Turner

One of the best things about New York is the sheer abundnce of art. There are several major galleries here, the two most important being the 'MOMA' or Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The latter has just finished showing a J.W.M. Turner retrospective. Turner is one of my favourite artists, a British painter who at the time of his exhibitions was often panned by his critics because his work involved large swathes of colour, that represented landscape scenes but weren't very detailed. It was assumed that what he was doing was just splashing a few colours on without much skill. However, his reputation was made by the approval and high praise of John Ruskin who appreciated Turner's eye for Nature, and also his ability to evoke so much emotion with his use of colour. Perhaps his most famous paintings are of the Houses of Parliament burning...but here is my favourite, Fishermen at Sea.

sprechen Sie deutsches?

It's 9.12pm and I have just returned from a 2 hour German lesson. It's a crash course that is designed to enable one to read German as soon as possible. I can't speak it, and certainly don't know any words that I might want to use in polite conversation, but I do know how to identify the verb, noun, subject, predicates, adjectives, adverbs, and objects of a German sentence. It's all about the formal structure, and how to use a dictionary to translate a sentence as quickly and efficiently as possible. We went in at the deep end, and translated 10 sentences during the first class (two weeks ago). I must say, it's one the most mentally exhausting things one can do...even more so for my Japanese friend! Though I have most pity for a girl in my class, in the first of a five-year PhD program, who has to have 6 languages..Greek, Hebrew, French, German, Aramaic, and Akkadian. She's doing the German class now, and has the last two still to come! Well, I'm going to go and sit up on the roof for 30 mins with a friend, before returning to my room to read for another 2 hours on politics and faith...oh the joy.

denial

after 4 weeks it's finally time to face the music...and put a wash on. those whom i have lived with will know this is not a joke.

concerning pie in the sky

I'm taking 4 classes this semester for credit, and I'm also auditing a class, which means I sit in the class and listen to the discussions - possibly contributing - but I don't need to do any of the required reading or assignments. It's a way of taking a course that you're interested in, without the workload. The class I'm auditing is 'Liberation Theology and Pentecostalism' and it focuses mainly on the parallel histories of them in Latin America where they have both made significant achievements. During one discussion we were considering common stereotypes, and thinking about how accurate they really were. A frequent caricature of Pentecostals, is that they are other-worldly and can't wait to get out of here and in to heaven. And the strange thing is that looking at their doctrine, this is a rather accurate characterisation of Pentecostals. But when one looks at their practice, another picture develops. While Pentecostals often informally and formally speak the language of escapism, and are accused of being "pie in the sky" Christians, their actions tell another story because when a friend is sick they pray for them, and when someone needs a job they pray. They encourage one another to have faith that things at work will change, family relationships will change, etc. etc. This is a prime example of the gap (well noted by sociologists) between theory and practice. The theory of Pentecostals may suggest disengagement from the world, but their practice says differently. Liberals on the other hand, tend to speak the theory of social engagement, but often that's all they do - speak - and in such unrealistic utopian ideals that the question becomes legitimate: who's faith is really pie in the sky?

crossing the road

As you may or may not have heard, New York has a lot of people and a lot of cars, all cramming themselves into the same tiny bit of land called Manhattan Island. To manage these competing interests, there are lights that tell cars to stop or go, and lights to tell people to stop or go..the problem is, the lights don't always agree. Most of the junctions are t-junctions because avenues in New York run north-south and streets run east-west, in a grid. The problem is when your walking up a large avenue that runs north-south. If you approach an intersecting east-west street your crossing sign may have a 'man' that is lit up in white light and shows a walking stance. This means it's now safe to walk...but the car coming down that north-south avenue (on the right hand side of the road obviously) also has a green light, and may freely turn right....and into the street you're meant to be crossing safely! What happens is that, as the car approachs the crossing they make the same necessary reduction in speed that they would anyway, and the rule is that cars may proceed if the crossing is clear. Of course, for someone from England to see a car not stopping, but swinging around the corner toward you, you stop - they don't give way in the UK (sounds like a rhyming motto, huh?). For the first two weeks, I kept stopping, cautious, thinking 'why on earth is that guy coming toward me?!' And I was also confused, cause the light was telling me to walk - in front of that! But anyway, the drivers are actually quite well trained here, and surprisingly willing to stop...so much so, that when the white 'walk' light comes on I now cross without looking. And I also cross without looking when the man goes to a red hand that flashes - the equivalent of an orange light. And I also cross without looking when the hand stops flashing - a red light. It just seems to me that cars are so willing to stop, that it's so easy for everyone to just cross, often without looking. That's how you can tell a real New Yorker. And people never run. In England, one often jogs a little to get out the way. Not here. People just slowly amble across, not caring whether the car has to wait or not. Brilliant.

harlem, sushi, karaoke

The title pretty much says it all - tonight I'm going to a party in Harlem for all the people at church that live in the Harlem area...it's nice to know who you can call on when you lock yourself out, or need to borrow a cup of brown sugar. Then, I'm heading downtown to the East Village to a sushi bar with friends from school where we'll eat raw fish, before heading on to a karaoke bar. I've been practising 'Easy' all morning in the shower.

Catching Up!

Hi everyone...I sincerely apologise for my lack of correspondence. It's the same old story. I was rather busy during the first two weeks of school, and each time I got back to my room at night I would think 'Oh no, I don't have the energy to write all that up!' - but of course the longer I went, the more things I had to write about, and the more reluctant I became to take the plunge and actually document things. So here I am, my first free Saturday morning. I have a bowl of cereal next to me, and I'm going to try to do a catch-up post that will fill you in.

Firstly, there is a difference in blog writing between fact telling and analysis. I can easily write blog posts that just re-tell the facts of where I've been and what I've done - but I like to get into more detailed discussions and get under the skin of people and places. Unfortunately, that would take a long time to do, so this post will be more fact-telling than anything else.

Baseball game
One of the first memorable moments I had in New York was going to a baseball game couple of Fridays ago - August 29th to be exact. It was a third-dvision game between the Staten Island Yankees (Staten Island is a borough of New York City) and some other team...the Tri-City Cats or something ridiculous like that. The game itslef had relatively few moments of excitement, but hanging out with a bunch of people from the New York city church was great, plus it was all-you-can-eat hotdogs and cola, a godsend for cash strapped graduate students! Strangely though, they started the game by asking people to take off their hats for the singing of the American anthem. After the game there was a really great fireworks show, and the singing of 'God Bless America' or something like that. These were the features of America I found so amusing..such an obvious and often-hyped patriotism. They really really like clapping and cheering for things in a way that leaves me slightly puzzled and awkward..take for instance the Republican and Democratic national conventions. I can't imagine any British politician filling an 80,000 seat stadium with adoring voters, entering the stage to pop music blasts, and then having balloons released while people cheered their name and waved flags. Winston would roll over in his grave.

Manhattan skyline
On my first Saturday in New York, someone from the college lead a tour group over to Brooklyn. We took the subway to the bottom of Manhattan and then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, which took about 20-30 mins...it was such a lovely walk over, and the sun has been shining over here, which is more than I can say for England! Once we reached the other side, we went to this really famous pizzeria called "Grimaldi's" which we had to wait in line for outside the shop, ordered ours to take out, and had to come back 1 hour later to pick them up!! But I must admit, they were the best slices I had ever tasted, and well worth the wait. We ate them down by the waters edge, and sitting at the tables in Brooklyn, we could look right across at lower Manhattan. It had been a cloudless day, and so as the sun set, there was a spectrum of beaufitul shades of orange to yellow, to green and blue, and finally purple. When everything had at last turned black, the dots of light shining out from office sky-scrapers formed the incandescent pattern that is the most famous skyline in the world...and I must say, office blocks and lights have never looked so glorious. It truly is a sight to behold and one that I suspect I will not tire of quickly.

Church retreat
On the second weekend I was here, I went away for a retreat with the people from New York Church International, (hereafter 'the church' which is much easier to write). We drove down from New York on Friday afternoon and took about two hours to get to Pennsylvania, right on the Delaware River. The first night there was the initial get-together with some worship and then Deryck (the guy leading the church) spoke briefly about the purpose for the retreat etc. Then we went up to the top of a small hill-rise and made a bonfire, roasted marshmalolows, and made 'smores' - a particularly American treat of two crackers with block of Hershey's chocolate and roasted mallows in the middle. Super good! I had brought a book along with me to read, but I never got a chance as we were pretty busy everyday..and I spent almost all the free time on Saturday playing basketball and soccer in the gym because it was lashing down outside. All in all, a top weekend, and I made some great friends.

Fashion week
So, it's been Fashion Week here in New York and the world's best designers have been here, showing off their latest wares. Nothing remotely to do with me..normally...but this is New York, and a friend of a friend is managing a concession stand giving away a new brand of chocolate biscuit called 'Lu'. So, he has a bunch of passes, the kind you put around your neck, like a lanyard, with a entry pass hanging from it. He went out the back door, handed me and Nate (a friend from college) the passes, and we walked around the front and into the last day of the Fashion Week exhibition. Inside are a few Mercedes cars on display, a spot demonstrating the latest iGoolge page etc. Plus there is a cafe making free coffees, a fridge with free water, a stand giving away free Haviana flip-flops...you get the 'free' idea. So we got some coffe, and hung around by the cafe area, shared a table with someone from PR company who asked if we were film crew. Thanks for the compliment we said! (i.e. we looked a bit rough, like we weren't fashionistas). And basically that's how the afternoon went, walking around, drinking free drinks, and making conversation with random people. We talked with two girls whose job it was to undress the models and then re-dress them during runway shows. They were actually really nice, and people kept saying to us 'wow, you guys are so funny' and we theorised that everyone in the fashion industry is so insecure and/or stuck up that people with nothing to prove must seem rather refreshing! Anway, we also got talking to the two girls running the Mercedes stand (notice a pattern there?) and they would come over to say hi when they were on a break or something. This proved to be a useful contact, because as the day came to a close, they sneaked us in to the last runway show of the day by Ralph Rucci. Apparently he's really good. The clothes seemed quite good, but then again I'm the last person to ask, so we'll skip over that bit and come to the interesting bit. Nate has a long-last auntie who he told me lived in Manhattan and was right into the fashion scene and knew everyone. He was wondering aloud about the fact she might be here, and as we were filing out of the runway show he sees her and calls out 'Jane!'. She hears her name, and starts talking with him about the show but doesn't realise for 2 or 3 mins that it's her nephew. Then she clicks when he tells her he's at Columbia, and she stops, then starts crying and hugging him, and I'm standing there, smiling to Donna Karen as she walks by and wonders what all the fuss is about. Only in New York.

(okay, okay, I didn't really smile at Donna Karen..I couldn't tell you if I saw her. But she was there in the show, with all the other luminaries and possibly did see us on the way out)