Wednesday means we are half-way done. No worries readers there is still a great deal of stuff to discuss. 

This morning was spent primarily in Harlem/Norhern Manhattan working our way south. In Harlem lies the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz Mosque in honor of the late Malcolm X, who was a Muslim. This may come as a shock to many but after we walked. A lot. By now anyways, most of us have built up enough calluses or tolerance that we deal with it. It New York City and we have see as much as we possibly can here in a week. 

Morningside Heights was our next destination. Therein exists a very quaint and serene park. Equipped with old willow trees, a baseball diamond and a pond, it seemed to be a popular place for jogging and walking dogs. Behind the park is the cathedral of St. John the Divine. It was just as impressive on the outside as it was on the inside. Modeled in the late 20th century neo-gothic revival style, the cathedral is comprised of a colossal main area where many art exhibits that explore and develop the idea of food. Is food a right? What role does it play on society? In the bible? The stained glass artwork here was also intricately breathtaking.

After that people started to run on fumes, so Absolute Bagels it was. Luckily we came at the right time and the line wasn’t too long. They had a variety of options in cream cheese flavors from strawberry down to Green olive and olive oil cream cheese options. 

On our way to GMHC we passed through one of the eight Ivy League schools, University of Coloumia in the City of New York. Lush, green and groomed was the campus which is expected. T-shirts, sweatshirts and a book were bought. 

The day at GMHC consisted of behind-the-scene work. We started by helping out with data entry into computers. After lunch we came back and helped fold bags for the development department. These bags had artwork from Keith Haring, a well-known LGBT artist and the GMHC logo. The bags were sent to people who donated or increased their donation (to a or past certain threshold) as an incentive and thank you. The supervisor of the activity, based on past experiences, expected us to get about 500 bags done in two and a half hours. We, however, smashed her expections, by folding all 1500 of her bags in two hours while being a person short. She told us that she just had a group of 15 that folded only 500 bags in 2 and a half hours. She was so shocked and thankful that she gave us each two totes bags to bring home. Our record shattering group was very pleased to hear that. After that we got education about HIV and AIDS by a course called HIV 101. During this course we really got to understand the disease through an open discussion format. We debunked myths, asked questions, learned about HIV testing methods, and took a quiz to test out knowledge. Kenneth our instructor was so kind, personable and knowledge and everyone took a lot out of that class. 

Our Wednesday nights were casually spent on BROADWAY. Everyone in the group got to see a show. Trina and Erica W went to see an interactive show called Fuerza Bruta. Trina said, “The was amazing. The show was so engaging that due to indoor rain on the crowd we left wet.” Erica W agrees and adds, “It was fanatasmic!!!” The other part of the group went to Chicago. Yes, get the jokes out. We came to New York City to see Chicago. Hilarious. I know. Anyways moving on, the show very well done. The award-winning chereography was well, award-winning worthy. We all really enjoyed it. Danielle our trip leader, who had already seen Chicago three times decided to see “She loves me” instead.

I just wanted to apologize for being late with the blogs posts. I know I said daily updates, but our days were always super full. The rest should be up very soon.