Thoughts from Daphenie

Day One was one of the longest days in the world. We slept, we cried, we all were restless.  we stop about three times and use the bathroom then after we would play around.  Sitting for about seven and a half hours is very hard it was worth it though. The first stop was at the Apollo. We met Mr. Apollo and that was amazing, he is very funny and he made everyone laugh

 "I was like the man of the house when I got my job. I came home with food for my little brothers and sisters. My mom had other problems and she was not really home enough.  I got people who performed here what they needed like food, water, snacks, and many more I loved it. James Brown was like my father him and Marvin Gaye put me through college.”

 Mr. Apollo said to us that he can’t stress it enough how good an education is. He was blessed to get one like he did and he is happy now. After he was done talking he told us that we are going to put on a little mock show;  You can dance, sing,  tell jokes , whatever, But we do have to rub the tree of hope. There is a long story behind it and I’ll tell you some of it. There was a theater where people performed and some people couldn’t for whatever reason so they performed in front of the theater next to the tree. Now  the people who were performing in front of the tree got jobs just in the snap of a finger. They started calling it the tree of hope. The theater was being taken down and people were sad because the tree was going to leave so they started ripping things off the tree, the owner of the  Apollo wanted some so he cut the whole middle of the tree he made people rub it before they went up on stage. That is why it is called the tree of hope.  The Apollo was great after we were done there we went to the park had some play time. Kat’s Deli  was awesome I loved it it was cool the food was great and so was the service. It was so busy in there it made it crazy it was very tiny space and it was good I personally loved it was great I like the feeling of the city. We left for the hotel and an ended the day. That was how it was on the first day now the second day was more packed up with things to do places to see and people to meet.

The second day was the most fun we went to china town the sea port and, top of the rock little Italy and  to see the 9/11 memorial.  We got to choose little Italy or china town and I hate Italian food but it was what I ate. I believe that it was supposed to be like it was because it was amazing who me met. Jersey  shore? No, but we did meet  one of the first responders to nine eleven it was so scary to hear this now  Imagine being there.  It was very sad and made me cry I wanted to just not listen and I wanted to walk away but I couldn’t. “ The  sound of a human body hitting the ground from 900 feet in the air was terrible.”  Said the first responder. Soon before I knew it there were more than just one group with us there was three four five . When we took a tour of the memorial it was sad and it was happy going to St. Paul’s chapel made me feel great. There was a lot of things that I learned there. All the people that lived and all the first responders suffer from PTSD  post-traumatic stress disorder. We have been having a blast and meeting the coolest people in the world. When we got to Top of the rock last night it was AMAZING!!!!!!!   There was a room of lights and there  were three floors that were out side. It was jaw dropping  drop dead Beautiful I loved it. Many people were sick the flash on a camera was just making my head spin that was all you saw I love the way it looked all though there were sick people there were happy people and everyone loved it they were all so happy the way their faces lit up when they saw it even people who have been here more then once they were happy. It was the best way to end the night and we couldn’t ask for anything better.