A New York State of Mind

This week I was able to re-live the good old days in NYC. I flew into the city bright and early on Monday after saying goodbye to little sister who was flying out of GR too, but in the opposite direction. Up until the moment I touched down in LaGuardia I hadn't made up my mind how I would travel around to all 4 of my schools. I decided quickly enough as I surveyed the tangle of traffic and made my way directly to the taxi line (briefly thinking about standing in line for the M60 bus- but in the end decided to leave Ms. Cheap behind).

I hopped off the taxi 40$ later at 81st and Columbus, right by Central Park and the Museum of Natural History. The hotel let me check in really early and I decided to leisurely make my way toward Brooklyn for my first and only school visit of the day. 3 hours later not only was I decidedly late, my feet were about ready to fall off. Yes I know my way around Manhattan on the subway but Brooklyn? The answer I found out was no. A big no.

Because I could not justify cabbing to every spot I bought a Metro pass. Jon loaded my phone with a great subway app and I navigated (very poorly) to my destinations. Despite my lack of navigational skills I was stopped twice by tourists asking for help finding their way. On top of that I was chatted up by a man on the train about charging my phone (which I had to plug into my laptop- I know, it felt ridiculous). Who says NY is not friendly?

As luck would have it, most of my coordinators forgot I was coming so they didn't even know I was late. Small miracles.

The best part of the trip was seeing my friends from Teaching Fellows :) We all started out (6 years ago?) as newby teachers, all without a placement! Good times. Yummy dinner and catch up conversation capped off my nights.

The best example of an ELL classroom I've seen in NY

A favorite thai food stop on the UWS

This guy always reminds me of Jon- we loved finding them all over 14th street subway

 

 

Hehe

Well, in true Laura fashion, I took only 8 pictures over 3 almost 80 degree beautiful days. I am just really bad with documenting things! I guess you'll have to take my word for it, I had a great time :)