so, i had mostly a lovely time with my visiting friends. one of the girls i worked with in maine and the other girl was her friend from poland (they live in the same town). so, i finally found them at the bus station in newark. i had to borrow krista's car because my car is making awful, horrible noises and i don't feel comfortable driving it very far. so, after getting up early on saturday to clean for them, working eight hours (on my feet the whole time), driving an hour in someone else's car, paying $10 to park for 10 minutes, and having to use the bathroom like nobody's business, i found them. and there were fireworks for some reason in newark that night. and we made it back okay. and there was much sleeping.
sunday was our free day for adventure. i really wanted them to say they wanted to go to new york so we could ride the train and not use a car. but instead, they want to go to philadelphia. krista very graciously lent us her car again. *side note: my roomie is fabulous* so, we have kind of a late start but, after eating some delicious pizza at iano's, we head out to philly. as we're driving in to philly and exiting toward downtown the car starts smoking. the heat gauge is way in the red. so we pull into an empty parking lot and pop the hood to see what's wrong. well, the radiator hose was totally cracked. we didn't know what to do so i start calling around. the first suggestion was to call 911. i wasn't very fond of that. then, while i was on the phone, a passerby told my friends where a gas station was but they couldn't remember the street names he gave them. so i went to ask this guard guy who was sitting in a car in the parking lot where the nearest station was. amazingly, he had some coolant in the back of the suv that he added to our radiator. and we drive to the gas station where we find extremely unhelpful gas station attendants and a bathroom that is out of order. most service stations are closed on sunday and the only one i found in the phone book that wasn't was closing in an hour and was far away from where we were. so, after another round of phone calls, we decide to use electrical tape to close the crack in the hose and try to make it to jersey. we go to wal-mart and buy coolant, 2 gallons of water, duct tape and electrical tape. while we're in the parking lot doing our work, many people stop and try to help. these two guys ended up doing the taping. so, we're set to head out but i feel bad because we came to philadelphia and my polish friends haven't seen anything. we drive by independence hall and head out. 15 minutes on the highway and we have to pull over cause the temperature is too high. we have to retape because it's all come loose from the heat and leakage. and we add lots of fluids. i must say that we did a far superior job of taping because we didn't have to pull over again until we got to 206 in jersey. one highlight on the way was that the moon was the biggest i've ever seen in my life and orange. so pretty. so, we finally get back to the apartment. i decide to treat my friends to a movie because i feel as though i haven't been an entertaining host. we saw the illusionist and one girl liked it and the other thought it was silly.
turns out that it wasn't just the hose in krista's car but the entire radiator. so, i feel awful that i borrowed her car cause mine was being weird and then i break her car. ugh!
so, yesterday and today, they went exploring around palmer square and the university while i was in classes. we've watched movies at night. i feel that i did a less than adequate job as a hostess. i wish i could have shown them more. but they kept insisting that they liked just relaxing in my apartment and were very pleased at the use of my cell phone and computer. i took them to the train station tonight and they are off to buffalo, ny. my friend iza really made an around the country trip: from maine to montana by bus, to las vegas, the grand canyon and l.a. by bus, then flying to miami, bus to d.c. then newark and now buffalo, then nyc. crazy. kinda jealous. it was good to hang out with them but i'm glad for a night's full rest.
my friends sarah and tsetso that i know from maine as well are coming tomorrow night. i'll be very glad to see them. i hope i can show them a better time. we're going out to dinner tomorrow and then i think we'll go to nyc on thursday. or, d.c. but only if sarah drives! and then, they have to make it back to boston on thursday. i swear that my friends must love crazy, whirlwind trips.
it's so good to see people from maine. i do miss it. i mean this year didn't seem as good as last year but i know i won't go back and that makes me sad. it was funny, one night recently, i had a dream with elements from maine, college, my hometown and princeton in it. it was weird to see all the different parts of my life collide in my subconscious. it really is strange when two of your worlds meet.
okay, i should probably stop because this is a huge post that probably nobody will read. but, it has to keep my faithful readers entertained until probably friday or later because of my round two of friends visiting and then my recovery and then working for the weekend and trying to find a place that will work on my daewoo (the most inconvenient car to have when you need maintenance because it's not common so parts are hard to find and are expensive and people don't want to work on them because they're built strangely). i wouldn't hold your breath waiting for my next post. peace!
