I’ve now been in New York for almost two months – and it’s been a very full two months. If I tried to write it all down I’d be here until Christmas so here are some highlights…

First impressions of New York seem to present it as a fairly safe city – admittedly there are places I wouldn’t wander into, especially at night (at least not without a couple of shotguns), but on the whole I’ve walked round places, especially in Manhattan, at night and not felt threatened. Admittedly there are a good number of oddballs but these seem to be harmless folk.

It’s also a friendlier city than is often portrayed. There are obnoxious characters but the large majority of the people I’ve met are incredibly friendly. That said the girl who served me in the supermarket at the weekend was a bit on the miserable side – when I arrived with my shopping she gave me a look as if I’d just insulted her mother and then proceeded to scan my stuff as if it was the most painful task she’d ever endured…

The English accent is certainly an interesting thing as well…on one side it’s a great conversational asset but also there are a fair amount of people who struggle to fully understand it…I was at an American football game on Saturday and went to buy some food from a stand where I saw that an option of ‘sausage and peppers’ was offered, which appealed more than the standard soggy hotdog. Thus I went up to the server and asked him for the aforementioned item to which he produced a bottle of doctor pepper and looked at me in a rather confused manner when I explained the mistake. My second attempt to order the food failed again so I gave up and ordered a pizza from another food stand instead.

Talking of American football I can’t say that it appeals as much as to me as it does to the American population. It’s a very stop, start game and as soon as it gets exciting the referee blows his whistle for some massively obscure foul (such as kicking the ball too high and accidently hitting a passing pigeon) and stops the game which is a bit on the annoying side. I’m trying to convince my friends at work that rugby and football (soccer…) are far superior games but am not having much luck.

I’ve now found accommodation in Brooklyn which is all good. It’s just within the boundaries of the Park Slope area which is one of the nicer areas of the Borough. It’s close to Prospect Park as well which is a bit like Central Park, but in Brooklyn (surprisingly!). I was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for August, and was staying with a family friend for July so it’s good to have somewhere longer term. I also managed to acquisition a bed from someone who was moving out in the same area, although as the guy lived in a different part of the neighbourhood the problem of getting it down four avenue blocks and across five streets was a bit of a challenge…until we utilised an abandoned trolley that we found. I’ve certainly felt less conspicuous in my life than I did transporting a bed on a trolley through the streets of Brooklyn…

The subway is quite an interesting beast as well. On the weekdays it’s pretty darn efficient and the length and variation of the lines mean you can get around the city and its boroughs at quite a pace. However, it’s not the cleanest place I’ve ever been to. Some stations (the 59th street station is probably the best example) absolutely reek of something awful. As one of my work colleagues pointed out, it smells as if something’s died and been left to donate its smell to the passing population. The subway performers/beggars/weirdoes are also quite something as well.

I’ve also been going to a church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for the last few weeks which has been great. It’s called Christ Church NYC (http://www.christchurchnyc.com/) and is an offshoot of Redeemer church, one of the biggest churches in New York, and is great for its focus on the awesome teaching of the Bible.
In fact, these couple of months have really grounded my faith in Christ more than ever before. There have been a couple of situations/decisions where I’ve really had to trust in God and he’s really shown me how awesome he is and how my trust in him is certainly not wasted!

This is rather a long update with not that much of the last two months in it, but over the course of the year I’ll try and keep this updated – hopefully it’ll give a taste of the rather diverse and fascinating nature of New York life…