This Terraqueous Globe

I guess I'm officially in my late twenties. 

Sometime towards the end of July or early August, I start thinking about what I want to do for my birthday in October. Since James lives with me now and travel is an option (unlike during my birthday in 2020), I asked him to plan a trip for us the weekend before my birthday and not tell me where we were going. I was excited to see the destination he chose and managed to avoid all hints and spoilers until we went left for South Station the night of October 21st. 

We went to the bus terminal, so I thought hmm, we're going somewhere accessible by bus. When the time came, we stood in line at gate 19 (my favorite number), waiting for bus 1025 (my birthday). I was delighted by that. The screen said that the bus was going to Hyannis, a town with a harbor in Cape Cod. Hyannis was the most exciting stop of the stops the bus would make, so I asked James to please tell me if that was going to be our destination, so I could hype myself up for it. He said yes. 

I got excited about the thought of spending the weekend in Hyannis, since there was a cafe + bookstore I'd been wanting to check out. I thought that James had that in mind when planning our trip. However, I was proven wrong when we checked in to our hotel for the night. The receptionist asked, "Are you taking a ferry tomorrow?" and James said, "Yes." And that was where I learned that he actually planned for us to go to Nantucket. (We still got to check out the cafe in the morning though.)

Somehow, it never even occurred to me that we were going to take a ferry, which got me even more excited. I love islands! I love maritime culture! And James had recently read Moby Dick, which mentions Nantucket and contains this famous quote about it: 

Let America add Mexico to Texas, and pile Cuba upon Canada; let the English overswarm all India, and hang out their blazing banner from the sun; two thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the sea is his; he owns it.

James on the ferry

I asked if James had any specific activities planned, and he said yes. The one activity was kept a surprise until, after we exited the ferry and walked along the street for a while, we passed a place called The Whaling Museum. James said, "Wow, doesn't this look cool? Let's go!" And so we entered what would soon become one of my favorite museums in the world. 

We began in a passageway that talked about the history of the island, which had been inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years, and when white colonists first started arriving. According to Wampanoag legend, Nantucket formed when a giant sitting on the edge of Massachusetts kicked off his sand-filled moccasins after being unable to fall asleep: one of them became the neighboring island of Martha's Vineyard, and the other, Nantucket. From that passageway I turned the corner and was caught completely off guard by the sight of a full-sized sperm whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling. My jaw dropped. 

With me to scale

James knew that the museum had the whale skeleton, and he wanted to see my face react to it. Let's just say he wasn't disappointed! We both were awestruck and learned that the skeleton came from a whale that had beached on the other end of the island. The islanders considered it a gift from the sea and preserved then reassembled its skeleton (no easy feat) so that it could live on in the museum. 

Another amazing exhibit was the portrait gallery. It showcased notable Nantucketers throughout history and even included those who did not have portraits. I loved how it acknowledged that getting a portrait was often an activity only reserved for the wealthy, but there were plenty of noteworthy people who may not have gotten a portrait because they didn't have the means or privilege. The placards also included fascinating "behind the scenes" explanations of the portraits, such as the one for this dashing man below. 

James's highlight was the gallery Nantucket & The World. It showcased items that Nantucketers brought home from their voyages around the globe as a result of long-distance whaling, trade, and exchange between peoples. James even noticed that the items were arranged geographically, in line with the giant compass on the floor. 

Photo creds to the Nantucket Historical Society

Finally, a totally unexpected and serendipitous display was the friendship baskets created by the basketmaker Jose Formoso Reyes. According to the museum placard, Reyes was born in the Philippines but graduated from high school in Portland, Oregon (sounds familiar...), received his BA from Reed College in Portland, and got a Masters in Education from Harvard. He married a woman from Massachusetts, and his mother-in-law invited them to vacation on the family property on Nantucket. Like many people, Jose and his family knew that they had found their new home and settled there. He sought work as a teacher, but unable to find work in the field, he worked as a house painter and repaired cane and rush chairs. One day, he saw a picture on Life magazine of a basket with a cloth top, which gave him the idea to apply his Philippine weaving training to help him make a living. He befriended a man named Mitchell Ray, who showed him how to weave traditional Nantucket Lightship Baskets. From there, he fused the weaving styles from his homes and embarked on a very successful career. His baskets, known as "Friendship Baskets," are now emblematic of the island, and many include embellishments made of ivory and intricate designs. 

Items from his actual workshop donated from his family, including traditional Philippine hats

From that museum alone, James could not have picked a better destination for a quick trip outside of Boston. It was such a beautiful way of honoring our shared passion for intercultural exchange through trade, travel, migration, and art. We honestly left the museum wanting to live on Nantucket, which is saying a lot considering we haven't felt this attached to a place in a while.

Us being cute

We walked around the island some more, enjoying the cute New England coastal atmosphere. At one point, we ended up at Brant Point Lighthouse, where we got to rest a bit from the day's exploring. It was warm outside and it felt great to dip my feet in the clear, cold water. We even got to see some wildlife–a seal bobbed its head not far from the shore, and we saw a seagull flying overhead drop a clam it was holding in its beak so that it could crack the clam open for a tasty meal.

Anyway, speaking of tasty meals, the celebration continued on the day of my birthday. My friend (and unofficial fifth roommate) Benjamin made reservations at a Japanese-Dominican restaurant named Vaka. We had been wanting to go for months but had to keep postponing, so I was stoked to finally have plans to go. James and our two roommates Mae and Tiba accompanied us, and Benjamin drove our group all the way out to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Lawrence is a cool town with a storied labor and immigrant history, and it has really cool architecture. Many of the buildings used to be factories but are now repurposed. It was a fitting town for me to have a birthday dinner. 

Photo creds to Boston Magazine

The restaurant itself was very lively, and it at times it felt more like a dance floor, considering the music and the lighting. Our server would greet us with a jovial "HELLO!" every time he arrived with food and drinks. Mae, my Filipino roommate, and I both thought he looked Filipino, but it turned out he was Japanese Dominican (like the restaurant) and it also turned out he was the owner. He did say that people mistake him for Filipino a lot. Kinda says something about how Filipinos are a mix of both Asian and Latino influences? 

Anyway, the food was delicious. I never could have imagined plantains would work in sushi form, but somehow they did! Their drinks were also really wacky. We saw what looked like IV drips being brought to other tables, and Benjamin ordered a drink that came in a smoke-filled bell jar. As the birthday girl, I got to open said jar. 

 

At one point, the music stopped and loud mooing noises erupted from the speakers. (Mooing because the restaurant's name is "Vaka," which means cow in Spanish, though it's spelled with a "c.") Following the moos was a birthday song in Spanish that blasted through the speakers. The restaurant owner and other staff went from table to table bringing a slice of tres leches cake and handing a maraca for birthday celebrants to shake. At some point, of course, they stopped by our table. They greeted seven birthday celebrants in total, and it was so cool to all be celebrated together like that. Here is a video that Tiba took so you have an idea of the way that the entire restaurant turned into a birthday party!

All in all, I had a wonderful birthday celebration and felt very loved all throughout. I can't believe how quickly my 20s have flown by already, though I'd like to attribute it to the absolutely wonderful people I've had accompanying me and the times we've shared, through college, my first full-time job, and now law school. It has been so cool to see old friends across the years make appearances in a sort of recurring character fashion, make new friends whom I am already so excited to have throughout my life, and of course to have had the companionship of James, who has been in my life since I was 21 and who knows me better than most anyone. At this point I feel pretty removed from my college self, and although I miss her sometimes, I've learned to be content with whatever present version of myself I find myself in. Now that I'm twenty seven, I'm settling into a more grown-up version of me, and I think I like her.