NYC Summer (2010) - Week 1

One week into my bite into the big apple I figured it was time for a highlights reel of my time so far...

I flew out of YVR, got to Toronto and missed a possible connecting flight at 2:15 by mere minutes which meant whiling away some time at the airport bar only to be confronted with the cancellation of the 4:30 flight I had originally planned on taking - I love air travel...especially standby air travel - I'm such a friggin' pro. So I sat tight and tried for the next flight (which was subsequently delayed) and you won't believe it but I made it on (in spite of having to nicely ask the agents to re-list me...for those not in the know, simply disregard or write in for a detailed description of the way that i travel....scintillating, or at least guaranteed to make you get down and kiss the standard issue airport carpet floor for not having to put up with what i have to put up with....i know, i know...my price sure is right)
Anyway, onto the plane I get and (here again is where I remember that my way of flying has it's highlights) they've got me up in business! G and Ts all round! Well at least all round my tray table (too bad about the Canada Dry tonic tho).
Arriving in NYC was exciting. Less exciting for my bags since they weren't arriving in NYC like I was...too bad for them :( I gave my info to the beleaguered lost baggage clerk and treated myself to a cab ride into town as it was getting on in the evening by this point. I arrived at Mott St to a wonderful welcome from Britta and Matt who I hadn't seen since Brisbane which seemed lightyears away.
For the next 3 days I enjoyed:
1) Britta and Matt's hospitality
2) Britta's clothes
3) My body remembering how to sweat - enjoyment debatable on that one
4) Not having my bags - ditto the above
....a great combination if I ever heard of one (THANK YOU BRITTA AND MATT!!)
On the upside I went to my first wine class where I learned some stuff and drank some wine. I also bought a toothbrush and a magical dress (long white dresses have some strange effect on people, they smile at you more, are generally nicer to you - I think it's a bridal thing - altho, ironically, I am definitely no bride)
Also squeezed in a visit to the Met where I saw the American Woman exhibit and some installation of a bunch of bamboo stalks on the rooftop - very cool. I love me some Met. Followed this up with some by donation yoga, just breathing in this city makes me sweaty. Doing yoga in this city...you don't want to know. I still hurt.
After 3 days of Mott Street living sans bags I arrived in Greenpoint at about the same time as my bags did - upside: I didn't have to schlep my stuff from Manhattan to Brooklyn...some sweet silver lining there!
Greenpoint has proven to be most interesting - I discover new stuff every day.
My favourite thing so far is that I now live down the street from Gimme Coffee, which is lovely, fab and delicious and staffed with friendly people.
On the way to Gimme Coffee from my house I pass by a curious silver food truck called Goods which makes this egg and cheese biscuit which is TO DIE FOR and mini powdered sugar beignet donuts - this makes for one embarassing breakfast - but very worth it :)
Today I figured it was time to try the best donuts in New York City - literally around the corner from my house - Peter Pan Bakery - they rival Granville Island donuts in their more exotic flavours but the Granville Island honey dip still reigns supreme.
Today's sweaty donut breakfast feels pretty emblematic of week one....so I think I'll leave it at that for this week :)

i went on a road trip...

here are some photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2697119&id=28100950&l=fe0b384fe4

so here i am...in the wilderness! to my right a giant god-knows-how-deep lake inhabited by 20 ft long sturgeon fish and to my left a seemingly ever-stretching vista of great canadian woods
i went for a walk yesterday. it was cold - because for some reason - they say it is normally warm here in summer - but since i am here - it is downright chilly here in canada this summer - anyway - so out i went but as it was cold - i put on a....fleece - yes a fleece - also hiking boots.
then phil gave me a knife to carry - just in case of bears, cougars, rapists, delectable cheese - you never know...
anyway - so i walked down the highway for a while - then i wandered into a meadow and as i was admiring the view a deer jumped out of nowhere just a few meters away from me....i was so spooked i went home right away
suffice it to say...for any of you listening out there...
HELP ME - i'm turning canadian!!!

Ah how life lurches around and sometimes forward but seldom in the direction you think. School is out. Travel is in. Leaving Lantana. Leaving London. Moving on. It's time to go. I will miss much about London. Mostly the lovely amazing people I have met here, my life as I know it. But I won't miss English people who treat you like crap and don't know how to act in a restaurant, or the psychos on the bus or the psychos who I constantly live beneath. Those things, I won't miss. It feels like I moved here and made friends with a bunch of people...all of whom are either from Australia or New Zealand, so I bit the bullet and faced the truth for once....and decided, if all I did was hang out with Aussie people here, I might as well just go there once and for all. And that is what I'm doing. La vie d'une dilettante continues, down under. Stay tuned for posts all about acclimatizing to the sunburnt country...it feels like I live there already...but that's what I thought about England...and remember how much we all learned (and then laughed) about that?

moving forward...

it's been a while....but what can i say....things have been a bit jumbled lately and i'm just starting to feel like i can write a cohesive paragraph or two about my life and what's happening and where it's headed....i think that's good news enough to make up for such a crap performance these past few months....
i have numerous blog posts begun but never ended that this blog will sadly probably never see....a lovely little number about my trip to spain that was too dangerous to post in case my mother found out i got a sunburn....not to mention a few rambling pieces lamenting the going-no-where-ness of my job at the cheeseshop which made my whole life take on a similar type of going-no-where-ness feeling...now i work at a lovely little australian cafe where i am finally learning to make proper coffee (apparently i'm a quick learner...duh, i could have told you that, it's emblazoned across the top of all my resumes!) anyway....it's not like i don't know how to make coffee, i do! i just didn't know how to make proper coffee...but now i am beginning to....yay!
ironically....i feel like ever since i left diabolos i've been searching for the grown up equivalent to get that feeling back - that feeling of working at a place you feel at home at - and i think where i am now is pretty damn close - on the downside...it pays a pittance and ironically, in the end, now that i'm here....all i can keep thinking is....what next? especially since i'm not at leisure to do what i was hoping would be next: travel. oh no...the mighty hospitality pound won't afford me that over here unless i sell my soul to evil corporate type restaurants that will only make me angry and sad....so i figure it's time...to go back...yes...you know where...
i only hope it's not a repeat of teaching english school and when i get out i decide....nah...i don't really want to do that with my life - eeks...how terrible would that be!? somehow i have to believe this will be different...yup...
and the pride in making a decent cappuccino this week has been equalled only by my get up and go to contact some people and places and get some information....i'm on my way...i can feel it! (i hope....)
now if i could just stop procrastinating on my taxes and other governmental forms - life would be all tied up....but then i wouldn't really have anything to do...and well...that'd just be no fun, now wouldn't it?

urrhhmmm...yeah...sorry about being posting remiss....
life has been a steady hamster wheel cycle of work and....not work? i guess.

my work schedule has finally settled into something resembling routine which allows my days off a routine of their own. it goes something like this: day 1) sleep in - that means till 9, get up, but by no means change out of pyjamas. drink tea. watch tv on the tv, or computer. drink tea. catch up on emails and stuff like that. drink tea. maybe watch some more tv. drink tea. run out of things to do on the computer...realize i've moved very little since i woke up and that i need to do something or i might not actually be tired enough to go to sleep i've been that sedentary. attempt to create an outfit as different as possible to my standard work uniform (jeans and black shirt) as possible...cause i can - go out. drink coffee. meet up with friends or try to convince friends to have drinks with me. wander around hackney, broadway market and victoria park. end up at a friend's house and decide to stay over there rather than go home.
day 2) wake up wearing same outfit as yesterday in someone else's house. wander around a park or bookstore or museum or shop. go home and prepare myself for back to work the next day.
and there you have it folks. my london life.

highlights of this routine include:
devora and i went to a bar with an animatronic horse head on the wall.
i went dancing in "heaven" and survived....with blisters to boot.
there have been some instances of sun in london, such that i spent an entire day sitting and sunning in the park.
discovering: target women, spinstersquest and how to spot a canadian

cause i am a cheesy girl i will entitle this post - roman holiday -how unoriginal!

sooooooooooooooo for some reason my boss bullied me into taking holidays and i booked them for the beginning of march...do not know why...just thought...i will book some and something will come up and then i can either move my holidays to a time when i actually need them or plan something cause march is a long way off! well turns out i was wrong, it is a lot closer than you think, in fact it is upon us! and now...really...thinking about dates and all....i really should have tried to somehow manage a trip to rome near the ides of march rather than the whatever the beginning is called part of march...hmm ah well.
sooooooooooooooo - posting from rome! i have been here two days now and yes...it is true world, i am here alone - solo you might say...it is not as much fun as being somewhere with someone but it is not as bad as you might think....in fact there are a lot of good things about travelling alone...what i have discovered about myself travelling alone however is that i can be very unmotivated - especially with my own hotel room at my disposal...if i had more books and stuff i might have tried to spend my entire vacation in my underpants within the confines of my room...just cause...your very own hotel room all to yourself is novelty enough on vacation...fear not however, rome poses enough attractive options to lure me out into the open (clothed of course!)...not to mention i am almost out of books and possess no other forms of entertainment (i already painted my toenails last night) and simply staring at a hotel room wall contrary to popular belief is not actually my idea of fun...however, evenings do indeed pose problems being the paranoid worrywart that i am...i refuse to stray more than 3 blocks from my hotel after dark cause...well...just cause...i could be kidnapped and sold into white slavery or any manner of terrible things which i spent most of the plane journey here imagining...regardless of the fact that i am in a major city just like toronto and london where i freely roam streets far and wide at all manner of ungodly hours...i mean...not that i do that mum...the language barrier plus not knowing anyone here is enough to keep me 3-block-bound while solo. somewhat thankfully, there is a hostel around the corner with a bar where i can go and have a drink and listen to lots of people my age speak english...sadly they all sound kind of like 19 year old windbags who think they know more about the world and politics than most of the world leaders they attempt to discuss - thanks but no thanks...ah well...at least it provides an hours entertainment before repainting my toenails tonight! what about rome tho? you might ask...obviously the star of this blog remains myself and not the city where all roads lead....silly reader....you should have figured that out by now...maybe i will think about dedicating some inches to rome on my next post from home when i can add photos....maybe....