In this section, one of us cardinals shares tales from her daily adventures in New York City. It is meant to give a personal glimpse into life in the Big Apple.
December 2024
A Brazilian Christmas
It was a rainy day in early January 2024, just a few months after my husband and I had arrived in the city of our dreams. Not knowing a single soul in Manhattan and eager to refine my English skills, I signed up for an English Class at the 53rd Street Library. It was a fun class, especially thanks to a lovely Japanese woman who amused us all with complaints about her frugal husband, who’d only let her “window shop.”
At the end of class, just as I was exiting the room, I crossed paths with Marina, a woman in her late 20s from Brazil. We hadn’t spoken before since she’d been sitting at the opposite end of the room. Even though it was raining cats and dogs, we couldn’t stop chatting at the corner of 6th avenue and 53rd Street. We immediately hit it off, exchanged numbers and parted ways.
Over the following months, our friendship blossomed. We indulged our shared passion for tea in a tiny salon in the West Village, went on a tea-shopping tour near Washington Square Park, had a tea picnic in Central Park, slurped fantastic ramen at an Asian restaurant, attended a Mozart concert at Alice Tully Hall, strolled along the High Line and, together with our husbands, admired the cherry blossoms in Branch Brook Park.
Just a few weeks before Christmas 2024, Marina asked if we’d be interested in spending the holiday together. I knew it would be our first Christmas without our families and was honestly a bit sad about that. So it was that we celebrated Christmas with two amazing new friends in a cozy cabin in the snowy Berkshires. On Christmas Eve, I couldn’t help but think: who would have imagined, twenty years ago, that two girls born on opposite sides of the world would one day sit together under a Christmas tree, solving The New York Times’ “Wordle” side by side?
October 2024
Sex and the City
For me, there is only one person who embodies New York City more than anyone or anything else on this planet: Carrie Bradshaw. A couple of months ago, I was on my way to the seamstress. It was a sunny spring day in the city, with birds chirping and the sun filtering through the trees. As I turned the corner of 20th Street/Gramercy Park W, I could not believe my eyes.
And just like that… there she was, in the flesh. Carrie Bradshaw, the undisputed Queen of Manhattan. She was flashing a big, beaming smile toward her filming partner, Aidan, as they strode down the street for the new ‘Sex and the City’ sequel series. Was I dreaming? I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. From then on, everything went pretty fast. Carrie suddenly walked, smiling, toward me and the other excited spectators, waved at us, only to then disappear into a double-parked cab. Off she went. Just as I thought the show was over, Aidan approached the waiting crowd and offered to take pictures with him. Well, that was my cue. I thrust my cellphone into a woman’s hand and seized the chance.
After dropping off my dress at the seamstress, I decided to grab a coffee. I was still star-struck and in disbelief about everything that had played out in front of my eyes. A coffee would do me good. As I waited for my order, I was glancing around the café when someone suddenly caught my attention.
And just like that… I found myself in a café with Aidan, sipping his coffee during a filming break, just around the corner from Carrie’s apartment. The whole setting felt surreal. Outside, several lovebirds were passing by, hand in hand, lost in their own world. Carrie’s New York is alive.
End of August 2024
A Drawing Class Heading in Unexpected Directions
Last week’s first harbingers of fall painfully reminded me of the ineluctable fact that summer is just about coming to an end. High time, I think, to finally cross off one of the last items on my summer bucket list: visiting my favorite park in the city and enjoying its versatile offerings. As I’m scrolling through Bryant Park’s activities, I immediately fall for the “open to students of all levels” Figure Drawing with a Live Model class. Inevitably, images of Mr. Bean, my all-time favorite TV character, taking a life-drawing class pop into my head. Well, we all know how that went, right? Anyway, you gotta know, I’m a greenhorn when it comes to drawing; my Christmas card doodles always look like they came from a six-year-old. But it’s never too late to learn new things.
A week later, I find myself in Bryant Park, surrounded by friendly faces waiting eagerly for the lesson to start. When an elderly man with salt-and-pepper hair takes the stage, the woman next to me can’t hide her disappointment, as she had wished for an unclothed model. A thirty-something, fair-haired woman from the Netherlands, named Heleen, tosses in, “I’m glad he isn’t; this would’ve been too much of a distraction for me.” We all start drawing. Looking around, I realize that I’m sitting among some undercover Van Goghs and Picassos, creating masterpieces within minutes. Heleen and I exchange glances, mouths agape. We were the only absolute beginners there. But as the saying goes, a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved.
After class, we couldn’t stop chatting, enjoying the evening sun filtering through the trees. At the end of the day, my drawing couldn’t satisfy me, but I had made a new friend, and that was worth so much more.