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Dear NYC,

How are you? I hope you're doing well and recovering from all of the holiday celebrations. I'm sure you're getting ready for New Years Eve and the big night and I'm sorry I won't be there to see it. Because, I'm back in Texas. Yep.

I had a great time in my last month there and I made sure to squeeze in a few more shows and do lots of window shopping. Or mostly just looking at all the window displays done up for Christmas. In October, I was so ready to get out of the city but now that I'm home, I'm really starting to miss it.

In fact, here are some of the things I will miss about you, NYC:

• French toast from Elephant & Castle
• Walking everywhere
• the Wafels and Dinges Truck
• H&M
• speaking Spanish with all the people in my building
• wearing boots, a scarf, a hat and gloves to go outside
• Broadway shows
• all the crazy, I mean, interesting people you see everyday
• good restaurants
• Central Park
• my neighborhood (Yay the Village!)
  

But, in order to be fair, here are some things I will not miss:

• riding the subway
• working at night
• wearing boots, a scarf, a hat and gloves to go outside
• the cost of living
• the crazies

All in all, it was a terrific experience. So thanks! And I hope to visit you soon. Real soon.

Love,
Lisa

Halloween: Where Everyone in NYC Can Be Normal For One Day a Year

Having survived my first major holiday in the Big City, I felt it was worthy of a blog. Last night, the annual Village Halloween Parade passed right by me on 6th Avenue and I was one of the crowd braving the rain to see all the craziness. Above is a picture but as it was dark and raining, most of my pictures turned out terrible. But it was still worth it! I saw pretty much every costume imaginable: Popeye, a hotdog, Bert and Ernie, anything resembling a zombie, Uncle Sam, and about 5 Lady Gagas. Apparently that was quite a popular costume. Besides all the random costumes, there was a water/sea themed section, one part like Chinese New Year, a Mardi Gras/Day of The Dead moment, and three (yes three!) Michael Jackson dance numbers. Two Thrillers and one Beat It.

I stuck around for over an hour, but by then, the rain was really coming down so I called it a night. I grabbed some candy corn from the lobby and I felt like my Halloween was complete.

Nothing really exciting has been happening around here other than the Halloween festivities. I've been feeling kind of homesick this week and feeling like I'm just ready for this whole New York experience to be over. It just gets kind of boring doing everything by yourself all the time. But I know I still have over a month left here before I go home for Christmas and I'm still trying to make the most of it. And Amber and my mom are coming to visit around Thanksgiving so that's something to look forward to!

Last weekend, I went to Central Park to see the pretty fall leaves. Here's a picture I took!

I see famous people all the time.

That title may be misleading. There could be a problem with the word all. But it does happen. During Fashion Week, I saw several (7!) celebrities coming and going from the tents in Bryant Park. And yes, while the majority of them were stars of the CW variety (Blake Lively, Michelle Trachtenberg), I was still completely thrilled. Star struck, you might say. And ok, maybe saying you saw Hilary Duff isn't the coolest thing you could ever say, people know who she is! And I saw her! In person! So there.

Today, I had another celebrity sighting. I was leaving my building and I see...Maggie Gyllenhaal casually crossing the street in front of me with her daughter. This whole event lasted about 12 seconds and for the first 9 of those seconds, it didn't register who she was. And then it did. And then I stared. Just a little bit.

Lest you start thinking that my time in the city has been nothing but glamour and celebs, I will tell you that a lot of my time has been spent reading library books in Starbucks and wandering around places by myself. Although those times are about to end as I am starting two (count 'em two!) jobs on Monday. For my first act, I am working as a tutor for some ESL courses at a local community college. (Glamour left and right) Also, I'll be teaching an evening ESL class at a language school in Brooklyn. I am really excited to start both of them. I think they'll be interesting and I think I'm ready to take on my own class. I am not, however, excited about taking the train to Brooklyn every night. Ugh.

Here are some things that I have checked off my NYC To-Do List:

• MOMA
• The Met
• The Natural History Museum
• Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity
• Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
• Pizza from Grimaldi's
• Lots of Central Park
• Lots of Broadway shows: 6 and counting!
• Highline Park
• See celebrities

But oh, there is so much more left to do!

September 11, 2009

It's hard to believe that it's been 8 years since 9/11. I was reading this article today about how a lot of young people were remembering where they were when they heard about the attacks. I guess it's sort of our generations' 'where were you when you heard JFK was shot?'. I remember where I was, in the band hall in high school. I remember the patriotism that everyone felt at that night's football game. I remember feeling shocked and confused watching all of the images on the news.

But I think it became more real today even though it's 8 years later. It's easy to forget that you live in the city where this happened. And my school is literally a block away from the World Trade Center site, but you can still forget. I walked by the site the other day and it's amazing how little progress has been made. I don't know what the hold-up is, but it looks and feels like it happened a lot more recently. But for the most part, I don't think about being that close to the site on a daily basis. Although I remembered the other day when they were testing some kind of evacuation drill and we could hear the loud voice telling people to leave the building. It all came back to us then.

I felt like the people here were more aware of it today too. A friend here told me how she lost someone that day and I could see it still affecting her. Even the subway ride this morning seemed quieter. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into things.

I guess I don't really have a point to all this other than I think that that moment forever changed our country. And probably all of us, even if we don't know exactly how. And that I think I need to do more remembering, and less forgetting.

One week down...

Well, the first week here has been...crazy. The week went by so fast and I'm really liking my classes so far. I've already had to teach three lessons so far, but they haven't been too bad. I guess all that teaching I did last year was worth something! : )

I have made it through my first NYC weekend and I have to admit, it was not my favorite. I hadn't really been feeling sad or lonely at all this week until the weekend. It was raining most of Saturday so I spent it inside working on a paper. I walked around my neighborhood some today and that was pretty interesting but there's only so much walking around by yourself that you can do. So in conclusion, today I feel like going home. But maybe tomorrow I'll feel differently.

Also, everyone around here is entirely too fashionable. I have now decided that all of my clothes are horrid rags that must be replaced immediately. Except one must also have money to buy all of these expensive items. Alas. Pass me that rag over there. I guess I'll wear it tomorrow.

Hello from the Big Apple!

I am here! I made it!

Well, I got to NYC two days ago and it has been a crazy couple of days. I started my CELTA classes yesterday and I'm really excited about it. I've met some great people and we got straight to work planning lessons. I taught my first lesson today and I think it went alright. I've spent tonight planning tomorrow's lesson. Man, when they say this is an intensive course...they mean it.

I haven't really gotten a chance to see much of the city yet, but that will change! I hope to at least make it to one cultural something this week. Maybe a museum? A show? I don't know yet.

An exciting piece of news...a Pinkberry is right down the street from where I'm staying! Yum..frozen yogurt!

Paul McCartney!

Ever since I was in the 6th grade and saw The Beatles Anthology on TV, I have loved Paul. I wanted to marry him (much like millions of girls all over the world) and he was definitely my favorite Beatle. I dreamed of finding a time machine and going back to 1964 to go to a concert!

And last night, I finally got to see him! He played last night in Dallas and it was amazing. Over two and a half hours of great music. I heard all the songs I had always wanted to hear: Yesterday, Let it Be, Hey Jude, Something, Jet and I Saw Her Standing There. And a million more. It was so much fun! It was the last night of the tour and he looked like he was having a really great time.

He's still got it.

Goodbye Summer

I can't believe it. I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by. I have only a few more weeks of blissful nothingness to enjoy before it's over (ack). I had quite a few things to accomplish this summer and I think I was pretty successful. Even though some things didn't quite work out how I expected.

First, Spain. Or I should say, Spain!!! I love that place. I had a great time getting to see so many of my favorite Spanish places and faces. And the food. Ohhh...the food. Mmm. It might have been worth it just to eat at all my deeply missed restaurantes. I think Batey and Amber had a good time, I hope they did. We were all pretty exhausted by the end of it. Almost two weeks of non-stop going and seeing and eating and sweating. Yes, Sevilla and Madrid were mind numbingly hot at times. But we survived and we didn't kill each other and ended up having a pretty good time.
Highlights include:

• Tortilla espanola, pisto, patatas alioli, bravas, croquetas, 100 montaditos, chocolate sandwich, gofres...I could go on and on.
  
• Scotland! Really cool place. We kept saying we learned more about the plague and torture than we ever had before.
• Street musicians
• Spain friend time
• Missing our flight - Not really a good time actually.
• Looking for Nessie at Loch Ness.
• H&M
• Our cool apartment/hotel we stayed in.
• The zombie monk we saw running around in the streets of Edinburgh
• and so much more!

After that big adventure, we definitely went to some New Kids on the Block concerts and met the boys! Yes, it was a dream come true. Here, I'll even include a photo of the big moment.So there you have it. Me, next to Jonathan Knight. Swoon.

We also saw Reik in concert (amazing) and I went to a family reunion (good times). Batey and I went to New York to look for apartments and it was possibly the worst trip I've ever taken. Rain, stress and frustration. A recipe for a trip to remember.

So after all that and much decision making, I have decided to move to NYC. Officially. I will be making the journey solo, but I am beginning to look at it as an adventure and not the trail of tears. I will be taking classes to get certified to teach English and I will be living a residence while I look for somewhere else to live. Or until I run out of money and have to move back home. Whichever comes first. Chicken or egg. So I leave the 23rd of August and I will probably be freaking out any minute now. It hasn't really hit me yet. I'm still debating the merits of certain members of my shoe collection but I'm sure I'll realize what's really happening soon. And watch out when that happens.

But for now, wish me luck! I'm excited about this next year. It's definitely not what I thought I would be doing this year but now that I've finally decided to forge ahead with this crazy idea, I think it just might work. Naive optimism? Maybe. But at least I'll get to see some great Broadway shows while I'm there.

The Summer of All Summers

Well, it has begun. The summer of all summers is here and I can hardly believe it. It will the busiest/craziest/most expensive/wonderful summer of all time.

Things going down this summer:

• Spain trip - almost two weeks touring Spain and Scotland with Batey and Amber
• Reik concert
• New Kids on the Block!
• family trip to San Antonio + family reunion
• trip to NYC with Batey to look for apartments
• move to New York!

So, as you can see by this list there are many things to accomplish in the coming months. We leave for Spain in a week and I could not be more excited. I love the Spain and I'm really looking forward to seeing some of my favorite Spanish people friends while I'm there. I'm also excited about introducing Batey and Amber to my former home. It will be crazy I'm sure, but the three of us usually have a pretty good time. Hey, we had a blast in Denver and there was nothing going on there.

I hope to update this blog more this summer so stay tuned for the riveting adventures of me in crazy places. Happy summer!

It's April Time

It has been such a looong time, huh? Let's skip the recap and jump right in.

How about, your fav and mine, in a bulleted list?

• I have almost survived my first year of teaching. I'm quite proud of myself, if I'm allowed to say it. My kids might all fail the TAKS test and actually regress academically, but me, I have survived. Hopefully the former won't happen.
• I do get a little sad when I think about not seeing these kids again. The same thing happened last year with my kindergartners. I wonder how long that will last. Will I miss every year's group of kids? Or will they just all blur together?
• Me encanta el verano. It seems more fitting to express that in Spanish for some reason. It's not just that "I like summer" but a more literal translation, "I am charmed by summer". Many things are charming: snow cones, flip-flops, sleeping past 5 in the a.m., sun shining, reading books whenever I want, watching a movie in the middle of the day, and many more. I could add a million things to my ode to summer.
• Did I mention it's going to be the summer of all summers? Many exciting things are happening. Stay tuned.
• The other day one of my kids said "Ms. Beck, can I get a drink? I have the hip-hops."