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.