On Sunday, it was one very special day in the USA: Halloween. Up until this year, I had spent Halloween in Germany simply carving a pumpkin; the last two years I organized an all-American Halloween party. Ever since I can remember, I have always had fun at Halloween, much more than with the German carnival. This year it was my first Halloween in NYC and I wanted to go all the way with the festivities.
From many people I heard about a Halloween Parade in the Village. This year was their 38th year and is planned by a non-profit organisation and the Theatre of New York. Donations help to support and finance the parade. The parade is 25 blocks long and runs on Sixth Avenue between Broome St and 17th Street. Clubs, several organizations and artists, also partly art student from colleges, have own cars and present large balloons all Halloween themed. The special part of this parade is that everyone can join and walk in the parade. I simply needed to see that.
Continue reading “Halloween – Mania”
Here a few impressions of my short day trip to Huntington, NY. On the way there, I discovered Oyster Bay, a wonderful spot, at which one could see the full beauty of fall. It has been quite a while that I have seen fall in such beautiful colors, such as here in the United States. Colors, a bit colder, but still warm enought and many loose leaves, which danced merrily once the wind came. Now that is fall to me. And I love it. But see for yourself:
Continue reading “Fall at Oyster Bay, NY”
After a sightseeing tour of the Meatpacking District, a friend and I spontaneously decided to go to see a movie. We planned on seeing “The Social Network”, but it had already started by the time we arrived at the movie theatre. So we stood in front of the wall with all the movie posters and after a few minutes decided on seeing “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”. We chose that one, because neither of us felt like seeing an action or thriller movie, I had seen Wall Street 2 already and the movie had to begin at 8 p.m. With all-American popcorn (salt and butter) and soda, we went in. It kind of felt like a sneak preview, since we did not know anything about the plot, just the title. Continue reading “Movie Time: It’s Kind of a Funny Story”
In no other country in which I have been so far, do I see shopping as an experience as in the USA. I just do not mean mall shopping, I actually rather mean the grocery shopping.
Grocery shopping itself is not anything spectacular. Necessities like butter, milk and bread must be bought; many other not needed items like cake mix, pudding or sweets also are added to the shopping cart. For a lot of people, it is a thing you have to do, maybe not a thing you want to do. Here in the States it is different, as I experienced on the weekend again.
Continue reading “Grocery Shopping – The experience”
It is repeatedly fascinating, how a person remembers a place subconsciously. The place probably is not even a typical sight, but mostly just a simple street corner. Exactly that has happened to me in New York several times within the last weeks.
Together with a friend, I discovered the area. We walked through the streets of Brooklyn and at some point stood at a street corner. And while we stood there, I knew: I have been here before. I could not grasp when and why or with whom, but I had a certain feeling. A “You-stood-here-once-before”-feeling. My friend knew exactly what I meant. At a different, but also a plain corner, she felt the same way a few days ago.
Continue reading “Have I not been here before…”
I wake up, but my eyes stay shut. Through the half open window I hear a quiet, nearly infrasonic, rustling of the leaves through the wind. Raindrops fall softly on the window pane. Is it raining into the room already? I do not know. Then a loud sound. It is a vehicle, gunning its engine, probably from a school bus. Because only a few seconds afterwards a “Bye, Mom” from a young girl follows. The doors of the school bus squeak open, close even louder and the wheels spin on the wet street, until the school bus finally drives on. The raindrops turn louder. Car doors slam shut and I periodically hear the clattering of high heels. And they are so fast that the people are probably running, to get out of the rain. A bit further away in the distance, I hear a long honking of a car horn. How sirens of an ambulance drown out the car horn by far and how they then get increasingly quieter and disappear in the distance again.
The rain starts to stop. The patter of rain has turned into silent drips. A car, from which hip-hop music sounds out, drives through the street. I crawl out of bed, walk to the window. What I see are many little puddles. In them, there are green, brown and some yellow leaves. I see a small boy, how he jumps through the puddles in his sneakers with a big smile. And how his mother pulls him with the words “Will you get out of there NOW!” A slight wind passes and causes me to get a shiver over my arms and back. While I close the window, I know: it is fall.
Saturday evening in New York, also known as date night. And what is one of the many things that are done? Right, going to the movies. My ”date” was my auntie and we chose the movie ”Wall Street 2: Money never sleeps”.
I do not know how it is in other countries, but here in the States there is a lot of publicity for this movie. In each commercial break on television one of the trailers is shown. Surely, it is because of the plot from the movie, which is the following:
Continue reading “Movie time: Wall Street 2″
One of the highlights this first week in the States was definitely the season premieres. Nearly every night, there was one series, which started into its new season. The problem: the previous season just started (or starts soon) in Germany. So I am actually skipping a complete season.
But luckily, there is the internet – the channels offer a free recap video, mostly around five minutes long, for each series, in which the most important plots are shown. So I was completely in the picture again and able to enjoy the season premieres. I thought it was a very good solution, because who actually remembers all the important plots from the last season?
Continue reading “Season Premieres Overkill – finally!”
During my last visits to NYC I did not need one, but now I do: an American cellphone number. Paying high fees for calls from my German cell provider? Thanks, but no thanks. But there were a few obstacles on the way…
I informed myself on the internet and chose a provider, who was recommended to me because of the coverage. According to the provider’s ads, 97% of Americans have it. Wow. For me it should be a prepaid card plan. But which one? While I was clicking through the different plans, a pop up window appeared. “A sales representative is ready to help you out with your order. Would you like assistance?”. I clicked on OK, without actually knowing, what will happen next.
Continue reading “Operation cellphone number”
The departure in Frankfurt was everything else but fast and great. Not even 12 hourse before my flight was supposed to depart to JFK, I recieved a short message from my airline, saying that my flight was resceduled from 8:30 am to 09:55 am. Later at the airport I was told that it may be even delayed more. After the goodbyes (note to myself: I still hate saying goodbye and letting go), I went through security rather quickly and waited at the gate. And waited. And waited. Boarding only started shortly after 10 am, in the end the plane took off at 11:15 am.
The flight itself was not the greatest either. Not only that there were strong headwinds, but there were also bad turbulences. So I could not really sleep and arrived at JFK rather unsettled. But I did get my suitcase fast and warm sunbeams tickled my skin. And I landed safely, after all that is the most important thing.
Continue reading “First post from New York City”
