Yesterday, my friend Kyle Peter Compaan was in town! He had been a part of a wedding in the Baltimore are and so he figured that a three hour bus trip to NYC was a good idea. And when he remembered that I was here, he called me up and we decided to hang out for the day. We did a TON of stuff. A lot of the pictures we got are on his camera, so I don't have many. . . you'll just have to imagine. I met him at Battery Park, which is the south of Manhattan where the ferry leaves to go to Ellis Island. His bus had dropped him off in the middle of Chinatown around 8am that morning. He said that it was really cool to see NY in the morning. There were trucks everywhere with people unloading fresh vegetables and fish. People were yelling and trading and throwing things and Kyle just kept telling me that it was SO fun.
After that, he navigated his way out of Chinatown--a commendable task--and went to ground zero. I was there on Friday and it was a very interesting site. They have it blueprinted to have a new World Trade Center Plaza completed by 2012. They look like pretty incredible buildings. Right now, it's just a hole in the ground. They are in the process of repairing the subway lines that ran under the towers.
And they are also laying a foundation for the new buildings. This picture is pretty much the extent of it. No more rubble, but rebuilding. It's exciting and there's a sense that something is going to be renewed and reclaimed for our nation. I'm curious to see how these buildings will effect events in the future.
Kyle then traveled to Ellis Island and the Statue, which I've already written about. So I met him next to a statue of an eagle there at Battery Park. It was so strange to see a friend from such a different context here in NYC. It's almost like home now because I have people here to visit me and I'm showing them around! We hopped on a subway and headed for midtown for some food. We ended up finding a cute little Pakistani place and we ate some fantastic curry with rice. Then we headed to Harlem.
Harlem is often talked about as the center for African-American culture in the US and for sure in NY. We surfaced at 125th St which runs right through the center of Harlem. Originally founded by the Dutch, Harlem is a quaint little neighborhood whose streets are lined with brownstones and beautiful parks. In the past it has been one of the rougher areas of NY but beginning with Bill Clinton, who built a large office building on 125th and Malcom X Blvd, people have begun to invest in the neighborhood and it has become a flourishing center.
It was fun to walk around and just watch people live. As a neighborhood it feels much more lived in than many other places in NY. Especially the Upper West Side, where I am living, feels a little like a movie set. But in Harlem the people are real. There are a lot of moms pushing strollers and men on their way back to work after a lunch break and some soul food. Harlem is also the home of many immigrants from West Africa. The streets are lined with these immigrants selling everything from earrings to pirated DVDs.
We walked down Malcom X Blvd to 116th St where the home of the Nation of Islam, Malcom X's version of Islam. The mosque was there on the corner. There's this big thing on the top of it that kind of looks like a Hershey kiss. It was funny. 116th is really the center of what is called Little Africa. Many of the people Kyle and I talked with were from Senegal. They were probably mostly from the people group called the Wolof. They are a beautiful people with dark skin and a lot of very good skills that are fun to watch. One man invited us into his shop and was showing us dozens of purses he had made. They each had a symbol on them from Africa and he explained each one to us. Another woman was making long African robes. I think we had stumbled upon a place where mainly Africans shop, there were no other tourists there with us.
My favorite shop belonged to my "new friend" as he called himself. He was sitting on a stool inside his shop with a djembe. The hide stretched across the top was broken so he was untying was it. I was amazed by all of the djembes sitting outside of his shop. They were all so beautiful! Hand carved and wonderful. I was amazed that he was making them so I said, "Are you making that djembe? Did you make all of these?!" And he looked at me with a very entertained smile and his beautiful dreadlocks flowing down from his head and said, "Sista, dis is ma factory." So Kyle and I went into his "factory" and played instruments with him for a while and danced. We talked about our friends from Africa-- Adam, Luke, Doug and Kyle's friends from Rwanda. He said that we could add him to the list, one friend from Senegal. He was very sweet and seemed a bit lonely, but we brought some spice into his life with our goofy questions and dancing.
By this time we felt like we had walked all over the city, so we decided to take a break in Central Park. Kyle had brought a sleeve of thin mints with him so we thanked the Lord for the deliciousness of thin mints and shared them. They were a little old and a little melted, but still good. Then we read the day's My Utmost for His Highest before sitting in silence for another hour or so. Most of the silence was due to the nap Kyle decided to take on the grass under the shade. How often does one get to take a nap in Central Park after reading a great devotional?
Then we walked around Central Park to see some more of the sights. The picture at the top is through this really cool tunnel thing and it's one of the most famous statues in the park. You might recognize it from movies and TV shows. And we walked through the "Walk of Poets." I'm not exactly sure why it's called that, but its this really beautiful area with trees all in a line and you can walk through a wide pathway. The statues at the end of the walk are of Columbus and Shakespeare. Random!
We finished the evening by meeting with the class for some super sketchy Chinese food and then TIMES SQUARE. I wish I had the pictures from Times Square because they were really cool! Kyle was again amazed at how big NYC is! There is nothing like Times Square all lit up at night. It's almost as bright as daytime and there are people everywhere. We went in the M&M store, which was funny because everything in there is M&M brand. There are also some super eccentric people there. One guy walked past us and rapped out loud to himself with each step. Another man tried to convince everyone that his political standpoints were correct and people who don't think so are intolerant and ignorant. Ironic! We stopped and asked a man to take our picture and although he didn't speak English, we somehow communicated what we needed and gave him a thumbs up after we checked out the picture. It's the one that's really cool. I hope that thumbs up in his culture doesn't mean something horrible!
We parted ways at the B train. It was a fun day of hanging out and experiencing the life of NYC and it's people. A special treat from the Lord: hanging out with my buddy in this great place!
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