Alarming

It's been a long day at home, with the internet that I'm stealing going in and out sporadically. I'm waiting to get legal internet and a telephone so we can buzz people in from the comfort of our apartment.

Yesterday the fire alarm began beeping every few minutes to let us know the battery was dead. I found this a bit suspicious since it had been beeping when I first moved in, all of 13 days ago, and they said they had fixed it then. I got in contact with Kevin the company guy, who in turn gets in touch with our manager Wellington, who in turn contacts Alex the super to fix things. I first emailed Kevin at 9:40 am. When I hadn't recieved a response I had Ciara contact him at the same time that I did, around 2 pm, and we got a prompt phone answer that it was being taken care of and soemone would be right over. By 5:30 I was nervous, and so I called again, and sure enough Kevin was shocked and said everyone had gone home and that Alex was in a meeting. I asked him to ask Alex, who lives in the building, to stop by after the meeting and take it down.

I went out with my friend Joy and when we got back around 9, the beeping was still going and Kevin was no longer responding to either my emails or phone calls. Joy, no taller but far sassier than I, got on our step-stool which meant she was still a good 2 feet from the ceiling, and began hitting the alarm like a pinata. After a few good hits the battery came out, but that didn't stop the beeping, and after a few more swings the entire alarm was hanging by a few wires and had given up it's screams for life.

When Kevin emailed me back around 10 pm to say that he was really trying to fix the situation I told him it was no problem, but could he send Alex by tomorrow to fix the hole in our ceiling?

So Alex just came and we had a nice little laugh as he took down the alarms (we have to be careful for the next week or so not to set any fires). In the next few hours the Time Warner guys should arrive and I can't wait to see what kind of fiasco will occurs, but Alex gave me his direct number so he can be here when they drill through our wall.

New Home: Hamilton Heights

The ironic aspect of this blog is that when something genuinly meaningful or interesting is going on in my life, I'm too busy or too emotionally involved to blog about it. And so I have not written about my sister's wedding, or my graduation, or the IIPE in Haifa (which is primarily due to utter exhaustion as it was a full-time conference and even breaks were full of conversations and interactions). And they're all too big to go back and try to recreate or even begin to explain the emotion attached. So, maybe in the future I'll try to write about one or all of those events, but at this point we're taking a giant leap forward to the here and the now...



I have moved into my first New York apartment. It may even actually be my first apartment, period. I've lived in dorms all through undergrad and gradschool, even on my trips abroad my housing situation was dormy at best. The closest I've been before is that summer in Jerusalem with Yohoshua in that dream Nachlaot apartment. Having to trek from money orders at the bank to paying rent at the post office made it very real to me. So while I am dreading the hassle of rent and bills, I am thrilled to arrange things just-so and feel ownership over my living space.



Not complete ownership, I am living with a really nice woman, Ciara. We first met at TC, when she joined my program in the middle of the year, and spent a good deal of time together at IHouse where we both lived. Although we have very different backgrounds (she's from Puerto Rico, Catholic, father is in the army), we share so many of the same morals and values and she is a very put-together ambitious person. She was dying to get out of IH and I knew I didn't want to stay another year with all my good friends either getting apartments or leaving the country, so it was perfect to look for a place together. We saw a lot of crap, even one apartment in the 140s that I call The Crack House which was disgusting and still somehow $2,000 a month. When Ciara suggested I check out a place on 137th since I was in the area, I didn't have high hopes, but when I walked in I was amazed. A few months later, and here I am in this gorgeous apartment.



As much as I love the apartment, there are so many other aspects of living in this area that really make it incredible:



1) All of our neighbors. Everyone has been so kind and generous, welcoming us to the building and answering our questions not just with directions to the trash bins but by actually walking us there. They all shake their heads a little when I tell them I don't speak Spanish (oh but I will learn) and call me "Canary" but offer lots of smiles.



2) The workers who are renovating the building never miss an opportunity to tell me how fine I am. Truly, I will have the biggest ego in a month's time. I just roll out of bed and grab a coffee down the street and every door is opened for me and compliments rain upon me. Obviously this is an alternate reality, but I don't mind this twilight zone.



3) Just down the block and around the corner are 3 fantastic little eateries; Tres Pasos, Vinegar Hill, and Cafe Largo. They are brand new, all owned by the same gentleman, and delicious. Tres Pasos is takout burritos (yet to try it), Vinegar Hill is a gourmet bakery and salad take-away place, and Cafe Largo is a sit-down Dominican restaurant. Vinegar Hill has been my eatery of choice, I get a delicious muffin and ok-coffee for $2.75!!!!!!!!!! In New York!!!!!!



4) Down the hill is the new Meatpacking District in West Harlem, down on 12th Ave. past Fairway. It houses a fancy (overpriced?) Thai restaurant, the Covo Trattoria which is delicious and affordable and my new Pisticci, and the Body Bar. Just a few minutes walk downhill and I have nightlife, close enough that I can run home when the clock strikes 12.