Expat in New York

Deja vu: The Big Apple at a Mexican Short Film Festival

2007-07-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, I sa the black and white film "Native New Yorker," a documentary shown at Expresion en Corto, the Short Film Festival held in my adopted home town of Guanajuato, Mexico. This rhythmic film showing a Native American walking New York City had a quiet, quirky take on a city I came to love. About 20 minutes long and hope you'll have a chance to see it sometime. It was part of the Best from Tribeca series.

To the southern tip of Manhattan

2006-12-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

Today, a sunny, sparkling day, I went to the southern tip of the island and yes it's just the place to see the end of the island and in the distance across the water The Statue of Liberty. I had two destinations, the Museum of the American Indian to see the exhibit that was closed the first time I went and then to go to a photography store not far away to buy a digital camera. After a good Chinese buffet meal, I went into the former U.S. Customs House that now houses the museum. Seeing the beautiful polished wood stairway railing (restored) spiral up six or seven storeys made the trip worthwhile even though the exhibit was closed again "for renovation" in advance of anticipated crowds during the upcoming holiday week. But there was more, an exhibit of Inuit sculpture that fascinated me for the portrayal of an almost vanished way of life now that the Inuit have congregated in towns but most of all for the beautiful objects themselves. There was a walrus head made of bone; the artist had seen that the pores in the bone reproduced the texture of the animal's fur. There was a smaller sculpture of four women, one of them assisting another giving birth. But by just giving these examples, I am only barely conveying the artistic sensibility, craftsmanship, and dedication to conveying their culture of the many sculptors whose work (mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, but some more recent) was on display.

By the way, the Museum defines "Indians" as the indigenous people of North America (including Mexico) and the Caribbean, not just of the USA.

physical therapy in the Big Apple

2006-12-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

I'm finally being treated for my sore shoulder. The therapist is more willing to explain what's happening than in Guanajuato, probably not only because we speak the same language and is more individualized. However the cost, even with Medicare, is $30 compared with $3.50 at DIF.

Disclaimer

2006-12-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

I've had various communication problems so have had to depend on the 45 minutes daily of computer time at the library nearly around the corner but during the cold weather about 10 days ago the heating system failed there so have to go to a branch about a mile away and usually have a bunch of tasks besides the blog. What about the computer I ordered? UPS made my life difficult for a week and now after a few days of finally having the computer, the wireless connection isn't working.

Good food in Midtown East and a friend in town

2006-12-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

I just had what I think of a "New American style" lunch, meaning the core was roast chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans and cole slaw but surrounded by a stuffed vine leaf and mixed peppers. All this and a cup of decaf hazelnut coffee for $6.47 at a buffet restaurant whose exact name and location I'll reveal on my next post. Mostly I've been eating Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish (Oh, the crema catalan)but finally got hungry for the old familiar food, especially the sweet potatoes.

The artist Theresa Ramey who lived in Guanajuato for three years until the end of 2003 is in the Bronx visiting her middle son. We ate Chinese soup laced with shrimp, beef and pork, then went down to Chelsea where we gallery hopped galleries with contemporary work, Theresa filling in just the right amount of explanation, and finally topped the day off by sharing a vegetarian platter of garbanzos, rice, veggies, salad and rotis (warm flatbread) from an Indian takeout near Jon's apartment. Theresa's heart problems seem under control and she is doing new work, smaller than the canvasses she used to lug around from place to place made of lots of little short strokes. It was wonderful for me to connect with an old friend in the Big Apple. She had already told me about the free Fridays evenings at the Museum of Modern Art. By now I've been to two of them.

DC and around

2006-11-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

I'm in the market for a new notebook computer and my first digital camera so have been using my son, daughterinlaw, and one of their friends as consultants. I had already learned the hard way that offers at the Dell site come and go, including one that was perfect for me. The trio answered a lot of questions about technology, then after I investigated in more detail on the internet I went with Jon and Jay to Best Buys to look at the items in question.

I have struggled with adding accents when I type a Spanish name but at Best Buys I found out-- after a persistent search for someone who could answer my question with something other than "you need to change the whole physical keyboard (WRONG)-- that accenting a word is now much easier in Windows XP than it was in Windows Millenium.

I'm excited about getting a digital camera so I can liven up my Chopper articles and my blogs, also keep in better touch with my family. Will do the buying in New York.

Reprise of Chamber Music Society Concert, Lincoln Center

2006-11-22T15:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I had a ticket for this concert, just what Guanajuato life has adapted me for. For the first half of the concert, I was near the back but was able to move up after intermission to the second row left. I heard some of the finest wind and string players around performing Debussy's last three sonatas and three contemporary sonatas written to complete the set he had in mind. Alice Tully Hall is about 60% of the size of our State Auditorium but sloped and shaped so it is perfect for listening to small ensembles.

My bilingual acquaintances

2006-11-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

New York is full of people who speak our English but are just as at home in Spanish. I keep meeting them. In the elevator of the building where I'm staying, the other person, a young man, looked as if he could have been Mexican. I asked if he spoke was bilingual. He answered in English, then on the way out volunteered, "I'm from Puerto Rico."

In line at a used book sale at one of the branch libraries, I heard Spanish used intermittently with English behind me. After five minutes I turned around and said something in Spanish. Got in a conversation with the couple in English. Turned out she has been in NYC for 22 years, her partner (Iranian) for "much longer." We talked about Mexico for a long time (the line was slow in moving). The man especially was very uptodate. I enjoyed being able to talk with people who knew something about the country! When we got onto the topic of migration, the man said the reason for the loss of jobs in the Midwest is not Mexicans but the competition from China. I brought up the number of imprisoned or dead journalists in Mexico. He said, Mexico isn't the worst in Latin America. I asked who was. He said Cuba.

The superintendent of the apartment building where I live speaks Spanish with his family but idiomatic unaccented English with the workmen he knows.

Yesterday I came back on the train from Princeton, was sitting across from a darkskinned young man who turned out to have come from Peru when he was twelve, the adopted son of missionary parents. He goes back every four or five years. When I said I'd heard Peruvians speak the purest Spanish in the Western hemisphere, he looked surprised, said he'd never met "anyone else" who knew that. His English was perfect, his courtesy Latin American in style.

I'm deciding New York is an island of polylingualism in our mostly monolingual country. I hear many people speaking languages I don't understand as I walk down the street.

Week 3, Day 4 -- Fire below deck

2006-11-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to a horrendous clanking in the hall. Mindless movers? I wasn't wearing anything but hastily put on a jacket, was moving to the door when three firemen burst in. What the ???? That clanking had been them hammering in my door. I could not have been less appreciative but later realized that if I had passed out from smoke would have been glad of the intrusion. Don't know yet where the fire originated,the apt just below or in the ground floor upscale restaurant open evenings.

Called my son to report what had happened and find out whether to call the building management to fix the lock as I had plans to be out of town for the weekend. As I am a "guest" in his rent-controlled apartment, he called the office himself. Very prompt action, just 21/2 hrs later, the locksmith has been and put in a new temporary lock higher on the door. In a few minutes, I'll be at Penn Station to catch the train.

Day 14

2006-11-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

A third cloudy cool day here. Yesterday I was c-o-l-d for the first time while I was out despite what I thought was a warm jacket. Warmed up internally with an Indian vegearian platter. Later went over to Lord & Taylor's on an errand which I immediately forgot to do, the vast ground floor was so beautifully decorated with tiny lights and greens. Last time I was there (maybe 20 years ago) I had a fever, decided to take a taxi to where I was staying on the West Side, the traffic just crawled along as snowflakes fell. Turned out to be a thicket of traffic near the Dakota Hotel where John Lennon had just been shot.

I'm missing bumping into friends along the Guanajuato sidewalks. Speaking of bumping though, here people always say politely Excuse Me if it happens. The body contact wouldn't be worth mentioning in Gto.

Day 13

2006-11-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

It's Monday, after the Veteran's Day weekend when my computer base for 45 minutes a day was closed. Yesterday, a cloudy day, I took the long subway ride to the Brooklyn Museum to see the "pre-Columbian" Inca textiles. The pieces were on exhibit in a darkened large hall with 20 foot ceilings, not an ideal way to see them, but what a syncopation of tones and designs. In the same big hall was a carved whale 19th century from a Northwest carver. Don't know why but I felt as if I were seeing a beached animal, felt unhappy. Maybe because I've been to Neah Bay where the Makah have their own museum with a context instead of the paradoxical uprooting that is the basis of what we see in a "universal" museum like the BM. On the other hand, their Ground Zero photo exhibit was very interesting, lots of photos and some drawings from earlier development of that part of the city. Now I want to go to see the docks along the East River. The Brooklyn Museum has a huge collection with only selected fine examples on display but I soaked in Mideast calligraphy, Chinese Buddhist sculpture, a Japanese contemporary ceramic piece as well as the Annie Liebowitz photo exhibit, where the viewers were right out of a Woody Allen movie. I would have given up the ghost sooner but hard rain kept me in the museum an extra hour.

Made a sudden decision to break up the return trip by getting out at Brooklyn Heights, easy to do as I have a prepaid monthlong farecard. Headed in the direction of a movie theatre, thinking I would find something to eat and I did at a dim Moroccan carryout with a few tables. The meat pie (lamb&beef mixed) in a tender crust, a cup of strong sweet mint-green tea, and a juicy baklava revived me. I thanked the waiter twice for the good food.

New Yorkers are unbelievably courteous and helpful about answereing questions like the best route from here to there or where the subway stop is. Once the question is answered, they end the interaction promptly.

Day 9, Wed after election

2006-11-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

Whew. I voted absentee, still don't know what happened out in Oregon but imagine my vote helped keep the incumbent House member in. No Senate race this year. The radio commentators and their guests on Pacifica understandably kept talking about the changes in committee chairmen.

Here in NYC, I bought an umbrella a day ahead of the rain which is colder here than in my Mexican city of Guanajuato. Still wearing sandals with socks, need to buy a second pair of shoes. Today's the day I take the subway down to Chinatown to see my son's inlaws at their jewelry store on Bowery Street. They lent me warm clothes including the vest I'm wearing.

Seems as if I'm still spending a lot of my time hear buying food to prepare in the apartment or eating out. Last night I sauteed tofu with chard after a light lunch of an onion kulcha and lassi (onion bread, yoghurt drink) in an Indian restaurant. It's light here at 7 and dark by 5pm, although today looks like a grey day from start to finish.

Bought my first cell phone, talked to older son yesterday. Thought I'd called younger son but apparently the call didn't go through. I'll send him an email with my number. Also picked up my "open fit" hearing aid yesterday. Didn't know what this type was called while I was in Gto although two people showed theirs to me.

Planning on going to a violin/piano concert honoring Shostakovich tomorrow, reminding me of the Cervantino. The canvas Cervantino bag I received in the press room turns out to be just right for carrying groceries. I'm doing lots of walking, about 2 miles a day, enjoying the quick passage through the short blocks north and south. Haven't settled into any other exercise pattern yet.

I'm finding New Yorkers helpful and polite. Have only seen one graffiti (graffito?) so far and that tastefully done.

First two days

2006-11-03T14:35:00.001-08:00

Arrived Halloween night. My son Jon was waiting to welcome me to his apartment. He had an olive green sweat suit for me to put on. After a few minutes of talk he took everything I brought down to the basement to wash and dry it on hot. He got bedbug bites at my house and didn't want me to bring critters to NYC. Even my assurance I'd had a fumigator and a recheck didn't reassure him.

The next morning, mild weather which I didn't expect and a lox and cream cheese on bagel with Jon while somehow we got around to "pork barrel" projects built by the Corps of Engineers. He is informed! Then I went to the eye doctor and found he is NOT recommending cataract surgery at this time which left me wondering what I would do with two months in The City. I spent 1.5 hrs buying three pairs of socks before walking across town back to the apartment.

Yesterday, the temperature began dropping. I began to savor NYC, literally, at Tiny Thai Restaurant nearby. The lemon grass soup was hot, tangy and full of vegetables. Then had the rest of the lunch, rice and al dente veggies in peanut sauce. There were two people eating on the other side of the restaurant. They finished before I did and when I was ready to leave I found the man had paid for my meal. I asked the waitress if he came in often, she said from time to time, and I said be sure to thank him!

Then I managed to get a library card at the branch two blocks from the apartment. Will say more about what I'm reading at a later time as I'm back in the library using their computer facility for the last 25 mins the library is open. Just before coming here I went to the Salvation Army thrift shop for some warm clothes. According to the internet, the temps today in NYC are 1 to 8 degrees Celsius. The trees are just starting to turn, I'm in luck. By 5:30 MYC is dark already which I am finding confusing. Doing a lot of walking. The streets here have more holes in them than in Guanajuato so I have to watch my step. My lunch today was Pakistani.