- Julia Sorel

If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.

New York Tuesday

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day. It's a holiday meant to honor the war veterans from all the wars that the USA have fought – as well as the one they’re fighting right now. An imposing parade, (which reminded me of the Euro Pride Parade last summer, only that it was veterans instead of gays) took place on Manhattan, from Central Park south on 5th Avenue. For security reasons some parts of the town was closed which led to extended traffic chaos. Fortunately we were walking…

Having explored this part of town in the last few days we now knew where we were going. Firstly we headed for a shoe store, aiming for a pair of shoes matching my homecoming dress and a pair that I could eventually wear the same night at the charity dinner. I found a pair for $7! They might not be the best quality, but for one or two occasions they were more then good. Secondly we passed a vintage store and I tried on a white leather jacket, I loved it but since it was a tiny bit too small I didn’t buy it. The advantage with shopping in vintage stores is that you can find something that is totally unique, but in contrast, the disadvantage that comes with it is that there is a limited range of seizes. I guess I’ll just keep looking! Thirdly, we went to an Indian boutique to get some accessories for my homecoming dance since the theme was “Bollywood”. We bought shiny bracelets, a tattoo, earrings and one of those spots for the forehead, which “Idol-Kishti” used to wear.

With a cultural interest in mind we chose the Empire State Building as our next pastime. In the long line to the elevators that would take us up to the 87th floor we met 4 gorgeous Australian boys in the age of 23-29 years old. They just arrived the the previous day to NYC and had me guess their age, which I always hate because of the risk to be offending or insulting. I guessed 19 on the 24-year old, he looked like an identical copy of my friend Sebastian, but older. Really handsome...

From the top of the Empire State Building there was an incredible view. You could see the entire city from up above, how NYC is built on islands, like Stockholm.

You could see the Statue of Liberty, all the beautiful bridges and you realize how big Central Park is and how dense and compact the city is.

When we kept on going north and reached the richer and more expensive area, we past shop windows that had already started with the Christmas decorations which made me think of how fast the time here has past. I’ve been here for almost three months.

The main event, the charity dinner, later that evening took place at Caroline’s Comedy Club, right on Time Square. We were entertained by a number of famous comedians and I had a great time. When it ended we went to an after party and went to bed at about 3.00 am to be ready for the flight the morning after!

New York Monday

The main reason we went to New York right now, was the charity dinner that Mary Sue was going to cook for. The dinner would take place on Tuesday night but Mary Sue had to work on Monday too, preparing for the 400 guests. Julie and I took the advantage to go shopping, since Mary Sue is not a huge fan of that. We walked down 5th Avenue and stopped in any interesting store every now and then. Julie got me a vintage purse from Urban Outfitters made out of leather, dark blue and brown – perfect seize. We kept going south, down to ground zero, where the World Trade Center used to be until the terrorist attack of 9/11. Standing there, I could feel the intense essence in the atmosphere. After some momentous minutes we lighted up the serious mood by entering “Century 21”, a huge store with four floors similar to NK or Åhléns in Stockholm with clothes sorted by brands in different divisions such as “every day clothes”, dresses, sports and athletics, skincare, shoes and jewelry. I got a couple of underwear, 2 bras, socks, and a homecoming dress (!). I haven’t been shopping that much in a long time! It made me feel excellent!
Julie and I then took of together to Chinatown and the area called Little Italy. It consisted of a couple of blocks and where two of the streets crossed each other there were four Italian restaurants in each corner. Not knowing anything about the menus or of the food quality we decided to go to the one we thought of as best appearance, but our decision turned out to be insignificant because we were “drawn into” another one by a waiter, probably a result of their competition.

On our way home we walked uptown again and we past shop after shop in block after block with jewelries, followed by shop after shop in block after block with lighting and the same thing with stores selling restaurant supplies (there are more that 13000 restaurants in NYC)! It is unbelievable how many stores can endure with such competition! That is New York!

Monday night I spent working on my comparison and contrast essay that was due the same day, while Mary Sue, Declan and his friend Nick had dinner on The Spotted Pig. Julie met a couple of friends of hers, had oysters in a bar and helped me finish my essay later on.

New York Sunday

We all slept in for a while on Sunday morning. All these time changes and flights make one tired. I slept on the couch, which was way too soft, probably old and “worn out”. It took a while for my body to soften up after becoming stiff during the night. We did that by walking. New York is a city perfect suited for walking, in general you move faster as a pedestrian that the vehicles.

Mary Sue and I started of walking thought a very pretty, pleasant park, Madison Square Park. A little bit farter away we stopped in a sample sale store, we were hoping to make some bargains. We found clothes, mainly from Calvin Klein, on discount. We tried on everything worth trying and at last I left with two shirts, that Julie gave me. She said: “You’re not allowed to pay for anything! I promised your parents that I would take you out shopping, so here we go!” Really generous of her, not to mention Mary Sue who has bought me everything I needed when I came here with only one suitcase.

We ate Korean food for lunch, a good deal of different kinds of fish, tofu, soups, greens and vegetables. All three of us were stuffed when we walked all the way to Time Square and the Broadway show; we had tickets to the play “August Osage County”, a tragic/comedy. First of all; the view of time square was incredible. For the first time my image of the New York City that I had had before was confirmed; a dense city with skyscrapers covered with enormous signs and neon boards. Even when we later walked there in the middle of the night at 2.00 am it felt like daytime because of all the lights. Second of all; the show was really entertaining. The story was about a family drama, taking place in Oklahoma, characterizing a typical American family in the Midwest that was full of complicated relationships and troubles.

New York Saturday

On Union Square, a couple of blocks from our apartment there was a street market on Saturday morning. We started our day with a visit there and bought eggs, bacon, bread, granola, milk etc. everything we needed to make a complete breakfast. A couple of friends of Mary Sue and Julie come over to join us. In time for going back out again it started raining. Luckily, we were prepared better this time (comparing to in Washington D.C) for the colder climate, with umbrellas and rain coats. And considering the weather we decided that it was a perfect day for a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They had an exhibition of Modern Art which I liked very much. Until now, I’ve never been especially interested in museums, but I saw a lot of beautiful work. There was one collection in particular that caught my eye, among the pintings; "Black Iris", of the artist Georgia O’Keeffe.
The Met is located on the east side of the Central Park, so later, we walked across the park. Central Park is a huge park, in the middle of Manhattan. Now in the fall the trees are colorful and the view is idyllic.

A while ago when we were going to Washington D.C. Mary Sue was searching on the Internet for restaurants we could visit. She found one named “The Obelisk” and she became curios about what an Obelisk really was. As it’s easy to do, she was stuck on the internet for another hour trying to find information about an “Obelisk”. Later she told us that an obelisk is a monument, originally from Egypt, and there is only one in America – in Central Park. We went past it and then walked by the “Swedish cottage”. I had no idea that there was one here in New York. With a proud Swedish flag on top of the house it reminded me of those log cabins we usually rent up north in the Swedish mountains.

A picture of Central Park on a rainy day.

We took the subway home, which was not too bad. It was kind of similar to the Swedish subway but not as clean nor inviting. A more popular way of transportation is eventually the typical yellow cabs which are really cheap and convenient.
At this time we hadn’t heard anything from Declan yet (Mary Sue’s oldest son that goes to college in New York) since about a day before we left LA. It turned out that he had been sleeping until about 4.00 pm. which was why he hadn’t answered any calls. He and Mary Sue had talked earlier about him making up plans for us two while Mare Sue and Julie would go to dinner at their friends house in Bronxville, about 40 minutes outside the city by train. But because of the confusing situation all four of us went out to Bronxville. Mary Sue helped to cook the dinner and it all tasted very good. Declan and I had a chance to talk, for the first time since we met last time, in Stockholm in the end of last summer. The two of us went back to Manhattan earlier, right after the main course, because we were planning on going to a party with Declan’s friends. Unfortunately it turned out that nothing he knew of was going on, so I took a cab home from his dorm to our apartment, alone… It was probably a stupid thing to do because I felt scared as I sat there all by myself. My imagination started to flow and I thought of everything that could have happened, in a completely foreign city, in which I had been in for less than 24 hours, knowing nothing about the area and barely my address (Declan had told the cab driver before we left).

New York Friday

I rode my bike to school and attended 1st and 2nd period, ceramics and usually guitar, but I had to take a Physiology test since the midterm grade was due the next following Wednesday.

To leave school earlier I had to give the attendance office a note from my guardian that approved that. I’ve noticed how much stricter the attendance is here that it would be back home. Everyone just comes and leaves as they want to, pretty much. Here the teachers are required to take roll as soon as the bell rings in the beginning of every class. Even if you come only one minute late you are marked as tardy, no exceptions. Tardy to the 1st period results in a detention, after a certain number of tardiness’s you have Saturday school.

However, I got home to finish my packing. Julie arrived soon later. She is Mary Sue’s sister and lives outside LA and hosted my brother Fabian for a year. She, Mary Sue and I were going to New York together. Josh made us one BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich) each while we watched Barack Obama’s first press conference as President-elect! “Finally a president that is intelligent and can pronounce words correctly!” I heard someone say. Josh gave us a ride to the airport and we bordered the airplane as soon as we got there.

Washington D.C and New York are both on the east coast, NY is a bit farther away, but the flight felt endless. I watched the movie “21”, which was quite mediocre, somewhat similar to the Ocean eleven movies.

Finally arriving at JFK outside NY we got in a cab. Because of the time difference it was already 10.30 pm, dark and misty outside. We got to the apartment that we were renting, about half an hour later. It was situated on 31 East 20th which is in the middle of Manhattan. With food as a common passion we went out to a very nice restaurant on the opposite side of the street called Gramercy Tavern. The food got my blessing but the experience wasn’t great because I felt sick after the flight. With refilled stomachs, we went to bed, exhausted.

Elections 2008

Soon is the time we’ve all been waiting for. In less than 24 hours we might know the results of the Presidential elections of 2008. According to the recent polls the democrat Barack Obama is leading (touch wood) before the republican John McCain. As far as I’m concerned, the majority will vote democrat here in California. My host family is as much democrat as one can be. By organizing a big Obama fundraising dinner, which contributed to his campaign with $ 20,000, they’ve done as much as they can to help.

As a democrat, Obama has got more liberal opinions on many of the issues of current interest than McCain, who as a republican is more conservative. Maybe a little bit influenced by my host family and the people they associate with, but also based on my own thoughts and opinions I’m hoping for a democratic victory – I’m hoping for a change. After following the debates every now and then and listening to where each candidate stand on each issue there are some that are more distinct than others.

Whether gay couples should be able to adopt children is one controversial question. McCain opposes this while Obama supports it. Some people claim that a child is given a better adolescence with one dad and one mom, but you can’t take that for granted. A child’s childhood doesn’t depend upon the gender of its parents, nor their sexuality, but on the love it’s given during that period of time. McCain is a but head when suggesting that gays should be denied an adoption.

Personally, I’m against death penalty. I think it’s unfair to sentence someone to death, when there is even a minimum chance that this person’s verdict is incorrect or mistaken. I also believe in improvement of the human being. Even though you’ve committed a crime, you deserve a second chance. I’m not sure if this agrees with every case; imagine that they would catch Bin Ladin and give him a second chance without further notice. Might not be the best idea. However, Obama supports death penalty, but only for certain crimes. McCain, on the contrary, wants to expand the federal death penalty, which I think is scary.

Obama also supports restrictions on gun ownership while McCain completely opposes gun control. Only last week I heard about a boy who committed suicide by shooting himself in the bathroom in his school after being bullied by his friends. This happened in Los Angeles. How did he get hold of that gun? It’s not too hard in today’s society when a lot of Americans have a gun in their home for “self defense”. Why do they have to protect themselves from? There are too many irresponsible persons that can buy guns which constitute a threat to the society…

I doubt that I will be able to concentrate on anything else but the elections tomorrow. I will return with more information tomorrow, after the final result has been revealed. I hope it will be good news!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat?!?

Last Friday was Halloween. It’s a tradition given as much attention here as Easter and almost Christmas are in Sweden. The students dressed up for school. They wore anything or everything, the only restriction was that no masks were allowed (the school made an exception with the hat policy for once) and for girls, the dresses could not be too short, whether anyone checked if this was complied with or not is another question. I choose to not wear my costume to school because I thought it was too short, but I’m sure I could have done it if I wanted to consider what everyone else was wearing. Andy, a friend of mine, asked me why I didn’t dress up. I told him about my tiny dress, but he said it wasn’t an accepted excuse for NOT wearing it, the smaller dress the bigger reason to wear it. He said that in general, everyone consider Halloween as their big opportunity to dress slutty and dirty. I was really surprised he said that, as if that’s everyone’s goal in life? The answer of my question was later confirmed when the “catwalk” started and anyone could show their costumes. The most extreme example was one boy, dressed only in a bathrobe and slippers, who walked up the catwalk, posing in front of all the students in school, supposed to be a pimp. Then these two girls, looking like playboy bunnies, came up to him and kissed him, one on each cheek.

The classes were also a little bit different that day, the schedule was changed. The two first periods were shortened, in ceramics we watched the beginning of The Nightmare Before Christmas (everything is made out of clay) and in Guitar we got cupcakes and red vines and watched Edward Scissor hand. After that it was time for the Catwalk out on campus, at the same time it was this event called “Club Luau” where every club had a chance to earn money by selling snacks, foods or drinks. I bought two delicious croissants from the French club for $3 each. This whole event lasted for 70 minutes and after that it was lunch for 30 minutes so the remaining four periods were also shorter than usually, but not as fun as the first two. No more movies or cupcakes, just ordinary classes.

After school I had soccer practice. The varsity team usually practice separately from the JV (Junior Varsity) but because of Halloween there were a lot of players missing (maybe they couldn’t get out of their tight costumes) so we practiced together.

At night it was time for me to put on my costume. A sailor costume I had got from a friend on my soccer team a while ago. I went to my friend Sarah’s house and had dinner with her, her boyfriend, her boyfriend’s best friend and Amanda. During dinner we were frequently interrupted by the door bell ringing. A lot of the younger kids start as soon as it’s getting dark to go out trick or treat. Sometimes their parents are making them company. Once when I opened the door a two years old Pirate said “trick or treat”, he was adorable. Anyone who wants irrespective of age can go out trick or treating. We went out after dinner and it turned out to be a success.

I remember me and my siblings going out on Trick or Treat in Sweden, once or twice, without such a triumph. First of all, my neighborhood isn’t the most optimal (my dad had to drives us from one house to another) and second of all, the families don’t expect anyone so they don’t have any candy to hand out. Here, the majority of all houses have decorated the front yard with spider web, big corpses, and lighted pumpkins and so on, and parents are sitting in the entrance prepared to give the kids candy (because there are so many that it’s a better idea to sit outside the entire time than opening the door each and every second). Sometimes there were so many kids at one house at the same time that a long line was formed.

After walking around in the neighborhood for more that an hour we were all tired and had got enough candy for a whole year forward. Josh came and picked me up; telling me they had ran out of candy at 8.30 p.m. which I thought was a bit amazing considering the great amount of candy they had bought. In families living in a poor neighborhood the parents often drives their kids to a wealthier or richer neighborhood where the chance for getting more candy is better, so Mary Sue and Josh (dressed like a shady Indiana Jones) had had a lot to do.

This is a fun tradition that I would like to “bring back” to Sweden. Even if it’s already introduced at home I want it to be as extensive as it is here. I’ve decided that next year at Halloween I will have a costume party for anyone interested. We’ll carve pumpkins, eat candy, watch a scary Halloween movie and have a good time. Remind me of this if I forget!

My Pumpkin!

Knotts Scary Farm

Last Friday I went to Knotts Scary Farm. http://www.knotts.com/. It’s an amusement park arranging their annual Halloween Park. It’s transformed to something similar to the ghost houses and mazes in the Swedish amusement parks.

Jade, my friend from my Physiology and my History class brought up the idea of going there a couple of weeks ago, and since a club in school sold tickets ($50), we decided to go. It was opened between 7.00 p.m. and 2.00 a.m. Leaving my house at 7.30 p.m. it took us over an hour to get there because of the maddening and annoying traffic in Los Angeles.

The whole place was turned into a raw and chilly area with revived corpses, wicked clowns and evil monsters emerging suddenly when you least expected it. When they were not visible around us I was shivering because of the fact that I felt like they were watching us.

Because of the special event and the fact that it was Friday night, it was unusually crowded. The lines to each ride were at least 45 minutes long, up to one and a half hour. And I kind of questioned the situation if it was really worth it, when the ride by itself isn’t more that one minute. However, it was definitely a fun experience to visit one of the biggest American amusement parks. I’m not exaggerating when I call it huge.