Ahh so many things to do and see. New York City is incredible. This morning at 7am, while I was driving to the Ginsberg Center, it still hadn't hit me that I would be going to New York City in a short ten hours. For those who are following this blog and don't know what NASST is about, basically a group of University of Michigan students have been grouped into teams to work in various locations in the United States. The team I am on, God's Love We Deliver (GLWD), is made up of 7 members (Holly, Sam, Adriana, Lexie, Ashley, Sarah, and me), and we are going to be working in New York City with the organization GLWD. We will be working with HIV/AIDS patients by providing them nutritious meals that can be hard to afford due to high health care costs (medications, checkups, screenings, etc). GLWD works with tons of volunteers, dieticians, and has an amazing delivery service (by car and foot). Our team will be making the meals, delivering the food to various boroughs, and learning more about what life is like for a person with HIV/AIDS.
I am personally looking forward to working with the organization. I love to cook and have become more interested in social justice involving health! I also just love cities and can't wait to explore. I think this trip will be very memorable and can't wait for tomorrow.
In terms of the car ride itself, it was definitely a challenge trying to fit everything into the small space in the back of the minivan. We pretty much played tetris with all the bags and most of the leftover stuff got placed on the ground floor or on people (poor Lexie!!). Me, Lexie, and Holly chilled in the back seat and had many deep conversations about life (haha gotta love those). Sam and Ashley were also in the back, reading, chilling, and talking. Sarah and Adriana manned the front seat, manuvering through all the traffice in New York City, Pennsylvania, Jersey, and Ohio (gosh I am thankful for you guys!!!). We also were all very tired and had moments of long sleep, but our Mickey D's run and fresh air definitely got us awake. One of the highlights of the car ride for me was when the song "Empire State of Mind" came on. Even though we were in N. Jersey it was still epic and everyone got pretty excited.
Sam had fun taking pictures of random objects such as my eye, and pretty much everyone had their cameras out when we saw the skyline.
When we arrived at the church, Eugene (the headman) helped us around. The church is gorgeous. It looks really historic with wine red carpets and low lighting. Our room is huge but doesn't have locks. We were a little worried about the safety of our belongings but Eugene says we are in safe hands.
While Sam, Ashley, and Lexie went to park the car, Sarah, Adriana, Holly, and I explored the upper-west side of NYC. We strolled down Broadway and the side streets looking for a good place to eat. We found tons but ended up forgetting where they were. To be efficient in terms of timing (since it was Sunday) and cheap, we found a really cute/good late night restaurant called Cafe 82 and ate there. Late night breakfast dinners are sooooo good (aka Banana belgian waffles topped with whip cream, or goat cheese spinach omelets...mmm).
We are going to be working early tomorrow preparing all the food for delivery! Keep checking for updates about our trip =)
XOXO
Dayani and GLWD
Can I just say I love my team. Everyone has been so enthusiastic
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