Eating Philly Cheesesteaks in Philly

Philly- check!

Alex was in NYC visiting, and agreed to come along for a 6-hr trip to Philly. This is what came out of it. Lots of historical sight seeing and shenanigans, it was amazing! Photos mostly by the great Alex.

 Asians taking pictures.

 I've always wanted to say "I'm eating a Philly Cheesesteak in Philly!!"

 This mightve been where the first president slept. or ate. or walked on. 

 enjoying the sun?

 the infamous bell.

 A cute old man asked if he could take our pictures, since his wife is an amateur photographer. Then he made us laugh, and this is what came out.

 Cobblestone!

 The second bank of the U.S. 

 look how beautiful the weather is!!

 and the next second it started hailing....

 even the first presidents needed a bathroom...

 a hole-y building!

 the FIRST bank of the U.S.

 yes, we bought george washington beer.

 this is me and my imaginary friend.

 being normal is over-rated.

 lick that fire hydrant, horse.

 independence hall.

 busy man talking on his phone doin' some work.

 we noticed a lot of restaurants all said "BYOB"

 man on street lights a cig.

 CHEESESTEAK!

 philly is gorgeous.

 and now it all makes sense...

 "whiz whit, please"

 hot chocolate makes grace happy.

 the older i get, the more i have to accept that i look older.

Thanks again to Alex for joining me in one of my east coast goals. I can finally say, "I ate a Philly Cheesesteak in Philly!!!"

Languages= Friendships?

Have you ever thought about how languages could be compared to friendships?

I've been thinking about this lately, and the connection just seems to get stronger the more I think about it. First, there are so many languages out there, ones you haven't heard about, ones you may never know. Just like the number of people in this world, there are always an increasing number of dialects, of how people speak to one another. You're never going to know every one of them perfectly, but some may try, and some don't care to try.

But the connection for me really was ... the fact that languages, like people, fade in and out of your life. At one point of your time, you get really interested in this person, you want to learn all about him/her, you spend a lot of your time hanging out with them, and then there's the fall out. Something happens, or time passes, and you fade out of each others' lives. Or, you become best friends forever and remain close. Learning languages also has that new appeal when you first start, but then you hit that bump, that plateau, and all of a sudden, it seems too hard, it can't be done. Again, some people stick through it, some give up. Once you've achieved a certain language proficiency though, if you want, you could always come back and pick it up. For me, friendships are like that. I've moved a lot in the last few years, didn't stay in one place for more than a year. While I was naive enough to believe I could keep in contact with everyone, it hasn't happened. I know our friendships are still there though. Regardless of what happens, it's always nice to send or receive a "hi" from a friend you haven't heard from in a while.

 Happy Saturday!

P.S. This is what my desk has been looking like for the past few weeks, thanks to the upcoming deadline of one very important literature review.