New York!

After realizing that --goodness me-- the last four posts talk about winning things, I thought I'd finally change up the pace (seriously, folks...I never win things. Ever. Not the estimate how many jelly beans in a jar contests, not any races or athletic contests, raffles at St. John's Fall Festival...nothing! So I'm a little floored that I keep, well, winning things. I'm very grateful, to be sure, but it's just so unexpected!)

So---to change things up, I wanted to talk a bit about my trip to New York City in early June (after the fact, I know, but it's been a busy summer so far!)

New York City, for me, can be described as overwhelming, busy, inspiring. It's not quiet. And it's not really serene. But it is quite the place to be.

My trip was a very short venture to donate Harold Fairchild's old textbooks to Pelham School District in New York, followed by a day in the city catching up with a few friends.

The train ride down was best described as beautiful and depressing. The scenery is lovely---that is, until you look harder and see all the trash and debris. I was just itching to get off the train and into waders and work clothes and clean until not a single lick of trash is left. Maybe one day?

I arrived into Pelham around 5, and Ken (my contact at the Pelham Legion) picked me up at the train station. He gave me a bit of a tour downtown, and talked to me about the town's history (dating back to the very late 1700s, which is pretty impressive!) Pelham is about a half hour drive or train ride into the city, so it is a popular place for those people that want a more suburban/small town community close to public transportation. The event was held at the local middle school library, and it was a program in honor of Pelham residents who have gone above and beyond either in their community or in the nation. This includes people that did great work in the school district lobbying for the best education for their town's young people, as well as one of the protagonists of the real-life story behind the movie "Mississippi Burning."

Harold was not included among this list (there is a nomination process and committee meetings for the Hall of Honor program) but I was able to say a few words about Harold:



and then donate the books to a member of the school board (he's in the middle; Ken is on the right)



They don't show up on the picture, but the woman in the red dress had the most amazing red and white pumps from the early 1970s. She was actually the only living honoree, and quite the spark plug to boot. She told me "Oh goodness, X would have loved you. Absolutely loved you. Wouldn't he have just loved her, Y?" It was very nice how accepting and excited they were to have me there, even though I still gave off the aura of being an outsider---I have no real idea of the town's history, what it's like to go to school here or live here...but they seemed glad to have me there.

I had dinner with Ken and his wife as well as the photographer of the event before heading down to Grand Central Station. I got to sit next to three young Danish hipsters on the way as they polished off an entire bottle of Lemon Rum (wow...slurred Danish/English slang sounds funny...)

On my way out of the subway up in Washington Heights, I acquired some excellent bruises. Some punk teenagers wouldn't let me through to the door, and by the time I made it through, the doors closed on me. I screamed, they opened, I tripped...and received some beautiful shoulder/shin colorings.

Pallav and Bobbi live in an oddly shaped but beautiful apartment with hardwood floors, and we caught up until late o'clock, talking about science, Sweden, food...all the important things. We went out for brunch the next morning (mmm food) at Le Monde, a French place near Columbia that is surprisingly reasonably priced. I had the spiniach and brie omelette, and Pallav had the stuffed French toast (with cream cheese; he let me try a bite, and it was sooooo delicious!)


We walked around campus for awhile, and stopped to take a picture (yeah, it was raining. New England is still the scorned lovechild of Seattle and London, even thought it's July 2nd).

We also went into The Cathedral of St. John The Divine on Amsterdam and West 112th Street --- I didn't take any pictures inside (without a flash, my camera acts pretty wonky), but we did spend some time chilling in the gardens outside:


Next, I met up with Dave and Linnea near NYU to eat falafel at Mamoun's and dessert at Veselka---followed by the world's quickest sprint to make sure I didn't miss my bus. And then it was half an hour late. Siiiigh. BUT I did get to sit on the top of the double decker bus, and as it takes almost an hour to actually get out of New York City proper, you can still do a lot of observing as you go:

(and if you're me, try to take a picture, realize it's awfully blurry, and revel in the beautiful results anyway. And promptly decide that they're ready for a gallery. Well, at least one in my apartment).

At the end of the day, I just really need to get out to NYC for a full honest-to-goodness weekend trip...see everything that I have missed, mull around in art museums, eat tons of food....the works. And maybe see some more of my New York friends!