Apparently there is a Jewish Christmas tradition in NYC.  Since everything is closed except for movies and Chinese restaurants, Jewish people go to Chinatown for a lunch meal and then do the movies afterward.

My Jewish friend and I walked through Chinatown in search of a restaurant that didn’t have an hour wait.  We ended up picking one with roast ducks on hooks hanging in the window.  I had been eating Fujianese cuisine near my part of the Chinatown.  The Cantonese roast ducks, congee, beef chow fun, and shrimp egg noodles were oh so delicious

Even though I hadn’t quite felt the Christmas spirit the last few days, being in the crowds and later at the ice rink in Bryant Park today has brought me new cheers

I remember what a friend of mine said when he moved to NYC a few years back.  “New York is such a big city; there are so many people.  I will probably feel lost.”  He made it here just fine although he did move back to CA just a few months ago.
Living in NYC is like being in a room where 100 rotating mirror balls hang from the ceiling and go-go dancing lights flash in your face.  There is so much stuff going on all at once.  Everyone has many choices of what to do with his time, assuming he is not working 12 hour days and hoping not to be on the blacklist for the next round of layoffs.

Good thing about NYC is that old friends from high school and college have found their way here.  It’s good to see familiar faces and catch up.

I just moved to the smallest 3 bedroom apartment in Chinatown part of NYC.  I live with a turkish film maker, who by the way sports a beard too, and two russian students who decided to move into a 6′x8′ cubicle.  This is a far cry from the comfortable Boca apartment Jose and I shared, but I am one block away from the best food in the city.

So life begins in the big apple. As Frank used to sing…

“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,
It’s up to you, New York, New York.”