walking the brooklyn bridge

i'm not very big on "tourist sites." i am always down for a good club, museum, or restaurant, but that's about it. i skipped the statue of liberty, but couldn't resist walking the brooklyn bridge. it was SO worth it.

so, while counting down the hours until i leave for cuba (twenty-five), i came across a few more pictures that i took during my last week in new york. some of my favorite pictures came out of roaming around brooklyn and the east village, so i had to include them...




the view from my bk hostel... and yet another example of gentrification (i'm not even going to talk about it this time)

i've ended my ny trip (sigh), but still have plenty of pics to post. below are a few of my areas i visited regularly walking through manhattan...

Midtown

Greenwich Village

and 125th St. in Harlem

my sister's a teacher!

i spent the past week in d.c. with my younger sister (i'm trying to move away from the title, "little") trying her favorite restaurants and clubs. most days i awoke and ventured to the library of congress, but on thursday i accompanied her to a community center where she teaches weekly literacy classes for five and six-year-olds. my sister has a gift with kids that i can only hope to develop someday as a parent. when we were younger, little kids always gravitated towards her, sitting on her lap, playing with her hair, and showing her their most treasured toys. it seemed that they could spend hours with her doing things in which i had no interest. over the past several years she's worked with babies, autistic and mentally challenged elementary students, toddlers, and now young students whose basic skills are underdeveloped. her patience, analytical insight, and (of course) disciplinary approaches are amazing. i couldn't take pics of the kids, but check out her classroom...

East Village

btw, my latest obsession: playing with light, especially the sun...

i LOVE the east village... it's like my favorite part of austin (SOCO/south austin) in a major city. it has it's own style, a mix of people, and every type of activity you can think of...

in Queens for a day

my first hookah experience...

the best quote of the evening: "White Castle shouldn't be painful, it should be a celebration" ~ Chloe

the birthday girl and her mom

yesterday, my new friends and i ventured to the queens beer garden (it's even listed as a tourist stop on the web) for marissa's birthday. the beer garden was definitely an experience. even better was the spontaneous trip to white castle!

adventures in manhattan, part 1

today i hung out with two men from france that i met my first night in new york. we stay in the same hostel. we had three goals for the day: buy a guitar, see the statue of liberty, and
visit MoMA (SOOO excited to see it!). we accomplished the first goal easily. the second didn't work out - we thought that it was free on fridays, and i was NOT about to pay $20 each to see the statue and ellis island. but MoMA was FABULOUS!!!