The New York I Came To See

New York, USA

Immediately after breakfast, Bro. Richard drove me to South Bend regional airport. The airport was relatively small, almost as small as the Ilo-ilo domestic airport. We arrived one hour early for my flight. When I checked in I asked for a window seat.

There were not many passengers. The half-full plane (or half empty, if you are a pessimist) left South Bend on the dot at 10:06 am. The U.S. Airways aircraft was so small I figured that it would only accommodate 30 passengers.

It was a sunny, cloudless morning. We experienced no turbulence. It seemed that the plane was flying relatively low because I could clearly see the landscape below. The first thing anyone would make out was the extreme flatness and vastness of the midwest. Expressways and byways were so straight that they extended continuously in the same direction without curving for as far as the eyes could see. Residential communities looked like small islands in a sea of cornfields and other plantations. Winding rivers and sporadic lakes keep the plant life verdant.

It was only when snacks were served when I noticed that there was only one stewardess. The choices for drinks were coke (regular and diet), sprite (regular and diet), fruit juices (cranberry, apple and orange), and water. I opted for cranberry juice. Each plastic cup of drink came with Snyder’s fat-free Pretzels. To me it’s ironic that almost anything edible here in the States come with the assurance that is fat-free, carb-free, sugar-free, etc., but you meet overweight Americans everywhere.

An hour later we landed at Pittsburgh International Airport. It advertises itself as a world-class facility that accommodates nearly 20 million travelers on nearly 450,000 aircraft operations per year. I had to wait for some 45 minutes for my connecting flight. It was not a uninteresting wait because as a world-class facility, the airport offered free wi-fi services. I switched on my Toshiba e805 pocket pc and I was connected to the net effortlessly.

The flight from Pittsburg to the La Guardia Airport in New York took about 50 minutes. I was again seated next to the window and I had an unhindered view of the city of New York when the plane made its descent. I recognized Manhattan, Staten Island and the Brooklyn Bridge. I remembered the movie Godzilla and I understood that New York was virtually a concrete jungle. I have never seen a city that big and so crammed with skyscrapers. I didn’t see a hint of greenery. Everything down there looked gray and vertical.

My multitasking mind attempted to make rapid sense of what I imagined New York to be and how it looked in real life. I imagined New York to be ultra high-tech – everything remote control, everything push button, everything automatic. La Guardia Airport, my entrance door to New York, did not impress me at all. The Cebu International Airport looked cleaner and more modern in comparison. It was New York and I was expecting its airport to be better than all other cities! There were taxis, buses, shuttles, and limousines available in the airport terminal. A friend of mine met me at the airport and after the conventional gestures of welcome and expressions of gratitude we headed immediately to Brooklyn, taking the bus then the subway. The bus and the subway did not impress me either. The buses looked like they were running for at least a decade. And the subway stations looked like basements – hot, cluttered, overcrowded, noisy. The streets were as chaotic and raucous. Maybe the problem was I just had impossibly high expectations of New York.

Once I got settled in the apartment which would be my temporary home during my entire stay in New York, my host brought me to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to hear the anticipated 5:30 pm mass, which, according to the Cathedral bulletin, fulfills the Sunday obligations. St. Patrick’s is considered as the largest decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States and has been recognized throughout its history as a center of Catholic life in this country. The Cathedral was surprisingly full of mass-goers. But the best surprise was that the priest celebrating the mass was a Filipino.

After the mass we went to eat in a Subway restaurant at the foot of the Rockefeller building. I ordered a savory turkey breast and ham served with vegetables and condiments on baked bread. It was an all-American supper, complete with a tumbler of Sprite. After the meals we took souvenir shots in the Rockefeller Center and explored the shops and the vicinity, particularly the Rockefeller Plaza, the NBC Studio and the Radio City Music Hall. Rockefeller Plaza is home to the world-famous skating rink visited by more than half a million people every year. Since it’s still summer, the skating rink served as an outdoor restaurant in the meantime. It was surrounded by scores of flags from various nations. One of the flags proudly displaying its colors was that of the Philippines. The Rockefeller Center covers 11 acres in midtown Manhattan from 49th to 52nd Streets, Fifth to Seventh Avenues.

From the Rockefeller Center we took the subway to Times Square. Evening was just creeping in. I saw Times Square many times before on TV. And when I was there I found out that it looked exactly how it is usually presented on MTV TRL – bustling, sky high, light filled, people-packed. I was soaked in neon lights. I was enveloped in a traffic of noise and music. When you stand at the nucleus of a place like Times Square, the surrounding environment becomes cinematic. Yet experiencing Times Square involves more than the visual and aural sensations – things that can only be savored, not write about. I was thrilled. I was awed. Everyone was there – locals, tourists, theatergoers, souvenir vendors, rappers, mounted policemen, drivers, commuters, pimps, shoppers, hucksters and office workers. Everything was there – billboards, moving neon signs, office buildings, shops, hotels, theaters, porno centers, vending machines, cinemas, and electronic game emporiums

Most Time Square buildings doubled as video walls. I could not count the number of brands advertised on the video walls. Nor did I intend to. They were kind of hypnotic. One advertisement even led me to watch Spiderman 2. I tried to absorb the gist of Times Square by just standing still at 42nd street for a while, imagining I had a special elixir that could slow everything down. While I stood there immobile, I felt the space I was standing on became a respite from the surrounding speed of the pressing crowd. I allowed the immersive aural and visual sensations to engulf me. It was my first time to be there but this place of endless momentum and unstoppable light suddenly felt strangely familiar. I was razzle-dazzled. This was the New York I came to see!