Manhattan

After a week of utter chaos - overwhelming lesson planning, confusing daily schedules, consistent sleep deprivation - I finally had a chance to get some rest and take in the sights of Manhattan. Yesterday, a large group of us went into the "city" (technically, all 5 boroughs are considered New York City, but Manhattan is the mother ship, where skyscrapers and city blocks go on for ages and pedestrians greatly outnumber countless car-packed streets; therefore, people at TFA tend to refer to Manhattan as the "city"). Not only was this a great opportunity to see some of the top tourist spots of the town, but also a time for me to get to know some other corps members, and mutually gripe about the difficulty of our current situation. It was glorious. Since our day was completely packed with places and people, I'll just share the cliff notes;

• 1 PM - Leaving St. John's
• We left St. John's with a pretty big group of TFA'ers. You'll notice I have a bit of trouble remembering where everyone is from - this is likely due to the fact that I have introduced myself to approximately 100 new people over the past 2 weeks. General line of questions goes something like this, "What's your name? Where are you from? Where did you go to school? When did you graduate? What was your major(s)? Where are you teaching this summer? Do you know where you are teaching this fall? What are you teaching this summer? Do you know what you are teaching this fall?" Sometimes information gets lost in the mix. Anyway...
• Allen - California
• David - Virginia
• Aaron - California
• Martin - Georgia
• Mark - California
• Carl - ?
• Carmen - New Jersey
• Caitlin - New York
• Caitlin - ?
• Melissa - ?
• 2 PM - Central Park
• Central Park is awesome. It is enormous, filled with people and various oddball characters. We came across a group of roller skating dancers, getting down to their boom box, as if out of the movie "Roll Bounce". I noticed an elderly lady wearing a head band and concentrating intently on keeping her soccer ball suspended in mid-air. Other numerous balloon animal artists prepared gifts for eager children, while we passed by, taking in the moment. At last, we reached the great lawn, an open area with sunbathers, soccer players, picnic parties and bros being bros, throwing frisbees and drinking PBR. We hung out here for a few hours and talked. 

• 4 PM - Dylan's Candy Bar and Patsy's Pizzeria
• Hungry and a bit tired from our journey, we worked our way over to a sweet destination, Dylan's Candy Bar, a three story candy shop that reminded me of Honeydukes, for those of you Harry Potter fans. Every type of candy you could imagine was represented, but I stuck to a small bag of gummy bears. From here, we crossed the street to Patsy's Pizzeria for an authentic coal-fired pie. It reminded me a bit of the slices in Naples, but not quite as good, nor comparable to the best pizza on earth, found in and around Chicago, Illinois. 
• 5:30 PM - St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center
• As huge fans of 30 Rock, Aaron and I insisted that we venture over to the Rockefeller Center, to see where Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy work. However, before we arrived, we passed St. Patrick's Cathedral, a beautiful gothic church that again gave me flashbacks of my travels abroad. We walked in while a service was in session, which I thought odd, but apparently is par for the course. Numerous tourists were walking around the outskirts of the nave, observing the churchgoers in their seats, even taking pictures of the stained-glass windows adorning the walls. Again, I thought this was all kind of bizarre, but the church was beautiful and I was glad we entered. After this quick detour, we arrived at the Rockefeller Center and snapped a group photo. From left (Allen, me, Aaron, Carmen, Caitlin, David - a few members of our original group had gone on to do other things at this point). 

• 6:30 PM - NYU / The Village
• Taking the subway south, we moved toward NYU and the Village, a trendy part of town in southern Manhattan. Tired from our walking and stopping, walking and stopping, we found a nondescript pub that had a good drink deal and shared beers over conversation. 
• 8:00 PM - Washington Square Park
• Again on the move, we stumbled upon street performers in Washington Square Park, drawing a crowd. After making our way from the fringe to front and center, we arrived to find a drummer, pianist, singer and tap-dancer pleasing the audience with fan favorites such as Michael Jackson's - Billy Jean, Lady Gaga's - Poker Face, Stevie Wonder's - Superstitious, among other well known ditties. Although this was what initially attracted us to the location, we looked around to find a beautiful, art inspired scene at dusk. A sand artist had meticulously composed a picture representing the sun in multicolored grains sprinkled on the cement, a jazz quartet played softly in the background, and an inspired arch, reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe, stood tall, overlooking the crowd. It was a pretty amazing moment.

• 9:00 PM - St. Mark's (2nd Avenue and 8th Street)
• David is a huge fan of food and the Food Network, similar to my friend Billy in Chicago (and his borderline obsession with Good Eats). To our delight, David had already extensively researched the NYC area in search of the best and cheapest cuisine. Based on his insights, we traversed to the St. Mark's area near 2nd Avenue and 8th Street, seeking the finest meal $5 can buy. What we found were two fantastic holes in the wall, a greek stop serving $2.50 falafel, and an asian restaurant with $5.00 spicy lamb noodles. It was perfect.
• 10:00 PM - The Frying Pan
• While some of the gang went home at this point, David and I headed to the West Side of the city to meet some other colleagues at The Frying Pan, a bar that literally rests on a boat, docked on the Hudson River. From our spot on the top deck, we had a great view of NYC to the east, and New Jersey to the southwest. "Is that Stanton Island?" I asked. "No Josh, that's New Jersey," replied David. "Oh." I'm new. 
• 2:00 AM - Back to St. John's

In conclusion, it was a great day and chance to appreciate the new city I am in, as well as the people I can enjoy it with. This afternoon, I will be working diligently to prepare for my first class on Tuesday. Wish me luck - like most everyone else here, I feel drastically unprepared to be a teacher, but I suppose that is the norm. At least I know if I work hard I have wonderful weekends to look forward to, in one of the greatest cities in the world. 

Quote of the Day: "Over the great bridge, with sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." - F. Scott Fitzgerald