Whew! Pictures are Hard.

I'm still figuring out what exactly this year and program will entail, but for now I'm taking advantage of a few more days without a schedule or specific responsibilities to explore. I spent one day/afternoon walking all over lower Manhattan, visiting an orthodox synagogue in the heart of Chinatown, hearing the author of a book about the Dutch period of Manhattan's history speak about the approaching 400th anniversary of Hudson's landing, and reading about Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh stories in several of the city's parks. It was a quite enjoyable day. I also have signed up for a library card and am figuring out the strategies of the hold and hold freeze system online (apparently it's more complicated than I ever imagines). And I've gotten to meet everyone who will be living in my house! Yay! We have Sister Susanne, who works here permanently, Xabier from Spain who will be teaching English (and maybe Spanish to the other volunteers in the program), and Brittany from California who will be working in the social work part of the program. Roberto, who was a volunteer in the house last year, will be working out of the office here this year but living in the other house. So that's everyone, as far as I know. As I learn more about what we're all doing, I'm sure it will get included along the way, but for now I'm excited to have actually met everyone.

And for my cross-cultural experience of the day, today I decided to get my hair cut, as it's been sorely needing it for quite some time. I picked a unisex barber shop in El Barrio. Unfortunately, all my efforts to pick a suitable establishment seem to have been in vain as the woman cutting my hair spoke no English (and my salon shop Spanish has never been field tested, so I was grateful that her manager seemed to be able to translate a bit). The cutting part seemed to go fairly expectedly, but the blowdrying part seemed to be going on for ages. And with lots of pulling. I could not figure out what about straight hair could take so much work, and then I realized I could see my hair out the corner of my eye. As it turns out, I ended up with each layer of my hair perfectly flipped out in a rather gravity defying fashion. I would have loved this style at one point in my life, but that point also included stir-up pants and Boxcar Kids books. I felt quite prepared to head out to a disco in 1974; unfortunately, I find no such event on my social calendar. I promptly put my hair in a ponytail after leaving the shop. But I did get a $15 haircut that I'm sure will look quite nice once I wash and dry it myself.

I'm still trying to figure out this whole picture thing, but I'm including some. The first is from Wooster between Canal and Houston. It was a part of an entire building that was completely covered in graffiti, signs, things that seemed like stickers on steroids, etc. It stood out a bit on the street.

The second I ran into while lost in Chinatown. I wasn't directly trying to find Carnegie Hall at the time, but now I know for next time.

The third I saw in the East Village. I'm glad to know that, in case of Transformer attack, I will have a refuge.

The last ones are of (the inside of) the house. I'm still figuring out how I will arrange/decorate my room, but this is what I'm living in for now. I've included pictures of the living room, and take note of the narrow passageway next to the stairwell, which leads to the bedrooms/kitchen/bathroom. Clicking on the pictures should give you a better view.

That's all for now! Tomorrow we have a lunch for everyone in the house and some others in the program who don't live here. More next time!

Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch. ~GK

Meghan