New in New York

So I feel I should apologize for the glaring lack of posts in the recent past…but then again, this is my blog and I can post as frequently or infrequently as I want. But things have been pretty busy, plus I feel like I need to be inspired and in a writing mood and have a good chunk of free time ahead of me before I am able to sink my teeth into a good post. That was just by way of explanation. But right now in my sondre-induced state of euphoria I feel like I am on a roll and so I will take this opportunity to briefly let ya’ll know what I’ve been up to...never mind that it’s past 4 in the morning.

So I just realize today marks three weeks of my being officially here! People ask me if I miss home, and while I miss individual people and miss having comfort zones and people who have known me for longer than a week, I can’t honestly say I have had much time to get sad or nostalgic. It’s not like I feel like this is home either…it’s more like I’m in this weird transition limbo state, kinda like being on holiday for the last 3 weeks. I’ve had so much fun so far, that it’s actually a tad overwhelming.

Let’s start with the International House, where I live – this place is pretty much the perfect living arrangement for me right now. I love being able to roll out of bed and walk 5 minutes to class (although my classes are mostly in the evening so I technically shouldn’t be rolling out of bed). I love the diversity and friendliness of the people who live here…and these are all people at the top of their respective fields from all corners of the world. I have made friends with a Brazilian/French concert pianist, a Hungarian physicist, a Jewish-American peace educator, a Nigerian UN-intern, a UN diplomat from Liechtenstein (I didn’t even know that was a country!), a French jazz trumpeter, a British/Indian classical scholar/actor who owns a theatre company in London, an Iranian salsa-dancing & boxing Math professor, a British/Punjabi human rights activist, a Harvard dental student who did a brief stint as a Buddhist monk in Japan… this is just to give you some idea of the crazy world I live in. These are the kinds of people I get to chat with in the cafeteria, or play foosball with in the pub, or watch them get drunk and dance craazeely on Friday night. And then there all these free activities that I-House offers, in the interests of building international well-rounded world leaders…such as weekly salsa classes, tango classes, ballroom dancing classes, a weekly live jazz night featuring residents studying performance at the Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of Music, a monthly semi-formal Sunday Supper with distinguished speakers (this month was the CEO of the Red Cross), language exchange classes, gym facilities, etc. So yeah…all in all I think the closet-sized room that I live in is well balanced by some of the other perks of living here.

Then there’s school…the “real” reason I’m here (which sometimes has slipped my mind..). I have a great schedule, with classes on mon, tues and wed. evenings, and the rest of the week off. I get to take interesting classes geared specifically towards things I am passionate about, and spend the rest of the time reading interesting articles and books. The classes I’m taking right now include Education and the Development of Nations, Education and Economic Development (taught by a Latin guy who looks like Genghis Khan, as he himself pointed out with comparative photographs on the first night), Philosophies of Education (I get to read Plato and Kant and Dewey and other fun guys in the attempt to figure out my own philosophy of ed), Teaching English in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts (all about how to bring in critical and multicultural perspectives in English lit classrooms), and Developing Critical Thinkers (which was actually only a 2-day intensive seminar from which I walked away with one credit!). My classmates are all really smart and full of interesting experiences out in the real work world, and the professors even more intelligent, so it can be a bit intimidating at times, but overall interesting.

I have also enjoyed exploring random bits and pieces of New York and doing real New Yorker things whenever I get a chance. Some of my favourite moments have been just jogging in Central Park or in the Riverside Park next door to me – with a line of trees and benches on my left and the Hudson River on my right and random children playing and dogs being walked and runners and bladders here and there. Or sitting in an outdoor café patio on Broadway street sipping coffee and catching up on my reading while surreptitiously taking in all the shapes and sizes of people that pass me by. Last weekend I attended my first ever baseball game – Yankees-Red Sox at the historic Yankee stadium – and ate a hot dog and cracker jacks while my friend Guybe explained to me all the finer details of this all-American sport. Guybe was a Red Sox fan which made us 2 out of about 5 people in the whole sea of Yankee blue shirts that were cheering for the Red Sox, and so we had to cheer very very quietly. I’ve also explored random cafes and pubs in the neighbourhood, my favourite of which is the Hungarian Pastry Shop, a cozy fair-trade leftist scruffy intellectual gathering place (don’t worry Gilletters, my subsequent visits there have paled in comparison to the amazing memories we made there on our first visit!). Other cool things have included gallery-hopping in Chelsea, people-watching in Washington Square Park (where Sally dropped Harry off in the movie), visiting little boutiques and cafes in Soho, getting a free makeover at Macy’s department store, wandering through a street festival in the Upper East Side, walking home 100 blocks through New York’s bustling night lights.

So yeah, it’s been pretty cool so far. I have a feeling I might be getting a bit spoiled here. But I can live with that for now.

I do miss you all tho!

At the Yankees game

Yankee stadium

(From right to left) Honza the Czech Drug-use Analyst, Imre the Hungarian Physicist, Kinneret the Jewish-american Peace Educator, and Susan (I forget what she's famous for)

At the Hungarian Pastry ShopIn front of the 'Friends' building