Having strict parents means that even taking certain commute routes can be problematic. As a result, the thought of my parents allowing me to take public transit just to hang out with friends never even occurred to me. The fact that I don’t live within walking distance from my friends’ homes doesn’t help. But that all changed during the spring break.
On a Tuesday during our break, I went to one of buildOn’s community services at the New York Common Pantry in Harlem. Tahmina Marjan, a senior, came with me that day. We finished the service an hour and a half early, leaving me with a lot of time to kill.
Days before, I had just gone to Koreatown with my sisters and their friends to go to an escape room and I told Tahmina about the experience, including all of the different foods I got to try for the first time. She told me that she would really love to go there with me one day and I wanted Tuesday to be that day.
I told my mom about it before I went to the community service and she didn’t really like the idea, but she gave me one condition to even consider the idea: Community service had to finish early. She didn’t think it actually would and neither did I.
I called my mom after we finished the community service, letting her know that I had finished the community service early and asked if I could go to Koreatown with Tahmina. It became a whole conversation with my dad on the other side of the phone while I anxiously waited for her response and I honestly thought she would tell me I couldn’t go.
My parents ended up allowing me to go with multiple conditions, of course. I had to be home by 5:30 p.m. and I had to stay in touch every so often, which I excitedly complied with. By the time we got to the train station, it was already 3 p.m. so I was really anxious about how much time we would actually be able to spend there.
There were only four stops on the train, so we got there quickly. First, we went to a Target nearby and bought candy, makeup and essentials. After that, we got bubble tea and tried each other’s flavors. We didn’t have much time after, so we went window shopping, looking through street vendors and shops. We ended it off with food, getting it from a nearby food truck. Although we didn’t get to go to the food spots I wanted to try together, I was still happy to be somewhere new with a friend.
Once we finished, my parents allowed me to even take the 2 train home all alone for the first time, which was an hour. They’d never allowed me to travel so far on the train by myself, so it felt nice to be alone with my music and no worries.
Going there with Tahmina made me want to experience it all over again, so the following Friday, I built up the courage to ask for permission to go again. I went with my sister that time and we tried all kinds of diverse foods that I’d never had authentically. We had sushi, tteokbokki [spicy rice cakes], seafood udon stir fry, Korean fried chicken, taro cheesecake bubble tea and mochi ice cream.
We also went to Mixue, the largest food chain in the world based on location and tried chocolate bubble tea and matcha ice cream. The matcha ice cream was unique and unlike any ice cream I’ve ever had. It was soft served on a cone and it tasted really earthy, but sweet at the same time. The chocolate bubble tea was not my favorite, but my sister really liked it. In my opinion, it was too sweet and didn’t go well with the boba pearls.
All three times, I had a blast. The excitement I felt on my way there never got old and I was ready to experience a new part of the city and try new things. I still am. I’m grateful for my parents allowing me to experience something new in my final months of high school. I feel more prepared to take on a newfound independence during college and relieved that I can gain experience freedoms with my friends before college.
