A few years ago I was in New York at a house party talking to a guy about laughing yoga. In later conversation this person also mentioned that he lived in Harlem.
“Isn’t that a really dangerous area to live”? I instantly asked, especially because this guy was white, small and took part in weird things like laughing yoga. If anyone was going to be a target of street crime it would be this crazy Caucasian hippy from Harlem.
But I was wrong; the guy explained that Harlem is perfectly safe because of something called porch culture. “Even if I go home at 1am you can guarantee there are a dozen people sitting on the steps or porch outside their apartment chatting and socializing”. His basic theory was that the quiet neighborhoods are dangerous; Harlem is busy and therefore safe.
Fast forward to the present day and I am back in New York and walking up a street in Brooklyn. On the corner a man is wearing giant gold chains, a top-hat and big baggy jeans almost hanging round his knees. A car pulls up beside him, a conversation takes place, money is exchanged and then the drug dealer fumbles, drops all his money and four packets of white powder fall on the street. There is a gust of wind and the money is scattered, the dealer’s jeans have slipped round his ankles and he begins running into the street to chase his money. My grandmother would be a better drug dealer than this guy.
I am living in Brooklyn for the week because it is the home of Trish and Tara, friends from Hong Kong. My instant reaction to the neighborhood was that it is unsafe; there are gangs of guys outside buildings and the occasional drug dealer on the corner. But there are also people everywhere, families sit on their porches, local restaurants are packed and children are playing in the nearby church. There are too many people for the area to be classed as anything other than colorful.
Trish and Tara are both studying, Tara is working on a five year programme to gain a PHD and Trish is completing a MA in educational science. When I arrived Tara was staying at her family house so Trish and I had the apartment to ourselves. On the first full day we had a BBQ, sunbathed and drank a few beers, then did similar on the second day but included a trip to the local Laundromat. In the evening we went to Manhattan to have some drinks and basically just relaxed.
There is nothing in particular that I wanted to do in downtown New York, but on day three the weather was unusually clear so I went up the Empire State building and then sunbathed in central park with some counselors from camp. On day four I went to the natural history museum and looked around the shops on Fifth Avenue, the only thing I purchased was a Starbucks mug to add to my collection, everything else was too expensive!
So now it is my final day in NYC and I am packing my bags to go home. I have loved getting to know a different district like Brooklyn and it has been great to see so many friends again. I realized yesterday that this time last year I had just started my attempt to get from Southeast Asia to England by land and sea, I have been very lucky to have experienced such an amazing year and can only hope that my time at university will prove to be as interesting.
Yellow cabs as seen from the Empire State building
View loooking south with Central Park in the distance
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