New York, New York

I am not rich, good looking, or especially brilliant in most ways.  But one thing I know I have going for me is a spirit of adventure and a willingness to do absolutely anything I can for the children in my life.  My exchange kids are no different.  I want them to have every possible opportunity during the short 10 months they have with me to experience as much of life in the United States as is humanly possible.  For me, this means a great deal of travel, movies, concerts, museums, landmarks, and more.  In my own life in the last 2 years, I've learned to say "OK! Let's do it!" where I used to say "No. I can't possibly do that."  And I am very pleased that Ine seems to have the same spirit in her.  There is not much I can do to this child that she won't go along with.  The only thing I've found so far that she flat out refuses to do is babysit, and I told her in the beginning she didn't have to, so that is just fine with me.  She placidly eats what I put in front of her, she goes where I take her, she tries all kinds of experiences at school and at home.  She is not outgoing and gregarious, but she has a quiet spirit of adventure that suits me just fine. 

Ine and the NYC Skyline

Along those lines, I have never known an exchange student to come to the US who did not want to go to New York City.  Ine was no different.  I asked her about it when she first arrived and I believe her response was "Of course!" which given that in those early weeks, everything I asked her she responded to with "I don't know" was a dead give away that I had touched on a nerve.  Leah learned about New York in preschool over a year ago and had been after me for at least 15 months to take her to "New York City!" (she doesn't say it quietly, but with a firm conviction and a trill of excitement in her voice so you know she means it!).  I looked over our fall schedule, knowing that Ine would have the swim team coming up, and I had a lot of weekend plans for us here and there over the course of the first couple of months.  Finally, I just picked a date.  November 8th.  I looked over the train fares, but frankly, even though Ine was paying her own way to go, it was just ridiculous--over $700 for all of us to go.  I decided we would take MegaBus instead.  $150 round trip for all 3 of us.  I had never taken the bus, but figured it would be an adventure.

Saturday morning, we were all in the car by 3:30AM to head up to Union Station to catch the bus.  I thought we probably didn't need to leave till 4, but it's a good job we left early because there was a tractor trailer accident that closed 95 down completely, and then two different sets of road construction that left only 1 lane open on 95 and again on 395.  It was just craziness.  We made it to the bus in about an hour and 15 minutes, and I had been very nervous about catching the bus, but it was fine, no problem at all.  We walked up, got on the bus, and I went back to sleep for a while.  It IS a decent bus ride, probably about 90 minutes longer than the train, especially because when we go to Carteret NJ (my dad's hometown), the driver ran out of hours and we had to pull over and wait for a new driver.  Consequently we steamed into NYC around 10:15AM.

Although I had asked the girls repeatedly what they wanted to do in the city, neither one would really tell me.  But they did agree on one thing:  Lady Liberty.  Since the bus dropped us off right at the 1 train, we hopped on and went straight to South Ferry as our first stop of the day.  We were all hungry when we got there, and the world's smartest hot dog cart man was right outside the train station, so we stopped and got Sabrett's hot dogs all around.  We walked over to the ticket area for the Statue and unfortunately the pedestal tickets were sold out for the day, so we could only take the boat and then walk the island.  But we were there and I got the tickets anyway.  It would have been too disappointing for the girls not to be able to go over.  Then we got on line at the security check point area, which was like airport security--we had to take off our coats, belts, sweaters, scarves, backpacks, phones, cameras, empty our pockets.  It was crazy.  It took forever.  I told Ine, "People will ask you what New York was like and you'll have to say, 'I don't know, all we did was stand on line'."  It seriously felt that way.  Never go there on a Saturday!!!  Just crazy.  Finally we got through and got onto the ferry and were on the island in short order.  We walked all over the island, and I got some sand for us and Ine, as she collects it and so do we.  Finally, we got back on the ferry and took the ride over to Ellis Island, but the girls announced collectively they were ready to be 'in' the city, so we just went back to South Ferry and got back on the train and headed north to 42nd Street.

I went to NY alone last year to finish some bucket list items up, and when I was there, I saw parents struggling with strollers--people walking in front of them, banging into them, cutting them off, pushing, shoving, bags whacking kids in the head, and I thought to myself, "You have to be either really brave or really stupid to bring a stroller to this town."  Saturday, I proved it was a bit of both.  I knew Leah would get tired eventually and I knew that she is big enough now that there was no way I'd be able to carry her around the city, so I brought her old umbrella stroller.  She happily hopped in, but it was total madness.  Pushing her around was NOT fun.  We started walking at Times Square, and first stop was to go souvenir shopping.  Ine wanted postcards and Leah wanted nail polish.  We found a Duane Reade right on the corner by the subway stop, and we went in and I let Leah pick out two colors of nail polish--of course she chose pink and purple.  We walked a bit further and found a souvenir stand.  While Ine looked over the post cards, Leah and I looked for a magnet for my friend Yvette and then Leah found a locket with her name on it, so I let her get that as well.  We checked out, Leah hopped back in the stroller and we went on Times Square itself for photos.  I love this picture of the girls, where the sun is streaking through and around the buildings.  It was a pretty dismal day, very windy and cold, but it's nice to see we did get some sun!!!  We were also accosted by some costumed characters, so Leah got her picture taken with the world's worst Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse--seriously the stuff of nightmares, and I got stiffed for $3 on that one, but she was happy, so whatever!

Then the big walk kicked off.  In order to see the big sights in New York, you need to walk from Times Square to Central Park up near 59th Street, so we started walking.  And Leah fell sound asleep in her stroller.  Our first stop was Rockefeller Center, and the skating rink is in full force.  The tree is going up for Christmas, and it looks like a beauty.  All the Christmas displays were up in the store windows, which is ridiculous, but at the same time, we got to see stuff without having to go back in December.

After the center, we walked down to St Patrick's Cathedral.  It is an absolutely gorgeous cathedral, and I have been many times, but unfortunately it is undergoing major refurbishment so it is almost entirely under scaffold and tarp.Still, we got to hear the organ play and see some of the stained glass and statuary and the altar.  It was jam packed with tourists (funny, I haven't lived in NY since 1997, but I still don't consider myself a tourist when I go!) and just crazy, so after about 10 minutes, we left.

Then we started walking down 5th Avenue.  I pointed out Trump Towers and Tiffany, and various other famous stores and brands and landmarks.  Ine smiled politely, although apparently she has no idea what Tiffany is or who Donald Trump is (I wish I didn't know who Donald Trump is either! ha!).  Finally, we made it to FAO Schwartz and Leah woke up just in time for the girls to have their picture taken with the toy soldiers out front.

We went inside, but it was an absolute zoo.  I swear, next time I'm just taking the girls out of school for a day and we'll be in NY when no one else is!  Anyway, after about 10 minutes of being pushed around the world's most famous toy store, I thought "Screw this!" and we left.  Right across the street is Central Park, and lots of open, free, lovely space, so we made our way there and began to walk.  Ine got a little weirded out because she heard some Belgians talking and all of a sudden she thought, "Where am I?!"  It made her laugh because it was so unexpected.  Delightful!

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the park, and I tried unsuccessfully to convince Leah to go play on the playground for a while because while she had been resting, Ine and I were pounding some serious pavement--we'd walked 17 blocks north by that point, plus 4 or 5 east, plus battling crowds, so my feet were just starting to hurt.  Ine didn't complain but I was worried she'd be getting tired, as she has some joint issues herself.  But she didn't say anything, so we kept going.  We got into the park and wandered and eventually popped out at 66th Street.  How we made it that far north, I have no idea, because although I knew we were heading in a northerly direction, it didn't feel like we'd gone quite that far, but no matter.  I knew on Saturday there was an AFS event at the COJCOLDS church near Lincoln Center, and I had been invited to stop in and meet Joseph Castellano, our student support coordinator, while we were there.  Since we were there anyway, we did.  I had spoken to Joseph on the phone quite a lot the week before, and I would have known his voice anywhere.  It was so great to meet him in person and he was very welcoming and seemed pleased to see us and to meet Ine, who is on his caseload.  We didn't go into the multicultural fair itself, but we did enjoy talking with him.  I asked him for a pizza recommendation, as we were all quite hungry having eaten only a hot dog so far that day, and he gave us one, but it wasn't in the direction we were heading.  So we thanked him, and headed out.

Our next and final item on the itinerary was to go to the top of the Empire State Building.  I did it myself last year, and was blown away by the experience, but I also knew there were pizza places around there, so I pointed out Lincoln Center to Ine and then we hopped aboard the subway down to 34th Street.  As soon as we got out, we found a hole in the wall joint called Pops Pizza and we went in.  I couldn't teach Ine how to eat pizza like a New Yorker because she ordered two slices of thick crust pizza, but Leah and I went for the thin crust.  Leah, as you can see, did not believe me about eating NY pizza.  For the uninitiated, the point of the pizza is that they cut it big so you can fold it in half.  You start eating at the point and all the grease drips out the back onto your plate (or if you're an amateur, goes up your arm).  If you're eating it like Leah is demonstrating here, you don't know what you're doing.  However, Leah told me I was crazy.  She was sure that she was eating it correctly and I was doing it wrong by folding it.  Tsk tsk.  I have since conferred with several of my NY friends and they've all said my kid is crazy.  So there, Leah!  Anyway, the pizza was delicious, no matter how we ate it and we all gobbled it right up.  Thus refreshed, we made our way to the Empire State Building to go up to the 86th Floor Observatory.  Leah was mad I didn't spring for the 102nd Floor, but maybe next time.

Again, we had to wait on line to have a souvenir photo taken and to go through security, but although it is a long walk from the entrance to the elevators, it is not a line that ever really stops moving.  It's kind of like Disney World--yes, there's a line, yes it takes a while, but you're not stopped dead just waiting for something to happen.

You take the first elevator to the 80th floor and then get on a second elevator to the 86th.  When we reached the top, a guy in a King Kong suit was there posing for pictures, so of course, I had to get one last snap of the girls together in the city.  Then we went out onto the observatory.  Ine confessed just beforehand that she was afraid of heights, but she said she was looking forward to going out onto the observatory, so she bravely did.  There were a LOT of people out there, and every last one of them was taking selfies and/or photos of their partner/friend/etc so it took FOREVER to get into position where we could see out and see the city.  But what a glorious view we had.  It was very cold and crisp, but the view was lovely and clear and we could see the Statue of Liberty even though it was so tiny, as well as many other landmarks.  It was a fabulous night and so quiet up there compared to down below where there are people yelling and horns honking.  I have a bit of an obsession with going to the top of tall buildings, so I loved every minute of it out there, but eventually the cold won out and Leah wanted to leave.  So we headed back down and out.

Happily, we were still on 34th Street and our bus was due to pick us up on the other side of 34th Street, so we started walking.  We had about 7 blocks to go to the bus stop, which doesn't sound like a lot, but was actually a fair way.  We stopped at a little grocery store on the way and the girls got snacks for the bus ride home, and then we got on the bus line and of course, the bus was late!  Eventually it arrived and we piled on.  On the way up, they had put the air conditioning on, so the bus was quite cold, and I was hoping they wouldn't do that on the way home--I wanted warm air so I could SLEEP.  but they didn't care what I wanted, so they put the air on again.  I wrapped my coat around my head and fell asleep.  I was very, very surprised when the lights came on and we were back in Baltimore!  An hour later we were back in DC, and even though it was nearly 1AM, it wasn't too badly late despite the late start.  So we then drove home and arrived back in Fredericksburg at 2AM and immediately everyone crawled into bed and fell sound asleep.

It was a lovely time in the city.  New York is like nowhere else and I was happy to be able to take Ine there and show her around, as I was with taking Leah, who fulfilled a dream of hers to go to NYC.  They were both excellent travelers and brave adventurers, and it was fun for me to see NY with them and remember my own dreams when I moved there at the age of 18 and what it meant to me then and still means to me now.  Since we got back from the trip, someone asked me, "What are you going to do to top that?!"  I have a few tricks up my sleeve for the rest of the year, but NY is probably the piece de resistance.  But I guess you can ask her in June what her favorite part of the year was.  Hopefully she'll have lots of highlights to share with everyone, this being one.