One thing I never understood was this thing called thanksgiving, and to be honest I still don't understand it... Some of the people we met says that it is an invention just so they get more time to stay with their family. Can't they do that the rest of the year? Do they really not have time for family? Well, I guess in this country, where career is so important, they have to let go of something... so family life suffers? To tell you the truth, I have no idea whether this is how it really is or not...
It has been more than two days since the last blog post and that is mainly because of lack of time or internet problems. It is not only in Soltun the internet is not working properly. What have we done? Lots of walking and some shopping. To the degree that the one that is not walking is so tired that he wanted a day off. Meaning that him and I have to stay at the hostel today. The rest of the group is free to do whatever they want.
On Thursday we started by eating a nice breakfast at the hostel, then walking through most of Central Park... A nice walk in the park for almost two hours. Fresh air, or probably the closest you get to fresh air in a big city like this. Afterwards we started walking towards Times Square. Had a stop at Starbucks, a photographer's store, the MacDonalds (to go to the toilet), and a great music store with lots of tabs for all kinds of music. Officially one of my favourite stores in New York:). We walked around Times Square for a shorter time, and then took the subway back to 72nd Street. We do actually have to walk 31 blocks everyday just to get from the hostel to the subway...and 31 blocks back. We had a short break at the hostel before going to eat pizza (again), and go visit Jennifer and Artemus in Queens. The travel to Queens was supposed to be easy, but we ended up going off the subway too late and had to continue with the next train to a subway stop that had an elevator. When we got there, this elevator was not functioning, and we had to go further. Eventually we found a station with an elevator, and started going in the opposite direction. We managed to get off at the right station, and started walking towards Jennifers appartment. Right outside the appartment we were approached by a stranger, and just continued walking. He continued talking and I realised that it was Artemus. I have been friends with him on facebook for two years, but never met him so to recognize him was not easy. Anyway, he helped us carry the wheelchair up some stairs and we took the elevator to their appartment. At Jennifer's and Artemus' we got some Turkey leftovers and a pumpkin cheese cake, and Frode got a new friend in Marley, the dog. It was a nice appartment, and we enjoyed ourselves. The trip back was ok, but we were so tired. Couldn't think about anything but the bed. I was the last in bed at around 2:30.
Next morning I woke up at 6:30 due to a call from Stine. I didn't respond, but took the phone with me to the hall to call her back. She had amazing news. She's coming to New York on Monday, menaning that there will be more help and I may not destroy my back. I continued sleeping and we were not up until 11:00. We didn't do much interesting except shopping. It was Black Friday yesterday. That is the main shopping day in the US. We went to a sports shop, and the NHL store, and Staples... and ate dinner at Wendy's, which is now my favourite fast food chain. The burgers were really burgers. Not like at Burger King or MacDonalds. Another day in the area around Times Square, and we're already tired of it. There were far too many people yesterday, and they are not really paying attention to wheelchairs. On the way back we took the subway too far (again) and went of at 168th street which was supposed to have an elevator (unfortunately just for the two other subway lines going there). Instead of taking the subway all the way to Bronx to change trains, we decided to carry Frode over some stairs. It was really difficult, but could easily been solved if Glenn was here. However, we managed, and went back to 72nd Street. We were all very tired, but only Frode went directly to bed...
Ok, so now you know that this is a day that will not be spectacular. Tomorrow we will go to another area of Manhattan. The Lower East Side, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy and Brooklyn Bridge. That should be exciting, and I will make my students even more tired. Isn't that why we're here???
Until next blog post...big hug from Øyvind
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