I have Mondays off, so I spent the day shopping and cleaning. Thanks to the parents, I had some birthday money to spend, and I needed new boots. I went to Buffalo Exchange, a thrift store in the East Village, and bought some great boots, really warm fleece tights, sunglasses, and a pair of Toms. All of under $75. A total steal in the city. I was feeling very proud of myself, and then I realized I have come even closer to assimilating myself to New York dress.
When you get on the subway, all the women are wearing a black coat, black tights, a black skirt and black boots. What did I buy? Black boots, and tights. At least my tights are a nice plum color...still pretty dark. Katie, the other VSer, makes fun of me for being so dark in NYC.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning, and hunting down a Christmas tree for the house. It was a delight! I met HaQuyen at Addiction NYC. We didn't have an appointment, but they weren't too full.
Before I go into the details of the experience of getting stabbed by needles, I need to lay the context of St. Mark's Street.
Basically St. Mark's between 3rd and 2nd Ave has everything a drunk person could want on a Saturday night. From greasy Japanese restaurants to four tattoo parlors, you would be in for a night of mayhem for sure!
HaQuyen went first. It took about 15 minutes to get her tattoo. It looks really good, and is healing nicely. While she was getting tattooed, she wanted me to talk to her to distract her. We talked about the inspiration she had to get it, and then about the tattoo I want to get.
As I was describing it, and giving the context. The artist stopped. I had said after spending time in Israel/Palestine, I really wanted to get Micah 6:8. Mid letter, the artist stops, looks up and says harshly, "I am Israeli." Crap. This was the second time me and my big mouth have to go and say the "P" word in Jewish country. When will I learn?!?!
I say, "Oh interesting. Do you visit?" He goes on to tell me his parents still live there, but he doesn't let it slide. He asks me where I was. I said Jerusalem and Bethlehem. I wasn't about to say Hebron. He said, "That's Israel." If you were in Gaza or the West Bank, then you would be in Palestine. I didn't argue with him, even though East Jerusalem and Bethlehem are Palestinian with Israeli settlers living there illegally. He did have a needle in his hand, and was inflicting pain on my friend after all He apologized for sounding harsh, I accepted and said it's a touchy subject, and we moved on. The mood definitely shifted after that.
My piercing was relatively uneventful comparatively except that it hurt a lot more than expected. We then departed to find food and antiseptic solutions.
The restaurant we found was more than we bargained for. I think the best adjective to use would be outrageous.
Picture Japanese folk dining in a cramped eating establishment with walls papered with Japanese Porn, a creepy mannequin watching you from a window, and WWII Japanese war music playing.
The menu was about as tall as my arm is long, and they had pictures of every single thing you could order. Including the bull penis. Too much was happening. See? Scary as all get out. For more entertaining reading about this find eating establishing, see the yelp reviews.
This review does a great job summing it up, "talk about sensory overload. From the giant tanuki statue with the lightbulb eyes outside, to the old-fashioned Japanese music blasting from a bullhorn speaker inside, to the bizarre mannequin scene in their courtyard-like room, there's always something to catch your attention at Kenka. "
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