Lexington Market

Yesterday I got to go to Lexington Market with my friend Heather and her dad. They live in the building next door to me, so we just walked over to the market around noon time. The market is only a few blocks from my apartment. I actually decided that it's a little too close to my apartment for comfort. The walk over there consisted of one safe block, then two? blocks of deserted, closed down shops, and then two? more blocks of shops that were completely ghetto, dirty, the three of us were clearly the only white people around, and I was afraid to even inhale because I didn't know what the air was like. We walked through this maze of people as quickly as possible. I think this was the only part of the day that genuinely scared me.

Once we got to the actual Market, things were a lot better. The market is indoors. It's kind of like Pikes Place Market in Seattle sort of. We first went into the food court, and went upstairs where they just had chairs and an open top where you could look down to the lower level. There was a band playing, and we watched them from above. It was so much fun! Again, we were still the only white people there. Occasionally I would see another white person walk through, but not very often. The music was a jazzy/blues type of music. It was so fun because everyone was dancing and the whole spirit in the market was totally carefree! People would throw wads of money onto the stage for the band too, probably just dollar bills. There was even a little girl, no older than 3 who was getting the moves on. I didn't dance. I can't dance like a black woman. It was fun to be there though.

When the band was done, we got some lunch. I noticed that most of the people that work at the market are Asian. I was totally confused...

Then we went shopping around the market. They have mostly all fresh stuff. Fresh fruits and veggies, and fresh cuts of meat. There were so many weird things there, and I decided that I totally had to buy something weird from the market! So I did. I was originally going to buy some weird pig product, like pig ears or tail or something, but I didn't. I went to a fish stand instead. That's not as weird, but it's still not typical for me, so I figured it would suffice. I found an array of cheap fish, but then I didn't know which one I wanted. I asked the Asian at the counter which one I should buy. She laughed and said I would have to ask Joe. Joe was a big black man who knew his fish. I talked to Joe and Joe asked me how I was going to cook it and what kind of fish I wanted. Long story short, I ended up with a Tilapia. They asked if I wanted it filleted, I said no, I wanted it as is. They asked me if I wanted the head cut off, but I said no, I wanted it just how it was. They wrapped it up and gave me a bag with the fish in it. Four and a half bucks for a fish. I was proud. I also got a bunch of fresh fruit at another stand. A lot more practical than the fish. I have no clue how to cook the fish. I'll have to youtube that tonight or something. I sooo wish that I had pics of the market, but there was no way in heck that I was going to take my camera with me. I didn't even take my purse, I just put some cash in my pocket before I left. But here are the pics of my purchases that I took once I arrived home:





We got an ice cream slushy shake thing from one last stand before we left, and began our walk home. We walked on the other side of the street on the way home. Much better than on the way there.

The rest of the day I spent preparing my talk that I gave in church today. I got to talk about the restoration basically. It was my first full-length talk ever. I've managed to get by the last two years without giving a talk, but I wasn't able to slide this summer without giving one. I seriously freaked out about it, mainly because of the time issue. It all ended up being okay though, mostly because I filled up the time with a bunch of cheesy stories that somewhat related to the point I was trying to get across.

I don't know how much time I will have to write in the next week and a half. I'm hoping that everything will go well and perfect, as it is planned to. I totally foresee things getting totally crazy though. I have my big presentation to plan, and NYC all at the same time. It may be the best time of the whole summer though, and then it won't be long before I will get to come home :)