike and are just placed about the rooms so you bump into them and say sorry cos you think its a person and they dont answer you!! They have a chamber of horrors, i asked the girl how long it was and she said it justs takes a couple of minutes to go through. Its real people though that jump out at you!! So i contemplated for a while and decided to go for it but got in there in the dark and walked about 10 steps and froze!! Honestly i couldnt move for ages i was petrified, so i had to about
turn and go back out the entrance. The girl in charge wasnt amused, but come on, i was in there on my own!!
So now I am here in Philly, its really cool, i like it here. The bus here was eventful aswell. I got the china town bus here and the lady taking the tickets told an American lady that she was a ticket short for her and her kids. Well, you should have seen the screaming match. I just sat there totally bemused. The ticket lady was screaming in chinese and by this time her family were involved and they were screaming in chinese and the american lady is screaming that she aint no thief and she dont need to steal from them etc etc etc. Im amazed at how quickly people start screaming at each other, in Britain it just so isnt the done thing. But they just dont care and whats the point cos they cant understand a word of what each other are saying so there is a whole lot of time wasting for us other passengers!!!
My hostel here is nice, a lot more friendlier than others although a bit eccentric!! Theres 28
beds in my dorm so its huge. There is no phone and 1 old computer thats always occupied so not had a chance to get on it! Love the old buildings here, went to Independance Hall and stood in the room where George Washington signed the Decleration of Independance. Its still got the original chair that he sat on. Went to Congress Hall and the Senate Seen the Liberty Bell with the huge crack up it that has been silent since 1846 or thereabouts. Walked down the oldest street in America, Elspeths Alley. It has the same homes and buildings since the 1700's and are all still occupied with families living in them. Went to the City Tavern for a drink to get out the sun for a wee while, served by people in full 1800's costumes!! Spoke to a guy from Texas who was really interesting. His parents come from New Mexico and is the youngest of 10, he says he grew up really poor but went to college and got a degree. He's now a social worker and was telling me about his life and family and friends. He is best friends with a judge, an attorney and
a flight surgeon for NASA. The guy from NASA tests all the astronauts, he was telling me a bit about it, its really interesting. He was also telling me that the president stays 12 miles from his house on his ranch in Crawford, he was really amused when i told him thats my surname!!
I also went to see Benjamin Franklins grave and the house of Betsy Ross, who apparently was the woman who designed the American flag. Went to the Reading Terminal Market where there's loadsof cheap food stalls and where the Amish (yes thanks everyone who commented on my typing error last time, good to see you are all paying attention!) sell their produce every day. The young Amish girls, about my age :-), who are serving you are really something else in their traditional clothes, that its hard not to stare. The couple of girls who served me were really pretty and had lovely white teeth. I wonder what kind of life they have? How they can dress in all those clothes and wear those hats in that heat is beyond me. I felt naked standing next to them with my vest and shorts on!!
Went for
a chinese in Chinatown which wasn't as easy as i thought! I just picked any restaurant cos there were loads. I walked in and there was a counter at the front with huge chunks of meat hanging on hooks and a chinese guy with a real bloody apron on slaughtering them with a meat cleaver. I was just going to about turn but was spotted and rushed to a table, right in full view of the butcher i may add. I was the only non-chinese in the restaurant. I ordered my dinner and was brought a pair of chopsticks. Now if i was with someone else i may have given it a go, however i didnt want to embarass myself so i asked for a fork which turned out to be embarrasing anyway!! He brought me a coke and i said no sorry, a fork and he came back with a spoon so i gave up and ate my curry with the spoon hahaha. I was on the edge of my seat right enough; the butcher was hacking away at these bits of meat, throwing the unwanted bits into a huge black bin and the good bits onto a tray,
all the while turning round to gab to someone behind him. I thought his fingers were coming off a couple of times!!
So Philly has been great, i wish i had more time here actually but im on to Washington next so ill let you know how i get on there, bye for now x
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Nicola
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Hello
Your storys are getting better and better, sounds like your still have a blast, take care love Nic, Pat and Ronan xxxxxxxxxxx