Beitlers in NYC

I admit to being a mail procrastinator. I procrastinate taking things to the post office. I even procrastinated putting things in the mailbox outside my house. When we first ordered Netflix, I worried that I would procrastinate putting my movies in the mail and would never have movies to watch. I didn’t though. I instead became methodical about Netflix. I opened the enveloped a certain way – I tore off everything that didn’t get mailed back. And as soon as I finished watching a movie, I put the movie back in the envelope and sealed it. Then before going to bed I put the red envelope by the front door. We grew to love Netflix because we almost always had new movies in the house.

But, of course, everything is different in NYC. In this case, there is no mailbox outside our front door. Sure we have a mailbox on the first floor, but that is only for incoming mail. To put letters, or in this case, movies, in the mail, we must take them to a blue mailbox. Well, just our luck there’s not one on our street. Luckily, there’s one on Girts’s route to the subway, so he usually takes the mail. Unfortunately, the last time Girts attempted to mail the movies, the mailbox was full. The mailbox was full. Have you ever heard of one of those blue mailboxes being full? I think that warrants an, “only in New York,” statement.

Girts came down with a cold this week and actually stayed home from work today, so that left me the chore of mailing the movies. So I grabbed the moves on my way out the door and actually looked for a mailbox the whole way to the subway. This took a lot of concentration on my part because it tore me away from my usual people-watching.  No mailbox. I got off the subway and walked my usual route to NYU and kept asking myself, “where’s a damn mailbox?”  Repeating this phrase helped me maintain focus.  Also, I was really irritated because I didn’t want to travel with the movies all day, especially considering the density of my backpack. Then, right as I was about to enter Bobst Library, voila, the glorious blue box appeared. At least I now know that there is one on my route, too!  Not that I will voluntarily take the mail, but just in case.

(Courtesy of The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

It was really hard for me to sell my Jeep. I loved that Liberty. Thankfully I sold it to a friend! Other than loving that specific vehicle, I really looked forward to not having a car to deal with when we made the decision to move to NYC. First of all, we’re saving about $500 a month – that takes into consideration two unlimited monthly metro passes. I can only imagine how much money we would be saving if Girts and I had long commutes when we lived in Seattle. As I live here, I learn other benefits to being a straphanger:

1) great people watching – I can’t even begin to chronicle the funny situations I’ve witnessed on the subway. One particularly funny scene… late one night an older, somewhat unkempt man was sleeping on the subway and kept moving his leg back and forth, like he couldn’t control it. At the next stop a young, very well-groomed man sat at a seat on the row perpendicular to the older man. The older man’s leg kept bumping the younger man’s leg. The younger man made these faces like you wouldn’t believe, but he didn’t move even though there were plenty of empty seats. Another man, who was sitting behind the older man, did get up and move after the older man head-butted him from behind. The greasy hair inspired a hilarious look of disgust.

2) if people-watching isn’t your thing…reading and iPods are also a popular subway activity

3) no worries about drinking and driving – Girts and I have been out late on numerous occasions and we didn’t have to worry about who needed to stop drinking when. In my case, if I was driving, I wouldn’t be able to drink at all.

4) no worries about where to park

5) no maintenance – no trips for oil changes, tire rotation, tune-ups, and no need to pay anything for the above maintenance.

6) limited contribution to global warming – you know mass transit and all

7) better legs – as convenient as the subway system in NYC is, I’m still forced to walk more, which means I’m in better shape

8) no gym fees – see above. No need to join a gym if you’re walking a lot. The four flights of stairs we climb to get to our apartment help, too!

9) no car accidents – my family has this horrible habit of worrying about people getting in car accidents. I no longer have to worry about Girts colliding with a drunk driver on his way home from work.

10) it’s a passive commute – this means that in addition to being able to people watch, read, and listen to music, there’s less stress. No worrying about traffic, other drivers, or running out of gas.

I’ve been without my car since June 11th. In fact, I haven’t driven since then. And I have to say I haven’t missed it. I thought I would at some point, but I really don’t. This summer I worried that when I finally started school and had to be somewhere at a certain time, I would miss my car. I do kind of miss the three minute commute, but my commute now gets me out into the busy city of New York and the route I take to my classes leads me through Washington Square Park, one of my favorite places in the city. So I guess that means good riddance.

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Our last day in Rhode Island was spent in Providence. We started at The Coffee Exchange, with the best coffee we’ve had since moving. Next, we drove to the mall and parked Scott and Maria’s car – I still can’t believe they let us borrow their car! Then we walked through downtown Providence, which is very old and actually quite small. It’s also very red because of the many brick buildings that line its streets. After walking through Providence we reached the river and the Riverwalk, but before setting out on the Riverwalk, we needed to fill our tummies. Plus, it was raining again. So we stopped at Hemenways for lunch. After lunch we set out on our walk, and luckily, the rain slowed to a drizzle – much more like Seattle weather!

The Riverwalk was built when Providence revitalized its downtown, I think about 10 years ago. It is beautiful. And apparently on nice summer nights gas lights that run through the center of the river are lit. That would be a sight to see.

Midway through the Riverwalk we detoured through Brown, which is just a few blocks from downtown Providence. It started to rain again as we wandered through orientation groups made up of new freshmen and their parents. It made me think of my own orientation that would be later that week. Of course, my orientation wouldn’t include a tour, just a lot of information doctoral students need to know with coffee, free food, and later in the day, wine. I guess it’s nice to be an adult student!

After escaping the rain for a short time in the Brown bookstore, we returned to downtown Providence and completed the Riverwalk. It ends near the mall and capitol building. We wandered the mall for a short time, then returned to Maria and Scott’s house, packed, and took a cab to the train station. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Providence, I definitely recommend it. It’s a beautiful little city that can be enjoyed in a day of walking.

This weekend our adventure mostly took place in Rhode Island, although we did sneak into Massachusetts for a small portion of the trip. My goal for the weekend was to get good lobster. Isn’t that the quintessential thing to do as a tourist in New England? Anyway, we started our touring in Newport, where all the old rich have mansions. After somewhat orienting ourselves in Newport, we turned down mansion-street (I think it’s actually named Bellevue Drive) and decided to park at the Astor’s place. To go into the mansion you have to pay $18. We passed. But we walked through the yard and ended up on a walkway that runs between the Atlantic and all of the mansions. We surprisingly saw some surfers, however, not surprisingly, none of them caught any waves. Then it started to rain. Again. I don’t think I have mentioned the rain yet, but the NE had a VERY rainy week. Up to this point we had been troopers in the rain, partly because we were driving, but this time we forgot our umbrellas in the car. With wet hair and running mascara, I was done looking at rich people’s houses and ready to retreat to the car.

Next on the agenda was lunch. We were told that Flo’s Clam Shack would have lobster, so after winding around Newport, we asked for directions and were off to Flo’s. Disappointingly, Flo’s did not have lobster. So, and this is for the Eckstein crew, we ordered FRIED CLAMS instead. We also ordered stuffies, which are quahogs stuffed with breading, sausage, quahog meat, and chiles. They are a Portuguese specialty and apparently Rhode Island has a large population of Portuguese people.

Lunch

After lunch we strolled around Newport (in the rain) for about an hour and were on the road again. Our next destination involved looping through Little Compton, an area in Rhode Island with quaint villages, wineries, and a lot of very old cemeteries. We stopped at one winery, Sakonnet, for a tasting, then we ran out of time. Everything closed at 5:00 pm and we didn’t get a very early start. Oh well, we were ready for lobster anyway.

Our next recommendation for lobster was The Back Eddy. Finally our tourist-inspired lobster craving was satisfied! Our platter came with a 1.5# lobster, sausage, little necks, corn, and new potatoes that were all boiled together. Tasty! We were stuffies all the way back to Scott and Maria’s house in Cranston, RI – a suburb of Providence. A big thanks to Maria and Scott for letting us stay in their house and drive their extra car. They saved us a nice chunk of cash!
Dinner