Another Perspective of New York: Brooklyn

Back in the day, I would have never bothered to venture outside of Manhattan. To me, Manhattan was the center of the cosmos, around which everything revolved. My conviction of New York’s supremacy held true till this morning. After my outing to Queens yesterday, I was quite disappointed by how shabby the other districts compared to Manhattan, but my visit to Brooklyn today convinced me otherwise. Brooklyn is sprinkled with hidden treasures. Whether it’s the borough’s brownstone townhouses or its majestic high risers or even its expansive waterfront with a spectacular view of downtown Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn is definitely one district of New York that deserves one’s attention.

Unlike Queens, which didn’t impress me a whole lot, Brooklyn had character, heritage, and a unique charm that gave it its own personality. Moreover, I got an insider’s perspective of the city as Aymen, a good friend of mine from UNIS, showed me around Brooklyn where he goes to Polytechnic Institute. I was truly grateful that he was willing to give me a tour of the borough despite the fact he’d had exams all day. Just walking around Brooklyn’s jazzy neighborhoods and catching up really made my day.

Around 1:30pm, I took the A Subway train to Brooklyn’s Jay Street, where I got off to find a modern building with the words Poly-NYU in NYU’s emblematic purple. This was the spot. As I approached the building, I could tell that I had definitely arrived at an engineering school by the atmosphere. The demographics of engineering students are distinguishable from any other type of students. For example, the other day while in Soho, I passed by Trisch, NYU’s art school, where the students were extremely artsy. Here, the students were not quite as stylish, conservatively dressed, with eyeglasses, and looking exhausted. Engineers are engineers no matter what.

At 2:00pm, I waited for Aymen to exit the Poly’s building. I was really excited to see him after so long. He and I had been in the same Arabic class back in UNIS, and we’d become quite good friends. Moreover, he was Tunisian, and I couldn’t stop telling him how much I adore his country. To start off our tour, we had grabbed a quick lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant. Over lunch, I shared my Tunisian photos with Aymen and we discussed politics in the Arab World. Again, what I got out of the discussion was that the picture was very dismal in our part of the world. I was glad to exchange some nice words with the restaurant manager who was a Palestinian who had studied in Egypt and missed it dearly. He even left us with some complementary baklava. As Aymen said, being Arab in NYC gets you places.

Anyways, as our tour began, we walked down Myrtle Avenue. We eventually got to Pratt Institute, which is one of the premier art schools in the country. The school’s campus was quite interesting; there were modern art sculptures all over the place and the classrooms were housed in industrial factories, but it nonetheless had a university feel to it. We walked around and mingled among some of the students. One of the students working on a project even wanted to interview us, but we didn’t qualify since we weren’t Pratt students. We eventually grabbed some ice cream at Pratt’s food court. I tried calling Roberto who’d just left the campus, but we decided to meet in Manhattan tomorrow.

After departing Pratt, we walked all the way to Brooklyn Heights a nice walk that took us through neighborhoods with some beautiful brownstone buildings and cobblestone roads. I think Brooklyn’s townhouses have a very distinct look to them and they seemed more authentic than those of Georgetown in Washington D.C. Another beautiful area was that around Montague Street, where the buildings with quite posh. The end of our tour took us to the waterfront where we had a great view of Downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. I wasn’t intending on visiting or even seeing the Statue of Liberty, but here it popped up right before me. Unfortunately the view of midtown and uptown Manhattan was so great since it was cloudy all day. We finally called it a day by taking the F Train back to Manhattan. I got off at 42^nd Street Bryant Park where I snapped a couple of cityscape shots of the skyscrapers by night and then slipped into a Starbucks near my hostel to grab some tea, write, and reflect about my day.

So that was my day… I’ve decided to extend my stay in New York by two days so that I will be leaving on Sunday simply because it means that I get more time to meet friends, tour some places I have yet to see, and gradually say goodbye to the city.

Another energetic day: MoMa, Uptown, and Queens...

Another energetic day in the city. I found myself out of bed by 9am, with the hustle and bustle blaring through my window. Today was going to be a packed day, so I made sure I was ready. Showered, combed, and put on some decent attire. Immediately I was out the Big Apple Hostel’s door. I grabbed a quick bite for the deli next door. Luckily, I avoided the rush hour this time around, when an influx of business people storms the place to fulfill their appetite.

I had to start early today. I walked down the corporate district of 6^th avenue down from 45^th Street to 54^th Street to MoMa, the Museum of Modern Art. I thought this would be a tiny exhibition of the scale of Istanbul Modern, but I was taken away by the fact that the museum was approximately six stories with every medium of modern art imaginable. Also, there was a whole gallery for each major artist: Picasso, Monet, Warhol, etc…

In the center of the MoMa was a live exhbition, in which the artist was interacting with the viewers. There wasn’t much interaction, considering the fact that the artist was literally frozen like a mime for the whole day and viewers would just come and take turns sitting in front of her in a staring context. It was kind of absurd.

Monet’s water lilies exhibition was exceptionally beautiful and made me reflect a lot. His depictions of the lilies reminded me of the pond in Charlottesville. There was also a design exhibition that showed the evolution of design of everything from chairs to helicopters (yes, the MoMa houses a whole helicopter). The MoMa made every other modern museum look like a shack in comparison.

Unfortunately I had to cut my tour of the MoMa short because I had a lunch appointment with Dr. Fatma, a good family friend. Since I was running late, I began running around Rockefeller center looking for Godiva so that I can buy my hostess a small token of my appreciation for inviting me. Luckily, I accomplished my mission, hopped into a yellow cab and drove uptown to 81^st Street between Park and Lexington. I had made five minutes late.

Dr. Fatma welcomed me with open arms and we sat and discussed my future plans for a while before leaving her apartment for lunch at Beyoglu, an exquisite Turkish restaurant just a couple of blocks down the road. Having her advice is invaluable considering that she’d raised her kids to be top-notch people. I aspire to follow in their footsteps.

Over lunch, we discussed everything from politics to her career as a doctor in the United States. I savored the experience of attaining the benefit of her experience. I also savored the delicious Turkish mossaakaa and kabab. Overall, it was a very fruitful meal and discussed. With the same hospitality of a grandmother, Dr. Fatma bid me farewell with a bag filled with snacks and goodies. I am truly indebted to her kindness.

Next on my list was to head to the Downtown. Omar had recommended I tour Soho and Tribeca. These are some of Manhattan’s beautiful districts with their imposing industrial architecture and avant-garde metalwork. I took some pretty neat shots of the area that I intend to frame one day. The thing about my New York trip is that it really makes me appreciate what I once had. I remember walking down these same streets in my teenage years without savoring any of these districts. In retrospect, I was ignorant of what I had, but now I appreciate what I had so much more.

I walked up to Union Square, where I used to hand out during my freshman year of high school. There was a huge rally in support of the Tibetan cause. With the backdrop of the New York skyscrapers, the rally had an epic aura to it.

I then took a subway up to 49^th Street and walked to the Barnes and Noble near 53^rd street. I munched on an oatmeal cookie and gulped down some green tea. I was kind of shocked by the fact that none of the bookshop’s bestsellers appealed to me, so I just surfed the net a bit. I then got a call from Ahmed, my roommate. He informed me that he’d be going to Queens with some friends and invited me to tag along. I’d never seen Queens fully, so I took the opportunity.

I took a subway to Steinway in Queens. According to one of Ahmed’s friends, Manhattan has a Chinatown and a Little Italy, well Queens had a “Little Masr.” This was indeed a very Egyptian environment. I had never seen so many Shisha palaces…They all resembled “2ahawy balady.” It was very surreal being amongst so many Arabs in the U.S., but there’s no denying that the whole scene was quite shady. We had tea at one of the cafes and it was generally a good outing.

Later that night, I received a call from Mr. Elias who invited me over to lunch with his family on Friday. I look forward to it, but I better get my rest for tomorrow. I meet another friend from UNIS tomorrow who is supposed to be showing me around Brooklyn Heights, so at least I get to see another borough of NYC. In any case, its time to hit the hay, but I look forward to blogging some more about what I hope will be another eventful day in the city.

The Met and reflections about the city...

I never thought I would ever find myself sitting in the Starbucks corner of the Barnes & Noble on 51^st Street and Third Avenue again. I recall that this was one of the venues where my passion for books matured in my adolescence. For memory’s sake, I think I’ll buy a book from here. The Garden of Truth was a book on my shopping list, so that might be it, but I’ll browse around for something more relevant to New York. Despite the fact that I have an agenda to tour the city, I always find myself hovering around 59^th Street and Second Avenue, my past home. I wouldn’t call it obsession, but rather a kind of bittersweet nostalgia, that brings me back here.

My morning wasn’t that eventful. I lounged around in bed for an hour or so until noon. Since my Hawaiian roommate, Michael, and my Brazilian one, Hector, were leaving New York, we chatted a bit about our respective futures before everyone of us set off on our different paths. We exchanged our contact information in case we were ever visiting our respective homes; Hawaii and Brazil are two places I would certainly like to travel to sometime. I hope the two roommates that replace them are just as laid-back.

Anyways, I set off to 53^rd and 6^th Avenue to MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. I had read pretty good reviews about this museum and was craving some modern art after getting a taste of the Guggenheim yesterday. To my regret, MoMA was closed for the day, so I said I’d go to the Metropolitan again. The hike up to 81^st was quite thrilling. The pace of this city is way to quick for me. I guess it’s a matter of adapting. Living in Charlottesville for the past four years has really slowed me down… I feel my pulse really beating here, but I think that’s definitely a downside about living in NYC. People here seem exhausted and depleted. Everyone’s running to and fro; it seems unfathomable to stop for a breath of air. Whenever I stop to take a photo or look in my guidebook, people think I’m crazy or something. Come to think of it, I don’t live such a hectic life.

On the way to the Met, I passed by that famous square at 59^th and 6^th Avenue, where all the carriages await tourists, the pigeons hover around, and a dignified golden statue stands the test of time. Once again, I found myself cutting through Central Park. It was indeed another beautiful sunny day that I found myself striding quickly in my T-shirt to enjoy the breeze. It’s amazing how serene a place like Central Park in the midst of the city’s madness.

Guess where my first stop at the Met was? The Egyptian of course! There’s a whole museum wing for the Egyptian section. Only the Egyptian Museum in Cairo houses more Egyptian relics than the Met. As I was wandering around one of the temples; yes the Met houses Egyptian temples, I found a group swarm in the temple with a petite old woman leading the group. Taking the advice Mom always gave me, I joined in. I listened to the woman explain every miniscule detail of the Ancient Egyptian civilization. The way she praised every single aspect of the artifacts made me want to shout boastfully, “I am an Egyptian!” Its amazing how much Westerners know about our civilization. The tour guide, I inferred, could knew Ancient Egyptian history by heart, could read the hieroglyphics as if it were her second language, and knew the story behind every statue in the museum. Apparently, the Egyptians believed that statues preserved human lives to the eternity. Every single statue revealed a unique personality behind its subject. As I scrutinized the features of each of these statues, I tried to relate with my “forefathers.” It amazed me how much interest this cosmopolitan crowd took in my heritage and history. The Egyptian wing was by far the most populated of the whole museum. The pieces on display were impeccable. Its unfathomable how these pieces have survived for over 5000 years. Then there was the temple, which sat in front of a little artificial pond with lotus flowers on the surface.

Another thing that really grabbed my attention was the tour guide’s description of Akhenaton, the monotheistic pharaoh. Akhenaton was the first ruler of Egypt to deny polytheism and declared that there is one source to all creation. Taking that a step further, he denied that Ra (the Sun) was God, but rather there was a force of light behind it that gave the sun its energy and hence the power that gave life to all beings. The essence of Akhenaton’s theology appealed a lot to me and sounded very much in line with the beliefs of the Abrahamic religions.

After this whole “Egyptian experience, I thought to myself that we Egyptians should really start valuing this treasure we live in. Egypt is truly a gem, but no one seems to give it its due appreciation.

The second section of the Met where I spent most of my time was the Greek and Hellenistic section. Greek art’s depiction of the human physiology is very appealing to me. The Greeks were driven by idealism…they hoped to capture the essence of the perfect human in stone. Every strand of hair was sculpted to perfection to reflect an idealized version of the human. My imagination took my on a journey where I envisioned how these statues fit in the context of Homer’s epics. I think the only other collection that rivaled the Met’s Greek exhibit was that of Istanbul’s archeology museum.

At the end of the day, my hunger drove me back to 57^th and Second Avenue where I dined at the Pita Grill,where I had some delicious Mediterranean meal to top off my Egyptian and Greek tours for the day. I now find myself at the Barnes and Noble after walking down Third Avenue and the 50s streets. Actually, I just got a call from an old friend who lives a couple of blocks down the street. I’ll be paying him a visit to see how he’s been. I guess we’ll rendezvous tomorrow dear reader.

The Journey to 59th St. and Second Avenue

I had made it a point that every time I visited New York City, I would visit my old house. This tradition makes me appreciate the lifestyle I once enjoyed and it also brings back memories of some of the most enjoyable days of my youth. I walked down Fifth Avenue to 59^th Street. From Fifth Avenue, I walked to Second Avenue, where I was surprised to find that barely anything had changed in the cityscape. I crossed over Bloomingdales. What was eye-catching was the new Bloomberg building on 59^th Street. I recall seeing the foundations of this building when living in Manhattan six years ago. Finally it was complete.

Once I got to our apartment complex, the Landmark, it was as if I still lived there. I imagined that I would be able to walk up into my apartment and my room with the amazing view of the Chrysler Tower would be awaiting me. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, but I snapped a couple of shots of the house to send back to the family. I also walked down 59^th to First Avenue, where Food Emporium stood under the Queens Borough Bridge. I took several shots of the bridge as it crossed over into Queens. I also took several shots of Roosevelt Island. On the way there, I also visited the park where I’d go play football and basketball every now and then. I walked back to Second Avenue and walked back down to 45^th Street to my hostel. It was kind of upsetting that I’d have to be spending another night in a little tight bed with three other strangers in the room after once living a luxurious life in New York…but it all makes one appreciate what one had.

Neue Galerie

It was really impressive how all of the major art museums were lined on Uptown’s Fifth Avenue. Considering that I didn’t have much time before the museums closed today, I decided to visit the Neue Galerie, an Austrian-German gallery displaying 19^th and 20^th century art. This appealed to me because I remember reading somewhere that these galleries featured some of Gustav Klimt’s work, which I have always found to be particularly beautiful. What was amazing was that such exhibitions were mainly a result of private donations. Neue Galerie wasn’t much, but for the quality of work it featured was impeccable.

Philosophical Musings at the Guggenheim

Being the museum addict that I am, my first stop was the Met. To my deepest regret, I arrived at the majestic staircases of the museum to find the museum closed for today. A sign indicated that the museum would open at 9:30am. Expect me to be there. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the various museum exhibitions. Occupying 13 acres of Central park the Metropolitan Museum, the gallery supposedly features everything from Ancient Egyptian Art to Modern Art. Apparently, more people visit this one museum annually than the number of tourists that visit Egypt every year. This is telling about their Ancient Egyptian exhibition. Anyways, this gives me more of an incentive to make the hike across Manhattan to visit this museum once again tomorrow.

Luckily, all I needed to do was walk a couple of blocks down to the Guggenheim Museum. This is another one of New York’s landmark museums with its distinct shell-shaped architecture. I wasn’t quite sure what I should be expecting upon entering but I was taken by surprise when entering to find two people making love in the middle of the Museum’s ground level. What was even more absurd was the fact that people stood around watching as if it were a completely normal event. Its funny how art defies all social and cultural taboos.

As I was climbing the circular sloped interior of the museum, a little boy popped out of nowhere and grabbed my attention by asking me to follow him. “What’s progress to you?” he asked. I was stunned by the question. I wasn’t quite sure if the child was being socially awkward or what, but when I asked him to elaborate what was going on, he mentioned he was part of Tino Sehgal’s virtual artwork, so I played along.

-“Progress is the process of development and becoming prosperous,” I answered.

-He probed me further, “Is that your definition or is that an innate human characteristic?”

Before I could answer him, he ran away. I was baffled. As soon as I turned to continue with my tour of the museum, a cute girl about a couple of years younger than me came up to me and asked me to define progress. I gave her the same answer. When she asked me if that’s what I personally believed, I replied, “No, that’s what humans believe, but I believe that progress is reaching a state of spiritual fulfillment.”

-She asked me to define what I meant by that…

-My answer was, “finding what’s universal and timeless.”

-Before I could continue conversing with her, another older girl popped up out of nowhere and asked, “Could one fall in love with only one person for the rest of their lives?”

I answered, “No! Humans are too emotional.”

-“Then, what is true love,” she asked.

-“I don’t know because I haven’t experienced it yet,” I answered. “But it doesn’t have to be directed towards a person. It could be towards Nature, for example.”

-“How so?” She asked.

-“Well, I’d fallen in love with New York, and that’s why I’m back to visit it,” I replied and added, “but that shouldn’t mean one should become attached to what he or she loves. What this visit to New York has taught me is that its not the place or the person that you love who will make you happy, but its you and only you who will really make you happy.”

The last leg of these philosophical dialogues was an old woman, who asked me about my family. All I could share with her was that I missed them dearly and looked forward to being reunited with them.

It was extremely surreal having to utter my thoughts aloud. It was if I were discussing my thoughts with a psychiatrist or as if I were having some divine dialogue. In any case, it was a fascinating way of experiencing art.

The other exhibition that I really enjoyed was the Paris and the Avant-Garde: Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Collection. This was a museum private collection that featured every famous artist involved in the surrealist, cubist, and impressionist movements. I was glad to see the works of some familiar names, namely Chagal, Matisse, Monte, Picasso, Dali, etc…

...returning “home” after being in exile for so long.

What other part of Manhattan is more conducive to commence writing New York diaries than Central Park? With the soothing melody of “The Girl from Iba” flowing from a live saxophonist, the sun shining against the winter cold, and the pigeons fluttering around, my mind sets to work by spilling words it has long bottled up. I never thought I would ever have a chance to revisit this city that I hold so close to my heart. I always thought that it was snatched away from me in my youth because I was never quite grateful for what I had. You know, as the old saying goes, “You never appreciate what you have until its gone.”

Yesterday was quite a surreal experience. I literally caught my bus at the last minute. So I found this pretty nifty deal where one can commute directly from Charlottesville to New York in a matter of six hours, i.e. just two more hours than it what it takes for me to get to Washington DC, meaning that if I would have known, I would have come up to NYC every weekend…seriously. I miscalculated the pick up location of the bus, so I ended up running from one end of Charlottesville to the other in less than half an hour. I was so determined to catch this bus that my sprint over drenched me in sweat by the time I made it to the bus…but it was worth every step I ran…

The bus ride had its perks, free WiFi, free food, and pretty luxurious seats. I slept for a bit, read for a bit, took care of some housekeeping…. Once the tip of the Empire State Building appeared in the blanket of the night, it was such a surreal experience that I wasn’t quite sure if I were dreaming or not. At that point, a rush of emotion hit me…it was as if I was returning “home” after being in exile for so long… I began to forsake every notion I had that I could be “happy” anywhere. I began to convince myself that I was simply under a delusion of being happy in Charlottesville. But then I got a hold of myself. I wasn’t going to succumb to temporary emotions… I had come a long way in Charlottesville in so many ways: spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically. I may have never made it this far if I’d gone to college in New York… Anyways, I promised myself that I would dwell in the coming few days with a sense of detachment as the Bhaghavad Gita has taught me…There is no point in obsessing or wishful thinking. Just live for the moment and what will come will come.

I got off the bus in downtown Manhattan. As I was crossing the streetlight, I asked a person to my right where the nearest subway station was. He pointed straight ahead and mentioned that that was where he was going. I walked by his side for a good five minutes. Along the way I thanked him for guiding me and a small dialogue followed. I found out that he was from Bangaladesh and had recently won the diversity lottery for a green card. He was also a Muslim. From what I could tell, he seemed to come from a pretty poor background but seemed to be working for in the IT or financial industry. When I thought about, someone like him deserved the opportunity to be here way more than I did.

Getting back on the New York Subway was quite an experience. The subway symbolized my attainment of independence. I remember when I refused to commute around Manhattan with a driver and decided that I wanted to take the subway instead. I took the A Train uptown to 44th Street, Times Square. It was around midnight at this time so I didn’t want to stay up to late. I crossed over a couple of blocks to 45th and 6th Avenue to my hostel, the Big Apple Hostel.

The hostel’s gatekeeper wasn’t the friendliest person out there. He either really wanted to aggravate me or was just pure ignorant. When telling him I was from Egypt, he asked, “Is that in Israel?” I replied, quite the opposite, alluding to the fact that Israel is on Arab land, but I didn’t know if he’d get the point. Anyways, I took my keys and bed sheets to the room. I was shocked to find a fifty-year-old guy sleeping in one of the dorm beds. After conversing for a bit with the guy, I found that he was visiting from Hawaii and was in New York for many of the reasons I was, namely friends, museums, central park, and generally a good time. My two other roommates were an Australian college student and a Brazillian one. The only other hostel of this nature I’d been to was the Black Cat in Antigua and I really enjoyed coming accorss people from all walks of life.

Anyways, this morning I woke up around 11ish, took a quick shower and was out the door in no time. I grabbed a quick veggie omelet from the closest deli and began my journey across 45th Street. I was taken away by the height of the skyscrapers enveloping me. I thought to myself, if we, Egyptians, pride ourselves with the Great Pyramids, New Yorkers sure have the right to boast about the being the greatest civilization today. My journey took me all the way to Central Park, where I sit and reflect while writing this.
Anyways, I don’t want to be late for the Metropolitan, where I hear the Egyptian exhibition takes a whole day itself. In any case, expect another entry very soon.