New York Day one

 I hate rain. Having spent most of my life in climates that rain very little, water falling from the sky seems like a needlessly obnoxious way of replenishing our watersheds. Surely there must be another way. This distaste for rain and lack of experience with rain means that I own precious little rain gear and my shoes are not prepared for it. Nevertheless there was business to conduct in Manhattan so I braved moisture from the sky and made my way into the city.

First stop was a shave and haircut. I’m dressing at Luigi for Halloween and I’m a little furry to do him justice. My barber immigrated from Lviv to the US two years ago to cut hair and pursue his acting career. Both are a tough game out here.

The rain by this point was still immense enough for me to justify the $3 Subway fare to go one stop. Anything to keep at least a little rainwater out of my shoes. My destination was a small tea house in Greenwich Village to drink oolong and book flights to Uzbekistan. Consider that a preview of things to come. Tea. Snacks. Cozy relaxation. 

Cha cha cha

The rain had died down a little by this point and I decided to check out the tenement museum to give my socks a fighting chance of drying out. That was a fail and so I walked to one of the Lower East Side’s many bars. The bartender and myself were the only ones in and we had a lovely time talking about life in the city and what bartending is like here. He gave me my next rec and I killed all the time I needed to chatting with strangers. What’s not to love?

LES WET

My cousin Ben lives in Manhattan and I met him for dinner after his soccer game ended. As our grandmother is from Singapore, it was only appropriate that dinner happened at a Malaysian restaurant. We caught up at his apartment and then over a beer by which point it was time for me to cosplay a Jersey commuter and PATH my way back.