Day 7 - getting my street legs

Well, I've been here a week now - hard to believe. I feel totally at home, like it's been much longer. But then, in many ways I'm like a toddler having to learn all the basic things all over again. How to get around, where and what to eat, the best way to dress myself.

Everyone gets food delivered in New York when they're hungry for dinner, but I don't even know how to do that (do they take credit cards? how much to tip? How long do you have to wait?) I'll wait til my roommate's here to show me the ropes. So instead I decided to wander in search of a light, cheap dinner. I figured if nothing seemed appealing, my backup was the falafel place at 104th and Broadway, where a hot, fried-to-order falafel wrap is only $5.50 - but maybe I'd find something between here and there. I'd go on an urban safari. As I left the apartment, I encountered my predators: the Dominican boys who hang around on the sidewalk outside our apartment building. One of them surveyed my figure, grabbed my hand and introduced himself, calling me baby. I smiled bashfully, ducked my head and said nice to meet him, and then went on my way, leaving behind the tigers of the Upper West Side.

It was getting dark, and I was glad to be out at that time of night. I'd only walked in my neighborhood during the morning and late at night - and the early evening had a festive air. Today was a warm day, and New Yorkers seemed to be out reveling in the balmy night. Columbia students, Dominicans, African-Americans and the occasional young professional like me passed between one another peacefully on the street, all of us speaking our own languages and happy to be out.

There's so much to explore here - every walk I go on widens my eyes as I take in all the new destinations. I keep telling myself, there will be time (time once more to murder and create/and time for all the works and days of hands/to lift and drop a blessing on my plate), but my roommate tells me that in fact there won't be. That this is New York, and I should do as much as possible now since there won't be time later. Problem is, I barely know where to start! I take it in as I can, and I wander.

I settled on Roti Roll for dinner - Indian wraps of sorts that are only $3-$5 each. One makes a light meal or filling snack. I had a Palak Paneer (and borrowed the Thursday Styles from a cute Columbia boy while I waited). That's the thing here, when you're hungry there's plenty to be had for under $5. On 110 and Broadway there's the famous Coronet Pizza. Slices as big as your head and cheap. Open late. I realize as I pass that I've been there before. A friend from college took me there a few years ago on a one-night jaunt into New York. On broadway, I go into to one of my stores to buy a bottle of wine, but they don't have any. The next shop over (there are three great ones within two blocks of each other) had no wine - and it was a very gourmet place. I wracked my brain: did liquor laws here forbid alcohol sales in grocery stores? No, I seen it before.... Then I figured it out: New York spots are so small that most of them specialize. Groceries or wine, but not both. Food or drugstore, but no megashops like we're all used to. You want toothpaste, you go to the drugstore. Food, the grocery store. Flowers, the flower shop. Wine, the wine store. I found one across broadway and while there discovered a club I want to return to: it's called the Underground, and it's in the basement and looks very beat-ish. They had live music tonight and I'm sure they have spoken word poetry. If I can find an accomplice, I plan to invest in a beret and make it one of my hangouts.