My flight was at 6:10 AM on Sunday. On the one hand, I planned it this way on purpose because the flight was long, plus there was a three-hour time difference. I had to calculate it all so that I could go for a walk in Manhattan in the evening. I set two alarms so I wouldn’t oversleep, and even set the coffee machine alarm, since I usually wake up from the strong aroma of coffee. I went to bed around 10 PM. I had planned to go to bed earlier, but didn’t manage to. Need I say that my body, which is used to falling asleep no later than midnight, resisted falling asleep any earlier? After more than an hour of tossing and turning under the sheets, I finally figured out to take some Tylenol with codeine and soon fell asleep. Surprisingly, I woke up easily. The clock showed around 4 AM. Since everything was already ready, I drank some coffee, got dressed, put on makeup that lasted through the trip, and went to the parking lot.
After dropping off the car at the paid parking for three days, I took their free shuttle to the airport and quickly checked in my luggage. Strangely, despite the early hour, there were many people. A girl in line next to me for the “screening” was very anxious about whether we would make it. But we leisurely reached the gate, and I even managed to stop by the souvenir shop to buy a small Hollywood-themed frame magnet for Alenka and still had some time left to grab a large sandwich, juice, and a bottle of water for breakfast, since I hadn’t managed to have breakfast that morning.
The flight was delayed with boarding, but we arrived on time. I thought I would sleep the whole way, but instead, I watched free movies: Night at the Museum – the second series, Ghosts of the Past of a Friend, and Monsters vs. Aliens. I also watched the sea of bright white clouds far below the plane.
Afterward, everything felt quiet and peaceful: I took a taxi to the hotel, which seemed a bit doubtful from the outside – a dirty street, more like the back alleys of stores. But inside, it was very cozy, clean, and even beautiful! If the room hadn’t been so small, I would have given it a solid four stars, and for $70 a night, it was practically a gift. Very happy, I took a shower, refreshed myself, changed, and started arranging to meet Alenka.
Alenka is an old friend who has been living in Brooklyn for a while and works as a programmer at a bank. I wanted to take her to Manhattan, but instead, we spent the whole evening talking at her place, eating salads and sashimi, going for walks. But the main thing was that we talked a lot, for a long time, and very spiritually. It started right away with spiritual training, realizations, and new spiritual practices. Even though we didn’t get to Manhattan that evening, it felt like I had climbed a high mountain: both hard and easy, with the feeling that I had achieved something.
This evening set the tone for the whole trip, which turned out to be significant for me in terms of spiritual development.
I woke up from a terrible dream. Actually, the dream wasn’t really terrible, but it was very painful. There was a lot of injustice towards me in it, but I don’t really remember what the essence of it was. The time was 6:30 AM, and I was meeting Sertoun at 11 AM, so I had plenty of time. At first, I tried to fall back asleep, but then I realized it wasn’t going to happen. I tried reading, then tried watching TV, but nothing worked. I was exhausted, so I decided to take a shower and go to the city for a walk until Sertoun showed up. I had breakfast with the kefir, pear, and plum Alenka and I had bought the day before, got dressed, threw Sertoun’s gifts in my bag, and went. I was very excited: I hadn’t seen New York in four years and missed it terribly; I love this city.
The train from the hotel in Brooklyn went right across the whole city. I decided to ride it to 42nd Street and then walk to Times Square, where we were supposed to meet Tanya. But right before exiting the subway, I lingered in the passage, with my heart pounding wildly, and took my first Manhattan photo of 2009.
It was so exciting. You should have heard my hyperventilation. I was breathing as if during sex. In general, the joy was almost just as much. Like a drunk, I came up to the surface, completely losing my spatial orientation, went somewhere, started greedily taking in everything around me – buildings, parks, roads, cars, people…
Only after walking several blocks north did I realize that I needed to go west. But I didn’t get upset; I just turned towards Times Square. Sertoun was late, so I slowly made my way to the square, where a large red staircase had been built since the last time I was there. It was very pleasant to sit on.
I sat on the staircase and called my dad, telling him how nice it was to sit there on the red stairs.
Then I sat a bit more, walked around a bit, and decided to go have lunch at the nearby TGI Fridays.
(By the way, Shrek was playing on Broadway.)
Then Sertoun showed up, and we hugged each other tenderly and soulfully, happily greeting each other.
After that, she had a snack, and we met some guy from Liverpool, who had been to St. Petersburg 11 times and with whom we had mutual friends – Kolya Vasin. New York connects people. 🙂
After the snack at Times Square, we set off on foot across the city, stopping in good shops and buying mostly delicious clothes for Sertoun.
In general, the plan was exactly like that. Ksyusha went on her business, and we hurried down Broadway. I won’t describe the shopping, though, it was one of my most intense shopping sprees in this country.
(This is the main photo of the day, titled “Who’s got what hurts.”)
By the end, we had a lot of huge bags and terribly tired heels.
But we didn’t get discouraged; we took a taxi and went to meet Ksyusha and Toma at some burger place in Downtown. After eating burgers (I asked mine without bread, just a wrap and whatever else it had), we walked to a bar where we drank, smoked, and led an immoral lifestyle. 🙂
We walked some more, sat in another bar, giggled, drank mojitos (mine was alcohol-free), and partied as much as we could. The evening was a great success. After saying goodbye until tomorrow, we hugged and parted ways. I trudged to the subway to return to the hotel and fall into a sound, unbreakable sleep.