Stella's Humble Flat

Ally, Stella, and Hsiao-Chi at Athena's place in West Village


Not until the time I had brunch with Ally in a restaurant in Upper West Side did I realize that the host of the party is actually Athena, who lives in West Village.

Athena is from Hong-Kong and majored in Museum Studies at NYU.  She shares a beautiful flat in West Village with Dusan, a young man from Germany.  Dusan studied electrical engineering at Princeton University and is currently working in New York.  He is a gentle person possessing extraordinary talent for languages.  I heard him said “恭喜發財” in Cantonese.  I was impressed, for he really got the tone and the rhythm.  He asked Ting-Chi to teach him “Happy Mid-autumn Festival” in Chinese.  And he learned it!

We went to a bar after the hot-pot party.  It was pretty “early” when we got back to Athena’s place.  I was offered to stay in Athena’s flat for it was too “early” for me to go back to Forest Hills.  I gladly accepted the offer and passed out right after entering the room. 

I have a sense of guilt leaving all the cleaning to Jeremy and Hsiao-Chi.  They definitely made a great effort rearranging the chaotic place. 

The next morning, Dusan came back (he was out for some party after the hot-pot party in their flat) and said thank you to me.  He thought I was the one who cleaned up the place.  Ting-Chi and Hsiao-Chi told him that the credit should go to Jeremy, who hanged on to the last minute.  It is surprising that Jeremy did not stayed in Athena and Dusan’s place after finishing the cleaning.  He went back to Upper West Side upon the time he finished it up!  Amazing, I should say.