A New York Rite of Passage

This morning at my transfer station a man asked me for directions. He was Spanish-speaking, and upon realizing I didn't speak Spanish, showed me a message on his phone. It was a text message of directions to where he needed to go. I pulled up my Google Maps and typed in the address. It turns out he needed the 3 train and not the 2/5. Long story short- I helped this man get to the correct section of the station. He trusted me because I really seemed to know what I was talking about. 

This is proof of my regularity. I can officially confirm that I am viewed as a New Yorker. For the past two weeks I've been going to the same training site, at the same time, everyday. I leave my house at 7:23 and catch the 7:29 F Manhattan-bound to Jay St Metro. And then I get off and walk about 3 minutes to Borough Hall, and at 8:09 catch the 2/5 to Flatbush Ave/Brooklyn College. During the first week of this routine I was a nervous wreck every morning, just hoping that the train I just hopped on was the right one. By now I'm a pro.

I get on the same car of the train every morning, with my crowd. There's two young Asian boys who are usually preoccupied with games on their matching iPods and their mother who is wearing thick black sunglasses no matter the weather. There's 2 or 3 men in dress shirts that get on at my station, usually all 3 with headphones in. I assume these men in shirts are taking the F to Manhattan to get to the office by 8:30. There's a blonde woman, about my age, that gets on from the 7th Ave station. She's usually dressed casually but looks put together. She gives off an "effortless chic" vibe. She is always wearing headphones and never looks up from her phone. Sometimes I wonder what kind of music she's listening to. 

My mother and sister came to New York to visit for a night on Saturday. It was so nice to see them. I think sometimes I don't realize how much I miss someone until I see them in person. We had a pizza at Capizzi, a restaurant that my mom saw on Jerry Seinfeld's wife's Instagram. Yes, really. We later went to Times Square and Rockefeller Center and had dessert. 

In training this week we are focusing on literacy based instruction in special education classrooms. Meanwhile I am working on part of a group project that is due tomorrow. We are presenting on Task Analysis, which is basically a way of instructing that involves breaking down steps to make a task more feasible to manage or achieve. 

On Thursday night a friend from my training group is having a house warming get-together. I'm looking forward to it because I've never seen Queens. And because I could use a beer.