adventures in Geneva and beyond!

New York!

June 13, 2010 at 3:06 am (Uncategorized)

Posts on the quirks + ups and downs of summer as a non-tourist in New York

On my first day in New York, I almost got ran over while crossing the street more than a few times. I guess my small town (ie Boston) sensibilities hadn’t prepared me enough for The Big Apple (I think only tourists say this). As good friends who have saved me from imminent death (E and A) know, I’m notorious for not looking both ways when dashing and tripping my way across the street (jaywalking is the game). This is my ostrich-like philosophy: if you don’t see the car, it doesn’t see you either. But New York is full of wanton yellow taxis that whip around at the speed of light, so I have to force myself to be more careful in the future.

The summer sublet is a walkup near the 86th St. express stop in the Upper East Side in Manhattan. When we first saw the apartment, it must have been close to 11pm on the first day of the two day whirlwind attempt to find an apartment last minute in New York. Compared to the first claustrophobically cramped apartment housing a young corporate dude (working at 10pm on a Saturday night) who was suffering from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, this apartment was charming. The effect of the space is a narrow hall which slightly expands into a tiny kitchen space, which expands into a sectioned off living room, finally narrowing into a small bedroom. I was impressed by the clever development of such a small space.

The apartment belongs to a couple in their early 30s – she, a writer and he, a chef – both of whom seemed to be jobless at the moment (unfortunately, recent loss of job was a pattern that emerged among the people who were trying to sublet their apartments). This couple was subletting it in order to save on rent and moving back with their parents in Brooklyn for a few months. Despite the smallness of the space, I fell in love with their collection of books – ranging from huge volumes of Henry James collected works (fine, I can’t make it through 10 pages of Henry James without falling asleep) to Nick Hornby (yes!) to Jhumpa Lahiri to huge art history tomes. Most excitingly – a whole shelf full of cookbooks galore, including specialized topics such as Japanese foie gras (which I didn’t know existed!). This little apartment, which we later found out lacks sunlight during the day (2 of 3 windows are facing a brick wall), nonetheless looks classy, lived-in and is located in a lively, diverse neighborhood across from Pier 1 Imports (yeah – the “domestic goddess” in me got way too excited about this one).

More on the apartment, neighborhood, internship with Asian American Legal Defense Education Fund (which thus far has involves chasing frightened immigrants around Chinatown and Queens, yelling a mixture of Chinese and English, trying to make them complete a housing needs assessment), new friends and adventures soon. I’m headed back to Boston on the early Bolt bus to watch my little sister graduate from Boston Latin in purple robes!

Also, hola friends!