Salmonella infection and Bathroom

I took a day off today because I have a stomachache since last night. I felt a little scared when I felt a stomachache since I continue to eat raw eggs in NYC. Though a salmonella infection is an exceptional thing, I cannot exclude the possibility of it.

If I try to go to the work, I can. But the inconvenience of finding a bathroom in NYC prevents me from going out. When I went to the Franklin station's bathroom (3 train), I couldn't put up with the dirtiness of the subway public bathroom. I felt the same way when I when to the bathroom next to the Statue of Liberty and a Halloween's temporary bathroom. Though I like almost all things in the U.S., I detest three things, the uncleanliness, the foods, and not observing punctuality.

111609

American Museum of Natural History

 

I went to American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) last Sunday. The museum is one of the famous tourist spots in NYC. There were many people, especially parents and their children there.

The planetarium is excellent, powerful, and dynamic! I highly recommend it to people who visit the museum. It looks like a genuine starlit sky. The sky is filled with stars. It's hard to see stars in NYC at night, so I yearn to look at stars.

Another special exhibition is fossils of dinosaurs. You can see famous fossils there. I finally saw Tyrannosaurus rex! Now, I understand why dinosaurs are so popular; I think their huge size attract many people. There are also other famous fossils for example Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Pteranodon, but I couldn't find Velociraptor which is not big but quick and cunning. There are a lot of attractive exhibitions in the museum, you can't enjoy them in only a day! I think I will definitely visit there again.

PS
The official Guide is very expensive, it costs $15, but it is thin. If you compare the AMNH guide and The MET, you will be disappointed with it.


111609

Statue of Liberty

Though I've lived in NYC for 4 months, I hadn’t been there yet. So I decided to go to the Statue of Liberty on November 5th. I tried to buy a crown ticket which will allow me climb to the crown, but the crown tickets were sold out.

Even though I couldn't go inside the Statue, in other words I only walked around the Statue, I was satisfied with this sightseeing. The Statue of Liberty isn't as small as I had thought when I saw it from Manhattan. My impression turned out to be wrong. I have visited one of the iconic places of New York City.

I went there with a Swiss lady. We spoke in English. I found that it's difficult for non-native English speakers to speak informally. We've studied English in schools where teachers usually only teach formal English. Our English is intermediate, but sometimes we can't use simple English because of this reason.

After the visit to the statue, we went to the Immigration museum on Ellis Island. We learned about immigrant history there. I learned that the US is made up of immigrants. All Americans except Native American were originally immigrants.

PS
I found that the audio tour isn't appropriate for tourists in a group because people can't communicate while they are listening to the audio guide.

A Soul Food

I ate a soul food tonight. It tastes good, but it's very different from my country's cuisine. I think Japanese people need to get used to it.

chocolate pretzels

I love chocolate pretzels. It's salty like a pretzel, and yet it's covered in chocolate. These are rarely found in Japan. So I must eat them now.

Halloween in the U.S.

There were many people who dressed up for Halloween. I could see funny looking people on the street. I was surprised at the bloody people and skeletons walking the streets. What I was surprised at was that even grown-ups disguised themselves as Halloween characters.

I really love American's way of thinking; even grown-up Americans can enjoy the festival. This kind of thing is rarely found in Japan. I hope that the same way of thinking would spread to Japan.

Times Square at midnight

I went to Times Square at midnight on the 25th of October. There were many tourists even at midnight, and they were buying many souvenirs. Though many Japanese people believe that to go out at night in the U.S. is more dangerous than in Japan, Times Square isn't a very dangerous place. I saw that there were two policemen standing around so I felt very safe.

One of my favorite sci-fi novels is “Flowers for Algernon”. Two of the novel's characters, Charley and Alice, went to the movies at a Times Square theater. I went to the same place where they went and enjoyed experiencing the atmosphere of the place. I was really satisfied with this experience.

Rich Dad, Rich Mom

I have met 2 impressive people in NY in the respect of financial literacy. They are making their assets work well. They aren't millionaires, but they seem wealthier than normal people.

The rich dad is retired and now lives off the money he has made from his investments. He has his own Real Estate company. When I read his company's websites, I was really surprised. He could buy a luxury car because of his investment. The rich mom has a big house in NYC. She is lending her house rooms to international students who come to NYC. As you know, NYC always attracts a lot of foreign people, tourists, students, immigrants, workers, and so on. They will rent the rooms, and I'm guessing that she doesn't need to work due to the rent.

These kind of lifestyles aren't so common in Japan. Japanese people usually only deposit their money to banks. That is, they work very hard and don't even bother with investments or playing in the Stock Market. Even most Japanese people don't invest their money. I wish Japanese people would go outside of their comfort zones and learn to acquire at least some financial literacy. “Working hard” is not the only solution to achieve happiness. I think it would be very beneficial if Japanese people learned this kind of lifestyle from American people.