Life in East and West Villages (2) : Fun People @ New York
10/6/19 Hello, trees, clapping till my hands turn red, haha! This semester, I am teaching in this “movie theater”. I like to teach large classes. After each lecture, there are always a line of young faces waiting for asking questions, and I ended up reserving an office hour waiting room to host overflowed students, lol
The other day, I was in a store examining some rainbow soap … smelling it, looking at it back and forth, and having a good time. As I moved on and continued wandering, I found some people were following me. I looked back … I saw that a gay couple was 5 meters away, wispering and pointing at my direction. They saw me turned around and gave me big, blushing and shy smiles. I nodded my head, walked back to that soap, and put it in my shopping bag… It turns out to be a really good soap 😀
The vessel
My landlord was hilarious. Here is how he wrote me a review: “Great guest. She did have difficulty understanding functions in our home, such as the fire alarm, but she was sweet about everything”. Why does it sound like I am a f****** idiot?! Watch out, dear NYC future landlords 😀
I met a musician Marcella in the jazz gallery. She is 20ish, from South America and teaching guitar in NYC. After we met about an hour, she said “hey, <xxx>, ping me next time you are in NYC, I will take you to bike around”. Yo, that’s NYC. People don’t have this intimacy resistant disease. Arriving home, I received her text: “it was nice meeting you, feel free to ask me questions when you are here” “nice meeting you too, btw, your hair and boots look cool. they match.” She sent me a big heart and end with “you are making me a smile.”
I went in an independent book store in a rainy afternoon. Behind the counter is this 20-30ish black girl. She loves my pants. “Hey, your pants look cool” “I bought them in Sweden” “You went there for shopping?” “no, I went there for work. One day, I decided to wear some none-work clothes, so I walked into a store, and walked out with this pair of pants” “good taste” “thank you” “do you want a new t-shirt today?” … Haha, I was examining their rack of book t-shirt at that time.
I met this German expat in Brooklyn. She is in her early 30s. She asked “You come here alone?” “yeah, why not? my husband didn’t want to come. ” “oh, forget about your husband” “haha, yeah” “at least, for a week” “HAHAHA” we both burst into the laughters. Seldom met my kind of people nowadays. She told me that she has lived in London, Berlin and a few other big cities. But none of those are comparable to New York. “you know, people here are so diverse and warm, they will smile at you and chat with you. If you are in the London subways, everybody looks at their phones and want their privacy and distances.”
Manhattan from some Brooklyn beach 
A secret work done at night on the street of Williamsburg
John is in his 50s and I met him in the galleries. He was a very high level manager at a big advertisement company in Canada. Their company assigned him to Manhattan to lead a team, and he then moved with his family in his late 40s. I have heard that advertising is an industry that wears out people fast. He has to manage a group of ill tempered artists who do not like their jobs. Finally, he quits his job and started rethinking what he was real passionate about. Nowadays, he was a curator and help people sell and buy pictures. “I made much less than before, but I am happy every day”. Interacting with people at his age and with his kind of experience, you feel comfortable and well taken care of. I was interested in some artists in the galleries, and he sent me multiple emails with more information than I requested.
