A Brief Visit

The blog post is late (and short) this week because we just spent twenty-two very busy hours in New York City, and I’m naturally paranoid enough to avoid mentioning online that we’re away from home until that is no longer the case. I intend to write about it more fully later this week, when I have time to add in pictures and thoughtful commentary.

At least, more thoughtful than the commentary that actually occured to us when we were there, which was something along the lines of “We’re in New York. We’re in New York. We’re in New York. Fuck, it’s cold.” (It was. Things have got to the point here where anything close to freezing – rising close to freezing, that is – seems positively balmy. I know everyone in the Midwest is laughing at me right now, but, really; the coldest I’d ever been before this was the walk-in freezer in McDonalds where the fries were kept, the summer I worked there.)

Briefly, though, we caught up with people – including Mike’s master’s supervisor, who was our reason for visiting the city, and two of my fellow Fulbrighters who are based there. It was huge. It was noisy. I ate a bagel, saw Times Square, and took the subway. It felt like being on the set of a movie. (Or Castle, the only show I watch that’s set in NYC.) It wasn’t nearly long enough, not at all; I want to see a Broadway show, Central Park, the Public Library, go to the top of the Empire State Building, walk through the city some more when it’s not finger-numbing cold. See some museums. Not have a horrible running nose. (Though not quite so bad with store-brand cold medication, which I had never before stooped to taking, being stubborn and cheap – I always had the impression in NZ that those sorts of thng was extremely expensive, even the non-drug-precursor stuff. I’m not even sure if that’s true. Is it?)

But I’m so glad we finally went. Being in America has got a bit old hat, after nearly six months; it’s easy to forget, day-to-day, or at least not think about where we are. Weekend trips to New York, though? Brand new, all over again. And amazing.