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(1) My biggest annoyance has been my health. I got a cold and recovered from it quickly - except that the coughing has not stopped, and I think I bruised a rib. Which is really unpleasant. And my knees are still adjusting to New York's many, many, many stairs. They're liable to be okay for most of the day and then fail severely. How expensive would it be to put escalators at the subway stations? No, don't answer that.
Right now I only have three and a half hours of sick time, and neither of these is really severe enough to merit a doctor's visit...
(2) I don't miss my car. I am surprised by this, even though I'm ideologically committed to being car-free if at all possible. For one thing, from what I've seen, New Yorkers are terrible drivers. Or if not terrible, at least very aggressive; as a passive, fearful driver, I couldn't handle that, no way. For another thing, barring buses that fail to show up at all, or waiting at a bus station in the rain, or subways where there's barely room to stand up (yay reverse commute!), 40 minutes on public transit is a lot less stressful than 40 minutes driving, and you can get some reading done too.
(3) I really do enjoy being able to go to Kinokuniya whenever I feel like it. Okay, so I'm shallow. But there are other resources I need to look into; the Japan Society offers a lot of levels of Japanese, and it's been four years since I've had formal Japanese classes...
(4) I'm beginning to adjust to the different cultural norms in New York. In Montreal, the public default leans towards neutral, polite, reserved; in the south it's friendly, polite, overly familiar to my tastes (I have mixed feelings about hugs from virtual strangers, and I don't like being called honey, dear, or sweetie by people I don't even know). I'm not going to say that New Yorkers are rude, because it's only rude if you're violating the norms of your own culture, but they are more brusque and assertive than I'm really used to.
(It should go without saying that this is a huge generalization. It probably doesn't apply to anyone who doesn't get on the bus with me in the morning.)
Like I said earlier to my sister: I may not live here forever, but I definitely won't be going back to North Carolina.
Right now I only have three and a half hours of sick time, and neither of these is really severe enough to merit a doctor's visit...
(2) I don't miss my car. I am surprised by this, even though I'm ideologically committed to being car-free if at all possible. For one thing, from what I've seen, New Yorkers are terrible drivers. Or if not terrible, at least very aggressive; as a passive, fearful driver, I couldn't handle that, no way. For another thing, barring buses that fail to show up at all, or waiting at a bus station in the rain, or subways where there's barely room to stand up (yay reverse commute!), 40 minutes on public transit is a lot less stressful than 40 minutes driving, and you can get some reading done too.
(3) I really do enjoy being able to go to Kinokuniya whenever I feel like it. Okay, so I'm shallow. But there are other resources I need to look into; the Japan Society offers a lot of levels of Japanese, and it's been four years since I've had formal Japanese classes...
(4) I'm beginning to adjust to the different cultural norms in New York. In Montreal, the public default leans towards neutral, polite, reserved; in the south it's friendly, polite, overly familiar to my tastes (I have mixed feelings about hugs from virtual strangers, and I don't like being called honey, dear, or sweetie by people I don't even know). I'm not going to say that New Yorkers are rude, because it's only rude if you're violating the norms of your own culture, but they are more brusque and assertive than I'm really used to.
(It should go without saying that this is a huge generalization. It probably doesn't apply to anyone who doesn't get on the bus with me in the morning.)
Like I said earlier to my sister: I may not live here forever, but I definitely won't be going back to North Carolina.