I ♥ Harlem

          Two days of apartment searching are in the books.  Thursday and Friday we caught the bus into the city, Thursday around 2:00 PM and Friday around 10:30 AM.  Its about an hour and a half ride, and the bus drops us off at the Port Authority Bus Station, which is a huge multi-story building full of buses, subways, people, and noise.  My cousin Christopher met us there.  He's lived in the city for like 14 years, and if wasn't for him, Kyha and I would probably still be lost in some subway station somewhere.  Christopher navigated the labyrinth of subway stations and streets as we walked all over the city looking at the apartments we had found on Craigslist.  He told us what was good and what was bad, and steered us city newbies away from the places that would be regrettable.

          In total, we looked at five different apartments, and yesterday we actually applied for one!  Yes, it is in Harlem, but before your mind flashes to images of broken windows and drive-by shootings, you should go take a walk around East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  That place is sketchy in every sense of the word, and makes Harlem seem like heaven.  Garbage everywhere, broken sidewalks, big dirt yards surrounded by chain link and barbed wire.  I was just waiting to get attacked by a pack of ferrel dogs.  Oh, and the apartment building we viewed looked like a place they might stay at on The Walking Dead.  All that to say, we're really hopeful that we get the place we applied for in Harlem.  Its super nice.

          Overall, being in the city has been amazing.  I feel like I've seen so much, even though I know I'm only scratching the surface.  I'm a nerd, so I think the old buildings and churches are awesome.  The subway blows my mind, because its huge and goes everywhere (and, fun fact, was opened in 1904).  We've seen some crazy things too.  Most of you have probably watched the video Kyha posted on Facebook of those guys dancing on the subway (if not, you should go watch it).  On Thursday, while Christopher and I were waiting for Kyha to use the bathroom in the Port Authority, I watched a man dig through the garbage and come up drinking the last little bit of Kyha's iced coffee from Starbucks, which she had thrown away just minutes earlier.  It was a nice reminder that so many people have so much less than we do, and even though apartment hunting is stressful, and my legs hurt from walking, and we won't have a lot of stuff in the tiny little apartment that we eventually get, we have what we need and we have enough of it, and everything is going to be fine.

          We're taking today off from the city to hang out with my aunt and uncles in New Jersey.  It'll be nice to relax for a day.  On Sunday we'll go back to New York.  We're going to look at two more apartments, and Kyha is interviewing for a barista job!  Right now, though, I'm gonna go sit on the porch.  It's nice outside.