The Lamb of Wall Street

Beautiful evening sky - looking out from Columbus Circle

For someone who claims to be a lady of leisure I really don't seem to be idle that much.  I have been so busy (doing what? good question) that I have been neglecting my beloved blog...  It has been almost 6 months since we landed and I still remember setting our clock for an extra hour when it started getting colder and colder each day - and I can't believe Daylight Saving is already back again!  

New York has gone from being a strange and exciting new home to part of our lives.  And I have been busy being the Lamb of Wall Street.

It has been an interesting couple of months after I picked up a pro bono consulting gig with a charity organization located in the middle of the Financial District.  I have always wanted to get a taste of working for a NonForProfit company and was pleasantly surprised when I got a volunteer match email and found out that the job did not involved me chopping up carrots all day or having to attend to the sicklies (which neither is my strongest suit).  I had to go to a job interview and everything and the job description was actually very close to my field and what I used to do for a living.  

Apart from the fact that I get to warm up my non-functional brain after not having to use it properly all this time, I got to work on solving some really interesting problems - this is probably the best fun I have had in a job for a really long time.  Lovely guys to work with and people treat me as part of the team since day 1.  (And I sit next to the kitchen where cakes and sandwiches always magically appear)  The best thing for me though, is that I had the opportunity to experience and appreciate the very different types of challenges faced by NonProfit organizations - you have to be smart in different ways, and working for a charity is not just about having a good heart (although I am sure that would really help).

Good old Access - just as difficult to use as
I last saw you in 2003.

Who would have thought the knowledge
I picked up in banking would be useful in
NonProfit world too!

The irony for me though, is to work in an office in such location that it feels like a small oasis in the midst of all the massive Wall Street institutions and what they represent.  (What did I expect?  a tin shed on a wheat field? perhaps...)  I can't help but reflect every time I walk out of Wall Street station and look up the sky, often blocked by high rise office buildings, appreciating that there are a massive group of people out there who really care about the hardship other human beings (and animals) may be going through.  

Truth to be told though, my biggest challenge so far, is to find decent lunch food in the area!  

I had the expectation of sharp looking suit people discussing government bails-outs while munching on slow cooked beef cheek or roasted pumpkin with quinoa.  Power-dressed women speed walking in their heels, salad in one hand, cell phone in another.  Maybe it is just my lack of luck but I kept walking into weird and dodgy food places.  Examples below:

This Japanese restaurant's bento has items that looks like
something but taste like something else.
Yakitori chicken was deep-fried,
shrimp tastes like fish balls, mushrooms are raw.
Even the rice looks collapsed.

This restaurant gave me a serving of orange as
a dessert.  If that is not strange enough,
the pieces of orange do not seem to match
the peel it came in.

The famous New York pizza. Has to be
eaten folded.  This was a buffalo chicken
slice that does not taste like neither chicken
nor buffalo.

Today I somehow found this little side street
that is so European.  Why did I never notice this corner
before?  What's even better there is a
Chinese restaurant amongst it all!

Little did I know - just by asking the restaurant not
to make my food spicy means they would take
out pretty much half of the dish....

I am still optimistic though and I hope to eventually discover the secret spots where all the 'locals' go - watch this space!

Speaking of food, I was in the office restroom one morning, and saw that someone has left a half eaten carton of yoghurt on the top of the wash basin.  With a frown on my face I quickly chucked the yoghurt into the bin.  (You can always rely on me to deal with random litter)  When I went back at lunch time, I was shocked to find someone had picked up the yoghurt out of the bin and put it back onto the wash basin.... the nerve!!!!  Just as I was going to bury it back (deep) into the garbage can, I was shocked to see it was not a yoghurt, but a 'gel' air freshener!!!  Why.  Why?!

How does this get
passed in Design Review?!

On top of being the hungry lamb of Wall Street, another recent big deal is that spring is here!  

Can't believe only 3 weeks ago I had
to go out like a pro bank robber in -17 degrees.

It has been really lovely - having sunlight in the bedroom and our sitting room in the mornings and being able to smell spring in the air.  And the warmer temperature also means I start to see girls dressed in fabulous colors walking on the streets and riding the subway.  My precious legs haven't seen proper sunshine since May last year and I can't wait to enjoy my first spring in New York!

Hudson River park getting ready for Spring.

Trees start sprouting new leaves.