My New Jersey family are the Richards i.e. Dad's Dad's side of the family. I stayed with Mahesan and Selvaranee Aunty. Its been pretty rad that I can just walk into people's homes and say "Hi, I'm your second cousin from New Zealand - nice to meet you" and then stay with them (note this only works if they are actually your second cousins, not just random people). We'd never met before, but they treated me like one of their own. I spent Christmas at their place - every year since they moved here they throw a massive Christmas Eve bash and invite all the extended family and friends (its seriously massive, like over 100 people). It means that the few days leading up to Christmas and after there's maybe 30 people all crashing at their place. The family all go to midnight mass and then back home for a bit more partying. Good times.
Me on Christmas Eve EST (so Christmas in NZT)
I just spent the rest of the week chilling out, meeting new people and a bit of time in the surrounding area. I did come into NY a couple of times - saw Times Square for the first time, and got crushed in between the Christmas shoppers at Macy's - but nothing too exciting since I didn't really know my way around.
It's weird that you can get so attached to people after such a small amount of time. I've already been back to visit once and hung out more with my cousins - and two weeks ago I didn't even know them. And now I know Sel Aunta's side of the family too - and they treat me like their family (I haven't figured out if they're related to me other than through marriage - chances are that they are - does anyone know?) There wasn't the need to move on to NY, but being based out of the city is way more convenient so I did, leaving the weekend before the new year.
Oo, and I almost forgot to mention that I realised that the love of animals, but especially dogs must be in the Richard's genes. They have two golden labs, that they treat just like we treat our dogs at home. Lucas is crazy like Sasha and Dexter is somewhat more mature like Chloe. Lucas is just a puppy still. So cute and inquisitive. And boisterous. I miss my girls.
It's weird that you can get so attached to people after such a small amount of time. I've already been back to visit once and hung out more with my cousins - and two weeks ago I didn't even know them. And now I know Sel Aunta's side of the family too - and they treat me like their family (I haven't figured out if they're related to me other than through marriage - chances are that they are - does anyone know?) There wasn't the need to move on to NY, but being based out of the city is way more convenient so I did, leaving the weekend before the new year.
Oo, and I almost forgot to mention that I realised that the love of animals, but especially dogs must be in the Richard's genes. They have two golden labs, that they treat just like we treat our dogs at home. Lucas is crazy like Sasha and Dexter is somewhat more mature like Chloe. Lucas is just a puppy still. So cute and inquisitive. And boisterous. I miss my girls.
Lucas
Dexter
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