New York

Well hi everybody, as promised here are some tales about New York. But I guess, the pictures also speak for themselves. By the way, if you click ON a picture, it gets bigger, maybe you´ll spot some interesting details. The rose you see at the left is at ground zero. Was very impressive actually. My thinking was Off all the cities in the world, New York must be the most tolerant one. And see what happened there. Furthermore, you see the brooklyn Bridge.. hiphop, jazz, music.. Also a painting I saw at the MoMa museum, the Museum of Modern Arts.. Macke (Hope), Monet, Picasso, Kirchner, Mondriaan, Warhol.. its all there, incredible to see that finally!! I went to Chinatown, where there was a streetfair (the photo with the balloons) and I had several chats and noodles. There{s the neighbourhood-discussionpic about Beirut and Israel, very interesting to read what they say. Theres Carnegie Hall where I went in for free... to see a piano recital of a famous american composer (??) Leon Fleisher. And of course my mom and Josien came for a couple of days to join me and! We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, thanks to Baukejan en Gerlinde. I had a tour in the United Nations building as well, very impressive (The Freedom of Expression-pic). Furthermore I met friends of Nynke´s. Monika and Emon, they took me out for dinner with other friends, we went out as well to a real non-smoking Manhattan-cafe so I got a little impression of New York´s nightlife. Then there was Brooklyn, Soho, Levi´s trousers for 35 dollars and other important things :)





As a whole I think New York is so friendly. At first a got a little scared because the moment I put my foot out of the hostel for the first time, a women came over, asking : are you from Holland? You look SO European!!´. But then I noticed people really laugh to eachother and step aside for eachother on the sidewalk. IN the restaurant there´s free water and bread. Waitresses that are willing to serve you. SO not Amsterdam :) Then there´s the intercultural thing happening everywhere and it doesn´t seem to be a problem or a reason for anxiety. Can´t forget the little food-bar with american music, kosher meat and halal sausages. The black busdrivers that help old posh ladies into their bus and giving all the information about the traffic you want. Funny. Ofcourse I´ve only been there for a short time but still, the atmosphere seemed friendly and tolerant.

So far my New York Tales letting out a lot of stories ofcourse but I guess if I write more it really gets too weary. It's late and my Spanish class is already at eight tomorrow morning. So good night!