Gotham Comedy Club

Last Saturday, while I was in the middle of putting clean sheets on the bed, I suddenly stopped, turned to Richard, and said, "We need to go to a comedy club tonight." I stopped what I was doing, went to my laptop, and searched local comedy clubs. The first one I looked at featured some guy I had never heard of, so I moved on. The next one I tried, Gotham Comedy, was one we had walked past several times (on our way to Doughnut Plant--no judgement, please). Rosie O'Donnell was the featured comic for the night. I couldn't believe that tickets were still available! I immediately ordered tickets for the 9 pm show. On any normal night, Richard and I are in bed by 9 pm, but I knew we were both in need of a good laugh. I'm still struggling with the whole feeling out of place thing. We were told to arrive 30 minutes before the show. Thankfully, both Richard and I are natural early birds, meaning we both arrive unusually early for any planned event. Richard arrives at his work by 6:30 am, even though his co-workers don't arrive until anytime between 9 am and 11 am. I arrive at school by 6:50 am, even though I don't have to be there until 8 am. When we arrived at 8 pm, we asked the hostess if we would stand outside the main doors until 8:30. It was a very cold night, so we were appropriately bundled up, just in case, but she gave us a table number and sent us downstairs to a lounge. She was nice enough to remind us that any drinks we ordered in the lounge would not count towards the two drink minimum per person required for the show. I was very happy about that because it was going to be hard enough for either of us to consume two drinks apiece, since we're not big drinkers. We weren't the first to arrive in the lounge, but the longer we sat in the lounge, the more crowded it became. A bouncer came downstairs at one point to let us know that her first show was going on longer than planned, but that they would let us know when to come upstairs by flashing the lights. Richard didn't wait for the flashing lights. He wanted to get upstairs before everyone else. Even though we already had a table assignment, there would be others sitting at our table, and he wanted to be sure we got the best view. We stood in the narrow hallway upstairs for about 10 minutes before they let us into the show area. Thankfully, because we arrived early and got a good table assignment, we were seated in the first row, not directly in front of the stage, but the table beside dead center. It was awesome! We positioned our chairs for comfortable viewing. and then I took a bathroom break. Sure enough, by the time I got back, another couple was seated at our table. They had to turn around backwards in their chairs to see the stage. He he! Sucks to be late!

The woman who hosted the show was hilarious, as was the man who was the opening act! I wish I knew their names! Rosie looked great! She has lost a lot of weight and was dressed nicely, something she said she is making a conscious effort to do. She joked about the troubles she's had in her personal life, which made her very human and relate-able. We never got picked on because the woman with the front and center seat was dressed in an orange, furry jumpsuit. She had on 8 inch gold, glitter platform shoes (which she plopped onto the stage), blue lipstick, and white mascara. She stuck out like a sore thumb in a very average-looking audience. Rosie asked her if she always dressed this way, or if she just wanted attention during the show. Apparently, she always dresses that way. Rosie noticed a man across from us, at the other end of the front row. She asked if he had been at her earlier show. He said that he flew in from California and had been at both shows the previous night and both shows that night. She invited him on stage and took a photo with him, which I thought was very nice. We had a great evening, and left in a cab saying what a great, only-in-New-York experience that had been. We need more evenings like this!

I've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (at least temporarily)

I have had a tough time lately, hence the lack of posts to this blog. I think the euphoric feeling of being in New York, where it has felt like we've been on vacation, has worn off and now the reality has set in. The reality is that I need to adjust to my new home. I have felt homesick, but I have no home to return to. Let me explain. Richard and I left Texas when we were 30. Even though we were both born and raised there, neither of us really felt at home there and wanted to find a new "home" of our own. We chose Montana. When we settled there, in Big Timber, we left behind our extended families, which was very hard. Richard still owned a software company in Dallas, so he had to travel back and forth, between Texas and Montana, every week. I was in a strange place, physically isolated from others and especially from our families. Within a year, Richard's parents chose to relocate to Montana, so we finally had family close by. This was especially nice for our kids, because they had grandparents there for all their milestone events. We even had my grandparents living in our guest house for a couple of years, until the financial fallout which caused us to lose the ranch. When Richard lost his company, others believed that we should have moved back to Texas to get our careers and financial future back on track. Instead, we chose what we considered a kinder and gentler setting in which to raise our children.

We decided to stay in Montana, although we moved to a different area--Kalispell. You can probably imagine how difficult it is to replace a 6-figure income in Montana. Naturally, Richard had a very hard time securing a job. Instead, he tried to start another new business, but it never took off (that's an intentional pun because the business was related to flying). I even tried to get a job, but having been out of the work force to raise my kids hurt my chances of getting anything beyond a typical, minimum wage job. We stayed in Kalispell, limping along financially, until I saw the movie, The Rookie. It focused on small town living, which reminded me of Big Timber. I wanted to "go home." We knew things were not going to improve in Kalispell, so we moved back to Big Timber, the small town that I fell in love with, only this time we weren't moving to a log mansion on 500 acres, but into a 100-year old house in town. Big Timber is not a place that many "outsiders" move to. It is isolated, very small, lacks job opportunities, and is made up of residents whose families have lived there for generations. It is small enough that everyone in town knows everything about you. I grew up in a small town in Texas that was very similar, and I HATED that aspect of it. I suppose it was because I was young and wanted my independence and the space to make mistakes without being under a microscope. I dreamed of moving to NYC as soon as I graduated high school, but went another path. Now here I was, as an adult, choosing small town living for my own family. I was happy to have Richard's parents within a few miles. We continued to have trouble making a decent living, and eventually moved to Montana's largest city, Billings. Although there were many ups and downs, we were at least able to survive. Note: I didn't say thrive.

After both kids graduated high school, we decided that we absolutely must move to a place where Richard's technical skills would offer a respectable wage. He was offered a 6-month contract position in Charlotte, North Carolina, so we moved there. Alli was just about to start college at Tulane University in New Orleans, so she stayed with her grandparents in Montana for a month, rather than moving to NC, and then again a month later to New Orleans. Wes was living with a girlfriend in Billings, so we said tearful goodbyes and headed to NC. Charlotte is a beautiful place, but it never felt like home.  Richard's temporary job turned into a permanent job and I was able to find a teaching position, so things were finally turning around for us. Wes left his girlfriend in MT and came to Charlotte. He was able to get his dream job as a web developer. Alli decided to leave Tulane and transferred to University of NC at Charlotte. We were all back together! Even so, this place wasn't home.

After 3 years in Charlotte, Richard had received enough positive attention on the job that he was offered an even better and more visible position in NYC...my dream city! He accepted the position in order for me to fulfill one of my bucket list items. Now that I'm here, everything feels off, for lack of a better word. Take into consideration that everything in my life has changed. Alli and our 13 year old cat had been living with us in Charlotte, but we left them behind so that Alli could continue to attend college there, and have her cat to keep her company. We left Wes and his new girlfriend. We sold both of our cars. We got rid of all of our furniture. We have nothing familiar around us. We have had to adapt to public transportation. We no longer have wide open spaces or the freedom to go for a drive. On a good day, this feels very freeing. On a bad day, it destroys me. All weekend I cried about wanting to go home, but realized that I have no home to go back to. Texas is no longer home to me. Most of my relatives have crossed over. My mom and step-dad are there, but that's the only attraction I have to Texas. I can't go back to Montana YET because I need to earn enough money to retire someday. (I DO plan to retire in MT!) I have to create a new version of home. I have a great job, in a nice school, working with wonderful people, and I'm paid more that I've even been paid in the past. Richard's job is fantastic and allows us to finally put money into savings. We're in my dream city. I'm sure I'll continue to have ups and downs, but I'm going to have to learn new ways of adapting.

The Week Before Students Arrive

Ahh...Back to work. I love it! I am not someone who particularly likes a lot of down time. I like to be busy and can become depressed if I don't feel like I'm doing something useful. There's not a lot of "useful" stuff to do when you live in a 400 square foot space. Cleaning the apartment takes me about 5 minutes and doing laundry is almost a non-event. I was a stay-at-home mom when my kids were little. I kind of wanted to be a working mom and hated when I would meet someone and the first question they would ask was, "What do you do?" When I said I stayed home with my kids, they practically turned and walked away, assuming I had nothing intelligent to talk about. This really bothered me. Of course I gave my all to my kids, but I also spent lots of time on more visible forms of "useful" stuff, particularly cleaning. I thought I needed a visible form of my usefulness, so I kept my home meticulously clean. Our home in Texas, when Wes was 2 and Alli was a newborn, was about 4,000 square feet. Cleaning took lots of time. The front entry had a very dark hardwood floor that showed every speck of dust. My workload grew exponentially a year later when we moved to Montana, into a 10,000 square foot log home on 500 acres. I had no idea how much upkeep was required on a log home. Every wall in the massive home looked like this (very few drywall walls), which meant that dust collected on EVERY SINGLE LOG!

For some reason, dead flies lined every windowsill as well, so they required regular vacuuming. (By the way, vacuuming dead flies creates a unique and not-so-pleasant smell.)

I feel useful! Work is about to begin! Students at The New American Academy start school next week, so this week the teachers have been setting up their classrooms. Four teachers share our massive, open classroom. There are several different shapes of student tables. No one seemed to want the trapezoid tables, so I claimed them. Most teachers arrange this type of table like so.

I arranged mine like this.

The teachers had never seem the tables arranged this way, and they kept calling other teachers in to see what I had done, each saying, "I've never seen anyone arrange them this way!" They may have been rethinking their decision to shun the trapezoid. It took me many tries to get them just the way I wanted them. I think I've achieved a sort of stadium feel, with all the table groups facing the Smartboard, so that all students can see the Smartboard from their tables, if I ever want to show something while they are seated at their desks. My style is more suited to teaching while students are gathered around me on the rug, but it will be nice to have another option. This is the first time I have not had a teacher desk. I've never actually sat at my teacher desk, but it is a good place to keep all the office supplies and a place to pile all the papers that need to be graded. Instead, I have a traditional student desk, on which sits my very nice Mac desktop computer that operates the Smartboard. Inside the desk, I've tucked all the necessities, like tape, paperclips, pens, scissors, Post-Its, stapler, etc. I love my Smartboard! I have typically had a Mimio, which also requires a projector, but the Smartboard has the projector attached to the front of it, so there aren't wires to trip over, which is the obvious advantage so far.

My kindergarten team worked at breakneck speed to get everything ready because we had an Open House scheduled for Thursday of the week before the start of school. We would rotate students to all 3 areas, which they will be doing during a typical school day. We would each start with our "homeroom" or "house" students. My group will be called the "green house." My kiddos will start the day with me, then go to one of the other 2 houses: Ms. Balsan's red house for writing and phonics and Miss Brittany's blue house for reading.  Each teacher will teach "interdisciplinary" to their own house. Interdisciplinary is science/social studies/engineering, which we plan together. I will be teaching math. I like the way we're doing this because it makes lesson planning much easier. In years past, I've spent up to 6 hours on the weekend working on lesson plans, because I've always taught every subject. I will be using a workshop model, teaching a math mini lesson to the entire group that's in front of me at the time, then sending the majority of students off to work in small groups at math centers while I work with a small group. Then I will see the next house and repeat the same procedure.

Yesterday was the Kindergarten Open House. I wasn't nervous, for the first time in my teaching career. I think it's because I had my teammates in other parts of our massive classroom doing the same thing as me at the same time, with our Master Teacher circulating to help if necessary.  I got to meet my adorable students and their sweet families. I am so excited for school to start!

An Unexpected Adventure

What started as a simple Sunday morning walk to get Underwest Donuts for breakfast, turned into a 14 mile walk. I love an adventure, and Richard knows that he has to wear me out so that I don't get home and begin to whine about not having done anything fun (like a dog--woof!). With that in mind, after we ate our donuts on a bench looking out at the Hudson River, he asked if I wanted to walk to Chelsea Piers. It's a nice, respectable walking distance for a little morning exercise, so I said, "Sure!" We saw some gorgeous private yachts and some not-so-gorgeous homeless men (yin/yang). There is a building across the street from Chelsea Piers that I wanted to see up close, to get the name of, because I noticed they have cool lofts with floor to ceiling windows and structural columns. I love that look! It reminds me of the loft that Tom Hanks' character rented in the movie Big. After we walked past the building, I noticed that Manhattan Motorcars, which sells Porsches and Lamborghinis, was ahead. I had seen it on a prior trip, when I was alone, and wanted to show it to Richard. We both love spotting exotic cars and sending pictures of them via text message to our son, Wes, who is obsessed with them! I took photos, but since the cars were behind glass, what showed up the most was my reflection. We started to head back toward our apartment when Richard noticed the stairs that lead to the Highline. He suggested walking there since it was early and not as many tourists with baby strollers would be there. Awesome! Look how empty it was!

When we got to the end of the Highline at Gansevoort and Washington St., Richard asked if there was anything else I wanted to see while we were this far. I could see the One World Trade Center tower in the distance, and asked if he'd be willing to walk there.

Richard agreed, and in fact, walked me to the building where he used to come for meetings back when he was still working in Charlotte. Behind the building was a nice river walkway. We could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. I mentioned the fact that Alli never let me take her on a ferry ride, so we decided to do so now.

The Staten Island Ferry ride is free and offers a great view of the Statue of Liberty. If you ever take it, be sure to head to the right side of the boat for the best view of the statue. Since Richard and I have seen the Statue of Liberty before, we sat down and allowed the tourists to get near the rail for a closer view. Once we landed on Staten Island, all passengers were required to get off the ferry, since this boat wouldn't be making the return trip to Manhattan. The majority of the passengers, including the two of us, got off the boat and immediately got back on board another boat that was coming back to Manhattan right away. No tour of Staten Island today, but perhaps another time. Here's a pathetic picture of the city as we were coming back.

We ate lunch at a neat, open air market area with lots of food vendors. I  believe it was called Smorgasburg. We split a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and tater tots (my idea), and had gourmet popsicles afterward. I had a watermelon mint popsicle and Richard had a peach vanilla one. The entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge was only a couple of blocks away, so we knocked off another "bucket list" item of mine by walking across the bridge. It was gawd-awfully busy! I had to put on my New York attitude to dodge tourists, who have a truly annoying habit of stopping suddenly to take pictures (without concern of who or what is around them), causing me to crash into them! Geez, people! At the end of the bridge, you had to walk down a staircase to get to street level. The crowd in front of us ALL shifted suddenly to the left, opposing any pedestrian traffic that might be coming up onto the bridge. We wondered what was happening. And then I saw what the trouble was...there were blobs of poop on the stairs. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, there was the largest pile of poop I had ever seen. It was the size of a pile of horse poop, but this was definitely human poop (trust me, the smell gave it away). GGGGRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS!!!!

We were so sweaty that our clothes were completely soaked, and our hips were beginning to ache, so we decided to catch a subway home. The only problem was that neither of us had taken our Metro Cards (bus/subway passes) because we hadn't planned to go on this adventure. Thankfully, Richard had his wallet so he bought us two new cards at the nearest subway station. This time, we were the smelly people on the subway!

Here's our route. Count 'em...14 miles!!

How Can Anyone NOT Love New York?!

I love New York! Despite my occasional rants to Richard about the number of people on the sidewalks or the variety of unpleasant smells encountered between here and the subway entrance, I love it! I especially love the city as I sit on a bench, soaking up the sun and watching all the activity. I love walking everywhere, and often choose to walk instead of waiting for a bus. The bus has to wade through all the traffic and often takes longer than walking, anyway. I don't even mind riding the subway for longer trips. Yes, you sometimes encounter an "original" individual, but most of the time subway rides are uneventful. I welcome the chance to just sit and be "in my head." I love all the things to see and do for free, in addition to all the touristy places. I have enjoyed touring St. Patrick's Cathedral (free), riding the Staten Island Ferry (free), walking through Central Park (free) and discovering new places. For example, on a recent walk to retrieve some library books I had reserved, I took a new route and ended up in the garment district, where there were many wholesale stores open to the public. I bought 2 really cute blouses for $10 each! I love that kind of stuff! I am not a social butterfly, but I do enjoy being out and about. Sitting still for very long is difficult for me. Months of deep snow in Montana that kept most people cooped up at home would send me on an hour and a half drive to town just to walk around the mall. One time I accidentally drove on the interstate when it was open to emergency traffic only! I had no idea. I had a Toyota Land Cruiser, so snow was never an issue. Yes, I loved Montana and plan to retire there someday, but right now I love being in the city!

Last week our 21-year old daughter visited. You learn the meaning of close when you have a guest in your 400 square foot living space! She had never been to New York, so I had all kinds of things in mind for us to do together. Cheap things, since I haven't started working yet, but lots of fun opportunities to enjoy this beautiful city. Alli often asked how long it was going to take to get to the place I suggested. My response would be something like, "It's a short walk." That statement elicited a glare from Alli, because that's the same thing I said about getting to Central Park. Yes, we rode a bus to get from our apartment to 5th Ave., but then we walked the remaining 22 blocks, which only took about 15 minutes, to be fair. We went to Macy's because I wanted to show my little country girl the vast retail space, with its old wooden escalators and every brand she's ever heard of. She couldn't wait to get out of there! We did do a few touristy things, like visit Madame Tussauds and ride The Beast (the speed boat that takes you to the Statue of Liberty and back). Most of the time, however, we spent in the tiny apartment, watching TV shows or movies. Granted, this was Alli's short break between 2nd summer semester and Fall semester of college, but I had my girl here and I wanted a buddy to go on adventures with me. To be fair, I can see the sights any time I want, and I have to respect the fact that New York isn't for everyone. I don't think she'll ever move to New York, but I look forward to her next visit. Hopefully I can get her to a Broadway show next time.

Grocery Shopping in the City

For the first 4 weeks of living in NYC, Richard and I ate out for every meal. Yes, EVERY meal. We showed up here with very little from our former lives, which meant that we had no pots or pans, hence the reason I wasn't cooking. Trust me, eating out all the time sounded appealing to me at first. Not only is it expensive to live this way, but I learned that you tire of it quickly. It has been quite hot in NY lately, and after long days of working neither of us have wanted to wait in long lines to get food, nor have we wanted to get back onto a subway or bus to travel to get food. That has left us eating at places within easy walking distance from the apartment. Gotham West Market is only a few blocks away and has several restaurants under one roof. The prices are fair and the food is great. Still, it would be nice to eat some familiar (comfort) foods from time to time.

Last week I received a sale flyer from Macy's in which I found a 12-piece pot, pan, and utensil set on sale. This would be perfect since I need practically everything for the kitchen. I showed up without even a can opener, so Richard has been using a utensil on his Leatherman to open cans for me. I purchased the set and now that I have pots and pans, I'm in the mood to cook. This means that I need groceries. There's an upscale market on my block where I've purchased last minute items, but I haven't considered buying regular groceries there because I assume the prices will be higher because of the convenient location (based on my experience with the $103 mani/pedi, but that's a story for another time). There is a Food Emporium a few blocks away, which is great for picking up a few items on the way home from work, but what about when you need more than a couple bags? I suppose I could hail a cab to get all my grocery bags home, but I'm a stubborn, do-it-myself type of person. I tried buying a larger supply of groceries once, and it was heck lugging all of it home. I used a bag I bought from Food Lion in Charlotte. I did have several of these bags, but I gave the others to Alli before we moved, and I just kept one.

One day during training, my teammate asked if I had tried Fresh Direct. It is a grocery delivery service. You can order everything you need online, including produce, paper items, and many pre-made and ready-to-eat meals, and they deliver to your home or office for a mere $5.99 delivery charge. When you place your order, you choose a 2 hour window of time in which your delivery will arrive. Place an order by midnight one day, and your groceries will arrive the next day, at the time you have chosen.They keep your previous orders on file so you can easily re-order things you use regularly. Everything comes in a box (or several boxes). Cold items come in a separate box.  The great thing about my apartment building is that the delivery comes directly to my door, not just to the concierge desk downstairs! To me, that is worth $5.99! Last night we tried mini Shepard pies which were fantastic! I ordered a new fruit I wanted to try -- a plumogranate -- a cross between a plum and a pomegranate. Fresh Direct listed the price per pound of the fruit, but I didn't know what I would get by choosing "1" ( a pound of them or 1 piece of fruit), but learned that I only ordered 1 single piece of fruit. Oh, well. I will know next time.

Familiar Faces

I am a very lucky lady! One of my sweet students from last school year (in Charlotte) is visiting New York with her family and they contacted me about getting together while they're in town. McKenna is one of those super smart students who is constantly seeking knowledge -- a dream student! She was consistently the first student to arrive each morning, so she was frequently my helper in getting the classroom set up for the day. I was lucky to only have 12 students, many of whom were as enthusiastic as McKenna.  The students had been together since preschool, so they were a tight group whose parents are friends, as well. When I first joined the school, I worried that it be hard to meld with them since I was the outsider. That was far from the truth. The students and their families welcomed me with open hearts and open arms. I had the best school year I've ever had! It was difficult to say goodbye at the end of the year, knowing I wouldn't be able to spend my days with those sweet souls. We said goodbye, with intentions of staying in contact, but we all know how hard it is to maintain any type of relationship long distance. When McKenna's mom sent me a text message about getting together, I was thrilled.

I wanted McKenna and her family to see my neighborhood, so I asked them to meet me at Underwest Donuts. McKenna follows my blog and had read my review of Underwest, so she would get to experience one of my favorite places. Her mom told me that they drove past Underwest on the way to their hotel -- what are the odds?! McKenna's dad bought a dozen assorted donuts for all of us to share, then we went across the street, to the Hudson River Walkway, to eat. We had a nice visit, with McKenna catching me up on her summer activities thus far, including a week-long science camp. We didn't eat all the donuts, and her dad said they would send them home with me. Unfortunately, the wind blew the boxes to the ground and the remaining donuts fell out! NOoo..... I took her family to my apartment building so they could see the view of the city. I intended to take them to the 32nd floor terrace, but went to the wrong elevator bank (the one that only goes up to the 31st floor), so I decided on the spot to walk them down my hallway. As we approached my door I thought, what the heck, let's just show them the apartment while we're here. I knocked on the door to my apartment and Richard opened it to find the 5 of us standing there. (I knew he was already awake and dressed, so I hoped it would be alright.) I showed them around our apartment, which didn't take long since it's so small, then proceeded to the other elevators to get to the terrace. I was so happy to be able to share the amazing views with them, but especially happy that a former student would want to visit her teacher. It was a very special visit for me. Thanks for visiting, sweet girl!

Woo hoo! Summer break starts today!

I have been in New York for 5 weeks now. For the past 4 weeks, I've been in training for my new job. Today was the last day of training until it continues in last August. I have 4 solid weeks to hang out! Last night, Richard and I went to a free outdoor showing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was held on top of the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier. Astrophysicist Dr. Steve B. Howell introduced the film by giving some interesting information about "close encounters" and little known facts about the movie. I've gotta say that I've not been a huge fan of the movie, although I've of course heard of it and have seen bits and pieces as Richard (the true sci fi buff of the family) has been watching it. Apparently scientists classify "close encounters"by something called the Hynek system. Close encounters of the first kind refer to UFO sightings in general, such as distant lights in the sky. Encounters of the second kind include those in which UFOs interact with the environment, such as electrical interruptions or when crop circles are burned into a field. Encounters of the third kind include interaction with an alien. I never knew that! It was a cool experience and I had the opportunity to take photos of the aircraft collection while atop the carrier. I have always loved the F-16 because I used to work at General Dynamics in Fort Worth, where they were manufactured.

F-16 Fighting Falcon

Grumman A-6E Intruder

Richard, saving my seat.

Already Working

I am so proud and thankful to already be working at my new job. The New American Academy /PS 770 (TNAA) is a public school that has a very special relationship with the NY Dept. of Education and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). The school works with and receives support from the UFT, but has the ability to let employees go indiscriminately, which is not the case for schools under the umbrella of the union. TNAA also pays their teachers 38% more than the union salary rates. They believe that teacher quality is the best determinant of students success, and therefore provide top quality professional development. They also believe that the best way for teachers to improve is through constant observation of teaching, followed by reflection. The teachers serve as a community of mentors for one another. Teaching teams are comprised of four teachers: the master teacher, who oversees all instruction and serves to liaise with the headmaster; the partner teacher, the apprentice and the associate teacher. The partner, apprentice, and associate teachers divide the 60 or so students in the grade level into three "houses," which would be similar to homeroom teachers in a typical school. All content-area instruction is given in homogeneous groups or "universities." Since my team and I will be teaching kindergarten, we will have to get to know our students before dividing them into universities. The TNAA model is designed such that teachers loop with their students from grade to grade, so we would be with the same group of students until they graduate from fifth grade, and then we would begin teaching kindergarten again. According to one staff member, the school is considering looping in smaller chunks, such as K-2nd grade and 3rd-5th grades.

I have completed the first of five weeks of professional development that I will receive this summer. The staff from the three TNAA schools met each day last week, in the UFT office in Brooklyn, for training in school culture as well as learning about the cultures of our students. We were given five paperback books, two of which we read during the week. We were also required to read the doctoral dissertation of the founder, in order to gain a better understanding of the mission and purpose of the school. New employees were required to write an essay of our personal understanding of the dissertation and an essay based on one of the books, which we will hand in to be read by the founder.

Tomorrow, the new staff members and those who have been promoted to higher levels of responsibility will take a chartered bus to Harvard University, for a week of training in interpersonal skills. Before going, we each had to take a Myers-Briggs personality test. Teachers on grade level teams will learn about the 16 personality types and identify the personality types represented on their teams in order to better understand and appreciate how the others think and behave.

Below is a photo I took from the window on the 25th floor of the UFT building in Brooklyn. You will see many buildings in the distance, but I was trying to focus on the teal colored roof of one of the closer buildings. It is the playground of a school. Never having taught in a large city, I never considered the placement of a playground. What I find appealing about a rooftop playground is that teachers never have to deal with a students running into the street to chase a ball. Interesting!

A Walk on the High Line

This morning it was raining, so Richard and I skipped our morning walk and did laundry. After breakfast, we rode the subway to Brooklyn so I could find the building where I will be in training all this week. It was easy to find and did not require changing trains at all, thank goodness. After riding there and back, it was around 10:50am. We went to Gotham West Market and had an early lunch. We went to Genuine Roadside and I was just in time to still be able to order breakfast, so I got their breakfast burrito, which was amazing! It had scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, chorizo chile, and salsa verde. Mmmmm... We went back to our apartment so Richard coud do some work, and I put together some outfits for the upcoming week. The weather cleared around 3pm, so we decided to walk the High Line. One of the teachers at my new school asked if I had been there, saying that its origin is near my apartment, so Richard and I looked for it yesterday, but didn't go very far on it because we had clothes in the community washing machine at the time. Today, we had already done our chores so we had plenty of time to give it a try. Just a few blocks down the river walk is one of the ends of the High Line.

This isn't my photo, btw, but I wanted you to have an idea of what it is. Here is the description from their website. "The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side. It runs from Gansevoot Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 12th Avenues." I would not have thought that many visitors would find such a place, but I was wrong! The walkway was packed! There are areas where you can stop and sit in the grass or stand behind a glass wall and look down at the city traffic below. It's unique and definitely a place that I will take out-of-town guests. I was still dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt since it had been cool in the morning. Not long after getting onto the walkway, I was hot! We saw people with light green popsicles and got excited that we might be able to find a cold treat. There were several different vendors along the way, and we ended up getting ice cream sandwiches. Richard bought 4 -- the 2 for us and 2 to "pay it forward." After a while, I got tired of being stuck behind strollers and aimless wanderers, going at a much slower pace than I wanted to walk, so we looked for a stairway to street level. As soon as we hit the street, there was an art show inside a big, open gallery. Of course I had to wander in. This is just the type of place I imagined finding in NYC. Here are a couple of pictures I took there.

 Richard got the crazy idea that we should have an early dinner in Little Italy since we were already out so we continued to walk for quite a while. We passed many interesting people wearing bright colors and carrying rainbow flags. The further we walked, the thicker the pedestrian traffic got. I could see a huge crowd ahead, and heard a lot of cheering. Apparently we were now in the midst of the NYC Pride Parade. There was no way around it or through it. We hopped in a taxi, thinking we might have better luck.There were so many streets blocked off and so much traffic that it was impossible to go in the direction we wanted to go, so the cab driver suggested that we set out sights on restaurant row, instead. He recommended Lattanzi, so we looked at their online menu and reviews from the backseat of the cab and decided it would be a good place to go for dinner. We were dropped off at the front door of the restaurant. It was not quite 5pm, so we were the first diners there. I'm sure they are used to much better dressed patrons, but they let us in anyway. We laughed about our unexpected activity and ordered a glass of wine and classic Italian food. Dinner was great! We walked home from there. My Fitbit says I've walked 14,088 steps today. Another great end to another great day in the city!

Ravioli Con Funghi Porcini

  

The Job Hunt

I knew we were going to be moving to New York as early as April, so I updated my resume on teachers-teachers.com and monster.com. I applied to any teaching jobs in any of the NY boroughs. Additionally, I sent unsolicited emails to all the private schools I could find through internet searches. I got a little feedback while I was still in Charlotte, including several telephone "screening" interviews. I even conducted a Skype interview with one of the private schools. That school was so elite that their teachers graduated from schools like Vassar, Harvard, Yale, Duke, Dartmouth, etc. I never heard back from them, even though I sent several emails. My principal even called them after my interview so she could put in a good word for me, but no one had the courtesy to return her call.

My approach to interviewing was to be myself and let the words fly. Since I felt that the poor quality of my responses probably kept me from getting the private school job, I bought a book called Ace Your Teacher Interview:149 Fantastic Answers to Tough Interview Questions. I spent my evenings studying this book, thinking through the questions and carefully crafting intelligent answers. By the time I had my next phone interview, I had gotten through the first 85 questions in the book. I had my notebook of intelligent responses handy, with color-coded mini Post-It notes flagging the pages with the questions that I would most likely be asked. I was prepared!! Not! This guy asked some really off the wall questions, not one of which was I prepared for! I finished out the school year at MID while continuing to pack and take things to Goodwill each day. There wasn't much time for reading the book or answering the questions. Besides, I don't know how much it actually helped, other than getting me to deeply reflect on my teaching, my philosophy, and how I do lesson planning.

I hit the ground running after moving here. Besides looking for jobs in my usual places, I decided to look at the New York Times. I found that the newspaper uses Indeed.com, so I promptly updated my resume on that site, and applied to many jobs listed there. I don't know if my luck in finding a job had to do with the timing of my arrival or the change in job sites. Schools in New York were either ending the week I arrived, or the week after. Regardless, I received many calls and emails each day, often conducting two, 30-minute telephone interviews a day. I received an interesting email inquiry. The New American Academy had received my resume and wanted me to come in for a face-to-face interview. This same school had contacted me while I was still in Charlotte, asking me to come in the next day for an interview. I thanked them, but said that I was still under contract and was not in New York yet. They said they would try to find another time, but I didn't really expect to hear from them again. Wow! I thought I had lost out on an opportunity, but here was my chance! They requested an all day interview, asking me to arrive at 7:30am, ready to begin promptly at 7:45am. The day was to begin with individual and group exercises, a demo lesson, a panel interview, and time for observation in the classrooms. They also gave me homework! I was to begin thinking about how I would plan a 6-week engineering unit for 2nd grade as preparation for the group exercise. I was also to read the doctoral dissertation of the school's founder in order to understand the school's philosophy. Additionally, I was to plan a 45 minute kindergarten lesson, that I would teach to one of the kindergarten classes while being observed. I had only allowed myself to bring 1 small packing box of my teaching things during the move, since there's no storage in our apartment, so I had to use what was on hand. I had a copy of the book Stellaluna, so started to base my lesson on comparing and contrasting bats and birds. I sought help from my wonderful principal, Mrs. Keane. She gave great suggestions and even proofread the entire lesson.

I spent 2 days preparing for the interview. I bought a printer, poster board, and markers from Staples. I rehearsed my lesson, alone in my empty apartment, in order to see how long it was going to take. I crafted some intelligent questions to ask at the end of the interview, and carefully read the dissertation and the school's website. I was ready, although nervous! At 9:30 the night before the interview, I received an email saying that "the other candidate" had an emergency situation and had to cancel, so it would just be me. This would greatly change the "group planning" part of the interview, so they moved back the start time to 9:30am. I still hadn't taken the subway by myself at this point, so Richard suggested taking a cab. According to Google Maps, it would take 20 minutes to get there by cab. I hailed my first taxi outside of my apartment 40 minutes before I needed to be there because my motto is "better too early than too late." By 9:28, I was getting anxious and called the school to let them know that I was in transit but had no way of knowing how close I was to the school. I ended up being almost 10 minutes late, but there was so much going on that I don't think it was a big deal. The 5th graders were graduating on this day, and there were a lot of parents in front of the school buying helium balloons in school colors. I wandered inside, wearing Richard's padded briefcase, which was filled with all the materials for my demo lesson. I'm sure I stood out, because a woman (who I later learned is the principal) asked if I was here for the interview and led me to another woman who introduced herself and led me down the hall. The school shares the building with another school, so the two school leaders coordinate times for use of common areas such as the cafeteria, gym, and playground. The building seems nice. The classrooms are HUGE, with big windows, their own bathrooms and water fountains, and even an upstairs area. I learned that there are about 60 students per classroom (all the same grade level) and 5 teachers. They all share the same room, with different areas carved out for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and independent work. This was Tuesday, and the students would be getting out of school on Friday, so I expected it to be loud, but instead it was very calm and quiet. I mentioned this to the teacher who was my tour guide and she told me that the staff had spent a LOT of time getting students to the point of remaining quiet in the building. I guess they'd have to be, because in the open classroom there would be other teachers working on lessons AND because they share the building with another school. The kindergartners were at recess when I arrived so I was able to set up my lesson materials and relax for about 15 minutes. I would be observed by 2 kindergarten teachers, who had clipboards and observation checklists handy. The students came in from recess tired and thirsty. I loved that there is a water fountain in the room! The downside, that I also noticed, is lack of air conditioning! To be realistic, I know it's not hot for very much of the school year. In fact, just last week it was in the upper 70's and lower 80's, so one week of heat at the end of the year is bearable. I introduced myself to the students, then started my lesson by asking the students if they knew what animal was on the book cover. Most of them knew, and some had a lot of background knowledge about bats. One little girl stood up facing her classmates, cleared her throat, and told the others about echolocation! I think the lesson went well. I finished in 35 minutes, so I used the extension activity that I had planned, and sent students to their tables to color a bat mini book while I went around assembling it for them. After I had assembled books for half of the students, one of the teachers asked if we could debrief in another room while another teacher finished assembling the books. She asked how I thought the lesson went and what I would have done differently. I said that I would have chosen a shorter book, but explained that I had added some movement activities to make up for the students having to listen for so long. She told me she thought I had done a great job, and said that she would share her findings with the other teacher. I was then taken to what seemed like a lounge/meeting room that was full of boxes. I was handed a student writing sample and running record and was asked to comment about it and to make suggestions for helping the student move forward. This was a little tricky. I felt like I could comment about issues the student was having, but suggesting next steps for teaching was difficult with such a small sample. Next was lunch with the staff. They ordered a pizza for me and the other teachers brought their lunch in order to meet me and ask me questions. Also during this time, I had the opportunity to share my ideas for the 6-week engineering lesson. They seemed to love my ideas. Everyone was very nice and I think I will fit in well. The principal told me that they would make a decision in the next 2 days, because training would begin the following Monday. I let Mrs. Keane know that if they liked me, she would probably receive a call, asking about my qualifications and experience. She agreed to let me know if she heard from them. The next day, I received an email from the principal at The New American Academy, asking me to call right away. She made me an offer! I will be teaching kindergarten beginning in the Fall! My 5 weeks of training includes 1 week at Harvard University! This is going to be such a fabulous experience for professional growth.

Father's Day Weekend

I didn't blog over the weekend so I could have some fun. On Saturday, Richard and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond on the Broadway and 65th Street to buy more things to make our apartment comfortable. The main item on the list was a waffle mattress topper. It's pretty awful when you can feel the springs in the sleeper sofa poking your ribs while you're trying to sleep! We also went to Staples to buy a printer. I had an upcoming, all-day interview that required me to print multiple copies of lesson plans and I just knew it was going to be a headache to find a place to have things printed. We had planned to get a new printer upon our arrival anyway, since we gave our old one to Alli. I wanted some Mexican food for dinner, so we went to a place I had found online called Chevys. It was really good Tex Mex, which is much more flavorful than standard Mexican food. It was very much like what I grew up eating in Texas--El Fenix! When my mom and I came to New York together many years ago, she flew in from New Mexico and I flew from Montana, I read in the Delta Airlines magazine that the son of the owner of the original El Fenix restaurant in Fort Worth, TX had opened an El Fenix in Manhattan. One of the first nights that mom and I were here, we went there, just to get that familiar taste. As soon as I moved here last week, I searched online and can't find it. It must not have survived. After dinner, we went across the street to Madame Tussauds. I haven't been to a wax museum in years, but the one I remembered had the figures behind ropes so that visitors couldn't get close to them. This was entirely different. You walk into a room of very still "people" at a dinner party that look very familiar. I wouldn't say that all of them looked exactly like the celebrities they represented, but they were pretty close. It was fun posing with the wax figures.

Lighten up, Johnny!

I'm cracking myself up!

Sunday was Father's Day. What Richard really wanted to do was to ride this insane speed boat called The Beast. We can see it from our apartment, coming and going on a frequent basis. It makes very fast trips to Liberty Island and back all day long. The passengers never leave the boat. We just went to a spot on the Hudson that was close to Liberty Island, took photos with Lady Liberty in the background, then sped back. The driver did something really radical at one point on the way back--he turned the boat very sharply and rapidly in one direction, and then the other direction. The second time we turned, everyone got soaked! I don't know how much the women on board appreciated it, but it was fun.

One World Trade Center

Honking Horns

I pulled out my Fitbit, the one I haven't worn since February, according to the app. I charged it and will be wearing to to log how many steps I take each day. I was surprised that I only made it to 7,775 steps yesterday, considering that I walked to the grocery store twice (one can only carry so much) and that we walked to dinner. With all the fabulous food options here, I'm gonna have to "step it up a notch." I love walking and it was always my number one source of exercise in Montana and North Carolina, but in those places I didn't have to deal with all the honking. I swear someone honks about every second here! I have a very sensitive startle response-- always have. I even flinch when Richard touches me and I'm not expecting it, so I don't think it's due to being scared of the city. I actually love my neighborhood. The only thing I truly need to be afraid of is being hit by a car or bus. There's an intersection a block away where several people have been killed recently. It's not always the drivers' fault -- sometimes it's the pedestrians not following the crosswalk signs. Richard warned me about this intersection. There's a separate light for cars to turn left, and pedestrians think, oh well, the crosswalk sign is about to change, so I'll just start walking now. DON'T! I waited until I had the white walk sign and still narrowly escaped being hit by a speeding bus that was running his red turn arrow. In the evenings there's a police officer directing traffic. No one pays attention to him, but he's there muttering what I assume are obscenities as he stands in the middle of the insanely busy intersection, people breaking every traffic law possible and him being unable to do a thing about it.

Richard and I walked back to the area where we had eaten the night before because there was a sign on the side of the building advertising Gotham West Market. The sign said it had 9 different restaurants under one roof. We actually had to backtrack towards home to get to Gotham West Market -- it was closer to home than we realized. What a cool place! We had a hard time deciding what to eat, but settled on a place called Indie Fresh. They had lots of healthy options. I got turkey meatballs and Richard got milk and cereal (because he said he was saving calories for dessert). That's the way we do things. You can't forget about the good stuff! I was watching Ellen DeGeneres the other day and she was interviewing Channing Tatum. He made a comment that really resonated with me. He was talking about all the dieting and exercise that went into getting in shape for Magic Mike 2. He said that dieting takes the color out of life. I agree, and I like color a lot so you won't see me eliminating unhealthy foods altogether--splitting dessert with my honey works for me. After our healthy food, we went to Ample Hills Creamery for the unhealthy stuff. When the guy behind the counter heard that we had never been there, he gave us each a sample. Mine was Salted Crack Caramel. Holy cow it was good! They give you 2 scoops in a cup, so Richard and I split Salted Crack Caramel and Praline (it had a fancier name, but I can't remember it). This morning we went for donuts. Richard had searched on his GPS for a donut shop, not the typical Dunkin, but something special. The search indicated one near his bus stop on his morning commute, so he paid closer attention and discovered that it is in the car wash that he stands next to as he waits for the bus. The place is called Under West Donuts. They don't open until 6:30, but we arrived at 6:15. The man and woman working inside the tiny shop invited us in and chatted us up as they were getting last minute things done so they could open. The donuts are amazing and the people are so sweet! The guy moved here a few months ago from Key West. The woman didn't say where she was from so I assume she's a local. She warmly welcomed us to Hell's Kitchen and wrote down the names of 6 of her favorite restaurants in the neighborhood, giving details about the owners and their menus. She also told us that Jerry Seinfeld (on his bicycle) and Meryl Streep had been in there for donuts. How cool is that?! Once again, another friendly New Yorker and more places to explore!

My First Celebrity Sighting Here

Richard and I shared some fabulous blueberry pancakes for breakfast at a nearby diner before he went off to work. The restaurant was virtually empty, just one other customer besides us. The owner or manager was speaking another language, possibly Russian, to a cab driver who hung around for quite a while. I felt like were were unwittingly in a mafia hang out, but halfway through our meal they switched to English (as if they sensed my concern) and I heard the cab driver telling the owner or manager about a TV game show. He seemed to tell the same story over and over again, as if he was fascinated about the possibility of a person winning a car on the game show. It was odd.

I reluctantly (because my legs are so white) put on shorts to go for a walk along the path beside the Hudson River. I walked to Chelsea Piers, which is 1.2 miles from our apartment. It is a 28-acre sports and entertainment complex, with a golf club, fitness center, and even an ice rink! I'm so glad I brought my ice skates and Alli, a former figure skater, will be super happy! Shortly after getting onto the path, I had to cross the area where people were getting off of a boat that must come from another borough. They didn't look like tourists, but like people were on their way to work. The mass of people came out through glass doors and rushed onto waiting buses. I did my best to weave my way through the crowd and was relieved when I got past that area. There are trees, grass, and flowering bushes along the path. I saw a few homeless people sleeping on benches, but they weren't antagonistic or trying to get any attention at all. Parallel to the walking path, there's a bike path. There were many more bicyclists than walkers, including men and women in business clothes. People talk about how dirty the city is, and I agree that the subway tunnels are filthy, but I find the streets pretty clean. I only saw one discarded coffee cup on the path and when I'm walking around my neighborhood in the early morning hours, there are always shop keepers hosing down the area in front of their shops.

When Richard got off work, he came home to change clothes, then we went in search of a new place to have dinner. We walked for a few blocks, and when we walked past one particular restaurant with al fresco dining, we first smelled a pleasant aroma, like steak on a grill, and then saw appealing food on people's plates, so we stopped there. The place is called 44 & X and it serves classic American cuisine. There was great people watching from our table. There were two nicely dressed women at the table next to us. I picked up only a few key words from their conversation (year-round schedule and conference) and decided they must be teachers, so I made a point to see what they were wearing. I'm stressing out about not wanting to look like a tourist, but to instead look like a real New Yorker. Alli made me give away 3/4 of my wardrobe before moving here because it was all too "Mom-ish." One of the women was wearing a nice summer dress with sandals and the other was wearing white slacks, a 3/4 length blouse and heels. I've noticed that most of the women I see on the streets are wearing flats, even with dresses and business attire. I have not seen many heels. They either don't wear them, or they change into them once they arrive at the office. As we were finishing our meal, I glanced up and noticed a familiar face walking toward the front door of the restaurant, which was over Richard's shoulder. It was Will Ferrell!! He was wearing a bright red tee shirt under a sports coat. He and his wife entered the restaurant, then were seated at a table right behind Richard. We were outside, and Will and his wife were inside, so there was glass between us. They must have known the waiter because he hugged both Will and his wife and he stayed and talked with them for 15 minutes. No other diners bothered Will. I was dying to have my picture taken with him, but I didn't think it was appropriate. He's the first celebrity I've seen since being in New York, but not my first celebrity sighting. When we lived in Big Timber, Montana, I saw two celebrities: Meg Ryan and Michael Keaton. The Paradise Valley is a popular place for celebrities to have homes. Ted Turner owns and house and lots of land up there, as well as Dennis Quaid (Meg was married to him at the time), Whoopie Goldberg, Brooke Shields and many others. When I worked at Cinnabar Creek, a gift shop with a coffee bar in Big Timber, I made a latte for Michael Keaton. It was a plain latte with one Splenda, which is what I've been drinking ever since. It was difficult to play it cool but I think it would be scary to have some crazed fan in your face, so I didn't/won't go there. I tried not to watch what Will was doing, so I did quick glances and tried to keep my cell phone out of sight. When I saw Meg Ryan, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Richard's Suburban in front of what used to be Cole Drug in Big Timber, waiting for a family member to get something from the store. Meg walked out of the drug store and stood right in front of the Suburban, talking on her cell phone. I was on my cell phone, too, telling someone about seeing her. She kept looking at me, with a look that said,"don't you dare tell anyone you see me" so I tried not to look up too often. That incident is what made me reluctant to bother Will Ferrell. Seeing him was the highlight of my night--picture or no picture!

Goal: don't get lost!

Yesterday it was overcast and rainy. I didn't go out much, except to get food. Right now we have only paper bowls, plastic cutlery, and no food. There is a Brita water pitcher in the refrigerator,but that's it! Alli won't be surprised to read this. She would say that was the norm for the past year. I used to love to cook, but lately I've found other things to occupy my time. Recently, it's been searching for and applying for jobs. Anyway, for breakfast, I walked to the end of the block to get a danish and coffee at the natural market. It's amazing. They have literally anything you could possibly want to eat, and it's not at all expensive.

I ate at the market, but then walked until I finished my coffee. I stayed on the same street just to be sure I wouldn't get lost. Richard has sarcastically nicknamed me Magellan because, even with a Smartphone and a GPS, I can manage to get lost! I went out again for lunch, but wanted to go to a different place this time. There's a Subway "restaurant" (just wanted you to know that 1. I wasn't referring to the mode of transportation and 2. I don't consider it a real restaurant) across from the market, so that's where I went. I brought my food back to the apartment and ate on the couch. It will be nice when we get some sort of table in here. As I said before, Richard rented some basic furniture to get by with just until I got here. Now that I'm here, we have to decide if we go with the custom Murphy bed option, or get a better sleeper sofa and other living room pieces. The Murphy bed is cool because a bed and dining table fold out from it and it has built-in closets on both sides of the bed and a big storage unit above, for hiding the pillows and blankets when the bed is folded away. The downside is that we also want the couch on that side of the room so we keep this view. Here is the view from the couch while sitting...

Here's the same view, but I'm standing up this time...

It's pretty awesome! As you can see, the weather is much nicer today. I'm still not planning to venture too far from home again today, but I do want to go to the walkway along the Hudson to get some exercise.

Moving Weekend

It was my goal to get as much of the work or purging and packing done before Richard's arrival in Charlotte, so that he wouldn't have to work quite as hard. We would be moving via commercial airline rather than driving, so no furniture would be going with us. I posted pictures on Facebook, which Richard thought was tacky but was effective because my sweetheart of a principal decided to buy my recliner and a fellow teacher agreed to buy both beds. This left only 3 major pieces of furniture to deal with: a dining table and 4 chairs, a very large couch, and a fireplace/TV stand. I found a company that was willing to pick up and consign our used furniture, but they wouldn't take the couch. I ended up giving it away to a friend who was willing to pick it up. By the time I picked Richard up at the airport late Friday night, all the furniture was gone. We had to sleep on the floor, which is quite unpleasant when you're over 50, but we suffered through it. On Saturday, we went to the leasing office of Alli's new apartment to get her key so we could begin moving her things into her new place. She would have a roommate that she hadn't even met, and who hadn't responded to Alli's email letting her know when she would be moving in. As we suspected, the leasing manager hadn't let the office employee know about Alli's move, so she hadn't done her "walk through" and didn't even have a key to the apartment. We went to lunch to allow time for them to figure everything out, including letting the roommate know that we were coming. Thankfully, after a nice lunch at Panera, they had informed Alli's new roommate, gotten a copy of the key, and gave us the green light to begin moving her into her new place.

Naturally, it was a hot day -- 96 degrees. There are lots of steep steps up to Alli's apartment, and we made many trips up and down them, loading all her "stuff" into her bedroom. Thankfully, the place is furnished. We bought Alli a pretty new comforter for her new space and made yet another trip to Goodwill with her old one. Since I couldn't take anything heavy with me, I gave all my pots and pans, my big mixer, blender, toaster, plates, glasses, and silverware to Alli. She and her roommate share the kitchen, and since her roommate had no idea that Alli would be moving in that weekend, there was no room for any of that stuff. We stored it on the built-in shelves in her bedroom, hoping that after she got to know her roommate, she could carve out some space for Alli's stuff. Alli took our 14 year old cat, Sara, with her. I was worried about Sara adjusting to her new digs, but she did great, excitedly sniffing everything right away.

We finished Alli's move around 8pm, then went back to our almost empty apartment to get rid of all the other odds and ends that remained, and cleaned all but the room we would be sleeping in (on the floor again). We finished around 11pm and tried to get some sleep. We woke up around 6am on Sunday, dropped off yet another load of stuff at Goodwill, and met the family, our son Wes, his fabulous girlfriend Meredith, and Alli for breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Uptown. This is the day we would be leaving, but it was also Alli's 21st birthday!  A mixture of excitement and sadness was in the air.

We had to wait until our apartment's leasing office opened at noon to drop off our keys and garage door opener. After that, we went to lunch with Wes, and he followed us to the airport. Because we were flying first class, we were allowed 3 checked bags at 75 pounds each, We only had 5, but they were extremely heavy. We drove the rental to the concierge outside the departures area at CLT, gave him a huge tip because of the weight of our bags, and drove back around the airport to return the rental. I didn't mention this earlier, but the first rent car I had was a Hyundai Elantra. After driving it for a week, a rock hit the windshield. It didn't show up at first, but over the course of the following 3 days, a crack spread across the driver's field of vision. I went back to the rental company to report the damage. They apologized, but said all they had to replace it with was a Town and Country minivan. What a Godsend that van was during the move! The seats all folded flat, into the floor of the van, making it more of a cargo van. We returned the van, went through security, and waited at our gate for departure, which was scheduled for 4pm, with a boarding time of 3:20pm. As we sat and waited, they kept moving the departure time up, first to 4:30pm, then to 5:20pm, then to...I quit watching because it kept being delayed and each time they would delay it, they would change our departure gate, so we were all over the place!  We found out that all the delays had been due to a mechanical failure, that was now fixed. Our plane was on its way from NYC. After those passengers unloaded, we finally boarded around 7:40pm. Yay! Off to my dream city at last! We taxied to the holding area, then the pilot announced that there was a delay because of weather in NYC. ATC instructed him to sit for 35 minutes to see if the weather let up. It didn't, so we were taken back to the gate and unloaded! Nnnnoooooooo.....The airline never made a formal announcement about the flight being cancelled, and the line was full of every single passenger who had gotten off our flight, so instead of waiting in line, we got dinner. By the time we got back to the gate, the line was shorter. The airline gave us a complimentary stay at Ramada. We were instructed to retrieve our bags (oh crap!), go to loading zone C, and look for a Ramada van that would take us to the hotel for the night. We got all 5 of the freaking heavy bags and went to zone C. After about 10 minutes, we did in fact see a Ramada van drive by. It was empty and it kept going! Thanks, man! When another one came 20 minutes later, we knew we had better be quick since there would not be much room in the van for all of our bags. I put on my NY attitude, rushed forward, and got the first of our 5 bags on board. I figured that if I already had one bag on, and I was on, they would have to put the other bags on too. My plan worked. I believe all of us who needed to go to Ramada were able to get on, thankfully. We got a little sleep, work up at 4am, and got back on the van at 4:30am for the ride back to the airport. We were with our groupies (the other displaced passengers from last night's cancelled flight).

We finally arrived in NY's LaGuardia airport at 9am on Monday (yesterday). Richard got the okay from his boss to work from home since we had such a rough start. We took a cab from the airport to our new apartment. Richard has lived here for a few weeks, but he left it rather "bachelor-y" (ie. un-decorated), which is nice because now I can personalize it. It was funny to see the very large stack of moving boxes next to the front door, knowing that I was the one who had packed and mailed all of them. After unpacking boxes, the place still looks neat and tidy, and surprisingly uncluttered. Richard has rental furniture here for now: a sleeper sofa, a TV and TV stand, a side table, and 2 lamps. He had taken only one of our towels from Charlotte, so we would need to go shopping for a bath mat and towels immediately. Because it was raining, we took a cab to Macy's. Oh -- my-- God! When we moved to Charlotte, I was so impressed with the Nordstrom at Southpark Mall, but this Macy's is like that ON ACID! (not that I know what that's like) The store is 9 floors high, and each floor is an entire city block long! There are several Starbucks and restaurants in the STORE!! This is awesome! We ate dinner at a salad place in Macy's, then bought a subway pass for me and we got on the subway to go home. It was very crowded and we both had to stand. When we got off at our stop, it was so crowded with people going every which way that I was afraid I would lose Richard and become lost. I was freaking out a little. I tried to hold onto the back of his shirt, but it was difficult. The subway only goes partway to our apartment. The last 4 blocks must be traveled on foot or by the M42 bus, which simply makes trips up and down 42nd street, dropping off and picking up passengers. This, I can handle. It would be difficult to get lost when taking a bus that stays on the same street the whole time! Richard and I had to stand, but a woman tapped me, said she was getting off at the next stop, and insisted that I take her seat when she got up. She smiled at me as she left, reiterating what Richard had told me shortly after moving here. that everyone he has met here has been extremely kind. What a nice way to end my first day in NYC!

The Background Story

Moving to NYC is no small feat. After Richard accepted his position there, he picked me up from Field Day activities at my school in Charlotte and we proceeded to drive to NY to find a place to live. It has always been a dream of mine to live in the city, so we could not live anywhere but IN the action! We took my little red Hyundai Genesis because it got such good gas mileage, surprisingly. We had made online reservations with a hotel in the city, and had set up an appointment with a leasing agent for 10am the next day to look at 8 or 9 properties that we had pre-selected by looking at their web sites. It was about 11pm when we excitedly said, "Less than an hour to go!" We were traveling in the middle lane on the interstate, behind two other cars. The car in front of us swerved to the left violently, but there was no time for us to see what the driver was trying to avoid, until, CRUNCH, EERRRR....Whatever we had run into was now stuck under the front end of my car and was being pushed forward, scraping the pavement. We took the nearest exit and followed signs to a gas station about 2 miles away, in Lebanon, NJ. Thankfully, this was a full service station, so there were people there at this late hour. We pulled under the lighted area near the gas pumps to assess the damage. There was oil leaking out very rapidly, as well as antifreeze. The front skirt of my car was obviously mangled as well. Richard immediately took photos of the damage and got on the phone with our insurance company. We found out that our coverage did not include a rental car if this sort of thing happened. We still needed to get to the city and to our hotel, so we asked the insurance agent how we should go about that. She said to find some sort of public transportation and that the insurance company would reimburse us for the cost of continuing our trip. HA! There were no busses or taxis running at this hour in our remote location! After searching the internet from my phone, I found a limousine service with a Lebanon address. Richard thanked me for my brilliant solution, then called the number listed. He apparently woke the man up, who said he was off duty. After explaining our situation, the man agreed to pick us up and take us to the city. Phew! We left our phone number with the gas station manager, who agreed to keep an eye on the car until a local mechanic could be contacted in the morning to tow my car to his repair shop. It was 12:45am now, and our ride to NYC would take another 50 minutes. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we hit the bed. We got up early, Richard called the repair shop and gave them directions to the gas station where the car was left, and we caught a cab to our meeting spot, to meet Bevin, our leasing agent.  We probably only looked at 5 of the places on our list, and knew the 3rd one was going to be it. We chose a studio apartment to save money and because it would just be the two of us living there. We love the view of the Hudson, since it allows for a wider view of sky rather than seeing only a bunch of buildings. Our apartment complex also has tennis courts, which was a major selling point for Richard. We signed the lease by 2pm, got a cab back to the hotel where we had left our bags with the concierge, and got another cab to the airport to fly home to Charlotte. So, in one weekend we had secured a new place to live, Our daughter, Alli, picked us up from the airport late Sunday night and took us to a car rental company the next day to get something to drive until my car was repaired in NJ. That Thursday, Richard moved into the NYC apartment to begin work on Monday. I would stay in Charlotte a few more weeks to finish out the school year.

While Richard was away, my job was to get everything ready for the move, because "the move" also included helping Alli move out of our apartment and into campus housing so she could continue attending UNCC after we were gone. Because our apartment in NYC was so small, I allowed myself only 8 small packing boxes of items to take from Charlotte to NYC. Each day after school, I loaded the rental car with items to drop off at Goodwill and a box to ship from the local post office. This became my routine, so much so that the woman at the post office greeted me by asking, "Another box for New York?" "Yep."