New York!

I have visited New York twice in the last two months. I had visited over a year before and it was a very different experience for me. The first time I visited it was in the middle of winter and being a true Nigerian I hid in my hotel room throughout my visit only venturing out for a quick meal and to attend a wedding which was why I had come!

Thankfully the next two visits which are my latest were during summer and I can say I really saw New York mostly during the first. I had the company of two friends who showed me around and I can comfortably say I will not get lost if I ever have to come back and visit!

My first impression of New York was that it reminded me a great deal of Lagos. The sights and the sounds, are almost exactly identical. Just exchange the yoruba and hausa spoken on the streets with some ebonics and an american accent and you might as well be strolling down Broad street in Lagos. The hustle and bustle, impersonal contact and everyone hurrying as if the devil is after them is the same down to the letter' T'. It reminded me of why I ran from Lagos at the very first chance I got.

I arrived by bus at Grand Central Station during my first visit and within 10minutes, I kid you not I had been approached twice by panhandlers with the same sob story. I emptied my pockets for the first guy (thankfully I did not have too much on me) but it was only when I was approached by the second man I realized I had fallen for an age old trick. I stood for a few minutes waiting for a friend who was coming to pick me up and I was chatted up by a young man who described his line of business as being a 'supervisor'. When I asked him what he supervised he was vague with his responses. I may not be street wise but I guessed pretty fast that he was a drug peddler! When he took off (after telling me to wait for him) I took off in the opposite direction as fast as my tiny legs would carry me! I missed my friend in the process and had to describe where I was afresh:) Fear can do wonders!

Anyway besides that I had a wonderful time and I actually grew fond of New York before I had to go back home:). Thanks to all my friends who showed me around and gave me the time of my life! Enjoy the pictures!

Music in the Station! I loved bumping into bands like this!

The Manhattan Bridge. I wanted to walk over the Brooklyn bridge but could not. I hope to do so on a return trip!

An awesome exhibit of the human body! No pictures allowed! It was like seeing dissections again but this time with beauty and art incorporated! Highly recommended!

A contortionist at the South Street SeaPort! Ehlers Danlos on display!

The contortionist in the barrel. I could not watch it all, it freaked me out!:)!

The water taxis conveying passengers from New Jersey to New York and back. Lagos wake up o!

South Street Seaport!


The Manhattan sky line- more like the Trump sky line!





I will add some more pictures of other sights and sounds of New York in a few days hopefully!

Comments

  1. Prism of an Immigrant6:43 PM

    Nice pictures. Lol at the contortionist. The guy try o.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Death III

Image
In recounting my near misses, I can't but think of how many other misses I am unaware of. As a child, I was the only one who was hospitalized a few times compared to my siblings and cousins. I cannot remember if I ever felt sick enough to be at deaths door, but I do know I disliked getting injections. During one of my trips to the hospital I was to receive a Novalgin injection, for those of you old enough to remember Novalgin, it was the most painful torturous injection ever. I screamed hell and blue murder as the nurse approached with a Novalgin shot. 'I don't take injections', I lamented in my most piteous voice, you would think anyone with a heart would see the tears and back down but those nurses were a special breed. After a few minutes of my temporary madness, my father was summoned, it took just one look from him and I accepted the drilling of the syringe through my marrow (that was what it felt like) without as much as a squeak. The feeling Novalgin gave your bu...
Read more

Death 5

Image
Over the past few years, I have observed with much more attention, the passage of generations. I listened to the retirement speech of an old teacher of mine in medical school. She spoke about wondering why a classmate of hers in high school was bereft because her father had died in his 50s. Her own parents were in their 30s and according to her, she thought 50 was ancient. She tactlessly commented about her friends grief wondering why she was so distraught. She made us all laugh when she mentioned that now at the age of 70, she does not count herself as one of the ancients. My job brings me face to face with death on a daily basis and this has spurred me to put my house in order. I have had documents prepared for the disposal of my earthly benefits and I have appointed financial and health power of attorneys. I mention, like I mentioned in my last post to prevent the DMs that never fail to follow these posts, that I am not actively dying but I think preparing for death is as important ...
Read more

My Mother Tongue!

I grew up speaking English as my first language and I can tell you that is one fact I am not proud about. I remember once when we were much younger shouting out the only Yoruba words we knew as children 'olosi', 'oloriburuku' etc. My grandmother came out of the house hurriedly to put a stop to our foolishness, what on earth did we think we were doing? she asked, our reply still puts a smile on my face 'we are speaking Yoruba' we replied. My lack of proficiency in speaking Yoruba ( I can write it:) is revealed anytime I speak to my patients. When our conversation is not just me answering in monosyllables, I begin to speak rapidly in my mother tongue but by the end of my first two sentences, I hear myself stuttering and stammering and Im wondering if the patients don't think this doctor is having a sudden attack of catatonia! My Yoruba teacher in Secondary school summed up my Yoruba speaking prowess to my parents during an open day 'She is a good student b...
Read more