NY, NY - 3. The View from the Top

The Empire State Building (ESB) was on the list of ‘things to see’ in NYC, and it didn’t disappoint. We were there in March, pre-tourist season, so there were virtually no lines at all, but I can imagine if one were to visit in the Summer months, the wait (even in the pricier ‘fast-track’ lanes) would be lengthy. I can see now why ‘King Kong’ just lost it, and climbed up the outside!

There were cattle grids lining all of the halls into the building: First to get up the escalator to the ticket lines; then to wait in the ticket lines; then to wind around an exhibit on ‘greening the building’ (which no one was interested in at all, but it took about ten minutes just to walk straight through); then to wait in line to the elevators to the 80^th floor.

There was a couple in front of us who had purchased tickets from a vendor out front, and lost their money on bogus tickets as it turns out. The lesson: Buy tickets online or from the ESB themselves.

There are two observation levels: the 86^th floor which, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, you can walk outside and view the city; and the 102^nd floor, from which the city view must be observed inside.

The 86^th floor has several elevators going up, but you have to stop at the 80^th floor first to read the history of the building of ESB. I think they should display the history of the ESB along the cattle grid so that the lines of patrons have something to read as they wait. It is wonderful to see that the ESB still retains all of the original art deco features – copper and marble designs both in the lobby and in the hallways. Gorgeous.

The preservation of the historic buildings makes New York a fabulous city to walk. Everywhere in Manhattan, the small details on the corners and windows of buildings hark back to a glorious age of women in fashionable dresses in horse-drawn carriages, and men in suits and hats.

At the observation levels, you realize the sheer volume of people crammed onto such a tiny island. How do they squeeze an 80-floor tower into the puzzle of high-rises that is Manhattan? Looking down on NYC, there is not an inch to spare.

All the more remarkable when you see Central Park from the top. There is one fifth of NYC covered in green! It is a good thing the Park is there too – at least all of that concrete has some relief.

There must have been 20 different languages heard at the top of the ESB as everyone tried to get their ‘Affair to Remember’ or ‘Percy Jackson’ shot of the NYC skyline. Our little amateur phones hardly did the view justice, but one thing we certainly could illustrate were the tired legs at the end of six sets of stairs, and an hour worth of standing time in lines.

A drink, a café, in a small quiet square (I’ll never say where) at the end of our day allowed us to contemplate the size and history of this diverse city. 

NY, NY - 2. A Village Concert in the Subway

In large cities, the subway/metro/tube is always the fastest way to get to the major attractions. It is also the fastest way to get lost. New York’s subway is dark and dank,  yet the people that are riding those trains are one united, warm, welcoming village, a concert of human life. The NYC subways are not what the media leads us to believe about NYC subways: not once did we witness any crime or violence; quite the opposite.

Waiting for our train, there were musicians playing jazz and a father and son dancing away, enjoying the underground community atmosphere. The saxophone had such a clear, vibrant personality that, anywhere else, it could be in a club or concert hall. 

We hopped on the first train that came along. It just so happened that the first train we hopped on was also the wrong train. Always remember to look at the front or side of the subway train as it is coming into the station to make sure it’s going in the same general direction (towards the same end point) as you are.

Despite neglecting this vital detail, when I asked the woman seated beside me, “Is this train going to Queen’s?”

She said, “No, it’s going uptown. Where did you want to go?”

Then the man across from her piped in with a, “You need the E train downtown to 7.”

And another woman added, “Across the track is where you want to go, across the track.”

And in a jam session of concert-style voices, each member on the train car gave us their advice, showed us the map, helped us onto the next train and in the right direction. It started with one voice, but soon the entire car we were on was involved in the community music of the night.

When my son dropped his iPod, a gentleman went out of his way to run after him and make sure he got it back. "You dropped this," he said.
You see? New Yorkers are amazing people!

Times’ Square was the same way. It is impossible to capture in a two-dimensional photo the lights and sheer volume of people within the square, and yet, people would kindly step aside for you, ask to take your photo, or pause to answer questions. We had always heard that NYC was a tough, stuck-up kind of town, but all we saw was a diverse group of united NYC family enjoying the city as ‘all for one’.

Paying for activities, with children, was another matter entirely. We brought ice skates with us on this trip to skate in Rockefeller Plaza. There is a small change room off of the side of the outdoor rink, and when we went in to put our skates on, the woman behind the counter asked, “How many?”

“Four,” I said.

“Any children?”

“Yes, two.”

She rang in the price, and the till read, “$97.00”.

“We don’t need skates,” I stuttered, thinking there must be some mistake. Surely she must mean, “$9.70”.

“I know,” she said, “that’s $27.00 each.”

“We don’t need a season’s pass,” I stared blankly, “we’re just here for one night.”

“That’s for one hour,” she stated curtly.

I looked at my husband and he stared back on me. “Come on, let’s go, that’s crazy,” he said.

We were stunned. “Who pays “$97.00 to skate for one hour?! At home we could rent the whole rink for that price!” he said.

Needless to say, not many do pay. There were only four patrons on the ice that Saturday night, and although we watched, we wouldn’t be using our skates for the Fifth Avenue price this trip.

NY, NY – 1. What do you see if you only have four days?

 If you are going to a huge, world-famous city for just a few days, what can you possibly see and do in such a short time? That was my question when I knew I would be in New York city (NYC): I am only there for four days; what should I see?

NYC has everything, but what do I really want to see when I go there?

The Empire State Building (because it was in the films, ‘An Affair to Remember’, and more recently, ‘Percy Jackson’); 

Ground Zero (where the 2001 tragedy occurred a few months before my son was born);

Columbia University, NYU, CUNY, the intellectual center of the U.S.;

Some popular sports’ venues (in Winter, Madison Square Garden); and

Walking the streets to see the food, the vendors, the ‘villages’, Times Square, and the people.

I want to see all of those landmarks and sights that are common media images of New York, and test their ‘brand’ against the visited reality of the city. Is NYC exactly what we all expect it to be? Will I be mugged by walking around the streets? Are the deli’s really that good?

The next four days will be a Winter view of a city I have always wondered about.

NYC: Here I come; show me.

Belize - 5. Late Students and Dangerous Books

Every conference has its emerging themes and this one has been about the increasingly difficult task of getting students into school early. In remote locations in Belize, preschools are not available, or if they are, many of the teachers have little or no formal education in teaching and learning according to the Minister of Education. The government has been preparing an ‘early childhood education policy’ for the past decade, and hopes to increase the level of teacher education to at least an ‘associate degree’ for 50% of its early and primary teachers by 2015. Preschool, the Ministry has found, results in children staying in school longer. It raises the national literacy level. Early childhood education (ECE) and all-day kindergarten is a Worldwide trend now.

Yet in Belize, some preschools have unsafe facilities, no fences by highways, a ten foot drop off a porch, or toilet facilities located in a backyard, but cost little: $5/month per child. Others, have highly qualified teachers and model facilities, such as the ‘A to Z Learning Play School’, complete with a literacy and numeracy curriculum and assessment, field trips, and parental involvement, but the monthly cost is as much as $280/month per child. As in many parts of the world, your beginning in life is determined by your income gulf.

Secondary school also costs money.

Parents pay anywhere from $2,000 and up per year for a child to attend school past grade 7. Some students receive scholarships to go; others drop out to work.

Education is a highly valued, and expensive, commodity in Belize. Book stores on the college and university campuses had armed guards with machine guns. book store, they were fully visible. This was a surprise. I asked if I could take the guard’s photo.

 There are not even armed guards at the liquor stores, or the international markets, or even noticeable at the casino. But at the

He said, “yes”.

“Do you work every day?”

“Yes.”

“Is it because there is a lot of theft?”

“No.”

“Is there a lot of violence here?”

“No.”

And that was the end of the conversation. Words are dangerous. The books sold are carefully selected. Texts chosen and approved in advance. And yet, those words require armed guards, machine guns. We complain about the increasing commercialization of thought, but the next time you purchase a book online at Chapter’s, or pick up a selection walking by a book store, think of the guns that guard those words in Belize.

This is the day that I leave my clean hotel writing desk

and say goodbye to the uncomfortable duality of pools and palms: poverty and power.

May the gulf, one day, be bridged. 

Belize - 4. Natural Wonders: Use what you've got

It’s a new year – time to take it back to the essentials and begin again.

The Mayan calendar ended last Winter solstice (December, 2012), so it is only appropriate at this new moon that we travel through one of the best examples of the Mayan architecture today: Altun Ha, just beyond Ladyville in Belize province.

Altun Ha, the sun god, is unique because it is not just a temple or a couple of monuments, which like standing stones in the UK are quite common, but an entire Mayan city preserved and studied by anthropologists and architects. The temples, sacrificial mounds and burial grounds, water and sewage system, houses, meeting spaces have been left completely in tact. anything we build today will last that long? Most products today barely have a one-year warranty, let alone 4,000.

Any artifacts found at the site, including the World’s largest jade pendant, are stored in the national museum. What’s remarkable about Altun Ha is how much sheer knowledge and scholarship this civilization had produced 4,000 years before us! The Mayans were known for mathematics, astronomy and architecture. They had a very accurate working calendar, Pythagoras theorem (before Pythagoras), and architecture and building designs that are still modeled today. The very bricks used to erect temples and monuments are the same shape and style we are using in our own houses in 2014. I wonder if mine will still be here 4,000 years from now? How many of us can say that?

And climbing the temples is such a pleasure – the stone staircases, sculptures of Altun Ha, and the views!

Stunning. Every square angle perfectly aligned with the movements of the sun and our day.

It is here, also, that the ‘bush men’ (as they describe themselves) sell their wares, in the very same place and row where the common people would have lived all those millennia ago. They use what they’ve got to make a living and provide food and drink to tourists coming through: coconut milk, bananas and plantain, sweet sugarcane to chew on while you are climbing.

There are even sculptors which carve and design bowls and birds out of the shells.

They all trust the local land to provide the organic gifts of today.

So on this dawn of a new year, give thanks for what is around you. Use what you’ve got! Who knows? In 6,014, someone may be studying your land and home and wondering about you.