Christmas is the natural first choice for a visit to the USA, the one your family always expects you'll be back for. It's hard to explain to them that you've used up all your allotted vacation days gallivanting around Southeast Asia and by the time December's rolled around, you simply can't take any more days off work to come home! And it's also hard to explain that if you saved up your days for Christmas every year, you'd never get to visit for all the other times of the year that are just as dearly missed.
Yes, in addition to major holidays and events, there are so many beloved aspects of quotidian life that are equally priceless: a warm summer evening, winter storms watched through windows in a fire-lit family room, spring blossoms, autumn leaves. So I've gotten into a habit of rotating my visits, so that after a cycle of a few years, I manage to be home for different seasons to re-experience the things I miss most about American life.
This year, the time was ripe for a July visit to the great state of New Jersey. When I was booking my trip back to Hong Kong while home last Christmas, I had to decide when I would next be making my way stateside. (I always book a round trip ticket, the return leg being my next visit back.) Summertime in the tri-state area is something I truly love: the Jersey Shore, fresh produce, Independence Day celebrations, lightning bugs and the languid, leisurely tint that life takes on between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Hong Kong's "summer" can stretch for most of the year—and don't think I'm complaining about that! Still, there's something that feels particularly special about the season on the East Coast, due to how fleeting it is. And I love to come home for it.
Summer sunset in our backyard
My sister Danielle picked me up at Newark Airport late in the evening of June 30, and the next morning, the first thing we did was bolt down to Belmar to spend the day at her beach house. We walked along the waterfront, linked up with my cousin Michelle for a delicious lunch and then started the party, which lasted until the early hours of the morning!
Me and Danielle in Belmar
The next day I had to head back north to Old Bridge. Driving around running errands with my dad—oddly one of my favorite aspects of any trip home—I saw a sign posted about the centennial commemoration of the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. Ever since I've been a little kid, I've been fascinated by the string of attacks that terrorized Beach Haven, Spring Lake and Matawan during that baking summer so long ago.
My hometown of Old Bridge borders Matawan, and our house even has a Matawan mailing address because it's actually closer to Matawan's downtown than that of Old Bridge. As a child, I spent a great deal of my free time there, and visits were always tinged with the stories of the shark attacks. One of my old favorite restaurants, the long-gone Poet's Inn on Route 79, was where I first learned about them. I remember going as a kid and reading the menu, where the cover page was the reproduced Matawan Journal from that day in 1916 detailing the vicious attacks on Lester Stillwell and Stanley Fisher. Although it was only happenstance that my visit happened to coincide with these centennial events, I feel very fortunate that the stars aligned and I got to be home for the anniversary.
By this point, my trip was already flying by, with Monday's Independence Day celebrations at my Aunt Paulette's house in Brooklyn happening before I knew it. The day was great, with a quintessential poolside barbecue spent with all my cousins, all culminating with the shooting off of some fireworks on the street in front of the house.
Wednesday, Danii and I drove into Brooklyn again, this time to Coney Island to spend the day with my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Bill and our cousin Jackson. We had the unhealthiest lunch imaginable at Nathan's (also celebrating its centennial this year) and rode the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel, in addition to the obligatory Sideshow. Although Hong Kong has a few good hot dog spots, nothing beats Nathan's, and we threw in a load of French fries, fried clams and even frog's legs, all washed down with good old-fashioned lemonade. And the pitch perfect weather made the whole day even more memorable.
My hometown of Old Bridge borders Matawan, and our house even has a Matawan mailing address because it's actually closer to Matawan's downtown than that of Old Bridge. As a child, I spent a great deal of my free time there, and visits were always tinged with the stories of the shark attacks. One of my old favorite restaurants, the long-gone Poet's Inn on Route 79, was where I first learned about them. I remember going as a kid and reading the menu, where the cover page was the reproduced Matawan Journal from that day in 1916 detailing the vicious attacks on Lester Stillwell and Stanley Fisher. Although it was only happenstance that my visit happened to coincide with these centennial events, I feel very fortunate that the stars aligned and I got to be home for the anniversary.
By this point, my trip was already flying by, with Monday's Independence Day celebrations at my Aunt Paulette's house in Brooklyn happening before I knew it. The day was great, with a quintessential poolside barbecue spent with all my cousins, all culminating with the shooting off of some fireworks on the street in front of the house.
Fourth of July Fun in Brooklyn !
My cousin Chris and his son Julian on Independence Day
A beautiful day on Coney Island's boardwalk
I only had one night in Manhattan this trip, riding the subway in from Coney on Wednesday afternoon. I met up with my friends Heidi, Jimmy and Kate, and we had a few drinks before going for an awesome Burmese dinner on the Upper West Side. Later, we unexpectedly bumped into my friend Courtney at one of the post-dinner watering holes we hit up, a pleasant surprise for sure!
Villanova '09 in Manhattan
On Thursday, I had a lovely al fresco lunch in SoHo with my French friend Ines, who left Hong Kong over a year ago and is loving life in the Big Apple. And she and my friend Edouard—whom I just missed since he had flown back to France for a few weeks two days before—recently got engaged and will be married in Bali next year! Needless to say, it was great to catch up with her and hear all about how Edouard popped the question!
Lunch with Ines at Aurora Soho
Of course, back in the Garden State, the rest of the week disappeared quickly. As a final cap-off to this trip, I took a trolley tour around Matawan on Saturday afternoon to commemorate the shark attacks, stopping at many sights in the town associated with the victims and heroes of that tragic day. It was a poignant and informative way to see this wonderful trip out.
The trolley tour of the Matawan shark attack sites
People still leave toys on the grave of eleven year old victim Lester Stillwell.
Later that day, I drove into Brooklyn with my dad one final time to celebrate my aunt's birthday, and I took a car straight to JFK that night for the long flight back to Hong Kong. What a spectacular trip home!
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