John and I watched Michael Moore’s new documentary SiCKO last night (he’s the guy who also created Fahrenheit 9/11 – amongst others). Notoriously, Michael Moore takes government issues and tear them to pieces, basically using his movies to show ‘the people’ how the mighty US government is fluking them. Well, after watching SiCKO, I really am worried about getting hit by a taxi, falling on a slippery patch or inhaling a poisonous gas while I’m here. (Well, in the movie they send people who can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars for emergency care home.)

It’s scary how expensive healthcare and healthcare insurance is here.

I have been suffering from allergies in a pretty bad way and figured that I could pop into the hospital near our house to get an allergy shot from the ER, rather than go through the hassle of having to make a doctor’s appointment and pay for a consultation when I know that all I need is an antihistamine shot to get me breathing and feeling better. After waiting for 30minutes, the ER room wanted to charge me $624 just to get on the list to see the nurse. There would be an additional charge for the injection, on top of the charge just to get on the nurse’s roll. Now don’t get me wrong, I really want to have my allergies go away, but at that rate, I’d rather buy a flight ticket, go back to SA and have it done there at the most expensive institution I can find! (Or go to my mom’s practice in Namibia and have it done there for free!)

Needless to say, I’m still sniffing, watery-eyed and coughing.

This week has been a boiler. No really…heat the likes of which I have never before experienced – despite my Sub-Saharan upbringing. The difficulty with this heat is the humidity. The air becomes this solid, unbreathable mass and your body instantly turns into a sweaty lump when you come in contact with this thUck air (thick is not descriptive enough).

Lucky for us we have two huge air conditioning units in our apartment – one in the living area and another in the bedroom. These are pretty much on full steam at the moment (when we’re at home) and we also sleep with one on – usually resulting in a very dry throat in the morning. I’ve been trying to figure out how the F° compare to normal Celsius. (Why are the Americans so bloody different – drive on the right/wrong side of the road, use different electricity voltages, measure lengths in yards and inches, weigh things in pounds and even offers you outside temperatures that sound like it should boil the water?) Apparently the worst summer heat is where it’s a 100/100 scenario. That means it’s a 100 degrees and the humidity is a 100%. We haven’t been there yet, but trust me, I can’t wait (did you pick up on the sarcasm in my voice there?)

Not only does this humid heat tap your energy, but it also turns me into a miserable, irritable girl (poor John) who does not want to go anywhere or do anything if it involves moving away from the air conditioning unit. So imagine my relief when I walked out onto the balcony this morning to find, instead of solid, milky air, a beautiful fresh breeze blowing. Oh sweet relief!

Apparently the weekend’s set to be a cooler one too, so I am a happy girl now. Central Park, here we come!

After the mini excitement of last weekend’s occurances, I’m happy to report that it’s life as normal again. Just about to fall asleep after a blissful weekend of relaxing at home, having friends over for a braai (barbecue as we’re having to call it these days), cleaning the house, reading, some shopping and mostly, enjoying each other’s company. Today was the Gay Pride Festival in New York and we had all the good intentions in place last night to go see this big parade down 5th Avenue. This morning at 11 (the parade started at noon…) I was dragging John off to breakfast in the vicinity of the starting point and somehow we totally missed the parade… We did have an awesome breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien and then ventured off to the park (Central Park, that is) for the most awesome summer’s day in a long time. We were sailing a yacht on the pond (okay, a small radio-remote-controlled one), trying to dodge the baby ducklings who were scrambling about between the 30-odd other motorized yachts. Then we ventured off to the big lawn (Sheep’s Meadow) – melting ice lolly in-hand – for an afternoon of suntanning and relaxing (along with about 3000 other New Yorkers in various stages of sunburnt/tanned-ness. After a couple of hours, we walked down from 72nd street to where we stay on 39th, down 5th Avenue – FINALLY passing Tiffany’s. (This may just have to be named my favourite store in New York yet!). Quick Starbucks mocha-frappuchino (light, naturally) on the way, a mini shop at Gap and then off to the market in Grand Central Station to buy some fresh bread, cheese and chorizo sausage for another BBQ this evening. Life’s good. (And it’s pretty good, actually!)

So what do you do when the man you love is really enjoying his new job and happy in New York and your intended 6-month stay is almost over? Why, you get married, of course! But not just any old wedding ceremony would do… No. It has to be elaborate, a reflection of the type of couple you are – somewhat wacky, a bit OTT, definitely not conventional at all. Most importantly, it has to be FUN!

So we did. Friday June 15th 2007 (exactly the middle of the year) was a crazy, fun and manic day – in more ways than one.
For starters, I bit the bullet and paid the USD185 (and that’s a good price for Manhattan, I’m told!!) to have my highlights done and chopped a good 10 cms off my ends to get rid of ‘em splits. Then I forked out another USD56 to have my nails and toes done (NY style, baby!). We gathered the troops and I got the three boys beautiful matching golden ties (off the side of the road at 5 bucks a pop!). Annie donned an old bridesmaid’s dress from a previous wedding, I pulled on my Kobus Dippenaar (always said I’d get married in my favourite designer’s frock) number. John looked fabulous in a suit and we were styling in the very OTT limo! The limo picked us up at 1.15 and we were very disappointed to find that it didn’t have an open top. The mirror in the ceiling more than made up for it, though.

We picked up Justin – designated lawyer friend and witness for the day. Bonus trick up Just’s sleeve was the three (!) bottles of french champagne. You GO boy! Next pick up – the Whittles. Annie had prepared the bouquet and Sam was dashing in a way only an Aussie can be!
We were sipping champers while driving through Times’ Square like ROCKSTARS – loving it all the way! The closer we got to City Hall, the more the realization of what we were about to do set in…Oh my…
Arrival at City Hall was pretty average – no papparazzi (whadda ya mean I got all dressed up fa nothink?) and poor Sam had to flag down the limo after I had left my bouquet in the car. While that went down, Justin realised that he had left his ID at home and we had to find another witness…Enter BRUNO, the groom from the couple behind us in the row. Bruno and his bride needed a witness (and someone to hold their one-month old baby) and seeing as we found ourselves needing one too, a deal was struck – capiche?
We waited around for about 20 minutes before an american accent called us – ‘John and Soooo-Sin’. So we got up…entered the chapel and were ushered into a private room, away from the ten other couples. The marriage-lady (cause we never got her name) started by asking if anyone present had any reason why these two should not be married here today. (Enter a 3 second silence here < >. ‘John, do you take Sooooo-sin to be your wife?’ I DO. ‘Sooooo-sin, do you take John to be your husband?’ I DO. I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.

With that, Justin uttered ‘Maseltov’, to which the marriage-lady replied ‘Oh my gaaaawd’.

A quick tear and on our way out, Bruno’s bride handed me their one-month old son. Same short ritual and out we were again – both couples married. (Shame, the bride’s parents missed the whole thing while parking the car!)
Back into the limo, more champers, more laughs and giggles and then we got dropped off at our rental car from where the 5 of us left on the best mini ‘honeymoon’ weekend away ever – Lake Taghkanic (see below).

Just back from a weekend spent in nature – Upstate New York! John, myself, Annie, Sam and Justin rented a car after Friday’s activities and drove up to Lake Taghkanic for some well-deserved rest and leisure. Incredible how much nature there is to be found an hour’s drive north of where we stay in Manhattan. Deer next to the highways, many lush trees and beautiful scenery.
Lake Taghkanic is similar to what we’d find in Nature’s Valley, for example. Except that it had been Americanized. Yup – cordoned off ‘swimming’ area (with 5 lifeguards on watch), a man-made beach next to the lake, a fully stocked roadhouse that sells ice cream, hotdogs, hamburgers, coke and ketchup, but no salad! and loads of fat people – all lounging about in tight swimsuits, eating donuts and drinking beer/coke. Most upsetting is the amount of seriously overweight kids splashing about in the knee-deep water…Eish!

Apart from the fat people, we had an awesome time catching some rays, reading, eating flame-grilled braaivleis (lots of it!) and laughing about the fact that John and I are such an unconventional couple that we combine our honeymoon with a weekend away with friends.

A couple of months ago Nicola, my boss at Atmosphere, took the entire office for popcorn, a juice and the ticket to a lifechanging experience – to see ‘The Secret’. Now I’ve been known to sometimes believe in airy-fairy type of stuff, but at heart I’m a real realist. I like to believe in things I can see, touch and feel. The Secret is about the law of attraction. What you project, you attract…

After a long moany email to my friend Anina, she wrote me the most encouraging email this morning, citing truths from The Secret, which they’d seen on the weekend. It made me realize again how, if you feel down in the dumps, you’ll end up even further in the dump. If you focus on the positive, however, you’ll become more positive and attract more positivity to your life. Doesn’t that just make sense? It’s easy, yet we all sometimes forget to focus on the good around us.

I think everyone should see The Secret – even if you don’t believe in airy-fairy stuff. Do yourself a favour… It’s sometimes just good to be reminded how great life is.

Life in the big apple is not always rosy. In fact, sometimes it’s more like life in a cactus than life in a rose bowl. It’s probably easier if you’ve grown up here, or once you’ve been here for a while, but for us newbies, this place is tough. The pace, the noise, the polluted air, the excitement and the hordes of people takes its toll on your sanity from time to time.

For me, it’s been particularly tough. Giving up an amazing life in Cape Town occasionally gets to me. In Cape Town I loved the company I worked for, had (still have ‘em) the best friends a girl could ever dream of, had my little feisty car, an even more feisty cat – Leroy Brown, the baddest ginger man in the whole of Cape Town – and all in all lived an outstanding life. (Which I didn’t at all appreciate while living it, I might add…)

Enter the opportunity of a lifetime! And that opportunity with the man I love! Wow – I’m a lucky girl. And it’s been tremendous, but the reality of the situation is that occasionally, it’s just not all that. Here I don’t have many friends (those ones that just KNOW you inside out), very little money, very unchallenging job, no car, no cat…many reasons to NOT complain, but in the same breath, many things I miss. And poor John has been at the receiving end of so many moan sessions, I’m afraid! Poor guy has been absolutely amazing about it, and this has only made me appreciate and love him even more.

Over all of this has also been the black cloud of my visa status. Not being able to work where I want to, open my own bank account, open any account for that matter, get a cellphone account in my name, basically have no status, has been tremendously frustrating to me. I’ve gone from being an independent go-getter to being dependent on John for every single thing. Again, he’s been tremendously giving and supportive, but it has been really hard for me to allow someone to do all that for me and to become that dependent on someone other than myself.

The reason for today’s moaning entry? Appreciate what you have in your life! If that’s the one thing I can take away from this experience thus far is that: Life is good right now – wherever you are. Appreciate the good things in every situation. Even while I’m going through the motions and experiencing ups and downs while adjusting to my new life, I still take time to appreciate the fact that I’m in the land of opportunity. I’m with a man that thinks I’m amazing, I have great friends (new ones here, and long-lasting ones in Africa) and you know what…I’m getting to know ME. And I’m a tough, resilient woman.

And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

John’s oldest brother came for a brief visit over the last week and after meeting Andreas’ fiancee Helena yesterday, I have now met all the Sjolunds! Naturally the braai was thoroughly enjoyed, as was our latest ikea addition – the patio furniture. Check out the view…

I promise and then I deliver, not so? So herewith photo of my first artwork created in New York. John’s begging to hang it right next to the tv (against the red wall!) and I’m happy to place it behind the bathroom door…

New York women take pleasure in life’s simple luxuries. Not only do they take pleasure, they positively embrace it! So, never one to be left behind, I am putting all efforts into fitting it.

The little luxuries include having your washing done – drop off in the morning – pick up the next morning (so what if you miss a couple of socks at the end of it…!), sipping on fat-free-sugar-free-but-oh-so-frothy latte’s from Starbucks, wearing brand name sunglasses (picked up for next to nothing in China Town, no doubt), prancing around with your Chihuahua in a branded dog-pouch (lucky for me they don’t allow any dogs in our building) and having a weekly (in my case bi-weekly) pedicure. It’s the little things; after all, that makes life worth living.

The biggest problem in keeping with my pedicure regime has been finding the perfect partner in crime. So, today I convinced my New York friend Laurel to join and we grabbed our over-sized sunnies, donned our tote-style handbags and ventured out into the blazing heat. Two girls on a mission. Operation toe-and-heel-fix.

About a 7 minute walk from home is a salon that is totally geared to serve New Yorkers’ insatiable need for toe-perfection. In and out, it takes about 30 minutes to get a perfect pedicure, heel scrub and lower leg massage – all for $15. $7 extra will also get you a manicure… If this is the newbie’s guide to embracing New York, I feel pretty confident that I can do it. Hell…I AM doing it!