“The Fearless Girl” staring down the “Charging Bull”. Sculpture by Kristen Visbal.
Today is International Womens Day. Yesterday they put up a new bronze statue by the Charging Bull down here in Financial District. A little girl standing in front of the bull. “To mark this effort and the power of women in leadership, SSGA has placed a statue of a young girl, representing the future, in the center of the world’s financial capital – right near Wall Street in New York City”.
I read about this statue in the news last night and decided to get up early today to take photos of it. I don’t know if this statue will be staying here or if it’s just for a short time, so, I woke up at 6am, got dressed and walked over to Broadway. I wanted to take photos without people in it and it’s not easy during the day. It was raining at this time though which made it harder and it was darker than I expected in the sunrise minutes. But I think I got some ok shots.
Many women are skipping work and avoiding the stores today. A Day Without a Woman. “Do not engage in paid and unpaid work. Wear red in solidarity. Avoid spending money”. Some schools here in NYC are actually cancelling classes today as well. There is a rally happening here in New York later today too.
Well, I’m wearing black and I bought a coffee on the way home this morning…with my husbands money. Not doing a great job so far today:)
When I came to New York City six years ago, I was convinced by others that I love this city. After a few months of living here I realized that it wasn’t my own thoughts, I actually didn’t really get that feeling people were talking about at all. But, I loved that I was somewhere else than back home, just like when I lived in Lisbon. I didn’t love Lisbon for the amazing city it was, I loved it because I found wonderful friends, got an incredible experience and I could dance all day long.
After a summer in Sweden I decided to go back to NYC. My plans, as you know, was to move to Austria, but I ended up in NYC again. I was excited about a lot of things, but it could probably have been any place on earth and I would have had the same feelings. Soon I started dating my husband and then I was trapped by love and I ended up staying here.
I decided to take a break from dance and everything else and just focus on myself (and cuddle Thor, haha). I thought it would take me 2-3 months and then I would be bored out of my mind and I would be just as busy again. Sure, I was extremely bored, but I had also built up a frustration against my passion and love for dance and art, so my two months break has now turned into two years. It didn’t help that I wasn’t in love with my city. NYC has so much to offer and endless of possibilities and that was my excitement when I came back after that first summer. But the city didn’t motivate me anymore. New York is expensive, dirty, smelly, full of confused tourists, roaches, rats and creepy people. The art and dance is pretty crappy too, cause everybody thinks they can be artists and the ones who speak the loudest book the job even if they suck (yes, that’s one of my frustrations – I value good education, technique and knowledge, not the idea that you can fake it to make it). There is no quality on stage or in the studios and I get so bored just by thinking about it.
So moving to a new place is exciting and I feel like I can start over.
But I’m terrified too. In one way, I DO love this city. Living on Manhattan where you are surrounded by water, you can walk everywhere, find everything you need (and don’t need) and talk to friendly strangers on the street. What beats that? In NYC you have the worlds best food, tons of events, the best concerts, performances, art, fantastic architecture and a beautiful skyline. When we found out that we might have to move, I freaked out. I realized in that moment that NYC is in fact my city, my home and where I could find inspiration and motivation (if I just opened my mind a bit). Why didn’t I see this two years ago? Why did I let this city bring me down and not up?
Moving and starting over can be scary to people. For me it has always been exciting. I love to leave everything and everyone behind and start over, I’ve done it several times. We’re not moving very far, it will still be under an hour train ride to Grand Central and I could still find work and take classes on Manhattan, so I’m not leaving the city just yet. But maybe that’s what scares me. What if I end up not taking that train and only live the CT life? And then get even more bored. This is my fear.
Change is always good. And fear is good…as long as you punch it in the face and jump on that train.
Gooood Morning! I’m in a really good mood! It’s way too cold outside, but it looks nice from inside and with a warm coffee I could just pretend that it’s spring outside:)
On Friday morning, I took the subway to Canal St. As always I was too early so I thought I would walk slower and enjoy the sun a bit (and take a selfie, hihi) before the class I was about to take started. I came to the studio and found out that I was at the wrong location! I had no idea they had more than one. Thankfully the other studio wasn’t so far away. I half-ran along Canal Street and still ended up in good time to set up my mat and say a few words to Jeanette before it started. I got a good sweat on while running since I had so much clothes on which was a nice warmup:)
The class was great. Lots of side angles and balance. My legs were shaking a bit from the cold run, but overall it felt good. I was in the front of the room and when we turned around in one pose I saw how packed it was. It was clear that the girl who taught the class really knew what she was talking about. Unfortunately that’s not always the case when you take classes here in NYC. The studio was awesome too. Bright room, nice wood floor and a warm feeling of the place. Too bad I didn’t know about this place before. I might go back there again before I move though, cause I really liked it.
After class, Jeanette and I hung out in their little lounge place. The front desk guy came up to us and wondered if any of us had left a wallet. Omg, it was mine! I clearly wasn’t paying attention to anything when I came running in there, haha.
We walked down to Fulton St and bought food at an all organic place, Magic Mix Juicery, that I also really liked. I love that J shows me these food places. The founder is apparently Danish so its nice to support our Scandinavians too:)
Yesterday morning when I took Thor out, I saw some Daffodils blooming and thought to myself that I wanted to go to Central Park this week. I was texting with Jeanette around lunch and since we both were free we decided to hang out. So 30 minutes later I was on a subway up to Upper West Side to meet her. We walked around in Central Park above 72nd for three hours. We talked about everything and nothing while we enjoyed the nature. This was exactly what I needed yesterday and she must have read my mind that I wanted to go to CP. It was kinda a grey day but it was still wonderful to walk in the park. Not many daffodils though, but some other flowers were about to bloom. The air is different there and in some areas in the park you don’t hear the traffic too much.
At night, Jim and I just drank some tea and did absolutely nothing. J had been feeling kinda crappy for two days and wanted to relax. Normally we would do our separate things, go out to eat or watch something on tv together, or like on Monday we watched the movie Arrival. But last night we just hung out on the couch sipping tea which was awesome. I asked him how he feels about moving, and he just answered that he’s ready to move. Apparently I’m the only one freaking out about it from time to time 😀
Today is “Fettisdagen” (the Fat Tuesday) in Sweden. This is the day we eat the semla. I haven’t had a real Swedish semla in years. They start to sell them already in like November on some places and some people, like my dad, loves them.
Last week when Jim was off work for President’s Day and the weather was lovely, we went for a long walk. We stopped a few times along the way. First stop was Wolfgangs in Tribeca where we had bacon and rosé for lunch (yes, very healthy 🙂 ). Two blocks north, there is a FIKA, so we stopped by to have coffee and semla. Fika nyc is not the greatest, but at least I can keep the Swedish traditions by going there. Our journey that day continued on to find jeans for Jim. He didn’t find anything but I walked home with a bag of two pair of jeans and a long sleeved:) Back home, after a walk with Thor in the sun, I went to the gym to pretend to be healthy again, haha.
