Time Flies in the Big Apple!

Sheesh! Where did the time go! It seems like I just got here a few days ago. Though, at the same time, it feels like I've been here for months. Since my last post, SO much has happened. It would take me about 3 days, to write it all out. Here are my efforts to condense.

The day after my last post, May 21st (gah, it's been THAT long), I moved to the Upper East Side to stay with a good family friend for a week. Kim has a beautiful, nicely-sized apartment overlooking the East River, Roosevelt Island, and Queens. The breeze off the river is perfect. My weekend was pretty low-key. Saturday morning, I took the train downtown and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was great! The bridge was packed with tourists and others making their way to and from the Manhattan. I got a little freaked out once I realized that the only thing keeping me from the water (and death) were these thin strips of wood. Nothing was under them. Just the water. But, I made it across and began to explore Brooklyn. Now, first I knew that I would HAVE to go back. The parts of Brooklyn I saw were very quaint. It was quite neat. Sunday it was supposed to rain, so I tried to stay inside at Kim's and get a little work done. Well, of course, since I stayed indoors, it never rained.

That week brought on another of work. The commute from Kim's took about 45 min-an hour (twice as long as from Amanda's almost). At work we were preparing for our big event, the Central Park Challenge. I'll talk more about that in a later post probably. Work went very well that week. Like I said, everyone is extremely helpful and nice. Somehow, on the way home from work a few days, I still kept taking the wrong train. On the upside though, I did get more familiar with the bus system. Ha. The week was pretty uneventful, I was still trying to get settled (and find a place to get a haircut). I found a supermarket, bought some groceries and cooked a few meals that week. Speaking of purchases, everything is SO expensive here! I expected it overall, but the price differences between stores here is ridiculous!! On Friday, I finally found a decently priced place to get a haircut (my first since February).

The weekend was great though! A friend of Kim's was kind enough to take me out on Friday night. I had a lot of fun. The city has a lot to offer as far as night life goes! Saturday, I woke up late and went exploring. I ended up walking through Central Park on a gorgeous day! The weather was perfect. People were everywhere - laying out, playing sports, having a picnic - doing it all! I was walking around in Midtown looking at some shops when my friend Amanda and I discovered we were only few blocks apart. So, we met up and had lunch and ended up spending the rest of the day together. The next day, we and a few of Amanda's friends took a train to Long Beach (only about 45 minutes) and spent the day there. Again, another beautiful day. It actually was pretty hot. The water, however, was freezing! Honestly, I was looking for ice cubes to be floating around. It was great to be on the beach though.

That Monday was Memorial Day, and I spent the day moving from Kim's into my new place at the New Yorker hotel. The place is small...very small. Basically, it's two loft beds (like a bunk bed with just the top bunk, a desk and dresser underneath the beds, a mini fridge, and one closet the size of a small kitchen pantry. But, It's literally two avenues from work - about a 5 minute walk, so i'm not complaining. I'm right in the middle of everything too. Times Square is a short walk away. Any subway train I want to get on is either right outside my door or a block or two away. The next week at work (last week) was a 4 -day because of Memorial Day - but I still managed to work almost 50 hours.

When I got back to work on Tuesday the Central Park Challenge was 4 days away, it was crunch time! Tuesday evening, a woman in our department was celebrating her 25th anniversary with the company. After work, the department had a reception for her a block away. There was refreshments, thankful speeches, and an OPEN bar! That's when I knew these people would be a good fit for me. Ha, but seriously, it was a nice evening. It was really good to get to see another side of everyone that I had been working closely with for two weeks. Seeing everyone in a different element was refreshing. We had a good time - some of us, had too good of a time. Wednesday and Thursday brought more work. I stayed until 7 pm both of those nights. I was really too tired to want do too much in the evening. Thursday, they made me leave at 7, because they would need me late on Friday. I thought 7 WAS late....I was scared of what their definition of the word was. Friday, I showed up to work at 8:30 am and didn't leave until 2 am. Saturday was the big day and we had a LOT to prepare for. It was quite fun though. There was about 5 of us who stayed late. Delirium set in around 8 or 9 pm. After a while, EVERYTHING was funny - from people's names on registration lists that we couldn't pronounce to the disaster that was us trying to make copies. We rolled out of the building at about 2 am, only to have to be at Central Park for 7. What we were in for was nothing short of a heart-warming, spectacular day. That's it for now. More about the event and my weekend soon. Promise