Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Small world, Big Apple

New York City

New York is a shock to the senses, and always so much bigger, busier and edgier than I imagined. My train got in to Penn Station soon after 10pm, and once I figured out which subway to take (not a problem in Toronto!) there wasn’t much of a wait for a train. Some of the lines are seriously ghetto – graffiti-scratched windows, wannabe gangsters, real gangsters, general lack of maintenance and so on. The hostel I'm staying in is a bit ghetto as well - it's in the East Village which is quite a nice neighbourhood (at 14th and 2nd) but it's certainly solved my oversleeping problem: it turns out that all I needed to do was sleep on a plastic mattress in a small room with 7 other people! Simple solution to a simple problem.

On the subway to the hostel I noticed three people - a gay black man who was talking congenially to the guy next to him; and a couple wearing Sheffield uni hoodies. When they got on I thought to myself "I bet they're going to my hostel." I was right - not only that but they're in my room! After that it didn't surprise me to see the gay black man at the hostel front desk. He's not in my room though.

This blog post is brought to you by Starbucks at 9th and 2nd, in association with T-Mobile wireless hot spots. I wish it could be brought to you by Orange Mocha Frappucino - but they don't do them. It's time to hit the town - bye for now!

1 comment:

Son of Man said...

Chris..its so great to hear that your having an awesome time. that hostel sounds pretty ghetto fabulous! I loved the whole "general lack of maintenance." Glad to hear that you're listening to lots of sermons..."HE's IS A FALSE TEACHER" WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, NO, WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT,......
anyways...All the best in your next stage of travel!
som