The NYC Apartment Hunt Saga (NFRC), or How My Stomach Led Us to Astoria

E

erininny

Well-known member
My apologies: This is not that food-related, but there was a piece in this Sunday's NY Times chronicling our apartment search. smileys/smile.gif Sandra in NY thought I should share it with you...so here you are!

What the article doesn't mention (and maybe what I neglected to tell the reporter) was that I was lobbying for Astoria from the beginning, after reading all about the Greek cafes, bakeries, delis, etc. It's food paradise. smileys/smile.gif

I'm doing more lurking than cooking, these days, but it's fun to pop in and see what you all are making!

Best wishes--

ErininNY

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/realestate/16hunt.html?ref=realestate

 
culture shock

Erin, if you're so inclined, I would be really interested in hearing about your experiences readjusting to American culture...culture shock. Sandra, too. I keep thinking that I would love to move back, but, after 16 years, am worried that I wouldn't fit in anymore. Hearing how others cope with this stuff would be super interesting.
cheers, Bonnie

 
Dang...I never stopped being impressed by the interesting lives within this site...

Thank you for sharing this, Erin! I hope your new life in NYC will be enjoyable.

 
Sounds like a great area, so glad you were able to find something that will work well for you!!!!

 
Erin, I love this story! It is not typical of what my kids have gone through

standing in line to see an "open" apt, to find out it is already rented, paying huge disgusting fees to agents just to have the privilege of looking. Your story is lovely, I think Queens is underrated by far!

 
Love, love, love your story! I was born in Flushing NY. My Godparents lived in a tiny walk-up in ..

Astoria, and I have so many wonderful childhood memories of visiting with them and my cousins on Sundays. My Mom and my Godmother, first cousins, were born in Czechoslovakia (about 1913), and came here as children. They remember their parents going to Prague for travel papers to come to this country. You've awakened so many memories for me. Thank you for sharing, and especially the pictures. A great story!

 
not so much culture shock...

Bonnie, I found that it's relatively easy to slip back in - however, we're going to be living in our old apt in NYC, and most of our friends/family are still here, now married/divorced/with kids, but generally, still around

I think you would find everything here to be soooo much cheaper than Europe, and the choices you have here, aisles upon aisles of stuff, and the colours are so bright, it's almost like your eyes pop out of your head just going into a drugstore! Plus, you can find ANYTHING you want...

The big thing is that life is so much easier here also - example, I wanted to change the address on my driver's licence, I did it over the phone in 5 minutes - customer service is great, people really tying to be helpful, not like Europe where they don't care if they lose a customer...

So, those are my 2 cents, I really enjoyed ourtime in London and Australia, but for now, it's good to be back...

 
Interesting question, Bonnie...

It's strange; I guess I am going through a bit of culture shock, but after living in Israel and Prague, I sort of gave up on the notion of fitting in anywhere--and no one really fits in, in New York... smileys/smile.gif It feels like home, as much as anywhere else I've lived feels like home.

To me, the degree of culture shock you go through depends on

--where you land in the U.S., and how well you like it (whether or not it's somewhere you've lived before)

--how happy/estranged you feel in the political climate (for the record, I'm happy, which helped me recover from 4 years of feeling fairly unhappy), if that affects you

--how well you can preserve your family's customs and culture, wherever you are... Ours is a weird blend of Czech, American, and Israeli.

--what your relationship is with the mainstream culture and values of home. For example, we chose not to have a tv at home, starting in Israel, and I'm sure people think that's weird...but it's normal, to us. Most people also think consumerism is American, and we try to avoid a lot of that, but of course it's a global phenomenon by now.

I'm sure Sandra, and others who've lived abroad and returned home, have their own methods of acclimating...

Hope that answered your question without sounding wildly wacko. smileys/smile.gif

 
Imagine my surprise...

To open up the Real Estate section this weekend and see Erin staring back at me!

 
What a cute picture! Ikea really should be sponsoring you. Thier motto:

"Buy another. You already know how to put it together."

 
The NY kitchen?

Yes we had redone it, but we're going to go at it again, this time opening it up to the living/dining area, also we're re-doing the wood floors, they're a bit tired...

I'll have to go back and read posts about surfaces, etc...

 
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