Better

Finally, after three weeks with no way to cook food, I have a kitchen. It's about the size of a normal kitchen in Muchkinland, Oz--which pretty much fits me. We don't have any counter top space for food prep, but I can deal with this. I'm so very grateful for the beautiful blue flame that appears when I turn the knob!

You might be able to see in the picture that we, once again, have the back of the sofa right up to the sink and stove. Either the sofa goes in the center of the room or my roommate's bike, and believe it or not the sofa is more convenient there. We would get a wall hang for the bike if we planned on being there very long, but I'm only in this apartment for one more month. My lease is good there until the end of November, but, drum role please.... Rachel is moving up to NYC!!! She resigned her job in Atlanta and will head this way some time around the beginning of November. Hooray!!!!! So, we're looking for a place in Brooklyn with a pre-installed kitchen! A friend of ours is going to move in with us, which will help all of us afford rent. I'm super duper excited!

NO CHEESE FOR YOU!

This is just an update on my pimento cheese endeavors. Getting around here is very exhausting as everything takes a lot more effort. Walking every where, even to do laundry, really takes it out of me and I really don't want to carry groceries 10 blocks back to my apartment. So I tried to grocery shop just in my neighborhood (Chinatown).

I feel like a foreigner. No one speaks English. No signs are in English. Fresh fish, dead fish, live fish, dried fish, dried shrimp, fish bones, etc are readily available every three feet-right out in the middle of the sidewalk. I found several little groceries and walked through--there's a lot of bok choy and other green things, fish of course, rice (soooooooooo much rice) and some fruit. That's it. No cheese. No one sells cheese, mayo or pimentos. No one sells loaves of bread. If you know this area and know where I should go, please tell me.

So, I bought a bag of rice, a bottle of soy sauce, a jar of Chinese Five-spice and a bunch of green onions. I'll use my rice cooker, since we STILL HAVE NO KITCHEN! I've taken to making tea by running the bathtub water on the hottest setting. If you've seen season 3 of weeds, where the town has to evacuate their ridiculously posh homes and stay in the excessively lavish evacuation center and they think it's just like the Superdome after Katrina--I'm living like that kind of refugee! Compared to the rest of the world, I'm a spoiled little white American girl, but this 3 weeks of no kitchen feels like camping.

This spoiled little white girl is rather homesick and really want to see Atlanta again soon.

May I have a finger sandwich, please?!!

Did you know that no one sells pimento cheese in NY? I'm realizing how southern I am in a lot of little ways. The first day I was here, my cousin, Colin, helped me move my stuff into the apartment and then walked me to lunch. We walked what felt like an eternity (though now I walk that much without even thinking about it). We got salads at a little market and picnicked in Tompkins Square Park. It was lovely! I noticed, and continue to notice, that I haven't been bitten by a single mosquito since I arrived. The constant itchy bumps all over my ankles have now healed. In Atlanta, I've been bitten by mosquitoes in the middle of December!
(side note--on my fabulous cousin: So, he not only took me for a picnic in the park and gave me his apartment, he also gave me his futon, bookshelf, dresser and nightstand. I'm sure all of this benefits him in someway too, and I hope it does, but holy moly he's been a huge help!! Giving me the lease alone helped me avoid major move-in deposits and extra costs. Thanks Colin!!!)

My co-workers/bosses in Atlanta sent me a gift basket and had it delivered to NYU Medical Center. My co-workers here were very intrigued by the basket--they said they'd never seen this type of gift before. I found that hard to believe, but it's probably a southern thing. The most perplexing fact for me is that none of these NYC apartments come with air conditioners. You can't rent an apartment in Atlanta without A/C. It's ludicrous to not install central air. But central air isn't included here--you have to buy your own window unit, like buying your own microwave. I didn't even know they still made window units!!

I'm feeling a little homesick, so this week I think I might make some pimento cheese and some bendictine. Bendictine (cucumber spread) isn't sold in Atlanta, either, but I grew up with it in Kentucky and I did make it once in Atlanta--I know, right? Only once. Whatever. I want some finger sandwiches. They're comfortable. They don't require a functioning stove or oven. I think I'll call everyone "ya'll" while I eat them, too.

Everything but the kitchen sink

I've moved from the poopy place into a smaller apartment in Chinatown. The first apartment was small, as evidenced by these photos. It was a basement apartment and you can kind of see that in the photo of my bedroom:



This photo of the kitchen cracked me up when I first arrived. The kitchen and living room are one entity and so small that the sofa was right up to the cabinets and oven.



I didn't fully appreciate how HUGE the old apartment was. The new apartment belongs to the same landlord and he's just renovated it. He moved "us" into this one to try to make up for the poo and other issues in the basement apartment. The "us" is because I've taken over my cousin's lease and the landlord thinks my cousin, Colin, is still the second in this apartment. I owe major props to Colin, but I'll explain that later.

So, this new place is sooooo new that we had no kitchen cabinets when we moved in, no kitchen sink and the stove and oven still aren't hooked up. I'm not complaining--there is no poo in my doorway and that seems like a really nice thing. It also doesn't have a "dead mouse cabinet," which is also nice. (When I moved in the first apartment, my roommate, Allie, said "don't open that cabinet--we found mice in there so we threw rat poisoning in it and haven't opened it since!" It was the dead mouse cabinet.) I hope you're getting a good laugh out of this!

My other fun fact is that my new bedroom is the same size as my walk-in closet in Atlanta. The futon Colin gave me hits three walls of my room. I have to shut my bedroom door to open the drawers of my dresser. This thing is like a sleeper car! When I was trying to figure out how to make things fit, Allie asked me how I was doing. I said, "I feel like I'm working a puzzle!" She laughed at me and said, "I can buy you a puzzle." It really is tiny. Even the appliances seem like they're specially built for me--the fridge is Leslie sized--it can't be more than 5'3"--I love it b/c I'm only 5'1". The oven and stove, which are still not hooked up, the tub and bathroom sink all look like they came out of munchkin land. I'm sure even goldilocks would find them too small, but for me they're just right! Now, if only we could get the kitchen sink...

Visiting already!

I actually got to visit patients yesterday and today! Today's visits were mostly follow-ups, but yesterday there were major crises and I engaged them sooooooo well. (Not to brag, of course--I am demure after all ;) The main visit was with a baby and a mommy, in a slightly different condition than what I worked with in Atlanta, but it was definitely a call that utilized my strengths. I find that she travels with me sometimes. She visits me, still.

A lot of folks have asked me whether or not my partner, Rachel, moved to NYC with me. The answer is that she has stayed behind in Atlanta because she needs to stay at her current job a little while longer. For those of you who don't know, Rachel is the volunteer coordinator for an organization in Decatur which attempts to meet the needs of people in Decatur experiencing homelessness (or close to it). She will move to New York when she is able, time TBA. So, no fears! Our engagement is still go! We'll make decisions about the date and place for our wedding once we're a bit more settled in New York. The great part about this move is that New York state will recognize our legal marriage from another state--this is huge!

And tonight Rachel is visiting me! She flies into LaGuardia around 10pm. She's co-officiating a wedding in Conneticut this weekend, so we've reserved a zipcar and we're going to drive to the "country" tomorrow. Isn't that funny? It's so strange to me to call it "country" when it isn't cornfields, muddy trucks, rednecks and shotguns. I'm really looking forward to her visit and to our trip. When I return to New York on Sunday evening, the movers should have done their job and moved my and my roommate's belongings to a less feces laden apartment. Let's hope that happens!

Deemed Demure and other realizations

I had a really hard time not falling asleep through the day long orientation I endured yesterday. I've been through two days so far of orientation in my new job. Yesterday I was oriented to the hospital at large, along with all of the other new hospital employees. The guy who led the day long orientation, Brett, was extremely energetic. He obviously has not just moved to New York. I had had such a long, exhausting day on Monday and had a hard time going to sleep that night, that I was not super awake on Tuesday. After our lunch break I re-entered the auditorium and Brett hollered "STOKES!!!" as I walked down to my seat. I quietly nodded and said "Hey." He laughed, mimicked me and called me demure. It was quite funny, especially since I don't really think I'm demure. But, perhaps, by NYC standards, I am.

This hospital is so different from the one to which I am accustomed in Atlanta. This hospital is a teaching hospital and a research hospital, which completely changes the focus of the care patients receive. As a chaplain, it's a little troubling.

Today was my first day of orientation to my department and as my supervisor was describing the various departments of the hospital to me I realized how real the threat of mass crisis is here. When he described the protocol for crises, the word was not "if" but "when." This hospital sits on top of four Amtrak tunnels, is 10 blocks from the UN and 9/11 was not that long ago. But they don't just think in terms of violent terrorist crises, they also have dealt with crises like the AIDs pandemic. When it broke out the hospital built an extension building with small apartments and studios so that AIDs patients and their households could move in to receive care through the disease and end of life. That was before the new drugs. Now the building has other uses. But in a city this big, in a hospital this big and an institution focused on learning, chaplaincy seems to be a very different thing. There's more grit to the work here. It's exciting and humbling.

Thank God I found the Kmart!

Today is Wednesday and I moved to NYC from Decatur, GA on Monday. It's been a crazy adventure already. I really wish I had photos of my arrival b/c it was ridiculous! I had two duffle bags as big as me, a bike box packed with my bike and all my linens, a giant backpack, a laptop bag stuffed with computer and full sized pillow and a large rolling suitcase.

For those of you saying "I thought you were flying on Sunday!" It's true, that was the plan, but I volunteered my seat when the flight was overbooked and got two free round trip tickets on Airtran, one more night at home and I managed to check an additional bag in the morning for free! How fabulous is that?!

I was greeted at my new apartment by human feces in the entry way and that was exciting. That evening some of my friends made drinks, wonderful salads and drove me to Red Hook in Brooklyn. We picnicked in the park with the latin food trucks that sell amazing tacos and other treats. It was fabulous!!! When I returned home, I was greeted again by the poo and also by a giant rat running around the poo down in the cellar level where my tenement apartment is. And I couldn't get my key to work. Good times. Welcome to New York.

But all is well now. This afternoon I rode the 6 train one stop too far when I was trying to find the Union Square farmers market after work. The stop just after it, the Astor Place stop, has a Kmart! I don't really want to shop at Kmart when I have so many other options here, but it does somehow feel like a security blanket to know it's there if I need it. I did find the farmers market, too, which was also fabulous.