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So I left NY on the very rainy Monday, in my slightly late shuttle bus to the airport. Took hours to get to JFK, I actually fell asleep on the way there. Watched Bride & Prejudice on the flight and thought it was really good, only British film I'd seen all year apart from Bridget Jones 2. Spent 2 days in London, adjusting to the timezone, making friends with a French girl in Kensington and going to the V & A. Back to spending £, which is so bad, I actually convert everything to $ and inwardly despait at how expensive everything is. I start work on Monday though, which should put things back to normal. Too normal. Back to having two jobs and no money. :)

posted by Katie @ 12/15/2004 05:57:00 pm 0 comments

New York

Friday, bus 9am. Arrived before 2pm, went to check out dodgy hotel at 83rd St., moved to slightly less dodgy hotel at 94th street.
NYC Friday 3rd Dec. So having finally sorted ourselves out with somewhere half decent to stay, we took ourselves off to Midtown Manhattan and had much fun wandering round Times Square, finding Christmas decorations and holiday decorated windows to look at, and then went and marvelled at the amazingness of Toys R Us (with its Lego Santa, Barbie House, giant dinosaur and ferris wheel). Then we walked waaaaay back up to 94th St where our dodgy little hotel was located, stopping for Mexican for dinner on the way, going home, adding a few layers of clothing and then going in the ‘Dive bar’ for the cheapest drinks we could possibly find.
Saturday, while David went to the (apparently very nice) NY Public Library to do some work, I took the opportunity to shop around the Christmas market, and then went to try and lose myself amongst the hordes of people around Chinatown and SoHo. Headed back to the hotel (again) to put more clothes on and then went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Where we proceeded to get lost several times, although this is largely my fault. I pretend to have a pretty good sense of direction and that I can read a map, but really this is all a big lie. As my dad will testify when we tried to get back to Auckland from the suburbs, and ended up way across the bridge on our way to the very northern tip of NZ. Saturday night we actually had Afghan food, having walked halfway down Manhattan and suddenly realised it was nearly 10pm and we should probably get some food. Very nice, some kind of spicy fish kebab. We braved the cold enough to go and just stand on the street and watch people walk past, when we heard a voice say 'please take my flyer, my job sucks'. Obviously, I had to go and take the flyer, whih led us to the Ha comedy club half an hour later. Fortunately there were more people there than the one I went to in Auckland. But then this is the middle of New York and people are always looking for something they can actually afford to do. Guess who got to sit right next to here the comedians stood. Me. Oh yes. Almost straight away I was hit with the question, so who's this your boyfriend or your husband, and was momentarily struck dumb. We haven't talked about this, so I was unsure about the usage of the word boyfriend, but had I said anything else you can imagine the piss-taking. So I eventually said boyfriend. Durrr. A few out of the 6 or 7 were really funny, there was obviously some really American things that I just didn't get. I did, however, get to plug the Isle of Man just once, being the only British, or even foreign person there. The guy did not know where it was, so I had to say it was near Liverpool.
Sunday morning I tried to buy things, didn't manage it. There were some things I liked, but when I asked myself the question, do you want to carry it round all day the answer was no so I can't have liked it that much. And I already have a lot of clothes I don't like. Met back up with dave to go and find Gound Zero, Wall St, wander, get ever so slightly lost.Sunday night, had kebab for dinner and went to see Rent. Next time I may opt for the more cheerful looking Lion King but it was good. Monday, I can't even talk about. It rained.

posted by Katie @ 12/08/2004 01:20:00 pm 0 comments

December

Post-Chicago, I saw Karen a few more times, shopping in Georgetown and having my palm read. And on the Tuesday before I left to have a very good Italian dinner after work. Her work not mine. I have yet to get a job. Scooted round the last few of the museums and things I wanted to see in DC, Botanic Gardens, Art Gallery, etc. during the last week. Also went to Arlington Cemetery, got befriended by a park ranger and watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Organised myself and David to go to New York on Dec 3rd.

posted by Katie @ 12/08/2004 01:12:00 pm 0 comments

Chicago

Life began to get very festive whilst I was in Chicago with Juliana. But more on that a little later. I arrived a couple of hours late, due to missing a connection in Cleveland, Ohio. This was partly due to at least 5 people getting on the plane, who actually wanted to go to Newark. Luckily, all but one of them realised their mistake, but we were still pretty late leaving so I missed my connection to Chicago and eventually flew into a different airport. Was picked up from the airport by Juliana and her husband Tim, and was just in time to catch Suzanne before she went home for Thanksgiving so we had a few drinks in an Irish pub. Just like old times I reckon, Irish pubs, random collections of people. Have discovered that people really don't change that much, even in 5 years, and talking to them is just like you didn't just spend over 4 years apart. Spent Tuesday checking out downtown Chicago and then saw the Polar Express and the Imax theatre, the start of feeling Christmassy. And then on Wednesday it snowed! A lot. This started off as heavy rain downtown, where I met Juliana from work, early finish as it was what we would call Thanksgiving Eve. By the time we got back out to hers the world was fully blanketed with snow. Thursday, I had my first ever Thanksgiving, got asked several times by Juliana's small nephew, why I didn't speakl 'English' like everyone else. Flew back to DC on the Friday morning.

posted by Katie @ 12/08/2004 12:53:00 pm 0 comments

OK. Lack of posts lately due to stuff. I am home on Thursday so should be back behind the bar in the Outback Friday night. Emma, if you read this before I email you, I would like the Friday shift please. I'm in New York, my little feet are completely worn out. And I can't believe that I am going home. wow. Got made the butt of a few comedians jokes last night at random comedy club. Going to the theatre right now. Will have to update later on in the week. Byee. Back home soon.

posted by Katie @ 12/05/2004 10:53:00 pm 0 comments