lunchtime musings

I am disappointed to report that all of the fast food drive-thrus on Broad St. going North from Girard to Olney are McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts. OK, and one Checkers. What's a girl to do when she wants something from Wendy's but doesn't want to leave her vehicle? So now I'm sitting in the office, it's 1:17PM and there is no Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger in sight.

The whole having two jobs thing is wearing me down a bit, but it also presents new opportunities for eating and drinking in Manayunk. I will have probably been to every bar and restaurant on Main St. by the spring, which is nothing to sneeze at. And now that I have cash on hand, I can aim for my other culinary goals, such as eating every kind of cheese at DiBruno Brothers, or visiting Capogiro Gelato weekly.

an obvious immigrant

As I hurriedly approached my snow-covered car this morning, hot cup of Wawa coffee in hand, I noticed a message written in the snow on my passenger side rear window. "Go home." Then I turned my attention to the conspicuous absence of my Phillies National League Championship Series bumper sticker. Nice. This comes two weeks after discovering that my back bumper was puked on while parked on the next street over.

I get it. My Virginia license plates stick out like a sore thumb in this all-Philly neighborhood I live in. But really, shouldn't you save the aggression for an Arizona Cardinals fan, or someone with a Mets/Giants/etc. bumper sticker? I was watching the Eagles game last night, rooting for them just like the rest of you. Don't let my lack of a Pennsylvania license plate distract you from that fact.

Philly checklist

very Philadelphia-specific things I have done in my 4 months here:
- eaten multiple cheesesteaks
- gone to a Phillies game, and tailgated in the parking lot between Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field ("The Linc"
- taken a trolley in West Philly without knowing how to exit
- eaten at a restaurant by one of Philly's celebrity chefs (Morimoto, Vetri, Garces, Perrier, etc.)
- thrown a penny on Ben Franklin's grave (if it lands heads up, you'll have a good marriage/life/what have you)
- correlated my beers to the amount of Eagles plays in a game
- gotten a parking ticket (ok, 2); the TV show Parking Wars is based in Philadelphia
- become a more aggressive but quicker-with-reactions driver (ride with me and you'll understand)
- run up the "Rocky" steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I've also walked up them slowly with my parents.
- heard the phrase "youse guys" used in all seriousness
- eaten water ice, used Cheez Whiz as a condiment, started putting Old Bay on my french fries, soft pretzels with mustard, my weight in Tastykakes and more
- battled rush hour traffic (both ways) on I-76 aka the Schuylkill
- been in City Hall (the world's largest municipal building); Mayor Nutter said hi to me
-shown people how disappointingly small the LOVE statue is

things on my Philadelphia list I still need to accomplish:
- more time in Fairmount park
- Mutter Museum (I need to devote an entire day here)
- weekend trip to the shore (the Jersey Shore and its beaches)
- eating at a Stephen Starr restaurant (they're everywhere in Center City, how have I avoided these?)
- Italian market on a Saturday
- attend a Flyers game
- try beers from all of the surrounding breweries
- take a road trip to Amish country (though they do staff my local farmer's market)
- spend enough time in Chinatown, buying interesting stuff
- watch the bike race in Manayunk or crew showdowns on the Schuylkill River
- go to the City Hall observation deck, or any of the other skyline buildings for that matter

It's a work in progress to say the least. Please add to the list or come visit and I'll make an effort to explain and show everything.

winter "break"

I am currently about to enter the second week of my office being closed (the university is saving money by impairing productivity, it seems) in what can only be viewed as a work-from-home holiday bonanza. After my last post, I only had to make it through another week of teaching classes and only at 2 of the schools. I also managed to battle a cold that struck that weekend and lasted several days. Speaking of cold, Philadelphia's temperatures dipped below freezing on several days and nights. There was snow, ice, and the inability to open my car door for several hours one morning. I think the wind chill factor is what really made it difficult to leave the house. I enjoyed 65-degree temperatures when I went back to Virginia for Christmas, and today was unseasonably warm enough up here to warrant a run. We'll see how the rest of the winter treats me in the Northeast.

The first week of January will mark 4 months since I moved to Philadelphia, which is pretty impressive. I'm not getting lost all the time (hopefully my Christmas gift Garmin will take care of the rest). I know to wear leggings under my pants, multiple layers on top, and to never forget a scarf and my earmuffs when going outside. I'm still not good at driving in snow, but maybe I'll figure it out.

The Eagles won tonight, which means that they secured a spot in the playoffs. They'll be playing the Vikings next week, and needless to say, we're all excited around here. I am not able to further comment on the situation until next week, but I'll probably have a weird dream about McNabb, Jackson, Dawkins, Westbrook and company. I'm still going to try and make it to a Flyers game later on in the season once I make some money from being a server that doesn't go directly to our house's gas bill. But if nothing else, we'll always have this year's Phillies.

Philly food review: I finally tried a cheesesteak from one of the 'big 3' (Pat's, Geno's, Jim's) when a friend came to visit. We went to Jim's on an evening chock full of snow and rain. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture of my cheesesteak with onions and peppers and white American cheese. The price was less fun. I enjoyed getting American cheese more than provolone (have yet to try Whiz) because it provided a sharper flavor to stand up to the bread and steak. The grilled peppers and onions added to the texture and moisture content pretty nicely. I would definitely recommend splitting a cheesesteak with a friend, as I could only eat one half.

minuses and pluses

My socks are wet, and I spent my morning teaching 30 Catholic school 7th and 8th graders about values. I just had the 'energy green tea with guarana + yerba mate' from teany but I still want to take a nap. I woke up with a sore throat that has persisted despite my tea and water consumption.

Buuutttt.....there are so many good things right now, too. The office is empty and quiet, so I can actually get some work done (or write in my blog). My roommates and I all hung out together Tuesday night and picked out a house Christmas tree. I actually like driving in and around the city of Philadelphia between the hours of 10AM-2PM. 7th and 8th graders actually seem to like and respect me, and some of the girls treat me like a cool older sister who has all the answers. I had one of the best salads of my life from Grocery at lunch (the other top contender is the goat cheese/spinach/bacon salad at Clementine in Harrisonburg). This weekend, I have a fellow AmeriCorps member's birthday party, the JMU vs. Montana national semi-final football game to watch, new job orientation, and a day of making cookies for everyone. Plus, tomorrow is payday!

See how much bigger that second paragraph was? I won't find out my home-for-Christmas schedule until after job training (I got hired as a server at a new Asian tapas restaurant near me) but as long as I get a few days back in Virginia, I'll be happy. I'm debating whether or not to send out holiday greeting cards, or if it's feasible to just track everyone down and hand out cookies/brownies/cupcakes in tupperware. We shall see.

More Philly food review coming in the next installment!

Thanksgiving break review

Going back home to Virginia really made the differences between here and there all the more obvious. Of course, VA means old friends and family, while Philadelphia equates to over a million strangers and a few dozen acquaintances. But there are other things. Driving in Virginia is fun, for one. Even with a stick shift. The amount of traffic in Richmond and its suburbs is incredibly smaller than Philadelphia and its suburbs. I rode around with my Dad on Friday and braved the Black Friday crowds to buy greeting cards and my first pepper spray. Dad actually reached for the enormous can of Bear Repellent first (we were at a hunting/fishing geared outdoors store). On Saturday, my Mom lent me her car and I zoomed around, listening to Talking Heads and Bob Dylan. I slept a tremendous amount, going to bed around 11PM and waking up around 9AM each day. I helped cook and bake food for Thanksgiving, much to my Mom's surprise and delight. Despite having no cell phone reception at home, I still managed to take a long-distance call and dial out to other people. I neglected to take any photos, but rest assured they all would have been of family, friends, adorable pets, and late autumn in the woods. One caveat about Richmond: people can still smoke in bars, which leads to everything reeking of smoke. Then again, the beer there is at happy hour prices in the city.

I was fortunate enough to take a train in between RIC and PHL both ways, which made my vacation that much more relaxing. No stop and go traffic on I-95, no driving late at night to avoid said traffic. Just me, my iPod, some books, and many other passengers. It was a step up from last year's epic 14-hour rail journey on the Vermonter.

I posted more photos from the month of October: Enjoy.

last post before thanksgiving

It snowed here this past week, which made me realize that snow is pretty much useless to me now that I'm not a student. My site may be closed on severe weather days since it's university-affiliated, but I'm just going to have to work from home or make up those hours later. If one of the schools I teach at is closed, we'll just have to postpone the lesson for that week and effectively be at their school for one week longer. I don't like driving in snow (sometimes the stereotypes about Southerners are true) or ice, and the bus schedule becomes even more unreliable when there is any kind of precipitation. I actually looked out my window on Friday morning, after oversleeping, and said "eww, gross". It's too early for snow at any rate; that should hold off until mid-December in my mind.

Speaking of schools, the teaching is going pretty well so far. Sure, you get your share of kids who don't want to do the lesson or are still wondering why you're there, but they're middle schoolers. Of course they want to rebel. I'm considering it a triumph when they quietly doodle or draw instead of talking out, and am absolutely stoked when they participate. I still have no plans to enter the field of education, but am pleasantly surprised.