The C-bus: Part I

People might wonder why, if I'm living in New York, I decided to spend a weekend in Columbus, Ohio. Perhaps they would be shocked to find out that I had a good time there.

It was nice to visit Columbus, because I lived there for three years and it grew on me. It's a familiar place, and it has its nice spots. For example, on Saturday, I took my lunch break between conference workshops to eat pho at the North Market with Billie, who dropped in at the conference. I do not doubt that there is better pho in New York, but it's always been nice to go to the North Market for pho with Billie. At the North Market, I got a wonderful piece of apple cake, and I saw Amish people selling beeswax candles (too expensive for me). Outside were some people selling apples, braving the cold wind.

The conference itself was interesting, but nothing extraordinary. The first panel was really interesting, mainly about dialect awareness and African American Vernacular English. The second panel, in which one of my professors talked, was about bilingualism. She discussed dual-language programs. Actually, this panel wasn't anything terribly new to me, since I've been reading about bilingual education for weeks.

I moved my boxes and dealt with them. Luis and I saw that movie "Borat," which wasn't all that. In fact, it was kind of overwhelming. Afterwards, we would laugh about little parts that were funny, but the movie itself was too much. And, yes, offensive. I think that's his point. So if you enjoy this type of humor, the movie is for you. Though it was not recommendable, it's still fun, of course, to use lines from the movie (for example, "I like"), talking in Borat's crazy accent, with friends who are in the know.

Luis and I then ate at a Mexican restaurant called El Vaquero, which I was never that into when I lived in Columbus. Turned out to be, very nice. There was a Chivas game on TV. The waiter spoke to us in Spanish (probably more Luis' influence than mine). I drank a Bohemia, my favorite Mexican beer. I ate chilaquiles, which is actually more of a breakfast food, but I love them so I get them wherever I can.

We went out for a drink with Debbie and Rohit. I was kind of tired, and because I already have a problem making decisions, I was even less capable of making a decision that night. The place where we met Debbie was crowded, and so we walked over to that crappy bar Mac's because it had lots of free tables. We ate onion rings and apple pie a la mode and drank beer and goofed around. Debbie was goofy because she was a bit buzzed, so it was fun.

Sunday I had breakfast with Tricia. It was nice to talk and hang out together again. She did me the favor of driving me to Target so that I could buy stuff I needed from there. It just takes too damned long to go to Target in the Bronx or in Brooklyn from here!

After some weather delays, I finally flew back to New York. Jetblue: better snacks, individual TVs, nonstop flights, nice service. Two-hour train/subway/walking trip from the airport to my neighborhood not so efficient and pleasant.

A note on the whole Spanish-speaking thing going on. I live in a primarily Dominican neighborhood. I do not really feel comfortable speaking Spanish up here, because the accent is so different. I like it when Spanish speakers pronounce their s's, for example. I know that I'll get used to it with sufficient exposure, just as the teacher I've been observing has; she has even adopted the accent, even though she learned Spanish in Mexico and had a Mexican accent before. The other day I was in the school where I'm observing, and my Academic Spanish class professor was there working with the dual-language program coordinator, so we all spoke in Spanish for a while. The coordinator made fun of me because of my Mexican Spanish, in a good-natured way, of course.

Where I really feel comfortable speaking Spanish, then, is with Mexicans. Of the Spanish-speaking population in Columbus, of course, Mexicans are by far the most numerous. But here in New York is a totally different thing. As one of my professors said, "The Mexicans are everywhere," but the main groups here are Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. By my school, there are three places where I usually buy lunch: the cafeteria (not always tasty but reasonably priced), a deli on the corner, and a sandwich shop on another corner. In all of these places, most of the workers speak Spanish. In the cafeteria, they seem to speak more of a Caribbean type of Spanish, so I don't always understand them. But in the deli and the sandwich shop, there are lots of Mexican workers, and I enjoy talking to them. I suppose if I spent a year in the Dominican Republic I'd feel "Dominican," but right now, I feel pretty "Mexican."

So it's November and I'm still not really "at home" in this city yet, even though I'm very familiar with my school and the immediate surrounding area. I don't feel scared walking around, I enjoy hearing strange accents in Spanish all around me, I am used to taking the subway, but I'm a stranger and I will remain a stranger for a while, since this place is so damned big.

My room, however, is coming along nicely. My therapist has suggested that I make my living space a soothing place, and, to be honest, the thought had never really occurred to me. I mean, yes, of course it needs to be conducive to getting sleep and doing homework, but I never thought that clutter and messiness was a big deal, or that little things like pleasing decorations and scents would matter so much. We've been discussing how to cope with anxiety better, and so she is telling me to find calming and pleasing activities and habits and create a calming atmosphere around me. So I came home and I noticed things. It occurred to me that I've always lived in chaos--my room was always cluttered with piles of paper spread all over the floor, clothes heaped on a dresser or chair, my desk completely disorganized--and I've been so used to it that I never noticed the effect it must be having on me psychologically. I thought it was just my way to be comfortable in a messy place. But I've really tried to beautify my personal space, tidy up more often, organize my things, and I think it is nice. Today I even organized my workspace in the office a little, too. The chaos that was my office desk probably caused me no small amount of anxiety; it was full of files left by my predecessor, and I just put off going through them in an effort to avoid the anxiety of it. So today I took most of them out (and piled them up to be dealt with later, haha), while making my own file folders for my own stuff. It's about time I personalized my workspace!

Speaking of which, my boss is great, in case you couldn't tell. She lets me do homework while I'm there and is flexible in revising my work schedule around my classes, observations, and therapy sessions. Yesterday, she gave me a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card that a former work-study student never picked up. I used it to buy things for my workspace--a Far Side desk calendar (to brighten up my days) and a cat noteboard with cute notepaper and a chalkboard for messages. I'm also bringing a candle, and I'm using a really cute pillow that Julia Sapir sent me, for lumbar support.

My boss called me today to let me know she was going to be late (as usual), but today was special because she ended up going to Macy's for their One-Day Sale, and she told me I should go, too. She said, get the work-study student to sit in the office while you go! So I went. I was gone for almost two hours, and it was all encouraged by my supervisor. Gotta love the job!

Thibaut comes to visit this weekend, so I'm sure I'll find out more about this fair city soon. We plan to dine at a French culinary institute and attend a couple birthday parties, maybe go shopping (a favorite pasttime, can you tell?). Tuesday I think I'm taking a half-day off or something in order to go with the dual-language program on their field trip to the pumpkin patch--exciting! Wednesday night Luis arrives for Thankstaking in the Heights with Jeanne and Seena and Seena's little sister. Seena and I get excited just thinking about the wonderful dishes we will aspire to cook. And, four days of vacation ... what more can I say?