New York New York

I was a litte apprehensive arriving in New York as I had very low expectations of the apartment we had rented and the neighbourhood it would be in. I have been pleasantly surprised about the the apartment, it is a teeny tiny one bedroom even smaller than our studio in Sydney, but very functional and clean. The only downsides being that we are on the 4th floor of a walk up building and the bed is not big enough for the two of us. We had to go to Kmart and purchase an air mattress and are now sleeping in separate beds, which kinda suxs. As for the neighbourhood it's about what I expected but maybe not so scary. It is a lovely neighbourhood, we are right next door to at least two adult video stores and as a pleasant extra surprise, a large parole office to which ex-cons must make their weekly reports. On the bright side a pretty major subway stop is only three doors down and we can basically walk to all the action. Once you are inside the apartment you really forget how seedy the outside is. Our super Wilson and his wife are very friendly and helpful even when we constantly interrupt his tiling efforts and walk all over her mopping the floors with our dusty shoes.

We have now been in the city for almost a week and we are really trying to get an authentic New York experience. We have spent most of our days exploring the numerous boroughs, eating bagels and trying to find a decent cup of coffee. Funnily enough Starbucks coffee is near to the top so far, which is lucky since its on almost every street corner. Other New York experiences we have had include: doing our washing at the local laundromat, baking apple pie, going for a jog in Central park and catching subways everywhere.....oh and SHOPPING! You will be pleased to know that I have limited myself to 4 pairs of shoes so far. The terrible exchange rate is putting a dampener on things though.

New York really is one of the most interesting cities I have visited mainly due to the diversity of people that live here but also due to the difference in all neighbourhoods. You get a sense of the lifestyle the people lead just by walking around and listening to the snippets of conversation and other body language. In our neighbourhood we really need puffy jackets and baggy pants to fit in. While I'm not sure this is a place that id choose to live in, there is a certain energy that consumes you just being amongst so many people and listening to the sirens and horns echoing down the street at any time of the day or night. Rush hour is times ten and not just on the street, forget about trying to buy anything with out having to join a queue that loops around the entire shop, they even have people whose job it is to hold a sign indicating to shoppers where the end of the queue is. Amongst all this chaos there is the park where one can go to get away from it all. Its so peaceful although totally overrun with squirrels. They are everywhere and not at all timid like I thought they would be.

So on the whole we are having a great time figuring this city out and try to determine if it is somewhere that we might like to live, so far im still undecided. The way the dollar is going we may have to. Hope everyone is well we are missing you all!