NYC: Touch-down in Brooklyn, Part I

I’ve been here in Brooklyn, New Yok, a short while now and it’s blown me away in terms of the number of impressions it has made on me. The initial one is quite simply the size: it’s a HUGE city! I always knew it would be big; American style XXXL and all that. But it’s only when you get here and start to navigate your way around the city, that you realise how quickly exhaustive it can all become, as you apply your London or other ‘big city logic’ to New York. It doesn’t quite work on the same level. I’ll let you know how that develops though, as it may just be the initial settling in period for me.

So anyway, yes, it’s a big place, but what else? Well the neighbourhood I’m living in; Crown Heights, has this intense population make-up of Jews and Afro-Caribbean’s. it’s such a contrast of behaviours I’m seeing between the two, as they live harmoniously, side by side. And the other neighbourhoods too - like in many cities, I suppose - change very quickly and are similarly made up of distinct ethnic groups. But here in NYC it feels far more striking. When I visited Brighton Beach, for instance, it was an area full of Russians and Ukrainians. To the point where Eastern European was the prominent, if not only cuisine available. They were the only languages I could hear (occasionally punctuated by English) and the signs were bilingual – in Russian and English. It was quite an extraordinary sight and feeling to witness, as I imagined them arriving into the area and then expanding to occupy it over time. Well, at least I’ve found my haven for dumplings, sautéed cabbage and potatoes, should I crave it!

My closest subway station that connects me to Manhattan and beyond: Franklin Avenue 

The area where I live is highly gentrified – you have the usual array of bars, cafes and restaurants and even museums and a botanical garden nearby 

On the whole, and despite the size of the city, I’d say it’s definitely a friendly city. I’m used to averting my eyes from people as I revert back to my ‘London ways’, however I’m always pleasantly surprised when someone greets me with a ‘good morning’ or a simple ‘hello’. And to be greeted is refreshing. A simple sign of humanity. But naturally where a city is friendly, it also has its brutally rude moments. I’ve known someone to quite literally be *shoved* out of the way at a subway station, as their ticket didn’t swipe through the first time round. I’m always surprised when I hear stories like this. It makes me reflect on what happens to a person to take this course of action; to feel this sense of entitlement over and above another human being. How and when did it start? Was it a one-off moment of impatience or are they always like this? My fascination with human behaviour! But overall, I would say it’s a friendly place, where people will smile and try to help you find your way 😊 I know I’ve been helped plenty!

And did I tell you that New York is an artist’s paradise?! My soul has been thoroughly cleansed and revived here, for there’s art and culture happening on each and every corner! And that’s one of the absolute *joys* of living here: there are pop-up galleries, one-off shows and performances – stuff that you happily and spontaneously walk past and pleasantly discover. Because that’s the only way to do it. Otherwise, you’d spend your life looking up every art and cultural event, and that’s time that no one has! And you’d never find it all anyway. For there’s always a new mural going up, an exhibition coming down, a musician setting up somewhere, a performance art piece taking place in this actual moment… So, the simple and best way is just to soak it all up and enjoy it – a very mindful approach to life, art and culture itself…

Brooklyn Museum – 5 floors of amazingness! It’s free on Thursday evenings, so no prizes for guessing where I am on a Thursday night!

New street art, I recently discovered – like I say, there’s art on every corner!

So those are my initial impressions, but there are many others that I’ve been jotting down, so do come back for Part II of this blog later this week! Until then 😊

The local streets of Crown Heights, Brooklyn

The traditional sign of America, seen in all those American movies, (as well as in Guatemala!) - the yellow school bus

Guatemala Beckons!

Hello! A quick hola to say that we’re no longer in Colombia and are now in Antigua, Guatemala for the next few weeks – and then back to the UK!

It’s been a really interesting time in Colombia and since my last email, we’ve had a trip up to the Caribbean coast which took in Santa Marta, Tayrona National Park and Minca. Quiet possibly the muggiest and humid place I’ve ever experienced – just taking a few steps involved dripping with an insane amount of sweat(!) It was a lot poorer in these cities too, which was quite a shock – we felt for the first time we were actually in a developing (or poor) country, and it really contrasted with the relative wealth of Medellin, where we’d been previously been living. The smell of urine in the streets wasn’t uncommon along with a far poorer infrastructure. Interestingly, each of the cities were notoriously on the ‘Gringo Trail’ so hearing English was immensely common – something we just weren’t used to anymore. To add to the mix, there were plenty of snakes, tarantulas and other treacherous bugs to keep the adventure going, though after camping in an extreme thunderstorm, being invaded by an ant army and avoiding termite invasions, I was quite ready to return to Medellin :D! The sea was of course beautiful and the area itself very distinct – especially Minca: this gorgeous mountain town in the heart of nature, where we took the most incredible and unforgettable scenic walks – barely bumping into anyone. 

Me hangin’ out, quite simply 😊 In Minca

The beautiful town of Jardin: colourful, quaint, perfect

What a fabulous array of colourful plants, forming the ‘indoor garden’ part of a café, no less!

How gorgeous is this town?! I could have stayed forever 😊

A fantastically detailed chair that had been hand-painted – another joy of Jardin

A cool and quirky old café/bar in Jardin – this small town was full of surprises!

Tayrona National Park in all its splendour

Me by one of the beaches within Tayrona National Park, which runs along the Caribbean coastline

We’re not especially sad to have left Colombia. It was certainly beautiful and wonderful to visit all the different pueblos – breath-taking at times, but at the end I think the noise levels and pollution became a bit much. We’re especially noticing this now that we’re in Guatemala – even Guatemala City itself with its notoriously wild and dangerous reputation was peaceful in comparison! We thought it was something we should ‘just get used to’ in Colombia, but actually there was something quite at odds in people’s attitude to making noise. There was this sense of ‘this is my house, I can make as MUCH noise as I like’ – there was never any consideration or sense of respect as to how it could be disturbing a neighbour (even those a whole block away!). Upon speaking with Colombians, they all seemed unhappy with noise from the street and from fellow neighbours. Restaurants and bars were equally loud – blasting out music and competing with venues four blocks away – to the point where you’re sat somewhere and can hear music from several different places - but can’t make a single one out! Least to say that we went out of our way to avoid such places – or simply cooked at home! Because of the FARC, I don’t feel people can tell one another to keep the noise down (they could have a gun after all) and I don’t think anything will be changing anytime soon – it felt too far too inbred in their behaviour.

Some final observations: it’s common for Colombians to have an indoor garden/patio in their house, maybe even with a mango tree(!); often Colombians in Medellin don’t feel safe living in the city (we had one friend who was involved in an armed burglary on a bus); Medellin is the only city in Colombia to measure its pollution levels, but then takes on very short-term measures to reduce its levels when they become too high – namely to move certain model or year made cars off the road; noise pollution on the other hand has no bounds with people making as much noise as possible.

The outstanding views from the top of the ‘Rock’ (aka El Peñol) in Guatape, overlooking the tremendous lakes

Some last-minute sight seeing at a palace in Medellin!

Guatape

We’ve been in Antigua for a week now and it could not be more different! We managed to avoid the volcanic eruption from Fuego and after various delays and 3 planes, make it here ok. It’s ancient and colonial, touristy, walkable, expensive and convenient. A great base for our last month to simply relax a bit and enjoy – and get ready for the UK.

Here are some photos from the beautiful Guatemala:

Checking out the ruins, of which there are plenty in Guatemala!

Me in the central square area

A neighbouring town we visited close to Antigua, ready for its festivities

A Guatemalan bus, aka an old American school bus!

 

The joy of being in a city that’s surrounded by volcanoes – such spectacular views

The streets of Antigua, Guatemala

A view from a rooftop bar in Guatemala

I hope to see you when I’m back. Thanks for reading! xox

Adiós Inglaterra!

And so. Tomorrow is the day! That I leave the eternal grey skies (ok, slight exaggeration) of the UK (Reading) for ‘la ciudad de la eterna primavera’ (the city of eternal spring) that is Medellin, in Colombia! I’ve been journaling in my diary for the past weeks so will be writing this up to share with you lovely people 😊

For those of you who don’t know, I’ll be leaving the UK to go live abroad and ultimately: have an adventure over the next year. This blog will track this adventure: before, during and after.

So one thing I’ve underestimated is the amount of prep that is needed! I’ve spent the last month running around like a headless being; organising all sorts from holiday jabs to banking - to car admin and mobile phone decontractifying (yes, I did just make that word up) to <yawn> yup, more banking. It’s completely boring, yet so crucial – to the point I think I’ll even write a blog post about banking alone!

I’ve had pretty mixed feelings over the past month; mainly in the form of stress (so much to doo!) to impatience (I just want to get there already!) to denial and hesitancy (why not just stay in Reading?!) – and a little excitement! Yes, you thought there may be a bit more of that, right..? Well honestly, it has not been primary emotion. It’s been largely: ‘let’s-get-this-done-and-then-move-on-to-the-next-task-and-oops-I-forgot-this’ – all while making my list that bit longer.

And now with less than 24-hours to go, the excitement is well and truly present. For real! I *actually* cannot wait! So, watch this space with more to come (while I head out to buy and sort out those last-minute bits and bobs and do my last min packing!)

Ciao for now and until Colombia!

Do I reeeally want to leave the splendours of Woodley behind...?