Getting To Know NY A Little

I often tell people that I'm not a big fan of New York. I know many people whoa re just in love with the city and all it has to offer but I can't say I stand on the same ground. Maybe it's that I've never really experience the city in its entirety. Usually my trips are very short and I never see much apart from the places I specifically go to, to do what needs to be done and I'm normally driven to these places.

This trip was slightly different. Actually, it was different in many ways. I had no car to move about in so I utilised the yellow cab, subway and my feet, discovering a part of New York that I never got a chance to learn about. For once, I got the chance to see and experience New York beyond the windows of the car. This time I travelled alone and, for the first time, flew on jetBlue Airways. This trip has had quite a few firsts for me, making it drastically different from all the rest.

I had the luxury of walking through the streets and properly experiencing the sights and scents of the city. I had the opportunity to walk through a little street fair on my way to the hairdresser. I walked among the large masses that crowd the sidewalks trying to remain aware of myself. It's not the first time that I've had to walk along the sidewalk with so many people but I was never particularly bothered by it in Hong Kong like I was here in New York. Somehow, crowds seem more organised in Hong Kong, or maybe it's just my imagination. I think, though, the crazy crowds along with all the strange scents and dirt of the city was what bothered me. In comparison, Hong Kong is a lot cleaner and not filled with so many different scents to tickle my nostrils so walking among the crowd never was much of a bother. Not to mention, that sense of belonging I have when I'm in Hong Kong, no matter how many people surround me, makes me comfortable.

If there's anything I like doing, it's people-watching. No matter where I am, it will always be remotely entertaining to watch people go about their business. I got a good chance for that while on the subway to and from the house. I saw a couple who were each on their phones while still remaining in a cuddled position; a man wearing a white T-shirt, bright yellow shorts, sneakers and a backpack (it was about 14°C outside); a woman reading a magazine and her neighbour taking a peek at the pages; a man in a pink shirt holding only his phone and a notebook and pen...fiddling with the pages of his notebook; a guy listening to music while falling asleep; a man playing the accordion while his wife and young daughter walked about the train car for tips (it was the last thing I expected but at least it sounded nice). The list goes on and on.

I saw so many different people with so many distinct personalities and I thought to myself, I could neither stand out nor blend in with a city like this. This city filled with so many cultures and personalities somehow manages to give me this feeling of suppression. As such, all I've said before about how I don't really like New York still stands. I'm rather uncomfortable here and, honestly, without even a small sense of belonging (which this city is completely void of, even after years of visiting), I could never feel any satisfaction about living here if I had to. In fact, I'd be sure to avoid it at all costs.

A Little Bit of Canada

A few days ago (4, to be exact), I returned from a trip to New York. I meant to make this post days ago but I've been busy. It was a relatively short trip, just 6 days long, but I had such a great time! Why? I spent the weekend on a tour bus to Toronto. Well, that's not the awesome part. The awesome part was getting to be on the road and see all sorts of great things. It was my first trip up to Canada!

The tour was a 3-day bus tour. We drove from New York through New Jersey then Pennsylvania and again through New York (upstate) before arriving in Ontario where we saw Niagara Falls at night. Niagara at night: beautiful. No picture could ever do it justice.

Oh How I Love The Cold

You know how people like to ask questions like "Which do you prefer? Hot or cold?" And as I would normally reply to such questions, I say "I'm not sure. I like both. I'm not really one to pick a favourite." But that was 3 years ago. When I didn't have much exposure to colder temperatures. But now I have. And I love it.

It's true...I'm truly not one to pick a favourite. I can't choose between vanilla and chocolate ice cream so I normally take a mix. But I just love the cold. I really hate being hot. Sure being sweaty and feeling sticky bothers me, I only like sweating when I exercise because then I feel like I've really had a good workout and it feels good and, after all, I could easily cool down. But there are the days when the internal body temperature is just soaring (and it's not a fever), I'm not sweating and a cold shower does little to help. Those are the days when air conditioning is most required but what happens if you don't have it? You could strip down and stand in front a fan for all the world but it still won't help because the fan circulates hot air. Not helpful.

So I love the cold. Full stop. And I loved my trip to Hong Kong so much because Hong Kong has, as I've mentioned previously, the most perfect temperatures! With normal winter temperatures ranging from 15-21 degrees Celsius and cooler temperatures that can drop down to 7 degrees Celsius, how could I not love the weather there?

New York on the 19th and 20th were wonderfully cold and snowy. Here is where I'll start posting about my ever wonderful 12-day trip to Hong Kong and back and everything that happened in between. I made little "journal entries", so to speak, while I was gone with the Active Notes application on my new Nokia N97 mini. I'll just copy and paste them here for you to read =]

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Sunday December 20th 2009:

"Flight to New York was delayed due to weather conditions. We left Barbados 2 hrs late and so we arrived 2 hrs late and then some since we had to circle around a couple of times while they cleared the runway of snow! Then another half hr looking for an open terminal. Then another 20 mins waiting for luggage. Temperature was in the negatives in degrees Celsius! Got out the airport around 11:30 pm. Had to drive slow. Got to the hotel after 3 am. Got the N97 mini."

hotel car park

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While waiting in New York for my flight to return to Barbados, it snowed again. Snow upon arrival. Snow upon departure. It was my first experience with snow! And I loved it.

JFK upon departure

More to come! Look forward to it! =]

A Weekend in NY

So, as many of you know, I went to New York just last weekend for about four days over the long weekend we had here in Barbados. I haven't made an earlier post about it, mainly because I've been feeling really busy with stuff: classes, assignment...beach =P Although, I haven't actually been in sea in...probably about a year or more (sad considering how close the beach is) so I just had to go!

I'm missing NY already! The weather there was wonderful. The temperatures were just perfect. I came back home and all I could do was sweat in the heat. Insane! I wish I could've stayed there longer...it would've been great! I heard on the radio that it was

 like 37°C, an incredibly large difference from the 23°C (18°C at night) that I was enjoying.

I was happy to have a change from the food I always eat here. Just had some of the usual food when I go to New York: Chinese food. Real Chinese food. Not the fake little chow mein, fried rice, sweet and sour chicken rubbish that's called Chinese food and sold in this country. Real chinese food.

Pic from Dec 2008. Chinese food! Yum!

We went upstate to this really awesome place called Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. It was insanely HUGE! Obviously, it wasn't anywhere near possible to look through all the stores. In fact, it wasn't even possible to look through all the stores in just 1 section (there were 5 sections). Hundreds of stores and we just chose a few. We were there for over 2 hours, spent loads of money and went into 6 stores or so.

A map of Woodbury Common Premium Outlets

So during my stay, generally what my Mom and I did was shop, eat, got our hair cut, and we both got the things we ordered and shipped to my Uncle's house. One of the things I had shipped to his house was...my awesome new Macbook Pro 17"!

Isn't it lovely?

That's about the gist of my trip. Not much. But I enjoyed myself and that's all that matters. =]

Independence!

Well to be honest, I'm not what anyone would call patriotic. I really don't know much about my own country when I really think about it. Last week was apparently the week to be wearing Independence colours: blue and yellow...well more Friday than the entire week. I wore no such thing! Actually I wore black on Friday, and there IS black in the flag so that could pass as something.

Barbados celebrates its 42nd year of Independence after being under British colonialism for...centuries? Ah my history's a little rusty but let's assume that's right. Sometimes I don't really think we're all that independent when half of our constitution is still like Britain and we our Monarchy is Queen Elizabeth II. Where's true independence in that? So anyways, Barbados became "independent" on November 30, 1966.

My "Caribbean Politics & Society" teacher once clearly pointed out to us, that our own National Anthem doesn't really make much sense and doesn't seem to quite fit Barbados. This is the main part that isn't fit for the National Anthem of Barbados:

"These fields and hills beyond recall
Are now our very own"

Ohh look! Lots of green! But...it's all...flat! What fields and hills? Fields we have...hills we don't. Out on the Eastern side of the island though, I believe it's a little less flat but, really, I wouldn't say we have hills beyond recall...at all. Our highest point is called Mount Hillaby which is 343 m above sea level. Awesome.

Hmm. Maybe I should say some stuff about Bim that I like =) Ummmm...I like the beaches and the weather (although it's been a bit too hot this year) and most of the people here are nice. The island is small so it's easy to go from one place to the next. I love having the privilage of seeing some very gorgeous sunsets and being able to see the various colours produced during a sunset (although I'm told that that just means the world is getting more polluted). All in all, life can be quite simple and relaxing...depending on what you do =]

Yay! I was actually able to list a few things that I like about Barbados. Well I'm sure my list of dislikes is longer but since it's independence weekend I'll be nice =] I'm going to New York this weekend! On Independence Day in fact. I'm sad that we'll only be there for a day before we return but I have to study so I'll live with it =) I'll finally be getting my hair cut too! My hair isn't all that long but I've been growing tired of it recently lol.

I'll see you all when I return! Until then...be good =D
Oh and Happy Independence ^_^