This morning Elizabeth had to go to her hospital for some more paperwork.  We headed up on the subway, I jumped off to unload stuff at our apartment while she went on to the hospital.  Then I walked the mile or so from our apartment to the hospital to meet up with her.  On the way over I had an orthodox jewish guy(side curls) in a truck at a stop light ask me for directions, of course I was no help.  Then he handed me some jewish pamphlet on juadism vs zionism.  I took it as him believing me to be jewish.  At the hospital Elizabeth and I ran into a guy sporting a University of Oregon badge lanyard and a green and yellow tie, so of course Elizabeth had to chat him up.  It was great to meet somebody else there that knew where we were coming from.  After the hospital we spent the rest of the day, picking up household goods and exploring.  This afternoon we did get to enjoy a great example of the healthy respect people have here for one another.  A young teenage couple was crossing the street, when they weren't supposed to be, and a car pulled up on them.  So, the girl sayed some nasty stuff to the middle aged couple in the car.  When the lady in the car spouted back at the young girl, the girl flipped them off, much to her boyfriends dismay.  The car pulled around the corner, and the lady got out and followed the young couple down the street exchanging verbal insults.  As we caught up to the scene the man driving the car was out in the street with his car parked in traffic on a busy arterial.  The lady finally walked back, still grumbling, her husband trying to figure out what she was doing, and the guy next to us added his own commentary on the situation.  Also great, this evening we watched three guys tearing down another busy street on two stroke dirt bikes.  Two of them were doing wheelies, and none of them had helmets on.  Oh this is going to be a great experience.  I love Elizabeth. 

Not much to say today. We slept in again, then headed to our apartment to drop some stuff off and walked over to Target, in the Bronx.  Spent awhile there picking up house hold goods.  We did enjoy some guy walking the aisle speaking loudly and spreading the word of god, incoherently.  We also realized that we are very much in the minority when we saw another white couple in Target.  I think they also appreciated see us, as we did them.  We explored out neighborhood a little more, saw the Apollo theater on 125th, and tried the fried chicken place that is below our apartment. 

We slept in this morning, much needed.  We headed out at about 11:30 to go sign our lease for our apartment in Harlem, crazy.  We will spend at least the next year at 139th and Lenox.  Its close to a subway stop for Elizabeth, has a supermaket across the street, and has a couple parks close by.  We are pretty happy with it, so far.  After signing our lease we walked the neighborhood, and found our way back to where we are staying temporarily.  After restting up we took a stroll through Central Park, which I can see why its so popular in this crazy town.  Its quite nice, and such a contrast to the mass of human development. 

Interesing happenings in the city today........

-two 60 plus year old men, one shirtless (of course), getting into a physical dispute at 11:30 in the morning. 

-street life seems to be part of the city culture, just people with their folding chair sitting out everywhere, young and old. 

-we spotted a mullet in the city today, which i found comforting

-more bathroom struggles, I managed to clog 2 of the 3 toilets in Elizabeth's aunt apartment this morning, with no plunger to be found!  Ironically when we went to sign our lease one of the rules was we had to have a plunger in our apartment.  So, I assume the plumbing/toilets in this city are lousy.

                                                       The Perrys on the streets of NYC.

View from our new apartment! (well just from the kitchen and bathroom)

                                                                 Our bathroom.

Us in our new living room.

Us on a bench in Central Park.

By a reservoir in Central Park.  (Notice the 'Cashmeracle' and 'Lady Foxes' shirts)

Well we survived our first full day in the largest city in this country.  We landed about 10 p.m. last night at Newark. After getting out bags (4 very large checked bags and 2 backpacks) we found our way to the train station.  The combination of narrow aisle ways, large bags, and stairs made getting on the train a challenge and very funny.  We arrived at Penn Station (under Madison Square Gardens) and made our way street side, and there I was for my first time, on the streets of NYC.  It was everything you would expect, lots of people, noise, and bright lights.  We loaded into a cab and made our way north along Central Park West, to Elizabeth's aunt Mary's apartment.  We were greeted by the doorman, received our key and dropped off our bags.  I needed a beer, so we hit the streets at about midnight in search.  I think Martin's Market Place is open as late as the Whole Foods we went to.  Isn't this 'the city that never sleeps'?  So we hit the local gourmet deli, complete with loitering teens, and picked up our $12 6-pack!!!  Made our way back past the housing project and settled in for the night.

Today we woke up early to go to Linclon Medical and Mental Hospital where Elizabeth will be working for the next 3 years.  We walked through Central Park to catch our subway on 110th, my first subway experience, it again did not dissappoint, it was dirt, smelly, and hot.  A quick ride into the South Bronx and we were in a whole new environment. Its a predominatley spanish speaking population, many signs with in the hospital itself were only in spanish.  We went to several departments so Elizabeth could fill out paperwork.  Some were very welcoming and helpful, others exemplefied the nasty New York attitude (dirty bitches). While Elizabeth was filling out paperwork, I went on my own little hospital adventure.  I attempted to find a restroom, after wandering the hallways only finding employee restrooms, I located an unlocked one.  But it wasn't meant to be, after waiting for the occupant to leave the stall, I found there was no toilet paper(that guy didn't wipe).  So my search continued, the next one I found the door latches did not function, and there was no toilet paper in either stall, strike two.  Third times a charm, founding a nice, unlocked restroom in a quiet wing, just cleaned, and there was Toilet Paper!  I suppose because we are in the city, and its a city run hospital that they have a lot of low class people going through there eveidentley stealing toilet paper.  After the hospital we jumped on a bus (we were the only white faces to be had) back over to Harlem to meet a real estate broker to start our apartment search.  Randomly enough she was from Washington, should be a good sign.  We saw several apartments, all old, but not to bad.  Most had been remodeled recently.  We decided to jump on a pretty nice 1 bedroom with an actual view of the sky.  After being raped and jerked around by the NYC apartment game ( to keep it short), we should be signing and getting the keys tomorrow. 

To sum up my experience so far; I have two blisters from todays walk, we watched some lady scream and cuss at a subway attendant, some dispute on the street, and got an apartment.  This is crazy, overwhelming, and just not real yet.  I Love Elizabeth!!

Welcome to my therapy.  Our adventure begins tomorrow, this should be interesting.  -jp