So I Moved (Part 1): The Day I Left NYC
So, I live in Denver now! I've actually been here a full three and a half months already, but I haven't been fully inspired to sit down and write about it until now (when I have literally a hundred other things I need to do #typical). This has been such a challenging, illuminating, and fun time in my life that I need to stop, drop, and write now more than ever, and quick! before I forget everything! Here's what I remember and don't ever want to forget.
I left NYC on Friday, May 27th at 5AM. Uber prices were surging, so I stood on a street corner with 6 rats (I counted) scurrying by my feet until I spotted a yellow cab. I bartered with the driver to take me to Newark airport for a flat rate of $100, and the sun came up as we drove West, over the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan, then under the tunnel to New Jersey. As we drove, I tried to breath in every last New York City drop but my Coldplay-level of feelings were interrupted by my driver who was curious about where I was going with such large suitcases. "I'm moving to Colorado," I said, to which he replied, "Oh cool, home of Bart Simpson!" (I laughed then quickly fact checked this on my phone). Then my driver told me his story, of moving to the U.S. from the Sudan twenty years ago.
He told me about arriving at La Guardia airport never having spoken a word of English. He eventually learned enough English to get a job driving taxis from a homeless man who lived under the Manhattan bridge. Every morning, my driver would bring the homeless man McDonald's, and the man would sit in the driver's car and teach him the English words for "steering wheel," "rear-view mirror," "seatbelt." Years later after my driver got the job and was driving somewhere in Brooklyn, he spotted his friend/teacher. He pulled over immediately, they recognized each other, and hugged it out right then and there. As my driver was telling me this story, I couldn't help but feel more in love with New York City than ever. It had been such a hard, exhausting, and expensive place to live for the past 6 years and I did feel ready to leave, but sitting in the back of that cab with Brooklyn at my back I thought, "yeah, but it's *magic*."
I left NYC on Friday, May 27th at 5AM. Uber prices were surging, so I stood on a street corner with 6 rats (I counted) scurrying by my feet until I spotted a yellow cab. I bartered with the driver to take me to Newark airport for a flat rate of $100, and the sun came up as we drove West, over the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan, then under the tunnel to New Jersey. As we drove, I tried to breath in every last New York City drop but my Coldplay-level of feelings were interrupted by my driver who was curious about where I was going with such large suitcases. "I'm moving to Colorado," I said, to which he replied, "Oh cool, home of Bart Simpson!" (I laughed then quickly fact checked this on my phone). Then my driver told me his story, of moving to the U.S. from the Sudan twenty years ago.
He told me about arriving at La Guardia airport never having spoken a word of English. He eventually learned enough English to get a job driving taxis from a homeless man who lived under the Manhattan bridge. Every morning, my driver would bring the homeless man McDonald's, and the man would sit in the driver's car and teach him the English words for "steering wheel," "rear-view mirror," "seatbelt." Years later after my driver got the job and was driving somewhere in Brooklyn, he spotted his friend/teacher. He pulled over immediately, they recognized each other, and hugged it out right then and there. As my driver was telling me this story, I couldn't help but feel more in love with New York City than ever. It had been such a hard, exhausting, and expensive place to live for the past 6 years and I did feel ready to leave, but sitting in the back of that cab with Brooklyn at my back I thought, "yeah, but it's *magic*."
Aaaah.... I've missed your blogs! This is lovely!
ReplyDelete