Hot Child in the City

Day Two

Whew. I have been in New York for less than 36 hours and I am exhausted.

Garrett and his friend from high school picked Elke and I up from the airport. We went straight to our apartment, which is the most insane thing I have ever seen. We're cat-sitting for Elke's dad's cousin, and her husband is an actuary. They have a house in Bali, which is where they are right now, and they have all this crazy Balinesian stuff in their house. There are creepy crazy masks and trinkets and paintings and clothes and books just EVERYWHERE. They even have a mirrored wall in their bedroom. Also, they have no kids, so their two cats (one of whom, Lulu, only has 3 legs due to a bout with cancer) are extremely spoiled. There are roughly 15 bowls of food lining the main hallway (which is only about 20 feet long) and even more in other parts of the very small apartment. Oh, and they NEVER cook, so their refrigerator is OVERFLOWING with condiments. They've got shit I've never even heard of.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing the apartment, I vacuumed my room and sprayed it with allergen reducer to make it safe enough for me to sleep there (I am VERY VERY allergic to cats). And then we were off.

We went to Garrett's friend's apartment in Brooklyn to smoke and then went to this INSANE Indian restaurant for dinner. We walked in and saw this:



That picture is of almost the entire place and it doesn't even begin to show the insanity of the decor. We pretended it was Elke's birthday and they turned off all the lights but a strobe light and turned on Indian music chanting "Happy Birthday" and then gave us free ice cream. It was nuts. And the food was some of the most delicious I've ever eaten.

Then we went back to Brooklyn to pick up some stuff we had left behind. We hung out for a bit, and then Me, Elke and Garrett headed back uptown to where we're staying (Upper West Side Manhattan - very posh). We just hung out here for a bit. Drank some rum. Smoked some pot. It's amazing - it was completely silent last night outside. Our neighborhood is in a wealthy, Jewish residential area. So while that means it's safe, it also means that it was quieter last night in our neighborhood here than it probably was back in our neighborhood in Athens.

Then we all went to bed. It was nice. Garrett and I went to sleep soon after all the Etc., but we slept curled up together most of the night, which is something we almost never do. It was great to see him again - it helped me remember why I liked him. But I don't want to bore anyone with the mushy stuff. Let's just say we are every bit as close as we once were - and maybe even more so.

This morning we set off to buy some essentials. First we went to a flea market that was supposed to be a mini-farmer's market, but we didn't find anything. So instead we headed out to Canal Street to buy a pipe, since we couldn't bring one on the plane. We ended up getting a really sweet deal on a bubbler with a sidecar.

Garrett left soon after that to go back to Jersey for work tomorrow. Elke and I wondered around SoHo to shop a little bit, but we were still so exhausted that we headed home after just a little bit. We went grocery shopping on the way home and that's where we are now.

All I can really say about the city so far is that it's exhuasting. We're not wealthy enough for cabs, which means we have to either take the subway or walk everywhere we go. I wish someone had told me that along with saving money I should have been doing aerobics conditioning or something.

We're staying in tonight to relax. Neither of us slept much the last two nights because of early flights and foreign beds and we're really not used to walking so much. But I'm not complaining. I'm sure we'll get used to it - maybe I just won't get much use out of the 6 pairs of heels I brought with me.

posted by Megan @ 8:32 PM