About half an hour after I left Rockefeller center, I found myself in an awfully familiar place. I've never been to this place ever before, obviously, since it's my first time in New York but I was pretty sure that I knew this place. It was quite a busy street, even busier than the rest of the places that I have wandered off to so far. It was an intersection of some sort where large crowds gathered in the middle of the street. There were huge LED screens plastered across the buildings surrounding the street and there stood a tall triangular building in the forefront. Ahhh, I said to myself silently. I'm in the middle of Times Square! It's this magical place that has been at the centerfold of practically every magazine on the planet. You wouldn't miss it for anything as you have probably seen posters and photographs of it in books, newspapers, even on various social media outlets and definitely on screen - whether TV or movies. It's the place where millions of people around the world congregate in one night every year to wait for the ball to drop (on New Year's Eve). That's why it felt familiar. I've seen it yes, and at that moment, I was actually right there in the middle of that magical place.
I didn't realize that I was making my way towards Times Square. I just kept on walking down 5th avenue and made a few turns just to keep the walk interesting. Then, there I was. It was too much to take in. The throngs of people, locals and tourists alike, who went about their business was just overwhelming to say the least. The entire street was filled with so much life and motion. It was as if the entire place itself was alive and had a heartbeat - some sort of vibration that I was feeling from under my feet. As expected, I lost it again. I couldn't help but take pictures left and right, top and bottom. There was just so many things to capture, so many things to chronicle and etch in bites of memories that will last me more than a lifetime. I just felt the urge to snap photos of everything that I could lay my eyes on because I was there, in the middle of the street that was alive as much as I was breathing. It was a mix of awe and amazement that had me intoxicated the entire time I was there. The reality of being there was so surreal that I wanted to burst out from within myself just to release all the excitement that has been swelling up from inside of me ever since I first set foot in NYC.
Coming down from that high took most of my energy as I had to concentrate on being there in that moment while keeping my smarts functioning. By this time I was feeling a bit famished. The hunger was beckoning me like a frantic mother calling out to her young who are running around the house. I still didn't know enough about the city so I decided to look for a nice, familiar fast food where I can sit myself to recuperate from all the walking and regain some energy to last me for the next couple of hours of exploring. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to a McDonald's sitting in a corner and found myself lining up with what seemed like a million hungry people. After getting my food, I decided to just continue on exploring and just eat my food as I walked. It was a decision that was pretty much made for me by the fact that there wasn't a single vacant seat where I could sit down to enjoy my food. One of the things that I noticed about food in the states is that the serving is just ridiculously huge. The first time I had a burrito, it was in Chicago. Boy, was I surprised when they handed me my order. It was seriously huge, enough to feed 2 people but to their standards, it was a single serving.
Moving along. As I continued around the rest of the corners that immediately surrounded Times Square, I felt a numbness in my feet and legs. The inevitable had finally arrived. I was officially exhausted from the hours that I have spent alternating walking and standing. The exhaustion was undeniable that I had to find a comfortable place to sit down. I did what any queen in a foreign country would do if she got exhausted - sit in a coffee shop. You guessed it, I found another Starbucks. It was the only familiar place where I felt comfortable enough to go in and sit myself. I ordered what I always do, black coffee. Fortune favored me at that moment because bless the heavens there were a couple of vacant seats that I could sit on. After finding a spot, I rested my tired and weary legs on a chair in a corner. The welcome relief of the resting sensation brought some life back into my limp legs and feet that were already sore from all the walking and standing. Sipping the scaldingly hot coffee awakened my frozen senses. The best part about sitting there is - free wifi. It was a chance to tell the world that the city has not claimed me yet, that I persisted. So, after connecting to their wifi, I hurriedly logged on to my social media to check and send messages. In between reading messages, I was checking my office emails because I am secretly a workaholic. Finding nothing urgent in my emails, I decided to upload some of the pictures that I have taken. I don't think of myself as irreparably addicted to social media. I don't feel any dying urge to constantly check my phone for any notifications of posts or messages but every now and then I would spend some time looking them up. That moment was so special that I felt justified to shamelessly post a thousand pictures all at the same time. It was a dream that has come to life and I just had to share it with the rest of the world. Selfish reasons aside, I just wanted to post my experiences as a form of expression of the sense of fulfillment that I felt in that moment.
It dawned on me, as I was sipping my coffee, that all the arguments that I had with my mum about coming to live and work in Abu Dhabi now bore fruit. I didn't really want to go live and work in Abu Dhabi. What I wanted was to find my luck at home, in the Philippines. I didn't have the slightest inclination of leaving home and planting my roots at some foreign land. My mum and I had countless arguments about it, most of the time because I was simply procrastinating about coming to Abu Dhabi. I would always put it off for another time and tell her to give me space to think and time to ponder. One day, I got tired of arguing with her because she was as persistent as I am when it comes to driving a point. Her point was coming to work in Abu Dhabi would open up doors of opportunity for a brighter future for myself. I didn't see it that way then but that moment in Starbucks made me realize that she was right after all. It would have been a completely different story if I had it my way and stayed in the Philippines. I wouldn't have found a job that would pay me the same salary as I was getting in Abu Dhabi had I stayed home. Working in Abu Dhabi allowed me the opportunity to travel because my work paid me enough for me to be considered worthy of a US visa. While this wasn't my first time to apply for a foreign visa, getting approved for a US visa is a feat on its own, considering my nationality. This kind of opportunity does not come often to my fellow countrymen especially if you lived and worked in the Philippines. I felt that working in Abu Dhabi has allowed me to up my game just enough to allow me the pleasure of traveling to foreign lands. I get it now. Other than my mum's desire to have me live in the same place as the rest of the family, she understood more than I did, how the world really worked. While it is not bad to be idealistic and optimistic about one's opportunities, it would be of great value to couple this optimism with a healthy dose of reality and practicality. This is a lesson I learned and continue to learn even after my mum's death. I didn't get a chance to genuinely thank her. Had I not listened to her, I may not have gotten the chance to sip coffee at a Starbucks in the city of my dreams. All I have now are these letters, my ode to her, in earnest hope that wherever she is right now, she is reading this.
I'll tell you more in the coming days about the magic that is New York. Now, I leave you with the thought that things don't always seem to fit at the onset but once you allow yourself to be open to the world of possibilities, you will be pleasantly surprised by all the joy that this world has to offer - no matter how bleak life may be. Dream big they say. Aim for the sky so that when you fall, you will land on the clouds. If you aim for the roof, when you fall, you will land smack on the ground.
xoxo
QB
I didn't realize that I was making my way towards Times Square. I just kept on walking down 5th avenue and made a few turns just to keep the walk interesting. Then, there I was. It was too much to take in. The throngs of people, locals and tourists alike, who went about their business was just overwhelming to say the least. The entire street was filled with so much life and motion. It was as if the entire place itself was alive and had a heartbeat - some sort of vibration that I was feeling from under my feet. As expected, I lost it again. I couldn't help but take pictures left and right, top and bottom. There was just so many things to capture, so many things to chronicle and etch in bites of memories that will last me more than a lifetime. I just felt the urge to snap photos of everything that I could lay my eyes on because I was there, in the middle of the street that was alive as much as I was breathing. It was a mix of awe and amazement that had me intoxicated the entire time I was there. The reality of being there was so surreal that I wanted to burst out from within myself just to release all the excitement that has been swelling up from inside of me ever since I first set foot in NYC.
Coming down from that high took most of my energy as I had to concentrate on being there in that moment while keeping my smarts functioning. By this time I was feeling a bit famished. The hunger was beckoning me like a frantic mother calling out to her young who are running around the house. I still didn't know enough about the city so I decided to look for a nice, familiar fast food where I can sit myself to recuperate from all the walking and regain some energy to last me for the next couple of hours of exploring. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to a McDonald's sitting in a corner and found myself lining up with what seemed like a million hungry people. After getting my food, I decided to just continue on exploring and just eat my food as I walked. It was a decision that was pretty much made for me by the fact that there wasn't a single vacant seat where I could sit down to enjoy my food. One of the things that I noticed about food in the states is that the serving is just ridiculously huge. The first time I had a burrito, it was in Chicago. Boy, was I surprised when they handed me my order. It was seriously huge, enough to feed 2 people but to their standards, it was a single serving.
Moving along. As I continued around the rest of the corners that immediately surrounded Times Square, I felt a numbness in my feet and legs. The inevitable had finally arrived. I was officially exhausted from the hours that I have spent alternating walking and standing. The exhaustion was undeniable that I had to find a comfortable place to sit down. I did what any queen in a foreign country would do if she got exhausted - sit in a coffee shop. You guessed it, I found another Starbucks. It was the only familiar place where I felt comfortable enough to go in and sit myself. I ordered what I always do, black coffee. Fortune favored me at that moment because bless the heavens there were a couple of vacant seats that I could sit on. After finding a spot, I rested my tired and weary legs on a chair in a corner. The welcome relief of the resting sensation brought some life back into my limp legs and feet that were already sore from all the walking and standing. Sipping the scaldingly hot coffee awakened my frozen senses. The best part about sitting there is - free wifi. It was a chance to tell the world that the city has not claimed me yet, that I persisted. So, after connecting to their wifi, I hurriedly logged on to my social media to check and send messages. In between reading messages, I was checking my office emails because I am secretly a workaholic. Finding nothing urgent in my emails, I decided to upload some of the pictures that I have taken. I don't think of myself as irreparably addicted to social media. I don't feel any dying urge to constantly check my phone for any notifications of posts or messages but every now and then I would spend some time looking them up. That moment was so special that I felt justified to shamelessly post a thousand pictures all at the same time. It was a dream that has come to life and I just had to share it with the rest of the world. Selfish reasons aside, I just wanted to post my experiences as a form of expression of the sense of fulfillment that I felt in that moment.
It dawned on me, as I was sipping my coffee, that all the arguments that I had with my mum about coming to live and work in Abu Dhabi now bore fruit. I didn't really want to go live and work in Abu Dhabi. What I wanted was to find my luck at home, in the Philippines. I didn't have the slightest inclination of leaving home and planting my roots at some foreign land. My mum and I had countless arguments about it, most of the time because I was simply procrastinating about coming to Abu Dhabi. I would always put it off for another time and tell her to give me space to think and time to ponder. One day, I got tired of arguing with her because she was as persistent as I am when it comes to driving a point. Her point was coming to work in Abu Dhabi would open up doors of opportunity for a brighter future for myself. I didn't see it that way then but that moment in Starbucks made me realize that she was right after all. It would have been a completely different story if I had it my way and stayed in the Philippines. I wouldn't have found a job that would pay me the same salary as I was getting in Abu Dhabi had I stayed home. Working in Abu Dhabi allowed me the opportunity to travel because my work paid me enough for me to be considered worthy of a US visa. While this wasn't my first time to apply for a foreign visa, getting approved for a US visa is a feat on its own, considering my nationality. This kind of opportunity does not come often to my fellow countrymen especially if you lived and worked in the Philippines. I felt that working in Abu Dhabi has allowed me to up my game just enough to allow me the pleasure of traveling to foreign lands. I get it now. Other than my mum's desire to have me live in the same place as the rest of the family, she understood more than I did, how the world really worked. While it is not bad to be idealistic and optimistic about one's opportunities, it would be of great value to couple this optimism with a healthy dose of reality and practicality. This is a lesson I learned and continue to learn even after my mum's death. I didn't get a chance to genuinely thank her. Had I not listened to her, I may not have gotten the chance to sip coffee at a Starbucks in the city of my dreams. All I have now are these letters, my ode to her, in earnest hope that wherever she is right now, she is reading this.
I'll tell you more in the coming days about the magic that is New York. Now, I leave you with the thought that things don't always seem to fit at the onset but once you allow yourself to be open to the world of possibilities, you will be pleasantly surprised by all the joy that this world has to offer - no matter how bleak life may be. Dream big they say. Aim for the sky so that when you fall, you will land on the clouds. If you aim for the roof, when you fall, you will land smack on the ground.
xoxo
QB
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