culture darling

so today i experienced culture overload. i walked through the heart of soho around 4:30 this afternoon. people of all kinds walking around. especially the weird kinds. the kind of people who would stick out like a sore thumb in texas. also there are models walking all around with fashion week coming up. so i am walking to the train taking it all in. oh and it is beautiful weather. just my little red cotton jacket. everyone was talking about how great today's weather was. really just a perfect day in the city. walking through soho is truly the place where all the fashion happens. everything that is hip is in soho. people that are hip are in soho. it is where you walk around realizing wow i really do live in the fashion capital of the world. so i was walking through all this today. then i got on the train, and i come up. i come up to Nostrand. off the C train. i enter a different world. I could have come up in another country and not known the difference. compared to soho it really is a different world getting up from the train and entering into my "hood". jamaicans, haitians, and all the other carribean islanders fill the streets. here i stand out not because of my lack of fashionista, but because of my dishwater blond locks, and ultra pasty skin. so i walk home through the dirty streets, past the old men with dreads standing around talking the day away, and past the tables of carribean goods and incense. it is a real cultural experience. ya know i have lived here for six months this week, and there is still so much to see and learn about where i am living.

today i was invited into my neighbors apartment to smoke trees and do her dishes. i declined the trees, but helped her with the dishes. it was a small milestone in building a relationship with our Sara the girl next door. she is a vegan so it is kinda hard to have her over for dinner. i am working on that. another cultural difference. nikki and i had a burger for dinner. mmmm...red meat. :)