Serendipity
In the Land of Do-and-Wear-As-You-Please
Finally, I've fully recovered from a mild case of jetlag. 'Mild' because I do sleep late back home, so except for my early morning migraine headaches and waking up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. during my first week here in the US, I really didn't have a hard time adjusting to the time zone. Believe it or not, but 13 hours after I got out of the JFK airport, I again left for Kansas to attend my brother's Recognition Ceremony from Kansas U (way to go Nol!). My sister and I went back to NJ the next day and had a lousy five-hour lay over in Milwaukee before finally touching terra firma in Newark. My head was reeling from nausea and exhaustion, but I'm happy to say I survived. At least, this time, I didn't have to get shots from a Korean doctor who couldn't speak a word of English (one of the most humiliating experiences I ever had was when I got a shot in the butt at the Incheon International Airport in Korea because of my killer migraines) -- but that's another story.
So, here I am again. I call myself the "seasonal New Yorker". "Seasonal" because every year or so, I take a reprieve away from the land of my birth as well as from the P33+ price of gas, deadlines, almost daily brown-outs, demanding clients, disgusting chismis about disgusting people and the insufferable heat. Geographically, I'm in New Jersey right now, but the city is just 15 min. away, so there's really nowhere else to go but in Manhattan. I'm staying at my sister's place, a place that has, for me, one of the best views in the world. Separated just by the Hudson River, the Manhattan skyline is breathtakingly near. Well, call it exaggeration, but from where I am, it looks as if I could literally touch New York with my hands.
The only downside of this trip is the fact that I wasn't able to bring my dear husband and my kids along. So everyday since I got here, I just console myself with the universal truth that distance actually makes the heart grow fonder. Besides, I'm just a webcam away (or better yet, a dial via-Skype away) -- the world is not called a 'global village' for nothing.
During my first New York escapade, as I was walking along 5th Ave., I felt a freedom I've never felt in a long time. There's something about New York that makes me want to jump for joy, clap my hands and laugh out loud. This city is so alive and so full of life! In fact, for me, New York is so much like life: fast, colorful, strange and riddled with all that's good and bad and excessive. It's a melting pot of people from all over the world (and the universe for all I know if you believe in that sci-fi bull-crap) -- everyone paying homage to the city-god that is New York.
Where else is diversity more accepted and embraced than here? Where else will you see people from different countries, races, ethnicities, beliefs and cultures converge without delineation or discrimination but here in New York? And where else will you see a motley of people who dress up in whatever way they like and act whichever way they want but here in NY? A perfect example: the other day I was walking along Times Square (this is the tourist belt of NY, so expect to get your toes squished especially when you're wearing flip-flops) and guess what I saw -- a black transsexual who was wearing a blond wig and 4-inch stilettos was bashing the head of a Latino teenager. There were mixed reactions from the crowd, some gleefully gathered around the two as if they were watching a wrestling match in the WWF and some were like me, mortified and disgusted by the whole scene.
And of course, since this is supposed to be the "fashion capital of the world", you'll see all kinds of people wearing all sorts of outfits -- from the fabulous to the far-out, the stylish to the downright stupid. I can't even begin to explain some of the ensembles I've seen from my daily jaunts in the city. But of course, the de rigueur here, what with summer and all is to show as much skin as you possibly can without getting arrested (as if you will). My pet peeves? Women who show 70% of their boobs with low-cut, midriff tops and sausage-tight clothes. And here in NY, they're a dime a dozen -- this place is indeed body, booby and booty central. Call me conservative, but women, in order to be respected, should draw the line somewhere.
And yet, somehow, in spite of all these seemingly anarchic "do-and-wear-as-you-please" vibe, there's an almost tangible 'orderliness' or whatever you call it in New York that cannot be felt in even the most 'behaved' cities in the world. I don't know if it's just me (and because I'm crazier than most people), but I think NY is like an orderly universe composed of systematically arranged chaos. And, with all of its noise, smells, sights and sounds -- this land of do-and-wear-as-you-please is where I am, and where I want to be (ok, only up until the next few months or so, that is).