What a great day was Saturday, woke up did my washing then headed to the Hudson river (not so far, a 40 minute walk) and we went kayaking! I went with a friend Talia, and we paddled between the piers for an hour or so. Not the cleanest water (i think you would catch a disease if you fell in!) and it was a little choppy but we had a great time paddling round... we left there with our newly acquired life jacket suntans and headed in to the west village for a bite. Was such great weather and so nice to be outside all day!

After dark we met up with some others and headed to see my friend Orly sing at a local bar which was great as usual, and then moved on to dinner, followed by going to see Lior... yes another australian singer... at The Living Room, an intimate bar on the Lower East Side. He was unbelievable live, much better then on the radio. Like a true groupie I bought his CD's and got him to sign them.. (but I did refrain from asking him if he remembers singing at my sister's batmitzvah...)

Where we went to next was something cool... we followed about 10 of our newly made friends (and some old ones...) across the LES and down some dark stairs across some concrete landing and up a few stairs on the other side to enter a dark, dimly lit, velvet covered bar somewhere out of the 20's (maybe it was 30's!)... there was old antique furniture everywhere, big wooden globes of the world in stands...hidden doors behind large bookcases... im doing a really bad job of describing this place, but it definitely wasnt what I was expecting... looking around there was something strange... everyone was drinking out of teacups... and they werent drinking tea or coffee!! Where we had landed was in a prohibition bar, buried deep underground so it wouldnt be found, it was a bar from the 1920's when drinking alcohol was prohibited. Locals would go there and drink out of white tea cups and saucers, bottles of wine were in ice buckets inside these massive globes, all in an effort to hide the alcohol that was being served. Obviously now done up, the place is beautifully refurbished taking you back in time to another world...although if you want to sit at a table in the bar it will cost you a neat $300 bottle of wine before you are allowed to sit. If you come visit I'll take you there :)

Of course the night had to end trashy with Talia, Elaine and I singing Aretha Franklin through the streets of the LES... passing a few hens nights, and not to mention a galavant through American Apparel's range in the middle of the night... what kind of clothing store stays open till 2am anyway?!

xx

I am medium.

This week I had my first encounter of 'Oh you're from Australia...' scenarios. I was at my local corner store, one of about 15... and I bought a calling card, I asked him for the best one to call Australia, he blindly grabbed one off the wall and handed it to me. I paid for it, nothing unusual, then he says to me, 'Where are you from?', I said 'Australia', he said 'oh!'. I said how come you said 'oh', he said, 'I thought everyone in Australia was tall!', I said, 'we are not all giraffes no...' he said 'oh'.....'well I never see noone from Australia not very tall'... 'I call you medium'... I looked at him blankly, said 'thankyou', took my calling card and left.

What a fantastic weekend! Saturday was spent walking the streets of New York, my favourite past time at the moment, there is just so much to take in all the time! I participated in a bit of yoga in the middle of the street (every saturday they close off some streets through the city and run summer type relaxing activities right on the road!) and then came my very first truly New York experience... I had my legs waxed by a MAN! yes... a man... it was a gay man.. but still a man... he did a really good job, but its still a little strange right? The spa is right across the road from my place and it had 88 positive reviews online, it had to be good.. but I want expecting a man.. truly an experience.. we'll see if i make it back there :P ...julz, what would natasha say!!!!

Anyway Saturday night I hung out with deb and a couple of friends of hers, we started off with a few drinks in a local bar watching the olympics and michael phelps winning his 8th gold.. the bar went ballistic.. my first taste of obnoxious americans... I was quietly wishing the aussies would have won that race, what a scene it would have been then... soon after moved on, we went to a party where we stood in the street, greeeaaatttt... the highlight was a random guy who pelted a snapple bottle at the corner store we were standing next to... (its still safe mum!!).. needless to say we moved on... to the meat packing district and the gansevoort roof top bar.. honestly I was a little dissappointed.. people rave about it but it was no sydney harbour view :P it was a fun night trapsing round the city and ended with a nice salad and fries at Pastis... the best cafe in the city.

Today went a little like this... I get a phonecall during the week...
'marissa, want to go to the pool on sunday', I was like
'sweet, I could do with with a swim! its so hot (despite the tornado warning this week?!?!)' and then the answer came back...
'.... ahhh marissa, there isn't any water at this pool...'
'tova, what is a pool without water? what are we going to do there!?!?!'
well... mccarren pool is where i ended up today... it is a pool, true, there is no water in it, true... yet they set up a massive stage, some dodge ball courts, a slip and slide, beers, sun, advertising niknaks, music, water pistols, beach balls and a whole bunch of people, enjoying the day... in empty pool... weird yes, but truly a cultural experience. check out the pics here..

Now I'm back, chilling at home, waiting for my groceries to be delivered :)... apologies for the number of times I used the word 'experience' in this post!

A plea to the NY woman

Yes, talking about shopping again. I've noticed something. I think there are too many clothing options for people and with to many options comes terrible fashion mistakes.. first of all, fluro should be banned.. if you aren't going to do it right, don't do it at all!!! the clothing that people take out of their cupboards and put on in the morning is just atrocious. i think it is because there is too much out there to pick from, and I understand its hard for some people to buy clothes that match, but really, New York is supposed to be the fashion capital of the world, and I'm sorry, but too many people are letting the team down.

Point number 2. Bras were invented to be worn! Im not talking to the smaller women out there who may get by without one, but on the whole, New York women, really, get one on!! Its not nice to look at and I am positive it is not comfortable! Victoria's Secret... they're having a sale, get in there. Also, if a top has a waist band which is supposed to sit under your bust, it is meant to sit under your bust! not on top of it, not in the middle of it, but under it... and if it doesnt... lady guess what... you need a bigger size.

I wish i had photo evidence, truly you'd be shocked, but the number of fashion criminals in this city is beyond help...
trinny and susannah... this city needs you!

North, South, East, West, Left, Right, Up, Down

For those of you who don't know NY is built mostly on an even grid of streets, each block as flat and anonymous looking at the next (can you write that?!), with genius non-descript names such as 1st ave, 1st street, 2nd ave, 2nd street, and so on all the way up to the 200's, each train is called the 1,2,3,4,A,B,C... each subway station has 4 exits, NorthWest, NorthEast, SouthWest, SouthEast, and most streets are one way...they think it makes life easy.. well it doesn't...each time I leave the train station i end up on the SE side when i need the NW side, i get on the 6 train going downtown instead of uptown and always manage to walk six blocks in the wrong direction before I realise the street numbers are getting larger and not smaller or im walking east instead of west! When she said left at 33rd street she meant left and not right, and when he asked which side of the one way street I wanted to be dropped off at I said right when really I meant left.

disgruntled commuter.
(who will one day learn her left from her right.)

making a buck

Been at work now for two weeks and it is going really well, it is a smaller team which is nice, we're only 15 and the projects are challenging and eye opening...Im working on the corner of Broadway and Broome (just 5 or so doors up from where Heath Ledger died) and in the heart of Soho's shopping district.. which means lunch breaks always end up more expensive then a sandwich and drink!

One thing I've noticed through work (you'll probably laugh) but there's a LOT of money in this city...there's a bad economy that people are whinging about, but the wealthy people are wealthy and they're not afraid to spend it! The other thing I've noticed are the entrepreneurial kids, it is really refreshing to see young kids with big ideas getting out there and realising their dreams.. of course the money for this is coming from somewhere but they are really out there to make a name for themselves... there is massive competition amongst young adults with huge emphaisis on the college you studied at, and if it wasnt Yale or Harvard or Columbia, you dont stand a chance... most of the clients i have been seeing are under 25 and running there own start up businesses.. its really impressive what they are doing, Sydney kids pull your socks up!

No wonder Willy Loman had a hard time..

Trivia: The building I work in is called the Houghwout Building, one of the oldest in Soho, and its made of steel.. but crafted to look like stone.. so much so that its magnetic... tourists walk up to it and stick magnets to the side of the building! Its amusing.. Its also got the oldest working lift in all of Manhattan.. it is wooden and rickety and has an elevator man who pulls a lever to get you up to the floor you need to get to... he's name is ramon, and I am his favourite :)

ps. I've put up some more pics.. catch them here

Central Park

Today I ventured in to Central Park, my first actual entrance to the park since I've been here.. I went with some friends to Summer Stage a series of free concerts in the park all summer long.. we saw Jamie Lidell, an r 'n' b, bit of soul, strange mouth noises singer... impressed that i know that?
Anyway it was no Jazz in the Domain, the grass was fake (like the rest of the park, it is all man made..) and the ground was hard (probably concrete as opposed to soil)...but the sun was shining and it was a bit of NY culture..

Still unpacking my room... so close to complete... i bought myself a bit of a present on craigslist, i wanted a beanbag and this girl was selling this really cheap.. I kinda misjudged its size and when i met her I was like, there is nooo way i can take that on the subway! anyway got in a cab and now its found its place in my bedroom.. and if you come visit you can even sleep on it.. its the size of a bed!! you can see it here..

NY Living

I now have a home... my very own apartment in the East Village (well im sharing, but half of it is mine I guess!) Im loving it more and more as time goes on, and even though my room is small I am greatly appreciating the large living areas! Apartment hunting was an experience in itself, you meet all kinds of freaks and strange living conditions... one place I saw was a large room seperated by a bookshelf, me on one side, her on the other... hello privacy!!

Anyway I was lucky I found my home after 5 inspections, one girl I bumped in to had seen over 30!! Understandably everyone is out to get the best they can for their money, rent is expensive and you pay more for each added luxury, a first floor apartment, furnishes, a kitchen, a living room (yes some have the living room converted into a bedroom), a bathroom just for your apartment and so on, you even pay more for an exposed brick wall, its very chic over here to have one... I've got exposed pipes.. I wonder if that is costing me more...

Today was getting organised day! I waited for my bed to arrive and then i took the bus to IKEA... like every other store in this city, yes it is massive, so big infact i think it should have its own postcode... cos im a bit of an organisational freak i had already checked out the website and had a list of everything i wanted to buy...did my stuff came home and then came the fun part of assembling... I did pretty well... as usual I had one screw left over at the end, not sure what its for but my chest of drawers looks great, and my little room is taking shape :) When I'm happy with the way it is looking I'll post some pics...

MISSY MISSY MISSY!

So last night I went to my first NY concert... the first of many I'm sure... they're as cheap as peanuts and great seeing heaps of Americans trying to imitate Missy Higgins' strong Melbourne accent...

She was unreal as usual... and yes she forgot her words again... you can see pics of the concert as well as a few other New York shots here

You want it? You can have it!

Ok, so of course the first thing I am going to write about is shopping... surprise surprise... so any thing you can ever imagine is available to buy in this city... not only is it available to buy, but you're guaranteed to find it in every colour, size and variation imaginable... department stores are not 3 floors high, they are 13 stories... shoe stores are the size of Campbells Cash and Carry, every celebrity has a clothing line in their name, JLo, Jessica Simpson, MaryKate and Ashley, you walk into Abercrombie and Fitch (after queuing around the corner on a regular day!) to see all the lights dimmed and the option to have a photograph with the topless staff members (only the guys...) you start to forget that they actually sell clothes, even Ralph Lauren's daughter Dylan has her very own Dylan's Candy Store, the Prada store has a $25,000 briefcase for sale in their window (yes I asked) and THE Calvin Klien can make you your very own signature number... just walk into his 5th avenue store! ...amazing... slightly sickening, still working out where I stand on the issue but for the moment I'll keep my Macy's 11% tourist discount voucher close at hand...

Trivia: Did you know Macy's was the world's very first department store? The owners of the store died on the Titanic! (they were the ones in the movie who gave up their seats on the life boats and went down on the ship, dressed in their tails and tophats...)

Moving In

So I've been here for two weeks in this crazy city and I'm having a great time, I've seen the sites, Times Square, Ground Zero, Central Park, The Subway, The Brooklyn Bridge, East Village, West Village, Katz's, Zabars, The Diamond District, The Red tourist bus tour x 3, Rockerfeller, Madison Ave, 5th Avenue, Macy's, Tiffany's you name it I've done it... well almost... well not at all!

Every corner I turn in this city I find another landmark to discover, another feast to try, another outfit to buy...its endless...Along with these experiences come a whole lot of thinking, analysing, comprehending, and digesting... the next few entries are just some of my observations so far...