why i'd live in new york
things that make new york still my favorite city so far in this country:
1. the subway
get an unlimited pass and you can take the train or bus to ANYWHERE in this city. get on at times square and get off at a totally different world, like chinatown, or the bronx, or the east village. or flushing (may sariling mundo). i also love how everything's in blocks and avenues so it's always easy to find your way around. makes me not mind all the walking. all you need is to know how to read.
2. the libraries
borrow books at one branch and return them at another. and not just books--graphic novels, audio books, cds, DVDs, magazines.... you can borrow FIFTY items at a time, for as long as THREE WEEKS. whew! and they have free internet, printing, job-search facilities, lectures every day on topics ranging from nutrition, photography, and resume-writing, and a nice collection of art, too. i could stay there all day, i could. (of course, the bookstores here are also paradise.)
3. the parks and the squares
every few blocks, in the middle of the streets and avenues, they have pockets of green and benches open for anyone to sit on. isn't that great? kung sa pilipinas bawal ang tambay, here they encourage it! of course, central park, the mother of all parks, is in new york. and with each park comes free wi-fi, too. now THAT's democracy.
4. the museums
even though each city in the U.S. has some museum or other, New York seems to have the greatest variety--the Museum of Modern Art (which i visited tonight for free, by the way, because it's a friday. crazy place), Museum of Television and Radio, Museum of Natural History, Transit Museum, Fire Museum...see? and the other day i went 80 feet below street level (that's 30 feet below the deepest subway station) to see the gold bars left for safekeeping by governments from all over the world at the Federal Reserve Bank. kinda boring, but they gave us pens with shredded dollar bills inside at the end. and it was a free tour.
5. the great sale
some people think living in new york is expensive, but the beauty of it is, there's just so many stores and restaurants to choose from here that you can always find something amazingly cheap, from practically any country. and the best thing, there's always a store on sale every day, for one reason or another, and there's always one selling at ridiculously low prices. how can you not love this place?
6. the center of everything
i don't know why, but this city seems to be the center for finance, for art, for theater, and for whatever else you can think of. the fact that maybe only 10% (probably less) of the people i see in the subway and the streets are full-blooded americans seems to me that the rest of the world agrees, and they've all come here to be close to that center. what it adds up to is a city made up of communities so diverse that every few blocks you'll feel like you're walking in a totally different dimension from the last one.
so people have been asking me for the longest time when i'm moving here since more than half of my family is already here. i look at the weary, unseeing people going in and out of the subway, and i realize that the people in the libraries and parks are mostly tourists or job-seekers or bums, because the people who actually survive here are too busy working to enjoy these places. i think of home, and how easy it is to dive into the sea or walk barefoot on the sand when i'm all drained out from work. and i remember why i'll always be just a tourist in new york.
Yeah, nothing beats the beach. :)
ReplyDeletebeach bum forever! hehe. thank God, no winters in da pinas!
ReplyDeletestill not asleep? how's the weather there? never got to go to ny, but I'd sure love to see the US Open once in my life. :)
ReplyDeletebrrr cold today. pambawi for the last few days of sun and warmth. today was sunny but cold. um US Open? is that tennis? (sorry, i've unfortunately been called sportless before, and now you know why). the big thing here right now is baseball, that i know. yankees lost. and their pitcher crashed his plane into a building the other day, and died, along with his teacher pilot.
ReplyDeletewhew! for a while there i thought you were leaving us. yeah, pinas rocks!
ReplyDeleteFor the longest time, I was thinking of opening a public library in Cebu or Dumaguete...
ReplyDeleteyes, do =) come home when you're rich and bring us books from canada! hehe. but wouldn't it be nice if the philipppine govt also used taxes in the same way? pederalismo na!
ReplyDeletehaha, one thing i learned is that you don't need to be rich, you just need to know who has the money and how to appeal to their altruism.
ReplyDeletejeneen! you broke my heart! so true, if i had a choice, i would be in pinas again... kaya ako, taun-taon umuuwi... di kayang mawalay sa mahabang panahon... overrated lahat dito, in the long run... kasi ang ligaya talaga, nasa tahanan pa rin... sa bayang kinamulatan... sa dalampasigan... !
ReplyDeleteso, teka.. nasa new york ka ba? si josrique decided na... ikaw ba decided na rin?
ReplyDeletesmart girl! we should team up =D
ReplyDeleteyep, decided not to stay hehe. going back to school in november. in dumaguete, the beach bum/ diver's paradise =)
ReplyDeletedifferent city, same thoughts.
ReplyDeletebut for a moment there, i suddenly started contemplating columbia university again. =)
ehem, MoMA. MoMA. MoMA. =) hint! hint!
HUGS,
jemi
I think I agree with the beach bum thingy! New York is too chaotic from what my husband have told me (Mr. made in manhattan) I think visiting it and experiencing the night life would be the only thing in my agenda.
ReplyDeletewell, then good for you! a part of me thinks i did not know exactly what i was getting into, when i left the philippines, but well, i have to stand by my choice, and deal with just going back home at least once a year... whew. hopefully, ill see you when i go back in january! will you be in dumaguete, then?
ReplyDeleteyes, i will be. grabe ha, swerte ka nga you can go home every year. the best of both worlds! the ideal situation would be to have a job that would bring me here regularly for weeks or months at a time. diba? then i could fully know the city without ever losing the wonder (philo 101! haha).
ReplyDeletewel you'll surely enjoy it then, even if only for that =D
ReplyDeleteHi, Jeneen! I'm dripping green yolks of envy, eew! With your permission, I'm going to use this post for Weekend's BLOG PLUG section. Thanks.
ReplyDeletehahahahaaa! yeah, the workaday world sucks away all the wonder in your eyes, so i guess the distance of being in chicago most of the time has helped me re-discover the beauty that's in Pinas... whew.
ReplyDeletehi myke, sorry late reply. although it's a little embarrassing, sure! pambayad sa utang...sorry i've been so delinquent =P will resurface soon.
ReplyDeletehi Jeen. not been updating myself much in here. So are you still in Manila or you headed for home na? Been travelling myself the last 3 weeks. i was near the bombings when they happened down in Central Mindanao. I will be in Cebu this Wednesday -- will take the boat to Cagayan to spend weekend there -- then the bus for Davao, in time for All Souls Day. If anywhere near -- paramdam ka. Would be good to have a talk over dinner with you or so.
ReplyDeleteNaku, malapit na nga pala ang Nobyembre -- student days for both of us shall commence, although, in different schools! are you excited to be back in school?
"because the people who actually survive here are too busy working to enjoy these places. i think of home, and how easy it is to dive into the sea or walk barefoot on the sand when i'm all drained out from work. and i remember why i'll always be just a tourist in new york."
ReplyDeletewell said. I have yet to figure out if I am a tourist in NY or not, come February.
as for you --- home seeks you out Jeen. you make a home wherever you go. you've been a good host to me last time in Cebu, and in Manila -- this city seems to like you a lot. Pero dagat yata talaga ang pang-akit sa'yo! ;D