The past two weekends I've been in the city for various reasons. Last weekend, when my cousin Evan called to tell me he was moving apartments, I took the hint and told him I would come in to give him a hand. I owed it to him, since he was the only person to help me move out of my apartment before leaving for Istanbul at the end of 2009. So on Sunday I went in so I could help him move on Monday.
I have to say that he had quite a nice apartment in Chelsea he was moving out of. It was a four story walk up with massive rooms, wood floors, and a working fireplace. How cool is that? He was sad to go, and I don't blame him.
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| Rooftop Chelsea. |
Since he was all packed when I got there and we couldn't move until the next day, we went out. Kiliaen was in town--sans Bodhi :-( --and we met her and some of her friends for drinks. Later on, we went over to Dumbo to check out the art festival, but it turns out it was finished. Oh well. Evan and I were hungry, so we went back to Chelsea for Mexican: "I got a coupon for a free margarita!!" he said.
So we went to this place called the Rocking Horse Cafe on 8th between 21st and 22nd. True, the quesadilla was "gayer than Barbara Streisand", as one of Kiliaen's friends had said earlier, but the food was phenomenal. Not only was it the best Mexican food I had ever eaten, but some of the best
food I had eaten. It was a delicious, subtle mix of earthy spice and cool coriander---fantastic. The margaritas were superb as well, and we left stuffed to the brim, headed back to the apartment, and lit a fire to burn off the last of the firewood in the apartment.
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| Manhattan fire? Blazing hot. |
The next day, we got the move done in four hours because he rented a truck, and was only moving across town. I had a shower in the new apartment, got some lunch, and headed back out to the Island.
This weekend I had to go in again because I was scheduled to take the foreign service officer's exam in Manhattan on Saturday. I'm not so sure that's what I want to do anymore, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I didn't prepare much for it, but now I can tell you about any of the US constitutional amendments.
After the exam, I met up with Luca, one of Anna's best friends who is at NYU finishing a PhD. It was good to see him, because I like his sense of witty humour and I hadn't seen him since Christmas in Bormio last year. We got sandwiches and ate them in Washington Square Park while people-watching and catching up.
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| Transatlantic love. |
After our park lunch, we took a long walk around the city. Despite despising the crowdedness of the city (I don't think I could live there again for this reason), I missed the quirkiness of New York and the odd, quotidian characters you can find in all parts of the city: Mennonites trying to convert subway passengers, the Jamaican chipping packets of tissues down the alley with a golf club trying to hit a stuffed toy, old men playing chess with ten-year-olds, gay bars featuring "hairy" happy hour....all of it is totally bizarre, yet fascinating.
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| Case in point. |
Tired, we made out way to St. Mark's place for yaki tori. For once a Japanese place was run by actual Japanese, and although I've never been there, the Japanese order-shouting and closeness of the diners made me feel as if I were actually in Japan. Except for the sole Latino in the kitchen, but he was speaking Japanese as well. After dinner we had beers at a bar before making it an early night.
I had a lot of fun the past two weekends in the city. But would I live there again? I don't think so.
