NYC

I am still days away from my first class at the University of Haifa, yet I have learned so much already and I'm not even in Israel yet. Spending time in New York has been awesome: seeing and catching up with friends (ones I had seen recently as well as from the past) and family, going to some of the tourist attractions I had hoped to see, etc. But here are the two main things I learned during my time in the Big Apple:

1. America is known as the “melting pot” and that term is still prevalent in all of it's bizarre glory in New York City. The three best examples are when I arrived at JFK International Airport, the subway system, and a brief encounter outside of Ground Zero. At the first two locations, I was amazed to see so many different types of languages, ethnicities, religions, social classes, personal fashion statements, and yes, IQ level converge in rapid succession. The diversity, though it should be totally expected, still caught me off guard. Maybe it's because I'm still in a Eugene mindset, expecting everyone to look at me funny for wearing a kippah (Jewish head covering) or assuming everyone would be mostly white, English speaking, and often polite (though there is still probably a large portion of Eugene with a low IQ, in my experience). The third example, outside Ground Zero, was another one of these experiences I don't see too often in Eugene – people signing on the street. I took American Sign Language for two years and I don't see people signing often so when I saw two women signing, it was just one more reminder of how diverse the City really is.

2. The other main thing I learned is that people don't know where, or better yet, what the State of Oregon is. I'll admit that I didn't know too much before I moved there in 2006, but I was at a loss of words when I tried to explain to people what's in Oregon, what it's famous for, etc. It's easy to do that with California (beautiful beaches, perfect weather, theme parks, Hollywood, etc), but what do people have to say about Oregon that those unfamiliar could relate to? I started off with that Portland was the largest city, it's known for rain, a lot of breweries, and tried briefly explaining Lewis and Clark and the Oregon Trail. I'm not sure how, but that prompted the couple from Chile I was sharing a van with to not only ask me where Oregon is, but then proceeded to tell me about the two staples of Seattle: coffee and Boeing. I said that while Oregon still has a lot of coffee, Seattle is better known for it. Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me representing “the Forgotten State” in Haifa.

I did a lot in the two days I was in Manhattan, I stayed with Shaun, a fraternity brother who I hadn't seen in over a year; my friend Molly who has an internship in NY this summer; my friend Stephanie, her younger sister and her mom came down from Connecticut; and I got to hang out with my cousin Tal, his wife Evelyn, and their very cute daughter Sarah. I saw Times Square (someone saw my Oregon hat and shouted a hearty “Go Ducks!” to which I replied with another hearty “Go Ducks!”), Battery Park (and a tiny Statue of Liberty in the distance), Ground Zero, The Village, NYU, the outskirts of Central Park at night, and I got to play in a fountain at Washington Square Park. Not bad in two days. To the right are a couple of pictures from those busy days, including me throwing up “O”s at Times Square and the infamous Bleecker Street from the Simon and Garfunkel.

I Think that's it for now. I'll try to post again within a few days.

-AZ