Записки дочери.
Sep. 14th, 2008 08:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timaМоя старшая довольно неплохо пишет, так что я решил начать публиковать в моем ЖЖ выборочные части из ее заметок про жизнь в НЙ. Первый кусочек будет из ее записи под кодовым названием "Living in Harlem"
Ladies & gentlemen, as promised, below are the top 10 reasons of why Harlem rocks (some of them are actually serious, so pay attention!!):
10. Extremely inexpensive food. No, really, sometimes I even feel bad (well, I almost do - I am on a student budget after all) because all I hear is how food on the Upper West Side (read: waaaay more downtown than I am) and in Midtown, and in Downtown, and in any other "-town" is so expensive. Meanwhile, I am thinking of doing a public service announcement on how to pig out on $10 a day in my neighborhood.
9. 24/7 music. No matter the time of day or night - especially night, Harlem is alive with the joy of sharing its musical offerings. You never actually get to choose the music you listen to. As a matter of fact, you don't get a say of whether you wanted to be included in the sharing process. I would say that the music is rather conveniently provided right to your windows (closing them does not help), underneath your door from the neighbor's apartment (yes, my door is closed) and, of course, on the street (listening to your own ipod also does not help).
Just to expand a little bit, street music here is of two distinct varieties - (1) I think we have a person in our neighborhood who designated himself local DJ because every weekend without fail there is a grimy old van with the most expensive stereo/surround sound/anything else hi-tech imaginable system blaring for the whole world to hear (I think this is a case of the automatic opt-in for everyone who lives here, as opposed to the opt-out). (2) The second variety is the drunk/live genre, which usually does not start until about 1am and goes on indefinitely. Unfortunately, I am at home so little in the evenings that I never really get the pleasure of listening to the latest and greatest... sadness...
8. Live entertainment. Not to be confused with live music from #9, this is a completely separate genre. One can enjoy a show at any point in time - not limited to nights or weekends. What I think is interesting is that the actors have no clue that they are actually on stage - they just think that their behavior is absolutely normal. There are so many characters here that Monk has got nothing on us!
7. Transparency. There's nothing to hide in my neighborhood - you get the good, the bad and the ugly. At any point during the day, I know what my neighbors in the next building are doing because I can see their apartment from our kitchen window. I actually have to keep reminding myself not to pick my nose in public in that area of the apartment until we get our blinds set up *sigh*. I can also smell what the people in my building are cooking (luckily, the smells are actually pleasant) because the aromas waft in (through walls???). Almost forgot, I now have my very own ugly old almost-naked guy (remember the guy on the roof in Friends?). He actually lives on the first floor of the neighboring building, and I think my walk to the train coincides with the part of his morning routine where he plasters himself against the window facing the street and 'observes' the pedestrian traffic...
Unfortunately, moving on to the bad and the ugly (as opposed to the almost-naked guy), I started suspecting my completely innocent roommate of turning into a pothead and chain smoker since she has moved into the apartment - hey, a few years have passed, you never know how stressful the Genzyme lab is - maybe she needed to channel the stress :). At strategic times during the day and night, I no longer smell food, but either marijuana or cigarettes. To tell you the truth, I don't know which I mind less. Turns out that some smokers in our building decided not to stink up their own apartment, but to go out onto the stairway right next to our apartment and indulge in their vices there - gross.
6. Free Spanish practice. I would actually classify this particular charming perk as more of a mandatory skill crucial to getting directions, ordering in a restaurant, asking for help in a store and well... for anything else that would have a natural vocal component.
5. Gypsy cabs. These are cabs (look very much like Boston Coach cars) that are not in the city system. They are considered more "dangerous" than the yellow cabs, but once you get past Midtown and the Upper West Side, yellow cabs just disappear and these are your only bet. The trick is to negotiate the price up front because these cars aren't metered. The two benefits are: (1) cheaper fare... this is directly proportional to your ability to bargain and (2) no tip, since all that money is going directly into their pocket. So, the next time you see a sleek black or gray town car, just take a look at the license plate - if it has a "T" before the number, it's a taxi.
4. Street vendors. All jokes aside, this is actually a pretty cool thing to have, and something that I haven't seen since Buenos Aires. I can buy anything from Italian ice to a new outfit on the streets of Harlem. We have cute old ladies selling empanadas and a bunch of other things I haven't had the guts to try for fear of permanently damaging my digestive system. As a matter of fact, the contractor who works in my building got very excited when he heard that my roomie and I were looking for a flat-screen TV because his brother's wife's second cousin twice removed sells "amazing and very affordable flat-screen TV's right out of the trunk of his car" (umm, eeekk!). Just so you all don't get worried, Swasti and I are proud owners of a 42" flat-screen godzilla from an actual store.
3. Pedicures & manicures. Ladies - I'm in heaven! (Sorry guys). I am pretty adept at doing my own nails, but it is always nicer when someone else does them (all the ladies are nodding :) hehe). So, a few weeks ago, I went on an exploratory self-guided tour of a 15-block radius around my apartment and here is what I found - a Vietnamese place, where a manicure is $6 Mon-Wed/ $7 Thur-Sun and a pedicure is $12 or $13, respectively. Can you believe this?! And no, staff infection does not come as free gift with purchase at this establishment. Although, they do offer a fungus-away (eeewww) service for $8. I honestly don't want to know.
2. Proximity to school. Every time I tell someone that I live in Harlem, their eyebrows take up residence dangerously close to their hairlines and they ask "oh, is it safe?" or "I heard that's really far away; how long does it take you to get to school?". Well, to dispel any myths about the latter, I actually live two train stops (21 city blocks) away from school, which is absolutely fabulous. It takes me 7 min to get to campus in the morning and comes very much in handy when I have a 2 hour window between classes. I just hop on the train and am home in a snap - you can't beat that! Oh oh, and I almost forgot - NO TRAFFIC! I actually get a portion of my life back (that's a shout out for all of you on the North Shore and beyond).
1. Welcoming committee. Finally, we come to the #1 reason why Harlem is fabulous! Every time I walk out of my apartment and make a dash for the train (just a refresher - the subway is actually on my block), there are guys giving me the following useful and welcome pieces of feedback:
- what a great outfit I picked that day
- how pretty my eyes are
- how they would like nothing better than to get to know me better
- just general staring, whistling, use of various adjectives
~~~~~~~~~
In conclusion, Harlem is a very colorful neighborhood with its pluses and minuses, but it's definitely a community. People look out for each other and kids are always playing outside. I have yet to feel unsafe here, and I hope I never do.
~~~~~~~~~
(©)tima - использование текста (кроме ссылок на него) требует согласия автора
Ladies & gentlemen, as promised, below are the top 10 reasons of why Harlem rocks (some of them are actually serious, so pay attention!!):
10. Extremely inexpensive food. No, really, sometimes I even feel bad (well, I almost do - I am on a student budget after all) because all I hear is how food on the Upper West Side (read: waaaay more downtown than I am) and in Midtown, and in Downtown, and in any other "-town" is so expensive. Meanwhile, I am thinking of doing a public service announcement on how to pig out on $10 a day in my neighborhood.
9. 24/7 music. No matter the time of day or night - especially night, Harlem is alive with the joy of sharing its musical offerings. You never actually get to choose the music you listen to. As a matter of fact, you don't get a say of whether you wanted to be included in the sharing process. I would say that the music is rather conveniently provided right to your windows (closing them does not help), underneath your door from the neighbor's apartment (yes, my door is closed) and, of course, on the street (listening to your own ipod also does not help).
Just to expand a little bit, street music here is of two distinct varieties - (1) I think we have a person in our neighborhood who designated himself local DJ because every weekend without fail there is a grimy old van with the most expensive stereo/surround sound/anything else hi-tech imaginable system blaring for the whole world to hear (I think this is a case of the automatic opt-in for everyone who lives here, as opposed to the opt-out). (2) The second variety is the drunk/live genre, which usually does not start until about 1am and goes on indefinitely. Unfortunately, I am at home so little in the evenings that I never really get the pleasure of listening to the latest and greatest... sadness...
8. Live entertainment. Not to be confused with live music from #9, this is a completely separate genre. One can enjoy a show at any point in time - not limited to nights or weekends. What I think is interesting is that the actors have no clue that they are actually on stage - they just think that their behavior is absolutely normal. There are so many characters here that Monk has got nothing on us!
7. Transparency. There's nothing to hide in my neighborhood - you get the good, the bad and the ugly. At any point during the day, I know what my neighbors in the next building are doing because I can see their apartment from our kitchen window. I actually have to keep reminding myself not to pick my nose in public in that area of the apartment until we get our blinds set up *sigh*. I can also smell what the people in my building are cooking (luckily, the smells are actually pleasant) because the aromas waft in (through walls???). Almost forgot, I now have my very own ugly old almost-naked guy (remember the guy on the roof in Friends?). He actually lives on the first floor of the neighboring building, and I think my walk to the train coincides with the part of his morning routine where he plasters himself against the window facing the street and 'observes' the pedestrian traffic...
Unfortunately, moving on to the bad and the ugly (as opposed to the almost-naked guy), I started suspecting my completely innocent roommate of turning into a pothead and chain smoker since she has moved into the apartment - hey, a few years have passed, you never know how stressful the Genzyme lab is - maybe she needed to channel the stress :). At strategic times during the day and night, I no longer smell food, but either marijuana or cigarettes. To tell you the truth, I don't know which I mind less. Turns out that some smokers in our building decided not to stink up their own apartment, but to go out onto the stairway right next to our apartment and indulge in their vices there - gross.
6. Free Spanish practice. I would actually classify this particular charming perk as more of a mandatory skill crucial to getting directions, ordering in a restaurant, asking for help in a store and well... for anything else that would have a natural vocal component.
5. Gypsy cabs. These are cabs (look very much like Boston Coach cars) that are not in the city system. They are considered more "dangerous" than the yellow cabs, but once you get past Midtown and the Upper West Side, yellow cabs just disappear and these are your only bet. The trick is to negotiate the price up front because these cars aren't metered. The two benefits are: (1) cheaper fare... this is directly proportional to your ability to bargain and (2) no tip, since all that money is going directly into their pocket. So, the next time you see a sleek black or gray town car, just take a look at the license plate - if it has a "T" before the number, it's a taxi.
4. Street vendors. All jokes aside, this is actually a pretty cool thing to have, and something that I haven't seen since Buenos Aires. I can buy anything from Italian ice to a new outfit on the streets of Harlem. We have cute old ladies selling empanadas and a bunch of other things I haven't had the guts to try for fear of permanently damaging my digestive system. As a matter of fact, the contractor who works in my building got very excited when he heard that my roomie and I were looking for a flat-screen TV because his brother's wife's second cousin twice removed sells "amazing and very affordable flat-screen TV's right out of the trunk of his car" (umm, eeekk!). Just so you all don't get worried, Swasti and I are proud owners of a 42" flat-screen godzilla from an actual store.
3. Pedicures & manicures. Ladies - I'm in heaven! (Sorry guys). I am pretty adept at doing my own nails, but it is always nicer when someone else does them (all the ladies are nodding :) hehe). So, a few weeks ago, I went on an exploratory self-guided tour of a 15-block radius around my apartment and here is what I found - a Vietnamese place, where a manicure is $6 Mon-Wed/ $7 Thur-Sun and a pedicure is $12 or $13, respectively. Can you believe this?! And no, staff infection does not come as free gift with purchase at this establishment. Although, they do offer a fungus-away (eeewww) service for $8. I honestly don't want to know.
2. Proximity to school. Every time I tell someone that I live in Harlem, their eyebrows take up residence dangerously close to their hairlines and they ask "oh, is it safe?" or "I heard that's really far away; how long does it take you to get to school?". Well, to dispel any myths about the latter, I actually live two train stops (21 city blocks) away from school, which is absolutely fabulous. It takes me 7 min to get to campus in the morning and comes very much in handy when I have a 2 hour window between classes. I just hop on the train and am home in a snap - you can't beat that! Oh oh, and I almost forgot - NO TRAFFIC! I actually get a portion of my life back (that's a shout out for all of you on the North Shore and beyond).
1. Welcoming committee. Finally, we come to the #1 reason why Harlem is fabulous! Every time I walk out of my apartment and make a dash for the train (just a refresher - the subway is actually on my block), there are guys giving me the following useful and welcome pieces of feedback:
- what a great outfit I picked that day
- how pretty my eyes are
- how they would like nothing better than to get to know me better
- just general staring, whistling, use of various adjectives
~~~~~~~~~
In conclusion, Harlem is a very colorful neighborhood with its pluses and minuses, but it's definitely a community. People look out for each other and kids are always playing outside. I have yet to feel unsafe here, and I hope I never do.
~~~~~~~~~
(©)
tima - использование текста (кроме ссылок на него) требует согласия автора![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
у меня такое ощущение, что латинская часть
Date: 2008-09-14 12:41 pm (UTC)