Bright and early, before the sun greets New York with its warm hello, we are on our way. Breakfast had us revisit Chinatown with a stop at the Taipan Bakery. Many rejoiced at the sight of reasonably priced coffee and pastries. On the other hand, many were left scratching their heads on what exactly they were ordering. Some went on a more traditional route, choosing fried doughnut like things, and others tried things they weren’t quite sure of. Like mango rice balls. Yup, a ball of a soft rice mango mixture and a sweet filling, and I can tell you it was pretty decent. While slurping/slipping coffee and consuming our chinese breakfast experiments, we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge.

A light snowfall from the night before left the bridges walking surface slippery. Despite that, dedicated bikers and joggers still took to the bridge for a chance to grab fresh air or simply make it to work. We walked the length of the bridge and back. The bridge gave us gorgeous views of the eastern Manhattan skyline and we also got to take a close look at the architecture of the world’s formerly largest suspension bridge. We then scurried down to the financial district to see the economic heart of America. Banks were plentiful here, but we soon had to leave.

As I was talking to my dad on the phone the other day, summarizing my day’s events and such, he said, “That’s nice and all, but are you supposed to be volunteering?” Why dad yes, yes we are. And that all changes today with orientation at the GMHC. GMHC stands for Gay Man’s Health Crisis and was found back in the early 1980s to combat the rise of a new disease that was killing a lot of gay men. Today they are one of the world’s largest AIDS/HIV non-profits in the world. We continued our worldly theme with the Manhattan Macy’s which boasts it is the world’s largest store. And it is hard to disagree. It takes up what feels like almost a block and has 9 stories. This Macy’s had every brand you could possibly think of and more. Then of course the Empire State building was next.