A Day in New York...

I have been wanting to write this blog for a long time, well for about 48 hours now, and have finally made the time. I hope you enjoy...

So I describe this past Friday, October 13th, yes Friday the Thirteenth, yet strangely, or maybe as evidence standing against the supposed bad luck we all inherit on this particular match of day and date, it was a tremendous day. I note here that I turned one year old on Friday the Thirteenth of December 1985.

I woke up, left the apartment at about 10am in search of a haircut. Across from the train stop, I found my place. For $10 I got a cut and a great conversation flying from Dominican Spanish with Maria, to Spanish and Hindi from the other employees of the small shop that sees both the morning light and the streets of night. A tip later I flew on the F train to St. Vincent Ferrer, an affluent Catholic parish run by Dominican brothers who never cease to challenge me with their homilies. The day before, I will never forget, a brother priest spoke of the will of God in our lives. He always answers our prayers, it is in the times that we do not get what we want that we question this, but truly God knows better in those situations and so has chosen to give us something we did not ask for and that we often recognize only later.

Jumping off from this, I met with Fr. Carleton Jones after Friday's mass to decide whether I would ask him to be my spiritual director, and at this point I have no doubts that I will continue. Rarely have I heard truth so clearly delineated, and had so many of my insecurities and uncertainties in regard to the discerment of my vocation explained so well. One point we discussed was the idea of holy determinism. The idea that God already has a plan for our lives, and that we have to determine what he would want with each choice we make, and there consequently being the possibility for choosing incorrectly. For me, I had always wondered as to the truth of this reality, because for me, no matter which vocation I would choose, God will bring the most out of that. I could go either way, though God may ultimately know what I will choose, since he exists outside of time, that has no bearing on the reality of the free will I possess to choose either and have His blessing therein.

A little philosophical, but a point I wanted to make, and see how you reacted.

From there I dashed up to my school, Hunter College, only about three blocks up, dropped my stuff, caught up with some volleyball buddies who were hanging out around the locker room. Jumped on the train directly from the basement of the school, went down to the Board of Elections turned in my form to vote in New York on the 7th, then ran from Battery Park all the way along the Hudson on the west coast of Manhattan to 42nd St. then took the train back to Hunter. A great run in a great city on a beautiful day. And possibly one of the few times that I will get to look out upon the Statue of Liberty as I stretch, and salute the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings as I whiz past. It is all almost surreal at times, but the truth is that it all exists, and in the end it is just another manifestation man has made upon God's beautiful creation.

So I showered up at school, then happened to see one of my volleyball buddies still hangin around outside the locker room, and much more dressed up than is usual. Turns out that he was to sell concessions to persons coming to see the "Roller Derby" which was to take place in the gym of our school. Random? I think so!!! I would have hung around, but the tickets were more than I wanted to pay to see a bunch of not so friendly looking women beat up on each other. Oh well, maybe other opportunities will yet arise. From there it was off to see yet another of my free movies in a church, this one particularly in that of the "Holy Innocents", pastored by Monsignor Donald Sakano who helped me tremendously in figuring out how to enter the New York living scene. Unfortunately he was not present, but the movie was good, "Love Comes Softly", on a completely different level than the tasteless Broadway show I saw with my family a week ago.

I was tempted afterward, but the fact that I was one of only two people under 50 led me to leave before the discussion session began. As it turns out, the other girl who appeared my age had left early too. I went maybe a few blocks down in search of the Museum of Modern Art or MOMA, asked a man in a souvenir store if he knew of its location, but the fact that he had been here in the city for even less time than I meant that he was no help in finding the place. But I gave him my email address, and he promised to contact me soon. He speaks primarily Hindi, and has studied various other languages, and we were able to share about our linguistic interests. Following the encounter I went to turn a corner, and there was the girl from the church movie. She was on the phone, so trying to look not too creepy I waited for her to finish and then introduced myself. Found out her name is Nadia, and in excellent English she described how she was born in the Ukraine and speaks Russian and Ukrainian in addition to our mode of communication. I just sat and marveled at the reality of meeting two people from two very different parts of the world, while I come from a place that does not even compare. These occurrences seem to happen every day by the way, but this was definitely one of the more pointed experiences I have had.

After her friend picked her up and she was safely on her way, I took off. I found it funny too, that she was shivering as we sat chatting on the street corner. I'll have to look up where the Ukraine is exactly, but I imagine that early fall weather does not compete with the cold of that part of the world!!! I read the paper and had a nice "Boylan" creme soda in a little cafe that closed shortly after I arrived, so I moved on to bigger and better things. Wendy's makes the best burgers, even here in NYC! I sat there afterward while a grumpy employee swept the floor and occasionally my feet, and people from various walks of life came to keep me company, one particular woman even asking me a question!!! I say that in jest, I have found it incredible both that people can be so cold and that they are willing to help so much as well. For example, the grumpy worker would not tell me how to get to Madison Square Garden, but another man I met in searching for apartments got me hooked up with the job from which I write this blog right now, and recently told me that he has connections with further possible employment when I would finish here!!!

Yes, I visited the Garden next, found out there is a 9 train that is not noted on the subway map, mainly because it runs on the exact same route as the 1 train. I learned from my roommate this morning that there was also once an 8 train, but it got cut off. Dad, these facts are for you, and all you other train and mass transportation enthusiasts. Karen?

I also had to see where I had come in on the first day so I ran through Penn Station, and found the place where I undertipped the red cap who helped me carry my five boxes of junk, then caught my first taxi with a man that had come straight from Africa.

Of course I then called my friend Raquel, and after a little scenic tour of Little Italy found the hole-in-the-wall she and some of her friends had discovered and enjoyed some of the house red wine. Yes it was the cheapest on the list, but it was very good, and hey I forgot to pay anyway!!! That is true, but I plan to go back in the near future to try some other varieties and overpay for whatever I would have.

After assuring that Raquel, who by the way is a friend that came from Spain, but was born and grew up in Venezuela, had made it home ok, I decided to have a meeting with my pillow. This figure of speech is literally translated from something commonly said in Spanish. I am learning so much from my roommate, friends, and my translation class, and last night received an awesome complement. It came from my Argentinian taxi driver, who commented that I was one of only two U.S. people he had heard speak Spanish without an accent. That I sounded almost exactly like a Latino!!! I have sought to accomplish this for a while, and so I of course got really excited!!!

For all this I have some thanks to give, first to Edward who first encouraged me to check out the National Student Exchange Program, and for all of you who continue to be a forces in my life, even though we are so far away from one another. Yet most of all to God, who has made this all possible and continues to bring good into my life on a daily basis here. To Him be all the glory and praise. To Him I offer all this up in Thanksgiving!!! God bless and keep you all, and thanks for bearing with me through this long entry.

TM