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USA: NYC: Apartment Hunting

Posted on May 28th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC.

Searching for an apartment has been hell.  I leave my hostel by 8am most mornings, and don’t usually return until after midnight.  The days are mostly trekking throughout Brooklyn in the summer heat, talking to money-grubbing apartment brokers on the cell phone and lugging the laptop around in the hopes of finding unsecured wireless networks where we can jump online and check the latest listings if it’s been listed for more than an hour, chances are it’s already been taken.

[Typical street in the area I’ll be living.]

Apartment hunting also involves lots of time on the New York City subways.  Stations are large and poorly organized and generally not handicap accessible, so that means a lot of rushing up and down stairs to get from place to place while breathing in deep the polluting fumes that accumulate down there.  Up on the street, it may be worse as we hike through neighborhoods in midday as temperatures climb into the 80’s, and clear blue skies mean the sun is beating down on my pale white skin, which has the tendency to turn lobster red before peeling off.

[Myself, frowing at the litter in the train tracks after Aaron praised the relative cleanliness of Brooklyn subway stations.]

I can’t imagine doing it alone.  Thankfully, one of my new roomies, Aaron, also headed into the city early to do the housing hunt.  By the end of each day, when I feel like my knees are bowling balls, he keeps me going, even when it’s 8pm and we’re heading to our last appointment of the evening and I’m subsiding on the lone bagel I’ve had that day.  We both make mistakes as we tumble around the city, but he catches my mistakes and I catch his.  Between the two of us, we’ve got one full-fledged New Yorker.

[My new room - hardwood floors and exposed brick walls.]

After five days of continuous hell, we finally found a place that three relative strangers could compromise on.  A block from a subway station, our trendy Park Slope apartment features exposed brick walls, hardwood floors, 12′ ceilings, and newly remodeled kitchen and bathroom.  Now all I have to do is drive back to Minnesota, pick up all my crap, and drag it all out to NYC (along with the Jedi Cat, of course.)  Fun, fun, fun!

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And then it went RED

Posted on May 17th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Actually, I think it looks more orange right now than red…

After my hair cut, the next morning I went back to Eddie’s to get my hair dyed…I didn’t really want to pay for it, but I figured if I had the old color professionally lifted, it would be easier to maintain my hair…and if I tried bleaching it myself…well, I don’t really want to start out in New York with green hair or anything.

Besides, in Asia, going to a salon doesn’t mean you just get your hair done.  It means hours of being lavished with attention while being treated to scalp massages, neck massages, shoulder massages, and aroma therapy.  Yay Asia - I’ll miss you.

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Haircut!

Posted on May 15th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

I wanted to chop off my hair before my program in NYC starts, and being as I have a week of freetime, and good haircuts are a helluva lot cheaper in Taipei, I decided to suck it up and get it done with.  (I still have a hard time cutting off my hair, even though it hasn’t been as long as it once was.)

I still need to dye it - it’s going red/gold/bronze/whatever.  I just haven’t decided if I’ll do it myself, or if I should have it professionally done the first time (cause I currently hard dark brown hair and a couple inches of blond roots…could spell disaster.)  We’ll see!

The haircut, I should mention, was done by Eddie at the Mix & Match salon in Taipei near the Zhongxiao-Fuxing intersection.  You can check out his website, where Eddie lists his location, rates, and bio, at readyeddiego.com.  Eddie lived in the UK for about ten years, so he can actually cut white peoples’ hair - a rare find in Taiwan.

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Meaningless Rant: Leaving

Posted on May 12th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants.

“Regret not the times we are apart, but cherish each moment we share together.”

The above is a rough translation from a Chinese key chain I once had.  It’s one of the most important things for me to keep in mind as I move from place to place.  Perhaps it’s one of the only things that makes travel bearable.

People say they envy me for having friends around the world, but it makes me sad because I feel that wherever I go, I am always saying goodbye to people.  Yet, I acknowledge that we must say goodbye if ever we are to have the joy of meeting again.

I believe in the Chinese concept of Yuan.  I believe that, if we are meant to know each other, then circumstance will bring us together.  That is why, despite distances and boundaries, I meet people time and again.  The world brings us together.

So I will take heart, and I will trust in the world to bring me together with those dear (if not near) to me.  And besides, there are undoubtedly a few good people in the next place that I will one day be sad to part with too, and it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to meet them.

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USA: NYC: The M&M’s Store

Posted on May 10th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: NYC, Travel, USA.

Just north of Times Square is one of my most fascinating discoveries: the M&M’s store.  Mostly, I just went in to escape the bitterly cold winds that plague Manhatten in the winter, but it turned out to be a neat place.

[Me, taking a picture of…myself.  In the M&M’s store.]

Among a wide variety of items for sale, they have sleeping bags…fleece sleeping bags…that look just like a giant bag of M&M’s…sooo tempting.  (I have a fleece sleeping bag - albiet a plain, blak one - and it’s wonderful.)

They also have M&M’s in every color imaginable…dozens and dozens of colors that you’ve never seen before.  They’re sold Jelly Belly fashion, or like coffee beans, with each color laid out on display for you - and there are WALLS full of M&M’s.  Every color of the rainbow, and then some.

Just look for the large, flat screens outside a building that have M&M’s pictures doing peculiar things…like climbing the Empire State Building and swatting at airplanes.  It’s in there.  (And it’s climate controlled!)

[I’m sorry…you know I love a good pun…or a bad one…it’s all the same]

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Meaningless Rant: Spider-man vs. Batman

Posted on May 9th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants.

I recently had a debate with some coworkers over NOT who is cooler, but who seems more REAL.

I’m a Spider-man fan because Peter Parker is a complete and utter geek, which I can relate to.  Most guys, however, seem to be Batman fans.  They love the hot cars and the cool gadgets and all that good stuff.  Apparently it’s the idea that Batman developed a super hero image without super hero powers.  Everything he has could be bought, and so they argue that Batman is more tangible.  Anybody could become a super hero.

I disagree.  The debate ended something like this:
Guy: “He gets bit by a radioactive spider?  Come on, what are the chances in that?”
Anna: “And Bruce Wayne is a billionaire who can afford to buy all that crap?  I have better chances of getting bit by a genetically altered, radioactive spider than I do of ever becoming a billionaire.”
Guy: “Do you honestly believe that?”
Anna: “Yes.”

I mean, really.  Let’s be honest with outselves here.  I’m a public school teacher and a grad school student.  I’m doomed to poverty by the nature of my existence.  My chances with the spider are way better.

3 comments.

Belize: Caye Caulker

Posted on May 7th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Belize, Blog, Travel.

In a deliberate attempt to relax (something I suck at), I decided to spend a few days on a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea.

OK, not THIS small - this (I think) is a small mangrove tree growing on a pile of sand just off the shore of my island.

Caye Caulker is about one square kilometer.  The major modes of transportation are foot and golf cart.  I was big on walking, but after getting horribly sunburnt (WORSE than Thailand ‘06!) I took to hitchhiking on golf carts…because it hurt to walk.  Frequently I was picked up by Cory the Canadian, and though he’ll likely never read this: THANK YOU!

I went swimming with the nurse sharks and sting rays…the nurse sharks I was OK with, but the sting rays I was rather nervous about.  I mean, Crocodile Hunter, right?  ‘Nuff said.  But the guide said he teased the animals with their food, and gave us a talk about how to handle the animals and such, so I went for it…mostly under the logic that dozens of tourists go each day and that, if any of them died, Lonely Planet would have written a warning.

[Random, nifty, hexagonal house on a pedestal.]

On a random note, I’ll mention that I spent one night in an infested hole of a hostel called Bella’s.  Although they required an upfront payment of at least two nights (bad sign, yes) I moved after one night to Tom’s Hotel.  It was on the opposite end of the island, and while it wasn’t an exciting place, it was very clean and quite comfortable.

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Belize: Belize City

Posted on May 6th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Belize, Blog, Travel.

I stayed for a couple days in Belize City, which had a bizarre, relaxing effect on me.  I couldn’t even type fast.  There’s actually not much in Belize City, though, so I wouldn’t recommend staying long.

One fascinating thing that I did encounter was a legit ROC embassy.  Due to the political situation between China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC), most countries - the United Nations included - do not recognize Taiwan as a country.  There are maybe twenty countries in the world that do, and Belize just happens to be one of them.

I stayed at the Seaside Hostel, which may not look like much on the outside, but it was actually quite nice, with prices that are very reasonable in a country that is generally over-priced for Central America.  Some rooms even offer a view of the Caribbean Sea, and there’s a wonderful porch for relaxing.  Enjoying the sea breeze while reclining in a hammock and reading a book…does it get better than that?

An interesting little tidbit…the primary form of public transportation in Belize appears to be old, American school buses, the outsides of which are painted in bright colors (bad example above, my apologies.)  The insides have been left mostly untouched - the same, hideous green or brown vinyl seat covers that we all know and love.  Some buses have added over-head luggage racks.  Strange, huh?

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Tarzan: Something to Feel Good About

Posted on May 2nd, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Animals, Blog, Cats.

One day last month I was looking back at some old pictures when I stumbled across a few images of Tarzan from about three weeks after I got him, back when he was still only known as “Little Brother” (Didi/Deedee).

[Tarzan in April 2006, about 3 weeks after I got him]

When I got Tarzan, he was fully grown and living in a cage about 12″x12″x18″.  He was given neither food nor water by day, or even a litter box.  His fur was matted with feces and he suffered from a skin fungus.  He had open wounds on his head.  He weighed 4 pounds (less than 2kg.)  This, unfortunately, is the life for animals in Taiwanese night markets.

[Tarzan in April 2007, about 1 year after I got him]

While thinking about all this, I looked over at my dear kitty, who was spawled out on the bed.  He’s now more than twice as heavy as the day I brought him home, and his fur is soft and thick (even though it costantly flies off his body…)  And looking over at him, I feel good knowing that I made a difference in a life.

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