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On This Rock
Its 3:55 PM on a sunny afternoon. Its 68 degrees outside with a calm breeze. I’m sitting on a rock, in the sun, beside a lake in Central Park. I can see a baby turtle swimming near the bank, he’s been swimming the same little path for over an hour. I hear the clanking of boats as they hit one another and the giggling screams of the passages when they think they are going to tip over. I am very thankful they are all wearing life jackets. When the breeze decides to blow, I can feel the debris from the tree hitting my legs. I can hear the splashing of…
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Announcement: Whats next?
We have really enjoyed our time here in NYC. With three weeks left of our contract it’s a little emotional to think back on our journey so far. Living in Manhattan, as you know, has come with its fair share of ups and downs. I love almost everything about New York. In a sea full of people, it’s easy to just get lost in your own thoughts, you just kind of learn to tune people out. My walks in the park are no longer filled with sniffly noses, two layers of jackets, and snow boots. Instead they are filled with sounds of children playing at the park, the sweet aroma…
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What we packed for the trip
I get asked constantly how we decided what to pack for our 4-month assignment. So, I thought I would make a post. We wanted our apartment to feel homey when we came home after a long day. At the same time, we knew it would be small, less than 300 SQ, so we had to be very mindful when we were packing. I started with the clothes and shoes I couldn’t live without, once that was packed, I had extra room so I added some various clothing items. I used a big suitcase and my small rolling suitcase. For the 3-day trip to NYC, I put those clothes in my…
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A Face For Radio
Walking has become an integral part of life here in New York. A quick glance at my Garmin watch tells me that I’ve walked nearly 75 miles this week. I’m not really sure where all those miles were accumulated, but I guess it makes sense. It used to take me around 3 months to noticeably ruin a pair of shoes. Now, I’ve whittled the life of shoes down to around 1 month. There were some incredible Skechers that I found at Costco for about $30. In retrospect, I should’ve bought like five pair of them at this price. I still wear them from time to time, but the outer sole…
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Living
Some days you just breath in Just try to break even Sometimes your heart’s poundin‘ out of your chest Sometimes it’s just beatin‘ Some days you just forget What all you’ve been given Some days you just get back And some days you’re just alive Some days you’re livin‘ These lyrics by Dierks Bentley blasted into my perfectly pink headphones as I was walking to get a coffee on my way to work. I replayed the chorus three times and it kept sitting with me heavier and heavier. These few short lines could easily describe my life the last two months. Side note, we have been here two months already! Most days I really am…
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Winter is… not coming
It was supposed to rain, but somehow the sun came out to make it super-hot. People are out in force when it’s sunny in NYC. Especially French-speaking peoples for some reason. Sage insisted that we “were totally gonna do something.” She huffed when I didn’t seem too enthused. My problem was that she had no idea what we were going to do. There were a million choices, and that’s just too many choices. I had choice fatigue. I told her that I would meet up with her somewhere. She wasn’t impressed You see, Sage had Don-fatigue. This drove her to promptly leave to drop our laundry off and then head…
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St. John The Divine
Every day when I walk to work, I go up the grueling hill that’s sits beside Morningside Park. Every time, I swear I won’t make it to the top but I always do. When I finally get up to the top The Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine comes into view. I must have walked past it a dozen times by now always admiring its beauty and largess. It wasn’t until my patient told me last week that the Cathedral is actually the biggest in North America, and the fifth largest in the World. Construction started in December of 1892 and has never actually been finished. The front of…
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Scooters
Living in New York City is weird. Probably not for any of the reasons which you are thinking. It almost doesn’t make sense that New York is one contiguous city because each neighborhood is actually its own city. Sometimes these city-neighborhoods are as small as 10 city blocks by 10 city blocks. Our city-neighborhood is the Upper West Side, but more specifically Central Park West between 79th and 89th . When walking the dogs at 4:50 am you would hardly ever know you were in the “city that never sleeps.” Which is one of the reasons I like waking up early. I feel like I have the neighborhood to myself.…
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Better Everyday
I worked the last three days and surprisingly it was a lot better. My first shift was very busy, I ended up getting a very sick patient who was being admitted right when I walked in the door. Working in the ICU not only requires skill but a sense of quickness to everything. I thinks that’s something I have struggled with the most. At a new facility everything is unfamiliar and there is a learning curve with the equipment. Since I am new to using the different types of equipment, I am a little slower at doing some things than I would like to be. This will get easier each…
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NJ transit debacle
I had the worst experience trying to get to the airport in Newark, NJ. I took the letter train by my house to Penn Station no problem. After finding the ticket counter, I realized it was closed so I had to use the ticket kiosk. I looked at the schedule board and my ticket and it didn’t have an airplane next to it, so I went to find help. One lady couldn’t help me and directed me to her coworker. The coworker then couldn’t help me so instructed me to walk to some vague destination to another ticket counter. i then wound up not the ticket counter, but at customer service, who…
