[Torik, Cerolyn & I at Zen's Asian vegetarian restaurant]
A friendship can change or even dissolve when separation of school takes place. I would see my friend Carolien (or Cerolyn) only occasionally after we finished high school, but during our stay in NYC, we experienced the fun old days, as if we’ve never got separated.
Another friendship can just start from the friendly Friendster website, where Torik once approached me, about two years ago. When I came back from Indonesia we coincidentally met in Amsterdam and we turned out to live close-by; next thing he’s flying over to NYC on Christmas Night, to spend winter break with Cerolyn and me!
We’ve had an amazing time, and they both celebrated their birthdays in New York, and this journey full of amazing fortunes and remarkable similarities was simply outstanding and definitely one of our best trips.
TOURISTS
Cerolyn and I were so excited, that we came to a point where we didn’t know what else to do because we’d already explored most of NYC within the first couple of days, attempt in a most non-touristic possible way. Like, we didn’t take the $11 ferry filled with I LOVE NYC- T-shirts wearing sightseers, to touch the Statue of Liberty; its view from the pier in Battery Park in the tip of Lower Manhattan was fair enough for us.
[Battery Park viewing Lady Liberty]
CULTURE SHOCKS ALONG THE WAY
In our exploration of the city we continuously experienced culture shocks, by walking from one to another neighborhood. From the all Spanish-speaking mixed people living in the impoverished Spanish Harlem, we gradually walked into the fancy gay-oriented area of Chelsea, inhabited and visited mostly by pretty handsome and way overdressed men. This is one of my favorite sections in NYC because of the great tasty, well designed, but cheap restaurants.
[Spanish Harlem]
[Bleecker Area]
[Kosher Chinese/Japanese restaurant!]
[Torik, Iwan & Tomi in Little Italy]
HARLEM
The Harlem part we went (around 125 St) was not as ghetto-ish as it is known for. The area has been thoroughly renovated and uplifted: the houses are beautiful and extremely elegant, and the streets are clean and tidy. What’s true from TV are the people (elders and youngsters) hanging around each corner of a block. What’s also true is that it is a Black populated neighborhood; we’ve only seen three White people, including Cerolyn ☺. This is also shown in the all Black culture-oriented, yes, hiphop-style of life shops, and the way and things street vendors offer: religious books, memorials of important Black people, and even sweaters with pro-Black texts and messages, ‘against’ White people: sort of the opposite, but passive and verbal version of the Ku-Kux Clan. We also passed a wall of posters on slavery, exposing images of the cruel, violent and scary history of Blacks in America. … Harlem was really impressive.
GHETTO?
But there are still many projects, which, unlike in Amsterdam, do not undergo renovations. The East Side of the Bronx is considered the most ghetto-like. Out of curiosity, we traveled though that area by bus. Indeed, the grey, homogeneous and non-energic environment inflicts the impoverished condition of that district, but we didn’t feel the sense of gangs, gunfights and danger as we see on TV and personally have been told by others. Maybe it was just our luck not to get involved in those sceneries?
[Carwash]
ACCOMMODATION
The first major part of my stay, Cerolyn and I resided at the brother of her brother-in-law Peter, who lives in a dollhouse (the roof gets lower by the level) in Riverdale, Bronx, with his boyfriend Mark, two dogs and a cat. The dogs were a fun part of our stay, since we had to take care of them when Mark and Peter went out of town for a few days. Torik, meanwhile, stayed at my friend's place in the East Side of Manhattan, which quite surrounding, deprived designs and stinky elevators are comparable to Amsterdam’s former projects in the outskirts.
[Mark & Peter's place]
[Cerolyn & Sheeba]
(Sunny & I)
[With Peter, Cerolyn & Mark]
[Rockafella Center]
[With Cerolyn's Family-in-laws]
ICE-SKATING IN CENTRAL PARK
It’s amazing how peaceful it can get in the middle of the park of Manhattan, while still seeing the skyscrapers behind the trees and rocks. Ice-skating on popsy pop songs made the scene even more awkward, but also very astounding!
[Ice-skating with the family]
[Central Park Ice-skating]
[Columbia University]
[Me & Cerolyn]
[Amsterdam Theatre at Times Square]
SUBWAY
The almost one-hour sub-rides we had to make every time to get downtown Manhattan were worth a thousand surprises. From making new friends, to escaping a train wagon someone was vomiting all over. We enjoyed performances, from poems, to Mexican music. Another I was very amazed of was a marvelous act by youngsters with beat boxes; and the kid who was twisted upside down in the middle of the wagon amidst the crowd, was actually really young, around the age of 11. So much reminded me of the public transportation in Jakarta: snacks (churro’s!) and CDs were sold on the stations and sometimes even in the train; this well-dressed Asian guy would quickly pass by and discretely offer people his DVD-collection underneath his jacket…. NYC subways are so much fun!
NEW JERSEY
After Cerolyn went back home, I stayed with my friend Tomi and his boyfriend Michael in Jersey City, again accompanied with dogs (three!) and fishes (three!). They took me to Hoboken, Jersey’s downtown area full of yuppies and fancy restaurants, and beautifully located along the boardwalk viewing the whole Western Manhattan part…
[Times Square, Old Year by noon]
NEW YEARS EVE
While Torik was committed to spend NYE on Times Square, people succeeded to convince me not to. Clearly: when we went to Times Square by noon to drop him off, it was already packed and certain areas were already gated.
I spent NYE partly at Tomi’s in Jersey City, but went downtown Manhattan late in the evening. By midnight though, I wasn’t at the place I was suppose to meet my friend. Instead I was in a cab, with an Indian driver, who gave me the ride for free, because it was New Year and moreover because we were fellow Muslims, as he said himself.
The plan to meet up with Torik later on failed, because it was just impossible to compete with others struggling for a cab. On top of that it started raining, so I ended up walking through Manhattan by myself after meeting my friend, searching for the right train stop that would take me back to Jersey City. Exciting it was still, as I passed by all kind of areas, bars, and parties where I could get in for free after midnight anyway: gay-bars, hiphop-parties, Asian clubs, hippies and yuppies districts. There were people passed out, lying (sleeping?) on the wet streets, while others were arguing, screaming, and fighting out loud around the corner.
It was a very awkward night, and not how I expected it to be, but it was all good. As I left the next morning, Torik stayed, and even went to Florida, visiting a friend of ours.
[New years eve in Jersey]
BACK HOME
Due to bank problems and other issues that needed to be taken care of, I had to unexpectedly return home to Amsterdam. Fun part was that I didn’t tell any of my friends; the reactions were hilarious! I only had two weeks though, to do the things I needed to do, so I’m really sorry if I didn’t contact any of you. Too little time! On the other hand it was really strange to be back; it felt as if I had never left, but on the other hand, I was not ‘suppose to be back’ yet: I was on holiday in my own country!
