The Holidays from an NYC perspective

Hey all. Here's the long awaited blog I promised. Take it for what it is worth as I'm writing this in an emo state fighting two days of loneliness and days worth of drama at school which has me even more sad.

So, I've been through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and the Obama Inauguration all in NYC. What a difference of cultures and way of celebrating all of the above is here! It is so not the South! Thanksgiving here is worked around the Macy's Parade followed by dinner around 2 PM due to the parade and travel to be with some of your family. Yet, the holiday is not the big time celebration that it is with folks in the South. Many places offer the traditional fare all throughout the city. I watched the parade live but did not get to serve Thanksgiving to the homeless as planned. My time though having a meal in one of America's oldest shelters was a wonderful blessing for me! Then, I chose to explore Chinatown and Little Italy (two spots I hadn't been too yet); going through Chinatown literally brought tears to my eyes as I was "home" again. One day I will return to China long term. Foolish or not, I decided to try and get a winter coat and experience Black Friday here by going to Macy's in the afternoon. Never again do I ever have to experience that "holiday"; it was disgusting to see all the commercialism inside and sad to see the fur protesters outside.

As for Christmas, the holiday came after lots of crunched out work. My school didn't let out until 4:00 PM December 23rd. I spent the next seven days house-sitting and dog-sitting for my best friend up here. It was so chill and showed me just how much stress had gotten into me from four months of work in NYC! During that time I also got to spend the holiday with my friend and co-worker Christine. The best part of this time aside from the time with Christine was getting to go to Staten Island and seeing the view from the top of Wagner College (my good friend's alumni). I literally just sat at the top of the hill taking in the amazing view in awe of what God had made and had a conversation with him. I am thankful that during this time I was able to be with my church family as it eased some of the loneliness that I was experiencing.

Then came New Year's Eve and 2009. I think this was my favorite holiday up here by far! For years I have watched on tv the Dick Clark New Year's Eve special. I have had many fond memories shooting off fireworks with my family as well for this holiday. Well, this year, I got to be reminded of all of that and keep a promise I made to myself a year ago that if I was here this August that I would ring in the New Year in Times Square and see the ball drop for myself. This year, by the way, happened to be the 100th anniversary of the ball drop, so they spent A YEAR suping up the big crystal ball! I spent over 14 hours in Times Square ringing the holiday in; I was so early that the cops and barricades hadn't even got into place. My friend Amy showed up to celebrate with me, and we were blessed all night long with good conversation, many freebies, a great view of EVERYTHING major, and even got on tv multiple times. (I also got my photo taken by a journalist.) To add to our fun, Amy and I went across the street to the Charmin bathroom afterwards. That was the most hilarious bathroom I have ever been in complete with two bathroom cheerleaders and a choreographed bathroom dance! Needless to say, I laughed for the entire 20 minutes we were there! On New Year's Day I was invited to Greg and Emily's family (the couple I live with) meal. Their family is from all over the Caribbean. The meal was wonderful and was like being at my grandma's house for Christmas!

Since returning back to school on January 5th, I have seen the stress and drama return into my life. I have changed positions at work per my principal's request since I'm the only one at work who has the experience and qualifications. Now I only teach music to the sixth graders and teach the special needs and ESOL students who just need extra help three to five times a week. I have also had to move classrooms, take on a new group of Advisory students (small group of kids I mentor for the year), leave my old Advisory, and adapt to a new schedule. As a whole, things aren't going well now. The drama is easy to spot at work among myself and colleagues (unfortunately), and the kids perceptions of me has changed because many think they were given up on. I have also walked into many, many problems with my new Advisory and position. Yet the truth is, I didn't ask for all these changes and was in fact told that these changes weren't going to happen only to see them be pushed on me. Soon work will get more hectic as I begin an all-girls chess team and am heavily involved in a grant performance that combines music and poetry. Work definitely is an area of prayer that you guys can come alongside me to support me.

One last note on differences of culture and locale, yesterday my school watched the Obama Inauguration. Bush was booed by nearly the whole school (and the two other schools watching it with us) while the auditorium erupted (and I mean that) into cheers for Obama! My school is 60% Black (African, Caribbean, African-American) and nearly 40% Latino (Mexican, Latin American, Dominican, Puerto Rican). As I sat there experiencing the celebration with my colleagues and students, I couldn't help but think how Bush wouldn't have been booed in the South and Obama wouldn't have been so heartily appreciated. Sad, isn't it? Politics is radically different here and so is graciousness ... but I already knew that only to be reminded of it through the inauguration.

Well, I am surprised that I've written so logically and succinctly in my emo state. Please keep me in your prayers. I am lonely here though I am making more friends. The negative aspects of NYC are really getting me down. Much is also on my mind as of late which means I'm not sleeping and resting well. Choices at work have to be made so that things get fixed and life moves on though I CAN'T get everything done at work that is expected of me. I think this is the hardest that I've ever had to work before as a teacher. I wonder if I will get to start my master's in special education next year or not. Well, I end my ramblings here. Night yall.