Afternoon post

Hellooooo~
It's been awhile since I posted an entry this early... So today I woke up around 10AM with a craving for some delicious breakfast. I looked up some restaurants that had a breakfast menu and found the Bongo Room in Herc City. So I got ready and headed out to this restaurant to eat with Amy. The omelette was more than satisfying...

I went to Amy's apartment after having breakfast and we just hung out for a couple of hours. She explained to me more about Herc City and its history and how it came to be. Very interesting.. She talked about a place in Herc City called Freedom Corner where the city people's artwork was prominent (graffiti art, etc). I was super interested in seeing this place and we decided to go there after lunch!

We had lunch at Adams Burger which is off of North Adams Street near the artworks. We both shared an order of chili cheese fries and pastrami sandwich.. Tasted like heaven...

(I feel like majority of my time is spent towards eating...)

Then we were finally on the way to the Freedom Corner. The artwork was beautiful there!

A sticker tag.. First one I have ever seen. "A riot has been started"

The many faces that represent the people of Herc City.

Those who have made an impact on American entertainment

So colorful. I love it!

There's a building here in Freedom Corner and we saw this guy in the process of creating this. He didn't want us to take a picture of him but allowed us to capture his work.

Those are a few pictures from today... I just got back from this afternoon trip couple minutes ago.. I think I'm going to take a short nap now. I don't have anything planned for later tonight but we'll see what happens :) Hopefully I'll be able to post another blog later tonight!

-Mindy

Another restless yet fun day

I am at loss for words to summarize this day. Just WOW. I just keep getting more and more surprised by the talent here! Let me explain....

So I woke up around 11:30AM, got ready for a quick lunch, and headed out to eat near the hotel at Portillo's Hot Dogs with Amy and her friends, Ann, Chris, and Alex. Even though a hot dog isn't the greatest choice for my first meal of the day, Chicago is known for their delicious hot dogs so I just had to try it. And let me tell you...... it was the BEST hot dogs I've ever tried.

The hot dog doesn't look all that different than California's but let me tell you... it was seasoned in some kind of magical and special way! My mouth is watering already...

After lunch, Amy had to go to the dance competition venue early because she was performing in it and performers' call time was 1PM. We all came back to my hotel room and everyone else just hung out for a bit while I got ready. We then made our way to the Goodman Theatre to watch the competition and to cheer on some of our friends. Apparently, this event (World Of Dance, Chicago) is one of the biggest dance competition in Chicago. Not only do dancers from Herc City and some parts of Chicago come to compete, but some teams from all around the nation attend this event. There is one arena where teams compete against each other to show their choreography and another arena where dancers can battle each other through any style of dance. There are also vendors who come to sell their shoes and apparel and also food vendors! It was one LONG show (it started at 1PM and ended at 12AM) but it was super great :)

Chris, Me, Ann, and Alex here at W.O.D. Chicago to cheer on our friends!

The stage where teams competed through their choreography

One of the cypher battles

We were all exhausted from the long day of fun so we decided to just call it a night and I went back to my hotel. And because I didn't eat dinner (and I was beyond STARVING), I ordered some toasts and chicken kabobs through room service!

After finishing my food, washing up, and watching a little bit of television, I realized it's past 4AM! AHH! Until next time! Good night Chicago, good night Herc City, good night world!

A picture from right outside my hotel :)

-Mindy

Real quick!

Hey guys! I'm in a rush but I just got back from the competition/eating/hanging out. Now I have to get ready to go out again.. I'm going to a dance competition with Amy and her friends and I'm so excited because there's going to be a dance battle by dancers who specialize in popping and locking and of course, breakdancing. I'll tell you all about it later! BYE!

-Mindy

A Day of Rest

Hey guys! It's approximately 3AM right now. Sorry for always lagging with blog posts. But here's one for the day!

Today was my day of rest so I slept in until like.. 1PM. Gosh that's late! But it was a great sleep nevertheless! I was absolutely craving a bowl of PHO so Amy and her friends Chris and Ann took me out to the best pho restaurant they knew. It was pretty decent but not as good as the one back home (I cannot wait to go back home for this very food.. haha). After pho, we went for some yogurt and I didn't know Yogurtland existed here! Apparently it's the first one opened in Illinois and they just opened recently.. COOL!

After lunch, the trio took me shopping in downtown Herc City. It's not as huge as the one back in San Diego but it had a good number of really awesome stores. They had a lot of vintage stores and a lot of hip-hop gear/wear. There was a store that I walked into that only sold breakdancing gear such as helmets, kneepads, elbowpads, breakdancing shoes (yes there are specific ones), clothes, music, etc. It was interesting to visit that store since I've never encountered such a place! I also found a shoe store that was filled with all different kinds of streetwear shoes and I just had to buy these purple, black, and white Nike dunks..

Shopping lasted us about a good three hours. We met up with Amy's breakdancing friends for a little bit to watch them in a cypher and then we went to go eat dinner at Andalous Moroccan Restaurant! I never had Moroccan food and it was actually really delicious! I got the Atlas Tagine (thank you Yelp) which was a filling chicken breast marinated in some kind of secret Moroccan sauce and spice.. DELICIOUS.

Here's a picture of the cypher:

And pictures from the restaurant!:

Basically, my whole trip is a balance of good FOOD and good HIPHOP. Hahaha kidding :)

At this point, I was pretty darn exhausted so I returned back to my hotel room after dinner. I took a nice shower and watched the movie "Tangled" (through the hotel services) in bed. Felt so relaxing! Now I'm writing this blog and about to go to bed. Who knows what good adventure is out there for me tomorrow haha. All I know is, I'm going to a hip-hop competition with Amy, Ann, Chris, and a few more of her friends. I'm excited :)

Good night,
Mindy :)

DAY 2

Sorry for the lag guys. It's been a crazy night.
I'm actually sleeping over at Amy's tonight.. It's 5AM as I write this blog entry but it's necessary to write down what I did today (or yesterday) so I can record it in my travel blog!

Woke up around 11AM and I went to the hotel's fitness center for a jog. I came back and took a shower and got ready for the day. I had lunch with Amy and her friend Aaron in Chicago at a small Japanese fusion restaurant called Akasaka Noodle House. I ordered the soba and tofu bowl (DELICIOUS!):

Afterwards, I followed them back to Herc City and I hung out with them for awhile and went to go watch a breakdancing cypher in the heart of the city. A cypher is when a dancers come together to "battle" each other or just show their moves to a crowd. It was really cool because the dancers either battled individually or in their "crews" or teams. (I'll post a video when I upload them.) It was great to see all these talented people come together to share something that they all love to do. Even though I didn't go into the circle (mainly and obviously because I'm not good enough), I am so inspired by everyone's creativity and talents. After the event, a couple of Amy's friends, Amy, and I went out to get some famous pizza of Illinois at Jim's Pizzeria for dinner. So freaking delicious, especially because it was LOADED with mozzarella cheese!!:

After dinner, Amy and I went back to her place to freshen up for the night. We went out to a small bar with her friends and had a blast! We went to Herc's Bar and Grille since it was the popular spot (and it had good ratings on yelp). Now I'm safely (we took a cab back to her place) back at her place and about to knock out!

Tomorrow (or today.. Saturday) will be my day of rest. I have no plans for tomorrow and I hope to rest up for my last couple of days in Herc City/Chicago. I'm having a great time so far and I wish the days went by slower.. It's 5:25AM now... So I'm to bed with a couple of more images/announcements.

Help support Amy's friend PJ by buying a shirt! All proceeds will go to their trip to Los Angeles, CA for their first debut in a BBOY JAM! Please contact me through email or any other form if you are interested!

And if you live in the Southern California area, please go check out the annual URBAN STREET JAM hosted by Stylz Dance Studio! There will be many hip-hop teams competing and exhibiting their sets! There will also be different battles going on as well as vendor sales! Check it out! Wish I was there to watch! Good luck to everyone performing!

And to end the night with a picture of my good friend and me :) Thanks Amy for all of the good times during my trip!

Alright. Signing off at 5:31AM!

-Mindy

Day 1 in Herc City

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lag on this post.. I've been out all day and just got back about two hours ago. I'm extremely tired so I will upload the photos tomorrow. But here's a summary of my day!

I woke up around 10AM, got ready, and went out on my first adventure to Herc City! I was a little nervous at first but the nervousness soon grew to excitement. I walked over to the nearest subway station, hopped on the subway, and got off at the West Herc City stop. I soon learned that Herc City only has three stops because the community is so small. I met up with a good friend who I haven't seen in about seven years. Her name is Amy and she moved to Herc City from California two years ago. She is an AMAZING breakdancer! She's going to be my tour guide everytime I visit Herc City since she obviously knows her way around more than I do. We went to go eat lunch at Rudy's Diner for a simple and cheap meal. I ordered the "Kookie Burger" (I have no idea why it's called that) which was filled with grilled onions and mushrooms (my faves!) and of course, a meat patty. It was delicious! After lunch, she showed me around the neighborhood and introduced me to some of her friends. Herc City isn't as scary as I thought it would be. It was filled with people who appreciated hip-hop and their artwork is everywhere. Not only is there graffiti art, but there's people listening to music and dancing in random corners of the street. It's wonderful! At night, Amy took me to her daily breakdancing sessions. I watched and learned some moves even though I felt like I made a huge fool of myself. Nonetheless, it was FUN and interesting. Afterwards, I hung out with Amy and her friends at a nearby hot dog shop and talked for hours. I realized it was getting really late so I decided to head back to my hotel around 12AM. Now I'm all washed up and ready for bed. What an amazing day! Tomorrow will be another adventure!

Good night world!

-Mindy

I'm back! I just went out to grab dinner in the heart of Chicago and it was phenomenal. I went to this restaurant called "Pete's Grill" and I had some chicken meatballs on a bed of veggies, jambalaya, tuna sandwich, and salad. It sounds like a lot but the restaurant served small portions of each food on a plate so I was able to finish it. Here's a picture of my food:

After dinner, I walked down State Street.. Grabbed a Caramel Macchiato and saw this on my cup:

Maybe #11 was given to me intentionally... It might just be a summary of my whole trip when I visit Herc City the next few days.

And to end the night with some beautiful shots of Chicago:

And the adventures continue tomorrow!

-Mindy