All that and a rubber chicken

After numerous failed attempts to get this post on the road, I’m determined to finish it today if it takes all night. Hopefully once this one is done I can start posting more regularly and we can do away with this rather silly episodic business. In any case, I’ll do my best to pick up where I left off over a week ago, and hopefully you’ll get an impression of the how crazy, intense, confusing and wonderful the last 10 days have been.

View from Bus of Doom

So, we left off just after the bus tour of doom, after which we were given tickets for the Ellis Island ferry. However, the tour guide had mentioned some waterfalls in north Central Park, and after wandering round downtown Manhattan for some food, a contingent got on the rather crazy subway and headed further north than I’d ever previously been (110th Street).

After four weeks in New York I am convinced that the subway is inferior to the Tube in a number of ways. The map is insanely confusing, all of the trains run at different times into the evenings and weekends, distinguishing between local and express trains is a nightmare, and you can't pack nearly as many people in a subway car (I said carriage and was laughed at) as you can on the Tube. Which might not be such a bad thing. However, the subway trains are air conditioned, which may in fact make up for all of their other failings. What do I care if I'm going the wrong way all the way to the Bronx if I'm cool? This particular journey was rather packed, so of course I whipped out the camera.

Roshni, Edward & Paloma

Ed and Hetti, an internationally travelling asthmatic rubber chicken.

The four of us located some bread and jam and although we failed altogether to find any waterfalls we had a very enjoyable picnic in the senic north end of the park. We wandered south as it got darker, and I discovered that my camera sees some very interesting things in the twilight. It was really nice to spend an evening with some really cool people. Paloma is a really sweet quiet Spanish girl who hopefully I'll get to see more of in the future. Roshni proves every day to be a more interesting, entertaining and exciting person than I previously imagined, and I honestly don't know what I'd do without her at this point. And Ed, who makes a lot of silly faces. Ahem. More on that shortly.

Central Park

Picnic Buddies. And my feet of course.

My camera decided that Roshni was a ghost...... and that I was being attacked by fairies

Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir at night and again

Amongst the failed photos were a some raccoons that we spotted going through the rubbish. Seriously, raccoons. Craziness. So after a lovely walk we headed back to dorms and after agreeing that we were far too tired to do anything else that evening, Roshni and I were dragged out to a rather silly night downtown. Despite finally getting ourselves home at 3am, I was determined that we stick to our plan for the next day - taking the ferry to Ellis Island and having some more picnic action. And sure enough, despite varying degrees of sleep (maybe it explains why I kept spilling things on myself in a really attractive manner) the four of us convened downtown and took the ferry around the islands. The weather, in traditional fashion, was pretty crap.

Familiar much?

Oh look. Me. On a ferry. Woo.

September 10th 2006.

We wandered round the immigration museum, had a nice picnic - with brie (cheese is pretty pricey here so that was a treat) - and got the last boat back to Manhattan. Once in Battery Park, we stumbled across a free salsa dance performance which we watched well into the evening. One of the things I love most about New York is the range of possibility - even though I still haven't seen or done that much, I never know what I might discover or run into on any day. Interestingly, that's certainly been the theme of the last week, but for rather different reasons. It started (arguably) on Sunday night, with dinner for two with Ed at the Caravan of Dreams. The place is amazing, hidden just off 1st Avenue in the East Village, specialising in live (raw) vegetarian food. Its a great indie, mismatching, cozy little place with a spectacular menu, and live music when we arrived - I fell in love at first sight. I've been moved to tears by food on a few occaisions, and I was pretty close that evening. Apart from having some of the most amazing hummous ever, I felt like I was finally having the New York experience I'd been longing for since I arrived. Now it's quite possible that this was the result of the company as much as the venue and although I haven't yet returned to the Caravan, I've seen Ed every day since.

And so the wacky began. On Monday - my insane day of classes (9:45am - 7pm) Roshni and I met Ed on campus with perhaps the biggest backpack I have ever seen. He was no longer staying with his friend but had yet to find an apartment of his own. Of course I offered my floor as interim accomodation. As a result, we spent a lot of time together, and I think getting to know Ed is this single most rewarding and amazing thing I've done since I got here. Word on the street is, neither of us are single any more. I didn't necessarily see that one coming, but more specifically I, Miss Oh So Casual, Organised Religion Scares Me And I Never Want To Get Married Tucker, wasn't expecting to be seeing a devout 25 year old Catholic whose been to twice as many Universities as me and has TB (not contagious guys, panic ye not, but those health forms make a lot more sense now). Nor was I expecting to be taking anything quite as seriously as I am, or to be questioning quite as much about my life and decisions as I have. Then again, I always knew I was coming out here for more than just a holiday, and I'm really pleased that I'm discovering more than just the city. Besides all that, I'm having a huge amount of fun and truely am happier than I've been in a good while. Possibly because Ed makes quite so many silly faces, misunderstands my British accent and gets overexcited about daft things like sparkling water and sloping lawns. Ahem. On a odd tangent, this all rather distracted from the fact that Monday was September 11th, which only really occured to be as we walked home and, despite being miles away from the downtown financial district, we could see the two memorial beams hitting the low cloud. I felt completely at a loss as to what was the appropriate response, and largely struggled between sorrow and total frustration. I'm still not totally sure how to feel about it.

Tuesday, I went to Central Park in the glorious sun - somehow the summer has returned to New York - to do some reading, and was met by Ed. In a spectacularly smooth effort that must be recorded for posterity, he had an amazing meal of huge vegetarian wraps and drinks delivered to us in the middle of the park. Nuff said. Central Park is still my favourite place and I can spend countless hours being completely happy there, especially with the right company. Rather more odd company last week included a rather frightening number of people from Hounslow. I met up with Sunny, Dylan & co on Thursday, which was pleasant and sureal in equal measures, and on Friday night Roshni, Ed and I went to visit Mehreen before her departure to the UK early on Saturday. For some reason, being out here makes home feel a vast and unimaginable distance away, and these reminders that it is in fact only a 7 hour flight (several national exchange students complain that they flew further than I did despite coming from the same country) have been odd and confusing. I like it out here, and I'm certainly not reading to start thinking about the return journey.

On Saturday I ventured out into the boroughs once more, this time to way uptown Manhattan and the Bronx. Ed has a class in urban geography for which the homework comprises walking round various areas of the city and answering questions - it's a pretty fantastic idea, and you get to see bits of town you'd never usually visit. It was nice to go somewhere a bit different even though being a white female definitely put me in the minority - I did grow up in Hounslow after all, so being a minority is fairly reassuring. There was one particularly interesting moment when the Ed and I were walking along an aqueduct, bordered by trees and benches. Lots of people were sat around talking and listening to music, and I felt fine until some guy started shouting at us. I panicked, assuming we were about to get some kind of racist abuse - as did Ed - but instead the guy berrated Ed for not holding my hand, warning him that a pretty girl like me was going to be snatched up by someone else if he wasn't careful. I never ever know what to expect in this city. Saturday also witnessed my discovery of marshmallow fluff. It's essentially marshmallow type goo in a jar, but bloody hell, it's good. Marshmallow fluff, jam and peanut butter sandwiches are something else. So, for that matter, are oreos and peanut butter. I've really been extending my culinary experiences out here, including Monday night's visit to a cute Peruvian restuarant on 1st - with a giant octopus painted on the ceiling - and Tuesday night's trip to an Italian fair downtown. I had forgotten just how many yummy desserts those guys make, it was just like being back in Florence. Sort of.

I may be trying new things, but look what they sell in the local grocery store! Craziness.

All in all, I'm really starting to fall in love with New York. It certainly isn't London, but it's pretty special nonetheless. In fact I like it so much, that I'm leaving tomorrow - Jewish festivals mean we have a three day weekend, so Ed, Roshni and I are catching the bus from Chinatown tomorrow night to explore the capital. And if that wasn't exciting enough, I've tracked down tickets to see none other than Regina Spektor at City Hall next Thursday. I am one very happy, very tired bunny. And after a week of trying, I'm finally going to publish this post. Cheers.