Friday, July 18, 2008

bagel and coffee for breakfast

I want to do something different this morning. I left home earlier and sat on a bench at the Central Park West Ave., spent 30 minutes reading a book, then felt hungry remembering I just had orange juice at home. I found a vendor at entrance of the 103rd subway station. It was my first time to buy bagel and hot coffee there. The vendor man was cheerful and kind. He asked me if I am Chinese, a FAQ for me, I answered I am Japanese. I enjoyed my special breakfast sitting on the bench at the platform and then in the train. I felt like being a New Yorker! I loved the taste of the bagel and cream cheese very much. I think I'll buy it again when I want something special! I got refreshed and head to the nursing home!

Before lunch, I talked with a social worker. She listened to my story and gave me a good suggestion. I was glad to have her with me.

At lunch time, I sat with a woman who is, I think, really a picky eater. She often doesn't like the meal and asks the kitchen staff to change the plate or special order which is often not included that day's menu, like to replace port to chicken, or to make cheese sandwiches, and so on. Today's regular menu was lasagna. She obviously loved it because she finished it all and asked another plate and finished the one! I said, "I'm glad you like lasagna and had two plate of them!" She smiled at me. To see her eating with joy was really blessing!

In the afternoon, we had a good church service. Beautiful testimonies, songs, and prayers. I was encouraged by people's loves. Unfortunately, we have to cancel next Thursday's service due to a lack of manpower. I could only play music but I can't give a preach...... I feel useless but I hope we can have another wonderful service in August.

And I really hope the new pastor is coming very soon. We, pastoral care staff, are in an unstable situation. We need someone to lead us, a decision maker. Until the pastor comes, we should go on by ourselves, I mean, volunteers.


After getting home, I spent two hours with the piano, practicing a duet song which I am going to sing with my friend at the next workshop, two piano pieces which I am going to play in service at my church in Brooklyn next Sunday. Then I wrote an e-mail to apply for the speech pathology research volunteer next semester, hopefully once a week. I'm not a college student but I am hoping to join it after having an interview with the faculty. I've been interested in language pronunciation since I started to learn English seriously a few years ago, or possibly more years ago, since I started to learn classical singing because I need to sing songs in several different languages. I want to know how alphabetical language speaking people pronounce every consonants or vowels. I can't afford to go to university but I want to learn about it. If I can get this opportunity, I'd be another wonderful experience here!

Tomorrow will be my day off. I'm going to read a book which I borrowed last Saturday, "Musicophilia". This book is fascinating for me! It contains many things I wanted to know! Even though it's difficult for me to read and understand, I want to read it anyway. Books always teach me a lot.

4 comments:

Louie Louie said...

Ah, a bagel and coffee breakfast.
Makes me think of
days long ago.

Naoko said...

Hi Joe,
Thank you for your comment! How have you been? I think I'll have a bagel and coffee breakfast again, maybe for once-a-week fun, because I loved it!

Louie Louie said...

I'm fine, thank you.
Oh, a New York Times Sunday
edition would go well with
a bagel and coffee breakfast.

Naoko said...

Hi joe,
Oh, Sunday edition and Bagel & coffee breakfast! Sounds great! I'll try it some Sunday!