Six Reasons Why I Love my New Neighborhood

If we're friends on facebook, you probably know by now I've had one hell of a couple weeks juggling work, apartment searching, and moving around hostels. I was effectively able to push myself to just keep going despite bad sleep and mental/physical exhaustion, and I recently jumped on the first room for rent that I could actually see myself living in. (It fits a bed, it's clean enough, it has two windows, and no roommates who are smokers or have a fire hydrant collection scattered all across the 10 feet of the apartment)

I'm glad to report that I am now living in Astoria, Queens with some quiet Koreans who study at Hunter College. Here's a photo of the building. My doorway is the white entrance, and I'm on the fourth floor.

My move magically coincided with my day off so I've spent the last 24 hours moving in and exploring the area while figuring out the necessities of life here. It may be soon to say, but I'm overflowing with excitement, so I'm going to do it anyway: I love my new neighborhood! And here are some reasons.

1. It's friendly and comfortable. I first started looking into living in Astoria based on suggestions of multiple coworkers and was especially motivated after seeing a few frightening neighborhoods/apartments in Brooklyn. As soon I stepped out of the subway on my first trip to Astoria, I felt comfortable and relaxed, and as though I fit in.

2. Location, location, location. Astoria is a hop and skip over the East River from Manhattan.

Exhibit A - I live a block away from the subway. I'm three subway stops from the Upper East side of Manhattan, and there are two DIRECT train lines that I can commute to and from work on in less than thirty minutes (already waaay better than my complicated commute from hostels on the Upper West Side).

Exhibit B - My apartment building faces New York City's historic Kaufman Astoria film studios (think Marx brothers, and more recently Sesame Street). For an old-film lover like myself this is quite exciting. On the same block is the Museum of the Moving Picture which is where you will find me on free Friday afternoons. Across the street from this museum is Astoria-born Tony Bennet's Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. My block is one and a half streets away from Queens' Broadway in the other direction, which has lots of restaurants and bars, both classy and inexpensive.

3. It has EVERYTHING. Seriously. Everything. Mind you, the last place I lived was 20 minutes in any direction to anywhere that so much as sold Coke from the hours of 9-5, but still, the convenience is incredible. Within a zero-to-four block radius I have: laundromats, cafes, banks, an international supermarket, tons of ethnic restaurants (that deliver!), convenience stores, liquor stores, discount stores, thrift stores, furniture stores, a HUGE movie theater, multiple subway stops...

4. Culture. Originally settled by Dutch and Germans along with the rest of New York, Astoria (named after John Jacob Astor) has become a home to many waves of immigrants, including Italian, Jewish, and most abundantly, Greek. (Since the 1960s Astoria has claimed home to the highest population of Greeks outside of Greece itself.) Today you'll also find establishments representing immigrants from Ireland, Poland, Bosnia, Mexico, India, Algeria, Central and South America, Egypt, Pakistan, Hungary and Morocco. Without a doubt one of my main reasons to move to the city was because of my adoration for ethnic foods. I've already feasted on souvlaki, Italian ziti, and Thai curry and look forward to much more gastronomical exploration and enjoyment ; )

5. Smiles. As silly as it sounds, there is a different sort of relaxed friendly vibe on this side of the river. Neighborly chatter is common, and smiles are abundant. Girls in shops call me "honey" and "baby" and Greek boys making your dinner like to share stories. And don't forget the charm of grandparents. Thickly-accented scarf-wearing septuagenerian women are quite eager to start up a conversation at the corner store, and grandpas in caps always hold the door for a lady.

6. It's my new home. If for no other reason than the fact that it is my home base in this city I have dreamed of living in, the place where I have a room of my own, the tiny part of the city that gets to be called "Katy," I am embracing Astoria. I truly am so grateful to this neighborhood for giving me my new home and for making me feel welcome. When my Mexican coworker, Ana - who has been a guide to me in many ways, found out that I had nabbed an apartment in Astoria, she jumped up to hug me and with a huge smile said, "Welcome to our neighborhood!"

In Suspension

My mom has told me many times in my life, both in the past and continually now that I've been here, to accept Not Knowing. Not an easy thing to do, but an important one. Right now my life is a national parade of Not Knowing. Each day I struggle with all kinds of uncertainties and trials, the ringleader of them all being not knowing where I'll be sleeping in a few days or what part of town I will call home.

Lately my daily life has been a mix of hard work and tough judgement calls. For example, after much deliberation I left my cafe job yesterday because ultimately the job wasn't a good fit for me and it was impossible for me to work every day and put the energy I needed into finding a place to live. I've never left a job so soon before and I know I won't be making enough now to pay rent, but I decided to do it anyway. Today was my first "day off" since I got my jobs, or my first real day of apartment searching. I ended up only seeing one room (the first one got taken before I got there; the second viewing made me late to the third so we rescheduled) and don't think it was the right one for me. I wasn't sure whether or not I should try and nab it or if I should hold out for the possibility of something a little better. I resolved to continue my search.

The last few weeks I've been constantly suspended between places, between people and appointments, between forms of transportation and jobs. It's hard to think I could be going to sleep tonight with a New York address of my own, but the truth is I opted to wait and therefore to maintain my suspension. I opted to again go through my evening ritual of meeting my dorm-mates, of navigating an unfamiliar street in search of something affordable and tasty to sustain me, of having reliably bizarre hostel dreams that incorporate hard-partying Ukrainians or sharing a tiny studio apartment with four German-speaking girls. I opted for present unease and more challenges in the hopes that just maybe I'll find a better living situation tomorrow, or next week.

As for my friends in the city, I haven't seen any of them. As for sites, if it isn't an underground transit system, a monumental library, or on the way to somewhere I'm scheduled to be, I probably haven't been there. I won't go into all of my daily struggles, but I will sum them up by saying I'm simply suspended in air right now. And I won't be able to focus on much else until I return to a solid footing, until my life has the stability of things like a schedule and a permanent location (perhaps a private shower??)... I'm not going to pretend I'm completely comfortable with all the Not Knowing, but Mom, I'm learning to be.

Work, work, work

I am now on my 10th full day in the city (and my 7th consecutive day of work).

My arrival in New York, after checking in at the hostel, led to making some new international friends and heading together to a nearby pub. I introduced the American sport of beerpong to some Irish and Polish and they introduced me to winning. I met lots of all kinds of people and had a great time. It was a good intro to the city.

The next morning it was incredibly rainy and dreary and I had a hard time getting myself motivated to leave my Upper West Side lair and go out job searching. A phone call to my brother Gus got me inspired and on my way downtown. I had two restaurant interviews, neither of which led to jobs, but I did set up a few more interviews.

The following day I got my first job - as a hostess at a restaurant in SoHo (called Spring Street Natural Restaurant.) I liked the looks of it and went in and applied. The manager immediately hired me and I started training last Friday. Midweek I also picked up another part-time job as a barista at a cafe called The Bean at its new location on Broadway and 12th Street.

Since then I haven't had a single day off, either working or training. It's been crazy but good. My coworkers at the restaurant are really cool friendly people. A couple of them have taken me under their wing and I also have a chance to use a lot of Spanish for the first time in a long time. Plus something exciting is always happening there. (Yesterday we had to close the seating out front because there was a French comedy being filmed on the street.) The cafe on the other hand is a much smaller operation but just as fast-paced. At its location near Union Square it's a refuge for many NYU students, for the creative, the pretentious, the ambitious, the important, the just plain strange...

That's the word for now. Not sure when my next day off will be, but I'd like to use it for apartment searching! Hugs to everyone.

Closing In

This was my first date with Jackson Pollack, Spring 2008. I was in the city for a national college journalism conference and it was my most recent visit. Fellow editors, writers, and designers from our Fort Lewis publication The Indy and I had the time of our lives. I got to meet staff writers for The New York Times and The New Yorker, see another incredible play, do some serious shopping, make friends with some awesome characters, and can you say lunch in Little India? (to mention a few. phew!) I was so sure that I was going to have to move there that I started telling New Yorkers I met that we should exchange numbers because "I'm moving to the city in a few months."

Whether it was months or years doesn't matter because at this point, I'm moving to the city in a matter of hours. My whole life now exists in two bags of luggage and a backpack. And Casie, you should know it involved a three-part elimination process, and only a few shoes and books made the final and most rigorous cut. Still, I was able to fit in 50 resumes, a few essential photos of friends, and 8 dresses including one Get-a-Job-in-NYC dress. (Will let you know if it lives up to its name.) While I may soon be a vagabond - or a voyageuse, if you will - I'm going to at least be a well-dressed one.

Said my goodbyes to Gus tonight (who came down to Rico for the weekend and stopped by the house to help me clean. Thank you kiddo!!) Guess we're really closing in.