Just to add to the above post:
DAVID LETTERMAN'S Top Ten Things Overheard During The New York City Marathon 11/7/05
10. "Thousands of New Yorkers urinating in the street - - Typical Sunday"
9. "Only 25 miles to go"
8. "Wait, I could have taken a bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn?"
7. "These wooden shoes were funny the first half-mile"
6. "Is that the finish line or crime scene tape?"
5. "Bus exhaust make daddy dizzy"
4. "Instead of carbs, I loaded up on Cool Ranch Doritos"
3. "Hello, Triple A? I'm at mile 23 and I need a tow"
2. "Help...Heart...Gonna...splode"
1. "Taxi!"
AND
Race Participation
Record number of race applicants: 87,700
Record number of participants: 37,597
Record number of finishers: 36,894 (24,822 male and 12,072 female)
Professional Athletes
Top Women 2005
1. Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) 2:24:41
2. Susan Chepkemei (KEN) 2:24:55
3. Derartu Tulu (ETH) 2:25:21
Top Men 2005
1. Paul Tergat (KEN) 2:09:30
2. Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) 2:09:31
3. Meb Keflezighi (USA) 2:09:56
Wheelchair Division
W: Edith Hunkeler (SUI) 1:54:51
M: Ernst Van Dyk (RSA) 1:31:10 NEW COURSE RECORD!
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Monday, November 21, 2005
The Smell of Aspercreme in the Air
“What the hell am I doing?”
Was my waking thought at 2:45am on Sunday morning as I climbed out of bed and prepared myself for the long day ahead. While ridding to Staten Island on a charter bus with other half-awake volunteers, I came to terms with the fact that I had, in fact, CHOSEN to get up at an insane hour on a Sunday and decided to make the best of my day. Some 85,000 athletes applied to run in the 2005 New York City Marathon with around 35,000 ultimately accepted to participate. Criteria for acceptance to the marathon was just one of many questions that floated through my mind as I unloaded water palates from a Poland Springs truck at 5:00am. Did they have a quota on how many freckle-faced-red-headed men could participate. Did they need a certain amount of Catholics? Were people turned down because they were from Florida? My mind swarmed as I eyed the field of runners, creating long lists in my head of the things that could separate these athletes from the 50,000 rejected aspiring marathoners.
While drafting marathon rejection letters in my head, I thought also about the marathon event planners and what a great job they had done organizing the event. I found it funny, however, that there were 5 volunteers to unload water at 5:00am but 20 to hand it out at 7:00am. By 8:00am, as the pain in my puny biceps began to fade (only to come back with a vengeance the next morning), I was able to take a break from handing out water to watch as a stream of buses crossed the bridge over to the island, bringing with them thousands upon thousands of runners.
In the staging are there was 35,000 runners and with them came 35,000 different preparation routines. Powerbar vs. Cliff bard, Gatorade vs. Powerade, Nike vs New Balance, … I could smell the focus in the air along with aspercreme, icy hot and other rubs meant to preempt the inevitable pain that was to come with subjecting their body to pavement pounds for twenty-six point two miles. All in all, it was a pretty cool sight, and pretty neat to be a part of such a large event. One ritual they all had in common was shedding at least one item of clothing and leaving it at the start once the race began. Talk about a field day for the Salvation Army! But really, the clothes do get donated and it was pretty awesome to see all these abandoned garments as we loaded the bus to return back to Manhattan.
Because of our valiant efforts early in the morning, all volunteers from the first shift received passes to the Sponsor Bleachers located 90 yards from the finish. Pretty fun to watch these insane individuals as they hit the final stretch in Central Park.
I must say that the downside of handing out water all morning, is that it was readily available (and because, of course, I wanted to market the goods that I was distributing) I drank LOTS and LOTS of water. I drank so much water, it was almost disastrous. You know when you eat too much of something, even if it is yummy, you end up not ever being able to eat it again (or at least not without taking a serious break from it)? Well, while bagels and red licorice were once on my list of delicious, yet undesirable foods, water came dangerously close to joining my current list of great, yet burnt out items, which now includes pizza, tuna fish and microwave chili (the staples of a cheap NYC diet).
Aside from my dangerous near overdoes of Poland Springs water, I had a pretty fun morning watching runners prepare for the race. While I’m not really in to participating in this type of masochistic behavior (my attempt at running cross-country in high school was punishment enough) I enjoyed the beautiful Fall day and all of the excitement, and aspercreme in the air.
Was my waking thought at 2:45am on Sunday morning as I climbed out of bed and prepared myself for the long day ahead. While ridding to Staten Island on a charter bus with other half-awake volunteers, I came to terms with the fact that I had, in fact, CHOSEN to get up at an insane hour on a Sunday and decided to make the best of my day. Some 85,000 athletes applied to run in the 2005 New York City Marathon with around 35,000 ultimately accepted to participate. Criteria for acceptance to the marathon was just one of many questions that floated through my mind as I unloaded water palates from a Poland Springs truck at 5:00am. Did they have a quota on how many freckle-faced-red-headed men could participate. Did they need a certain amount of Catholics? Were people turned down because they were from Florida? My mind swarmed as I eyed the field of runners, creating long lists in my head of the things that could separate these athletes from the 50,000 rejected aspiring marathoners.
While drafting marathon rejection letters in my head, I thought also about the marathon event planners and what a great job they had done organizing the event. I found it funny, however, that there were 5 volunteers to unload water at 5:00am but 20 to hand it out at 7:00am. By 8:00am, as the pain in my puny biceps began to fade (only to come back with a vengeance the next morning), I was able to take a break from handing out water to watch as a stream of buses crossed the bridge over to the island, bringing with them thousands upon thousands of runners.
In the staging are there was 35,000 runners and with them came 35,000 different preparation routines. Powerbar vs. Cliff bard, Gatorade vs. Powerade, Nike vs New Balance, … I could smell the focus in the air along with aspercreme, icy hot and other rubs meant to preempt the inevitable pain that was to come with subjecting their body to pavement pounds for twenty-six point two miles. All in all, it was a pretty cool sight, and pretty neat to be a part of such a large event. One ritual they all had in common was shedding at least one item of clothing and leaving it at the start once the race began. Talk about a field day for the Salvation Army! But really, the clothes do get donated and it was pretty awesome to see all these abandoned garments as we loaded the bus to return back to Manhattan.
Because of our valiant efforts early in the morning, all volunteers from the first shift received passes to the Sponsor Bleachers located 90 yards from the finish. Pretty fun to watch these insane individuals as they hit the final stretch in Central Park.
I must say that the downside of handing out water all morning, is that it was readily available (and because, of course, I wanted to market the goods that I was distributing) I drank LOTS and LOTS of water. I drank so much water, it was almost disastrous. You know when you eat too much of something, even if it is yummy, you end up not ever being able to eat it again (or at least not without taking a serious break from it)? Well, while bagels and red licorice were once on my list of delicious, yet undesirable foods, water came dangerously close to joining my current list of great, yet burnt out items, which now includes pizza, tuna fish and microwave chili (the staples of a cheap NYC diet).
Aside from my dangerous near overdoes of Poland Springs water, I had a pretty fun morning watching runners prepare for the race. While I’m not really in to participating in this type of masochistic behavior (my attempt at running cross-country in high school was punishment enough) I enjoyed the beautiful Fall day and all of the excitement, and aspercreme in the air.
Monday, October 31, 2005
A Laundry List, Implicit is the Adventure
Since I have not really had time to post, here is the laundry list of some of the things that I have been up to in the past month or so (besides homework and my internship) … Sorry for the not-so-fun post, but it is to appease those of you who have been complaining about me not being in touch and not posting. And besides, even though this list is quite boring ... you can only IMAGINE the ridiculous stories behind each event - not to mention the events not listed ...
I hope by getting this post up, I will feel caught up and encouraged to write more in the near future. Until that happens, here you go!
A Roof-top Party in the Village with lots of UN Interns
Central Park 5-mile Walk for Breast Cancer, UN Team
20th Oxy-at-the-UN Anniversary Symposium, reception and dinner with President of the General Assembly of the UN
24-hour trip to Vegas
Consignment Store Shopping in Manhattan, both Downtown and Uptown
3rd Street Flea Market … eating yummy arepas
Mom’s Visit
Toys R Us Ferris Wheel Ride with Mom
Homemade dinner with Erica
Broadway show, Chicago
Broadway show, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Broadway show, Wicked
Playing video games at the Nintendo Store in Rockefeller (close second was sitting for 20 minutes in the massage chairs at Sharper Image)
Laugh Factory, headliner Jimmy “JJ” Walker (the opener was some guy and the “irish girl” from Last Comic Standing)
Opera, La Boheme
Opera, Aida (4 hours long and three intermissions!)
Happy Birthday UN! 60th Anniversary Celebration(s). Best part was the cake.
We are Scientist and Ambulance LTD Concert (I want to marry the lead singer of We are Scientist)
Some Coming Attractions:
Dad’s Visit
Halloween Parade in the Village
Knicks Game
Volunteering for the NYC Marathon
Broadway Show, Avenue Q
22nd Birthday (great excuse to eat cake!0
Aimee Mann Concert
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (and cranberry jelly and vegetarian stuffing … yum!)
Jenn’s Visit
Bright Eyes Concert?
I hope by getting this post up, I will feel caught up and encouraged to write more in the near future. Until that happens, here you go!
A Roof-top Party in the Village with lots of UN Interns
Central Park 5-mile Walk for Breast Cancer, UN Team
20th Oxy-at-the-UN Anniversary Symposium, reception and dinner with President of the General Assembly of the UN
24-hour trip to Vegas
Consignment Store Shopping in Manhattan, both Downtown and Uptown
3rd Street Flea Market … eating yummy arepas
Mom’s Visit
Toys R Us Ferris Wheel Ride with Mom
Homemade dinner with Erica
Broadway show, Chicago
Broadway show, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Broadway show, Wicked
Playing video games at the Nintendo Store in Rockefeller (close second was sitting for 20 minutes in the massage chairs at Sharper Image)
Laugh Factory, headliner Jimmy “JJ” Walker (the opener was some guy and the “irish girl” from Last Comic Standing)
Opera, La Boheme
Opera, Aida (4 hours long and three intermissions!)
Happy Birthday UN! 60th Anniversary Celebration(s). Best part was the cake.
We are Scientist and Ambulance LTD Concert (I want to marry the lead singer of We are Scientist)
Some Coming Attractions:
Dad’s Visit
Halloween Parade in the Village
Knicks Game
Volunteering for the NYC Marathon
Broadway Show, Avenue Q
22nd Birthday (great excuse to eat cake!0
Aimee Mann Concert
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (and cranberry jelly and vegetarian stuffing … yum!)
Jenn’s Visit
Bright Eyes Concert?
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Pictures - September 11th
A little late, however, wanted to get some pictures up. Will post words again soon.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
I travel to work in a Ruby Red Rocketship
I flash my badge and I step in to the lush red capsule. I prefer to travel alone, but I am usually accompanied by others. Traveling with other people generally isn’t a problem (as the capsule can hold 14 people or 3000 lbs, whichever is greater) but I get irritated when passengers have to get off before me. It kind of ruins the rush and with so many stops rarely do you have the chance to hear the wind rushing past, ears popping as you shoot up in to the sky. I understand, however, that they need to get to work too . . . but it really is all I can do to help myself from yelling at them for messing up my ride. Afterall, I travel to work on a Ruby Red Rocketship, and this is the best part of my day.
Is it bad thing that the only two things that I really like about my internship so far are that I get to ride a really fast, lush red elevator and that the view of Manhattan from the women’s lavatory on the twenty-second floor is exquisite? I work in a dusty cubicle, which prior to my arrival was used as a makeshift kitchen. In the past week, at least 20 irritated co-workers have come to my desk asking me what I did with their microwave. My computer and monitor are still sitting on my desk in their IBM boxes, ready to be opened and set-up. But no, no I can’t set it up. I must wait for “IT” to come and put it all together. It has been eight days and I have yet to see “IT” . . . I am pretty sure that “IT” is a mythical creature and doesn’t really exist. I did bribe this guy in my department with the prospect of a snickers bar if he speeds up the process. The transacion via electronic mail went like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Igancio.
Ummm, I'll give you a snickers bar* if you ask the nice IT person to come set-up my computer.
Jessie
*only to be granted if IT person follows through
--------------------------------------------------------------
His Response:
--------------------------------------------------------------
In the works...that bar is as good as mine.
man, feels nice to have a nice new computer...
--------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, I think he will come through for me. When this “IT” finally comes, I also need to ask for an extension number for my phone … the person who had the desk before me took the number with them. Simple things like this, that would make my life easier and more productive, are what contributed to my initial unhappiness. You see, I love my department and the work that it does. . . Who wouldn’t be interested in peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone at a time like this? But as my boss says, “we will get you working on projects as soon as your computer is up and running.” I think to myself, “so, what am I doing in the mean time?”
I actually started this post on a very bad day. After a week of taking initiative and “finding things to do” it gets kind of hard to be positive. Since then, things have improved slightly. The funny thing is though, I went from having no responsibility at all to staying at work until 7:30pm only to get up and be in to work by 7:30am the next day. Famine or flood … that’s the way it goes.
I woke up this morning to an e-mail from one of my bosses (I have three) which was time-stamped 5:45am. The e-mail included the instructions for an assignment that is to be completed by 1pm this afternoon. Mind you, this is not my only deadline due at 1pm today and I was supposed to go see a movie and go on a tour … I just laughed at the irony that it all came at once and went to go brush my teeth. Good times.
Speaking of deadlines, I must finish these reports. President Bush is paying a courtesy call to the UN today before the World Summit begins tomorrow. Security is tight. I swear a secret service guy took my picture when I was walking to work this morning.
I am having a good time and am learning a lot. Sorry this post was slightly complacent, I will send more light-hearted anecdotal notes in the near future. The World Summit this week and the 170+ foreign dignitaries that are descending upon the UN should provide plenty of entertainment.
Until later.
Love and Peace not War,
Jessie
Kofi Sightings: 2
Is it bad thing that the only two things that I really like about my internship so far are that I get to ride a really fast, lush red elevator and that the view of Manhattan from the women’s lavatory on the twenty-second floor is exquisite? I work in a dusty cubicle, which prior to my arrival was used as a makeshift kitchen. In the past week, at least 20 irritated co-workers have come to my desk asking me what I did with their microwave. My computer and monitor are still sitting on my desk in their IBM boxes, ready to be opened and set-up. But no, no I can’t set it up. I must wait for “IT” to come and put it all together. It has been eight days and I have yet to see “IT” . . . I am pretty sure that “IT” is a mythical creature and doesn’t really exist. I did bribe this guy in my department with the prospect of a snickers bar if he speeds up the process. The transacion via electronic mail went like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Igancio.
Ummm, I'll give you a snickers bar* if you ask the nice IT person to come set-up my computer.
Jessie
*only to be granted if IT person follows through
--------------------------------------------------------------
His Response:
--------------------------------------------------------------
In the works...that bar is as good as mine.
man, feels nice to have a nice new computer...
--------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, I think he will come through for me. When this “IT” finally comes, I also need to ask for an extension number for my phone … the person who had the desk before me took the number with them. Simple things like this, that would make my life easier and more productive, are what contributed to my initial unhappiness. You see, I love my department and the work that it does. . . Who wouldn’t be interested in peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone at a time like this? But as my boss says, “we will get you working on projects as soon as your computer is up and running.” I think to myself, “so, what am I doing in the mean time?”
I actually started this post on a very bad day. After a week of taking initiative and “finding things to do” it gets kind of hard to be positive. Since then, things have improved slightly. The funny thing is though, I went from having no responsibility at all to staying at work until 7:30pm only to get up and be in to work by 7:30am the next day. Famine or flood … that’s the way it goes.
I woke up this morning to an e-mail from one of my bosses (I have three) which was time-stamped 5:45am. The e-mail included the instructions for an assignment that is to be completed by 1pm this afternoon. Mind you, this is not my only deadline due at 1pm today and I was supposed to go see a movie and go on a tour … I just laughed at the irony that it all came at once and went to go brush my teeth. Good times.
Speaking of deadlines, I must finish these reports. President Bush is paying a courtesy call to the UN today before the World Summit begins tomorrow. Security is tight. I swear a secret service guy took my picture when I was walking to work this morning.
I am having a good time and am learning a lot. Sorry this post was slightly complacent, I will send more light-hearted anecdotal notes in the near future. The World Summit this week and the 170+ foreign dignitaries that are descending upon the UN should provide plenty of entertainment.
Until later.
Love and Peace not War,
Jessie
Kofi Sightings: 2
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Ambassadors, To Do Lists and Broadway Musicals
"Hello, Ambassador" (former Ambassador to Sierra Leone, John Hirsch says in passing someone in the hallway)"Oh, by the way, that was the Jordanian Ambassador"(said in an as-casual-as-one-can-be tone).
Ambassador Hirsch gave Ashley and I our staff tour of the UN today (as we now have our passes and can go "behind closed doors") so we got lots of usefull (and useless) information about the UN. Over lunch, the useful (and useless) information continued as we learned all about the city and things that we should do in our (spare) time here.
That's right we are full fledged interns, badges and all.
So we had lunch with Hirsch, attempted to shop for books at the UN bookstore (although we were easially distracted by shiney objects, such as cool pins and postcards) and then rushed to Broadway to try and get Rush tickets to see "Avenue Q". We didn't win the lottery for cheap tickets, so we went to the TKTS booth and bought half-price tickets to Hairspray.
We had a good time at the show and now I am about to crash and burn. Lots to do, so very little time.
E-mail or call me if I seem out of touch ... I am deeply distracted.
For now.
Love and Broadway,
Jessie
Ambassador Hirsch gave Ashley and I our staff tour of the UN today (as we now have our passes and can go "behind closed doors") so we got lots of usefull (and useless) information about the UN. Over lunch, the useful (and useless) information continued as we learned all about the city and things that we should do in our (spare) time here.
That's right we are full fledged interns, badges and all.
So we had lunch with Hirsch, attempted to shop for books at the UN bookstore (although we were easially distracted by shiney objects, such as cool pins and postcards) and then rushed to Broadway to try and get Rush tickets to see "Avenue Q". We didn't win the lottery for cheap tickets, so we went to the TKTS booth and bought half-price tickets to Hairspray.
We had a good time at the show and now I am about to crash and burn. Lots to do, so very little time.
E-mail or call me if I seem out of touch ... I am deeply distracted.
For now.
Love and Broadway,
Jessie
Monday, August 29, 2005
How Come the Dove Gets to be the Peace Symbol?
"How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn't have that dangerous beak."
-- Jack Handey
On Sunday my plane arrived in to JFK at 5:20am, the sun had not yet decided whether or not to rise, the skyline twinkled with city lights against the dark backdrop of another day gone by and another about to begin. When the plane landed … I stepped off … thus starting my semester's adventure in New York City.
Before I go on to tell you about my first days here, I must share that the flight across the country was not completely void of entertainment. Checking in at PDX I asked the ticketing agent to place me in the most comfortable seats for overnight travel, ie. a row where there was an empty seat next to me (to ensure I didn’t get stuck directly next to THAT guy). I was flying two hours to Salt Lake City and then leaving Salt Lake at 11pm to fly red-eye to New York. The woman was able to get me in a row alone to Salt Lake but not to New York, as that flight was oversold and therefore completely packed with warm, sweaty and inevitably overweight people.
I took full advantage of the three seats that I had to myself on the two-hour jaunt to Salt Lake. I laid down and watched The Motorcycle Diaries and daydreamed about traveling across Latin America. I sat through my layover in Salt Lake (a friend was supposed to meet me at the airport for coffee, but she bailed. Punk.) and boarded the plane to New York without incident.
The plane’s seats were set-up 2-3-2 with aisle in between each set of seats. I was seated in a row of two next to a young foreign woman (I would guess from the Balkans or Eastern Europe by her accent) who was traveling to her first year of law school in New York City. We didn’t talk long because we both began to hunker down while the captain completed his final checks. Before the plane was able to push back from the jet way a piece of paneling INSIDE the plane fell of the ceiling and bounced off the guys seat in front of us, and hit the young girl on the head. Now, it was light and she was fine … but there lay a 6”x8’ piece of PLANE. Again, I REITERATE (before you call me a heartless bitch) that the girl was fine. The stewardess was called and came to her attention. The young woman swore she was fine and great to fly. The woman rushed away and went to the front of the plane. She came back a few minutes later to inform the young woman that she had to deplane and that the pilot would not fly with someone who had a potential head injury. The woman argued with the stewardess, but to no avail. She stormed to the front of the plane, and that was the last I saw of her. Mind you, as she was grabbing her bag from the overhead bin above our row she sneered something to the effect of “just wait until I make this my first case in law school”, which I thought was quite funny. She will be a great lawyer someday, I can tell. Now here comes the part where you may think I am heartless … I internally rejoiced that I could now lay down and sleep my way to New York as I had the ONLY EMPTY SEAT ON THE PLANE next to me. And it was a beautiful sleep, indeed.
But anyway, what would a plane flight be without shit falling from the sky and threats of a lawsuit?
So here I am, New York. I am writing from my bed in my cozy little room (see pictures included) and I am trying to write fast as I need to get to bed, I have a meeting tomorrow morning!
Ashley and I spent yesterday and today unpacking, rearranging our rooms (which are across the hall from one another) and running errands for the program. We live in midtown Manhattan on the Eastside, just two blocks from the UN. It’s great because we are so close to many of the main attractions. Around the corner from us is the Empire State Building, it takes five minutes to Grand Central Station and maybe fifteen minutes to walk to Times Square.
Tomorrow Ashley and I have our meeting with Ambassador Hirsch and Professor Formerand to discuss logistics and everyone else arrives this weekend. Next Tuesday I start my internship. I will be working in the Secretariat for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations for West Africa (which for this means Sierra Leone with particular focus on Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia).
In the days and weeks to come I will try to post more about my internship as well as many light hearted stories of my experiences in the city (for instance, today I called a woman’s child a girl when it was a boy … no, it was not a bald gender ambiguous baby … it was a two-year old boy who looked like a girl … )
For now, it is bedtime for me.
Love and Apples,
Jessie
**I saw Alyce on Sunday after I moved in to the Y. We had lunch in Riverside Park on the Hudson River … tomorrow night is her birthday dinner and so we will get to go out one more time before she leaves for South Africa. Yay! I also have gone out to dinner with Erica (yes, freshman year roommate Erica ... AWESIYA!) and plan to see Nick Vance tomorrow night (he lives near Alyce).
**My address, if you want to send love letters, is:
Jessie Evans
c/o Vanderbilt YMCA- Eastside Residence, Room 868
224 East 47th Street
New York City, NY 10017
No .. I was not trying to look cool on my cell phone for the photo. I got a call and Ashley thought it would be cute. Thanks, Ash :-P
-- Jack Handey
On Sunday my plane arrived in to JFK at 5:20am, the sun had not yet decided whether or not to rise, the skyline twinkled with city lights against the dark backdrop of another day gone by and another about to begin. When the plane landed … I stepped off … thus starting my semester's adventure in New York City.
Before I go on to tell you about my first days here, I must share that the flight across the country was not completely void of entertainment. Checking in at PDX I asked the ticketing agent to place me in the most comfortable seats for overnight travel, ie. a row where there was an empty seat next to me (to ensure I didn’t get stuck directly next to THAT guy). I was flying two hours to Salt Lake City and then leaving Salt Lake at 11pm to fly red-eye to New York. The woman was able to get me in a row alone to Salt Lake but not to New York, as that flight was oversold and therefore completely packed with warm, sweaty and inevitably overweight people.
I took full advantage of the three seats that I had to myself on the two-hour jaunt to Salt Lake. I laid down and watched The Motorcycle Diaries and daydreamed about traveling across Latin America. I sat through my layover in Salt Lake (a friend was supposed to meet me at the airport for coffee, but she bailed. Punk.) and boarded the plane to New York without incident.
The plane’s seats were set-up 2-3-2 with aisle in between each set of seats. I was seated in a row of two next to a young foreign woman (I would guess from the Balkans or Eastern Europe by her accent) who was traveling to her first year of law school in New York City. We didn’t talk long because we both began to hunker down while the captain completed his final checks. Before the plane was able to push back from the jet way a piece of paneling INSIDE the plane fell of the ceiling and bounced off the guys seat in front of us, and hit the young girl on the head. Now, it was light and she was fine … but there lay a 6”x8’ piece of PLANE. Again, I REITERATE (before you call me a heartless bitch) that the girl was fine. The stewardess was called and came to her attention. The young woman swore she was fine and great to fly. The woman rushed away and went to the front of the plane. She came back a few minutes later to inform the young woman that she had to deplane and that the pilot would not fly with someone who had a potential head injury. The woman argued with the stewardess, but to no avail. She stormed to the front of the plane, and that was the last I saw of her. Mind you, as she was grabbing her bag from the overhead bin above our row she sneered something to the effect of “just wait until I make this my first case in law school”, which I thought was quite funny. She will be a great lawyer someday, I can tell. Now here comes the part where you may think I am heartless … I internally rejoiced that I could now lay down and sleep my way to New York as I had the ONLY EMPTY SEAT ON THE PLANE next to me. And it was a beautiful sleep, indeed.
But anyway, what would a plane flight be without shit falling from the sky and threats of a lawsuit?
So here I am, New York. I am writing from my bed in my cozy little room (see pictures included) and I am trying to write fast as I need to get to bed, I have a meeting tomorrow morning!
Ashley and I spent yesterday and today unpacking, rearranging our rooms (which are across the hall from one another) and running errands for the program. We live in midtown Manhattan on the Eastside, just two blocks from the UN. It’s great because we are so close to many of the main attractions. Around the corner from us is the Empire State Building, it takes five minutes to Grand Central Station and maybe fifteen minutes to walk to Times Square.
Tomorrow Ashley and I have our meeting with Ambassador Hirsch and Professor Formerand to discuss logistics and everyone else arrives this weekend. Next Tuesday I start my internship. I will be working in the Secretariat for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations for West Africa (which for this means Sierra Leone with particular focus on Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia).
In the days and weeks to come I will try to post more about my internship as well as many light hearted stories of my experiences in the city (for instance, today I called a woman’s child a girl when it was a boy … no, it was not a bald gender ambiguous baby … it was a two-year old boy who looked like a girl … )
For now, it is bedtime for me.
Love and Apples,
Jessie
**I saw Alyce on Sunday after I moved in to the Y. We had lunch in Riverside Park on the Hudson River … tomorrow night is her birthday dinner and so we will get to go out one more time before she leaves for South Africa. Yay! I also have gone out to dinner with Erica (yes, freshman year roommate Erica ... AWESIYA!) and plan to see Nick Vance tomorrow night (he lives near Alyce).
**My address, if you want to send love letters, is:
Jessie Evans
c/o Vanderbilt YMCA- Eastside Residence, Room 868
224 East 47th Street
New York City, NY 10017
No .. I was not trying to look cool on my cell phone for the photo. I got a call and Ashley thought it would be cute. Thanks, Ash :-P
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