While I was waiting for something to load on the computer, I glanced over at the bookshelf next to me and noticed a book on how to make documentaries. So I pulled it down, and all day, while the computer would take a few minutes to think, I would read out of the book. I’ve gotten almost through the second chapter already. It is really interesting so far, and I hope that I’ll get the chance to read a lot of it while I am here. Maybe they will let me take it home to read this weekend.
I asked Louis what time everyone shows up for work in the morning, and basically all three guys show up around 10 am. So it would be pointless for me to come in any earlier. But he told me that even though coming in earlier doesn’t look possible, I can still leave earlier in the day if I want to go exploring.
For some reason, I don’t feel very adventurous right now. I have all of NYC at my fingertips, and I honestly feel too lazy to take advantage of it. I really need to fix that, and soon. One month is hardly enough time to spend here and see everything I want to see. So I need to snap into shape and get working on my list of things to do (which keeps getting bigger and bigger).
After work, I walked home for dinner and then Mayu and I went out exploring. When we left the house it was raining, but we didn’t let that stop us. We walked all the way down Broadway to Times Square and then continued south and worked our way over to the Empire State Building. We were excited to go up and see the view, but we didn’t know until we got up there that it costs $20. In my cheap student traveler’s mind, that is so much money! But we decided to go up anyway, because seeing NYC from the top of the Empire State Building is something that everyone should do at least once.
After looking around the top for a while, Mayu and I rode down the 86 floors (on two different elevators) to the bottom. On the first floor, we bought coffee from Starbucks and then stepped out to walk home. But we were really tired, so we decided to take the subway instead of walk the twenty-something blocks home. That was a good decision.
As we were walking back, Mayu turned to me and told me that this was the first time she had been out at night in NYC since she’d been there, because she’d never had anyone to go explore with her. I don’t know why, but it surprised me a bit, because I thought she was the one doing me a favor by coming out with me.
I loved hanging out with Mayu this evening. She is super nice, and I feel like her English is really improving, because it is getting much easier to talk to her. I can talk a bit faster, and she understands. And I guess I didn’t realize earlier that she does know a number of “big” words, so we can carry on more normal conversations than I expected.
I have never really had to deal with language barriers before, so all this is new to me. And I know this sounds strange, but I guess I can finally understand the mindset (a little) of anyone in history who has ever oppressed or conquered a people because of their different backgrounds, languages, etc. When someone doesn’t know English well, I have to fight my tendency to feel older than them (because of my “superior” knowledge). I have to make a conscious effort sometimes to tell myself that just because they don’t understand what I am saying doesn’t mean they are dumb. Not at all. Mayu is six years older than me, so she is in no way less intelligent than I am. But because I am constantly explaining things to her (since we obviously only speak in English), its easy to feel falsely superior. Staying at Centro Maria has already been such a learning experience for me, and I haven’t even been here for more than two days.
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