8 Octubre, 2009
New York was a blur. I mean, not like a million things happened, but my mind was somewhere else..completely preoccupied. I've appreciated that on all of these beginning legs of this trip(/life. "It's not a trip!"), things have been rather chill-er than they could have been. I arrived into New York mid-day on Saturday and took the bus to Max Abram's place in Queens (Max is a friend from Oxy for those of you who don't know) and hauled my crazy mess of bagS around Astoria. On the bus ride there I met this Canadian doll who "is a Flamenco dancer" and loves the flamenco because "you don't have to have a partner!!" After regrouping for a few in Max's apartment, Naguine, Max and I hunted for a particular Brazilian place for lunch that turned out to actually be closed. We walked around Astoria for a little, searching for an intriguing and not outrageously expensive place to eat. We decided on an Indian place that had good lunch specials. The food was satisfying and they used a lot of garlic, which you don't typically taste in Indian food. I liked it. Think about it. After they started playing what I would say is AMAZING keyboard ballads (others might call it pre-programmed back-up sounds on your Casio), Max ultimatum-ed that we HAD to leave. We ducked into a coffee shop (it was greek?) for summa tha goods, hit up a free wine -tasting at a seller next door, and then went back to Max's. At Max's we again regrouped and planned the evening, deciding to take it a little easier and skip the dance party at the Brooklyn museum and instead chill in Queens at Max's roommate's friend's, where we smoked hookah, drank tea, laughed. After late night babaganoush and falafal sandwiches, Naguine and I had to lug my baggage all the way from Queens to Brooklyn and ended up getting to bed around 4.
In the morning, Naguine had some errands to run on the Upper West Side and I met my friend Courtney for coffee, met back up with Naguine, shopped a little in Brooklyn and had lunch at a cafe where Max joined us. Time was ticking rather fiercely at this point and here is where I began to get a little crazy. I just really didnt want my last day or last few hours left in the U.S. to be stressful and hectic. They very much were, which I find really unfortunate. I think I definately am a person that likes to sink in. I like to process what I'm doing and in this case, what I am about to do. The haphazard throwtogether, the only-tending-to-the-physical and the logistical needs really was not okay. If I had really known this about myself, I would have designed my day differently and made it very well known that I needed a good amount of time in that day to just chill and be and think, maybe write, and call Sophie (!). I only realize this in retrospect. Look!..I learned something about myself already! I also learned that you should ALWAYS take the option to bring the most convenient suitcase, even if it is not the largest one (IF you are moving, and especially especially if you are making some stops along the way). Carrying around an inconvenient suitcase..I will never do THAT again. I ended up swapping my suitcase for a rolly one that Naguine had (props to N's ingenuitive mind) and this saved me loads on my very last trek from her place to the JFK airport. Oh myyyyyyyyyyy..! And trek to the airport was insane because I took a cab to the subway station but the subway station was closed so I had to board a shuttle bus to the next station and had to transfer onto 3 different things. A lot of really really awesome people helped me along the way with bag carrying and directions. Who ever ever says NYC is filled with cold, isolated people disinterested in their fellow new yorkers is so freakin wrong. I feel that EVERY TIME I am in New York. People reaching out and connecting, people caring about each other. Maybe that is just me and what I happen see (as in come across) in the place, or maybe I just see it differently. Perhaps people just tend to treat ME differently, but I really don't think so because I see it with other people, too..it's not just me.
The airport was absolutely insane. I guess that's what you get with international departures. All sorts of people doing all the little things differently and also lot's of crazy long and intense sorts of goodbyes and people going for longer times, bigger-deal journies. Craziness comes with that. The Indians, though...they were the craziest (flight to Hyderabad leaving like 30 mins before me, and then Mumbai 20 mins after that). I felt like I was back in India, suddenly, with all of the tiny little culture clash, like lines (as in forming/not forming them or knowing that they are things that people do) and organization, personal space, family etc. If you went to India, think about like 100 Indians (maybe half of the people in line) and then like a ton of other intl ppl (mostly euro/us) who are tame and obedient and form lines and stay quiet and are professional about the security process. It was just so good. So India and so strange that I experienced it RIGHT before my Spain flight, right? What a weird coincidence. Like moving twice at the same time. Like the Universe recognized that I was leaving and just wanted to let me know that it was paying attention to this one. Let's see what that means in the coming days..
Now, I am actually sitting in my seat on the flight from NYC to Madrid. I took a sleeping pill, but what the heeeck. It really isn't kicking in very well. I think that I will take the other one after I eat this dinner that they are aparrantly bringing to me? Go vegetarians in Spain...? Let me get back to you with goo (emotional, intellectual) when I am done with this meal thing. 2 secs.
Psych. This blog is over. Stay tuned for notes from ESPAÑA!!
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