Go Yankees!

Hello everyone! Yesterday was a memorable day here in NYC - it was the day of the famous Yankees parade! For those of you who do not know (just as I didn't until recently...) Yankees are the NY baseball team who after 8 unsuccessful years won their 27th World Series title in the new Yankee Stadium last Wednesday night by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3. And yesterday they celebrated they victory with a parade on Broadway, which started at 11AM at Battery Place and continued north to the Citi Hall where Mayor Bloomberg presented the team with the the keys to the city.

Already at 8AM in the morning I saw people dressed in yankee jerseys and decorated with white and blue face paint making their way to Broadway to grab the best spots for the parade. There was even a team of German tourists that got all dressed up and came for support. At the office many fellow bankers traded their suits for jerseys as well and half the building was planning to go see the parade.

Getting there was crazy, police blocked all access to Broadway but we actually managed to sneak in and join the crowds :) Everyone was excited and elated, shouting and celebrating. People working in the buildings close to Broadway and on Broadway itself were throwing down shredded paper / confetti, those who did not have any were throwing down toilet paper rolls that were floating high in the air :)))

From NY Diaries

From NY Diaries

From NY Diaries

as the parade was approaching, even though we were nowhere near the front line, the crowd was getting more and more excited and started chanting "who's your daddy?! who's your daddy?! who's your daddy?!" Apparently the chant dates back to 2004 when Pedro Martinez, who now plays for the team that lost (Philadelphia Phillies) made the following post-game comment after a tough loss to Yankees:

"They beat me. They're that good right now. They're that hot. I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy."

Source: here

A lot of celebrities were in the neighborhood including Jay-Z, Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson.

I wish I was on one of those busses yesterday :-) :

From NY Diaries

From NY Diaries

Some people trying to climb the fire trucks

From NY Diaries

This guy had one of the best vantage points :-)

From NY Diaries

There were others less fortunate that could not get as close as they wanted to the parade

From NY Diaries

All in all it was great to be around Broadway yesterday and be in the middle of all this buzz and excitement. Though I think that the news papers omitted to mention one of the oldest yankees fans below:

Have a great weekend everyone! :))

Happy Halloween!

For the past week all that people were discussing was baseball games and Halloween costumes. I’ve heard all sorts of ideas ranging from getting dressed up as Wall-e, cookie monster, getting coupled up as Harold and Kumar (the two guys that went to the White Castle) to going as a slutty pumpkin :) My personal idea was dressing up as a couch potato, not sure exactly what inspired me, but it turned out to be spookily accurate for me !

I’ve been planning to go and take a look at the Halloween parade in Manhattan, but having hurt my knee I actually did spend my Halloween evening as a couch potato checking out the functionalities of my new TV and catching up on 30 Rock (on demand TV rules !), Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. The best thing about watching the TV shows in real time as they air the episodes or on demand a couple of days later is exactly that – the time is real ! On both Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries they had a Halloween party and the actors were all dressed up, even though I was not a big fan of the sexy nurse outfit of Elena

Finally having TV and internet connection feels soooo good. A funny detail is that it rained on the Halloween parade. Literally. Lots of rain. I hope they had umbrellas with them :) and I think that anyone dressed as Mary Poppins would win the costume contest. Pity I missed it…

Another great event that I missed last week was the first NYC Dumpling Festival

Check it out here/ http://www.bromography.com/2009/10/24/nyc-dumpling-festival/

All sorts of dumpling-like food from all over the world was there and I was not there due to moving… :(

Anyways, on a happier note, as far as new food tasting and keeping your mind open goes – I ate something really weird last week. I ate a baby crab. That’s right, the whole thing, as it is. I was hesitating for 4 days, it just looked like a little pet to me. One of my colleagues is Chinese and she was eating these as a snack and dared me to eat one too. Considering in China they eat all sorts of things that are much less appetizing than a crab, I thought that I might take my chances and try something exotic. I still feel bad about that crab, it just looked so nice and cute and it was actually food!

There’s actually another person who very well describes the experience in this blog/ http://www.theanimeblog.com/japanese-snack-reviews/japanese-snack-review-tamagogani-meisauki/

I was thinking the other day of all the bureaucracy I see so far on every step and it is actually very surprising, considering that my American friends are always complaining how inefficient things are in Europe :-) You have to have a social security number for every little step you want to take. If you do not have one or just got a new one, be prepared to shell out some serious cash for every little thing you want to do such as:

• renting an apartment (your rental guarantee will be double the normal amount requested)
• getting a cable TV and internet ($150 deposit)
• getting the electicity contract ($380 deposit!)
• getting a decent postpaid contract for your phone (just forget it, you’ll never get it without SSN)
• getting a credit card (they don’t care that you are employed and live here)
• getting a membership at a store you like (they don’t want you to shop there more if you do not have an SSN)

and the list goes on…

I guess objectively speaking it is a bit complicated for all people that find themselves working in a foreign country, be it the US or elsewhere, but I was just thinking that here they take it to a whole another level! :-)

But America is great in other ways, such as the enormous selection of my favorite Haagen Dazs ice cream!! Gotta go visit the freezer again and have some more of that awesome dulce de lece :-))))

No Martini - No Party

Believe it or not, 3 weeks have passed already since I arrived to the land of the free and the brave!

The weather is really crazy here and it is now that I appreciate the advise of several websites I looked at before coming here that unanimously advise to always be dressed in layers. Layers are key! The temperature can easily go up and down 10 degrees during the day and if you add wind variations to it, there are no limits on how extreme things can get. Most of the last two weeks were freezing cold, but in the last 4 days or so we saw some really great sunny days with about 20°C. Today is raining though...... and probably tomorrow it will too.

Every morning walking to work I'm on a lookout for something exciting - Wall street is one of the favorite spots of various film and news crews and there are plenty of chances to happen to be on TV. Last week though I nearly choked on my muffin when I saw a big headless and bloody body of a street vendor laying on the pavement surrounded by the paramedics. Looked very real. Turned out it was a scene for some show... there was another actor nearby touching up his makeup :)

On Thursday we went out with my new colleagues for a drink to a bar called "Ulysses" which specializes in different sorts of beer. Of course I had to order Lindemans, haha, safe bet.

And speaking of all things Belgian - there is a monument at the word trade center that definitely reminded me of masterpieces we see on the streets of Brussels :-)

From 35 Hudson

Yesterday, after a week of very exotic, colorful and extravagant (for Brussels) food I decided to go and have a down-to-earth pizza in the evening. Despite my thinking that this would be a familiar territory, I discovered that ordering a "martini" as an aperitif here means something entirely different. I was brought a big glass of vodka with olives and when I confirmed that I would not be able to drink that they brought a glass of vermouth with lemon, which still was not the same thing as what we know as martini in Europe.

I just had an epiphany - I should have referred to the below to better explain what I wanted :-)))

In general, lunches at Wall street are really great and as you can see below, there are also excellent places for wired Wall-streeters to take a quick nap and get back in touch with mother Earth :)

From NY Diaries

There are a lot of places downtown that are not really obvious, but it is actually a nice area to go out and have dinner or a drink, and there are also such places as Duane Reade (a big drug and convenience store) that take care of our every need:

From NY Diaries

:))) saw this on my way home tonight and had to take a photo

And by the way, for all the avid Gossip Girl followers out there, did you know that Chace Crawford, who stars as Nate Archibald in the show, lives just around the corner from my office in this building: http://www.dwell95.com?? How cool is that?

Olfa!!! I think you should come over here and get an autograph!!!

The last bit of info related to celebrities is the proximity of the downtown helipad (I actually could not understand before the nature of the humming noise we hear in the office all the time) which is apparently used by Obama when he comes to the city.

Wishing a great weekend to everyone!

Stand by for more NY notes :)

xoxo

The boat, the views and my new home

I am happy to confirm that I am officially no longer homeless and have found myself an apartment! While the search did not go very well at first, with the help of my amazing relocation consultant Miche Griffin we found a perfect place on the other side of Hudson river in Jersey City. Being so close, just on the other side of Hudson, it is actually the state of New Jersey, so I will be crossing the state line every day now when going to work :-) Compared to Manhattan, it feels like being in a different country - there's lots of space, fresh air from the river, green surroundings, endless possibilities for biking and enjoying the outdoors, beautiful views and a boat marina just around the corner. All the while being 10 minutes away from Manhattan.

You can get there either by the underground train that runs 24 hours a day (Path) or by a Ferry Boat (!) which runs frequently from a pier at Wall Street right to Paulus Hook. I literally just have to step out of the building, take the ferry across Hudson, and in 10-15 minutes I am at the office - how cool is that???! :-))

Today I had to go there to sign my lease and took some pictures on the way from work. Sorry if they are a bit dark - did not get my camera with me, so used iPhone.

This is Pier 11 at Wall Street and the queue to get on the ferry:

From Apartment Hunting

The whole process of getting on the boat is so super organized - everyone knows where to queue and there is also a guy that runs around with a loudspeaker announcing last calls for ferries.

From Apartment Hunting

A shaky pic while on the ferry:

From Apartment Hunting

Arrived to the other side in record time and can see my new building (the two towers) right ahead:

From Apartment Hunting

View on Manhattan

From Apartment Hunting

Here I am!

From Apartment Hunting

The apartment itself is very bright and sunny and offers really nice views over Jersey City. The previous occupants just moved out, so it still needs to get cleaned and re-painted, but here is a peek at the views from the windows:

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

This should look amazing at night. I am actually thinking that I do not need a TV, just a couch or a chair to sit by the window :-))

And this is the little marina that is just around the corner:

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

And the view back:

From Apartment Hunting

So I am super excited to move in in about 10 days, and to those who are willing to fly over the atlantic, I suggest that you start planning your holidays and visits to NY/NJ asap! Let me know a bit in advance and I'll be happy to welcome you here :-)

On the way back, I took the ferry again and was having a lot of fun when getting off it - the wind got stronger so the pathway connecting the ferry and the pier was swaying and rocking on the waves and it took some dexterity to continue moving in a somewhat straight line! For me it was more of a zig-zag.... :-D the fun is to watch the two lines of people (those getting on and those getting off the boat) that walk in parallel and try not to bump into each other while zig-zagging and trying to stay on their feet

I actually took a walk around the port area and discovered that there is actually a dedicated IKEA boat that goes from Wall Street directly to IKEA in Brooklyn - guess who's going to be having Swedish meatballs for lunch tomorrow?? :-))

Here are some cool boats that I saw this evening and a view of the Financial District at night:

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

From Apartment Hunting

I also saw a station of the NY tour buses and now that the apartment is off my list I can finally start exploring the city! :-))

This is some kind of a lottery building in one of the streets, it just randomly highlights numbers. It can also answer questions like:

- How long will i live?

- How many donuts should I eat?

- What's my real age?

- How many kg do I need to lose?

etc...

From Apartment Hunting

And finally, for my favorite ex-colleagues who are in Brussels and are having the same sandwiches for lunch over and over again, please, do not be green with envy, but I have to tell you that since last week I already had a gourmet buffet, Indian and Japanese and still have lots left to discover! :-)

And for those who love unagi - lo and behold:

From NY Diaries

xoxo

Upper East, Upper West, Union Square and other things

I think it is time for a new post, cause I had people calling me and asking me if I were OK because they did not see me update the blog and wanted to hear my news :-) so sweet and thoughtful

*Apartment Hunting*

I did not have a lot of time this week unfortunately, mainly because I am running around looking for a place to live from November onwards. I have already visited Upper East side early this week and was rather disappointed by the quality of apartments that are on offer. Those of you who know Paris and how there can be a toilet almost in the kitchen can picture the type of place that I saw. Upper East is a very wide area and there is only one metro line that passes through it, which means that if you go too far east it becomes a problem to get anywhere. This is the older side of New York.

Today I visited the Upper West side and saw another 5 apartments. I liked this area much more, it is very alive, bright and well-connected. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, caffés, fresh food markets and shops. On the way back I actually took a walk on Broadway going south to catch a train and did not even notice how I walked 15 blocks! :) it was very pretty in the evening. The houses are better than on upper east. There are a lot of what they call here brownstone buildings that we are all accustomed to seeing in the movies, kinda like in the picture below:

From www.wordpress.com

Somehow as I was walking through this area I felt as if I was in Brussels and these were actually typical maisons de maître just with an added fancy stoop. And to be fair, from the inside, they do look like typical older buildings in Brussels, with old bay windows, ornate fireplaces, relatively high ceilings and charming wood floors and an occasional exposed brick wall. The windows are single pane in all of the apartments that I saw and they were also quite tiny, many had "sleeping lofts" (read: crawl space) for your bed and a little stair to get there... :-)

Definitely a very charming area though, and very much worth a visit for a walk on beautiful tree lined streets and of course the Central Park! I will make sure to go there one sunny day to take some photos to share with you. Maybe I will even find the "Central Perk", hehe

Last Thursday I had a meeting with my relocation consultant and she proposed to meet at the Union Square, so that I could take it as an opportunity to see some more of the city. There is a park there that is absolutely gorgeous! And what is even better, you can have a little table and a chair and just sit and relax and watch how dozens of squirrels (!) run around you looking for something edible to stash for the winter. Honestly, I have never seen so many squirrels that were so fearless! One nearly jumped into my bag :-)

This is how the place looks like

from www.ellensander.com

And here you can see the cute little squirrels - someone actually took very nice pictures!

Tomorrow I am off to Hoboken, which is actually in New Jersey, but is very close by being on the other side of Hudson. I'm planning to take a ferry to get there and hope that the day will be sunny!

*Buddha bar and the Meat Packing district*

Yesterday I met with some other people from my rotation program for the first time and we started by having some burgers and fries and eventually decided to improve the evening by going to Buddha Bar in the Meat Packing district.

From www.nightliferatings.com

From www.nytimes.com

This area is supposed to be super trendy and everything is "exclusive". There are plenty of designer shops around and a lot of people looking like they just stepped off the cat-walk.

From www.inetours.com

As we came out of the burger place one of the girls had an open can of been that she intended to continue drinking while walking. She was however interrupted by a guy in our group who yelled:

-What do you think you're doing??!! It's not like it's Europe here!!

:-D yeah, apparently if is a criminal offense to be drinking in the street even something relatively harmless as beer. Considering that I am a total newbie here, i asked him what else is there that I should make sure not to do and he very seriously advised not to run around naked. Hmmm..... I might have to go back to Europe after all, I mean, we are deprived of our basic instincts here! haha I was just thinking of doing that and I am so bummed now!!

Anyways, we were having a very good time in Buddha Bar until someone ordered tequila shots. AMERICAN SIZE. That means twice as big as what we are used to :-) After this I had to take my leave and jump into a yellow cab so as to make it to the office in a presentable condition next morning...

*Super Taxis*

I love taking taxis around here, they are much cheaper than in Europe and you get so much more for your money! In every taxi there is a touch screen fitted at the back of the two front seats where you can see a dynamic map showing you where you are in the city and what is the current taxi fare. You can also check out news, weather, shopping and dining nearby and a whole lot of other things that I did not check yet :-) The cherry on top is the credit card payment machine, which automatically proposes you pre-calculated tip options depending on the total fare of your ride. I find this absolutely life saving! This way I do not have to constantly make complex calculations in my head about how much I should leave as a tip, hew!

*Office Notes*

My network logins are still not working and this past week I have been hopping from one colleague's desk to another, trying to get the feel for what is done by whom and how. Already I see how territorial things can get - each one has his own set of cleaning products such as disinfecting wipes and windex, there is no "free" coffee machine like we had in Brussels - you are either expected to bring your own coffee or go across the street and get it from Starbucks (which is not thaaat bad... :-))) ).

It seems that desk cleaning was one of the first budget cuts here. For fun's sake I mentioned how in Brussels the garbage is now taken out of the offices every other day instead of every day and was quickly hushed down by the team and they also made me swear that I will not tell this to anyone here in NY so as not to put such dangerous ideas in the heads of management :-)

I gotta find myself some decent office supplies, I miss my fairy-tale wand-like butterfly pen that I left in Brussels... :-)) I wonder who will get it now

Breakfast in the office cafeteria is great though - I can have grits and oatmeal! yay! Not sure if that compensates though for the fact that we have to work on Columbus day though.... :-)

*Privacy*

With the war on terrorism there is very little left of privacy in NY. You definitely get the message and one of the means to confirm this new order it is actually by dropping by any restroom (please pardon my French). There is not a single cubicle wall that is connected at the corner or reaches the floor - all 4 corners have gaping spaces of about 3 centimeters and though you have somewhat an illusion that you are behind a door - everyone pretty much can see whatever it is you are doing in there.... the cubicle walls and doors are purely decorative, as no matter how you try, you won't be able to hide!

*I am soooo vane....*

I dropped by Bloomingdales one of these days to pick up some of the indispensable girly things that I will not mention here so as not to bore the male readers and was invited by Yves Saint Laurent to serve as their model next Saturday for a makeup-show!!! I am definitely going! :-))

xoxo to all

stay tuned for the views of Manhattan from Hoboken