NYC room rental stories

As many of you know, I just moved into a new place at the beginning of November and now have to move again as the lease holder is giving up the apartment. When I first started looking in September, there was a lot more inventory for long term rentals. Now, much of what I am finding are sublets for the holidays. Just when you think you find something you can afford, you open the ad only to discover that the "affordable" price isn't for a month, but for a week.

I went to see a room last night in a decent neighborhood, just about a ten minute walk from the subway. I found the place without too much trouble, but when I got there, there was a giant FOR SALE sign on the building, there was no sign of life (no lights were on in any of the apartments and the only light I could see was behind a boarded up front door). The building looked abandoned, and I was pissed off. I called the person I had been emailing and it went directly to voicemail, but as it was full, I couldn't leave a message, so I sent an email-no response, so I start walking back to the subway. I get to the end of the block and am asking a guy walking his dog how to get to the station that I needed and my phone rings. I answer it and it's the person I was supposed to meet, saying they received a missed call from my number (never mind that when I sent the initial email, I included my name and number). I told them that I had an appointment to see the room, and they wanted to make sure I knew that it was the living room and for January 1 (yes, otherwise, I wouldn't have wasted my time). They asked where I was, so I told them (not even a full block away) and they told me to call back when I'm outside of the building and asked if I had the address (duh). I get back to the building and call and again, it goes directly to voicemail. I ask another random guy on the street (only men seemed to be out last night) how to get to the station and he told me, so I head that way. I get all the way there only to discover that he was right when he advised that the station was closed for repairs (Google maps seriously needs to update this information). I turn around to go all the way back to the other train and my phone rings and it's the person I was supposed to meet, saying I'm downstairs and no one is here. I advised that when I called and it went to voicemail with no immediate call back, I left and was pissed off and freezing. I advised that when I got there, the building looked abandoned and they had no comment about that. I went back to the subway and headed home after that.

It's already hard enough to find something in my price range ($700) that doesn't require a $75 application fee, 40x the rent and a credit score of 680+. Places like this make it infinitely more difficult. This, unfortunately, isn't the first time I have had issues. I went to look at a place in Bushwick, which is supposed to be a "hip" neighborhood, but when I got off the train, all of the lights on the platform were off (ok, things happen, I get it, but it was really dark and a little nerve wracking). I get out of the station and start heading toward where I am supposed to be and discover that there are only a few businesses open (all of about 5 businesses were on the street to begin with and only 2 or 3 were still open at 8pm on a Thursday), there was little to no vehicle traffic and maybe 5 people on the street. I got about 6 blocks from the subway, and as I had a weird feeling in my gut, turned around and headed back and went home.

Is it too much to ask for people to respond to emails and when they do respond, to answer the three or four questions I ask? Is it really that difficult to say the rent is x, here is the location and the requirements for move in are y? Hopefully, by this weekend, I can see a few other places and put what little money I have down as a deposit and can move in right after Christmas as I have non-refundable tickets for DC for New Year's.

Christmas Traditions around the world part 3

My friend Sara Parris chose Scotland, so here goes.

One of the most interesting facts I found was that Scottish traditions haven't been around for very long. For nearly 400 years, Christmas as we know it was banned in Scotland.  Parliament issued a ban in 1647 during the reign of Oliver Cromwell that was upheld for nearly 15 years. When Cromwell fell from Grace, the ban was lifted in most of the UK, but not in Scotland. The Scottish Presbyterian Church continued to discourage Christmas festivities, including formal mass and people suffered penalties if caught celebrating. This lasted for nearly 400 years. Well into the 20th century, Scots worked on Christmas day. Few adults exchanged gifts, although small children received small treats and tokens. Some families had small evergreens in the home or decorated doorways with holly.  December 25 didn't become a public holiday in Scotland until 1958 and Boxing day wasn't recognized until 1974. http://christmas.lovetoknow.com/Scottish_Christmas_Traditions

One tradition that was banned for so many years was the baking of the Yule bread. During the ban, bakers were required to give authorities the name of anyone who requested this holiday staple. 

A loaf of unleavened bread is baked for each individual in the family and the person who finds a trinket in their loaf will have good luck all year.

A popular tradition on Christmas eve is to burn a branch of the rowan tree which signifies that any bad feeling between friends and family has been put aside for Yuletide. It is believed that if the fire goes out on Christmas Eve, the family would suffer bad luck in the coming year. I find this to be interesting and it seems like it would be a tradition worth starting for a family that might want to try something new for the holidays. http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/worldxmas/scotland.htm

In Scotland, the big holiday is not Christmas, but on New Year's day which is called Hogmanay. 

Next up are Ireland, France, Morocco and finally, the United States.

Christmas traditions around the world Part 2

To continue my research about Christmas traditions around the world, I continue with Kazakhstan as chosen by David Ricard.

Christmas in Kazakhstan isn't a big holiday and December 25 is like any other day as 70% of the country is Muslim. Christians in this country don't usually celebrate on Christmas day, choosing instead, to celebrate on the Sunday before Christmas day.
 https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/kazakhstan.shtml

The next country chosen, was Malta, by Laura Granducci Temple. In Malta, the churches are decorated with lights and nativity cribs, 'Presepju' built by church goers. The cribs are decorated with figurines, called 'pasturi' (representing figures like shepherds and angels) and some of the cribs are mechanical and move. The figure of baby Jesus is put on the main altar at midnight on Christmas night. It is traditional to sow wheat, grain and canary seed, 'gulbiena', on cotton buds in flat pans five weeks before Christmas. These are left in dark corners in the house until the seeds produce white grass like shoots. The pans with the fully grown shoots will be used to decorate the cribs or the statue of the baby Jesus. 

Mass attendance in Malta increases at Christmas, with churches packed for the midnight mass. The sermon is given by a small girl or boy, aged 7 to 10 and there is a procession by the local children before or after the midnight mass where they walk into the church holding candles, and they are all dressed as nativity members-Jesus, Mary, donkey and sheep. This tradition is believed to have started in 1883 in the village of Luga where a boy called George Sapiano was the first altar boy to deliver the sermon. 

I was surprised at how few traditions are still in practice in Malta. I thought that their being a European country, and thus Catholic, they would have more. There were a few that I mentioned, one of which dates back to the 17th century, but they appear to either have abandoned their traditions, or I was just not able to find a good mention of them.

Christmas traditions around the world part 1

Since Christmas is my all time favorite holiday, I thought that I would research traditions around the world and let all of my (two) readers know about how other countries celebrate or don't. The countries have all been chosen by my Facebook friends and the listing is completely at random.

The first country is Turkey, as chosen by my sister.

In Turkey, you can buy trees in every major supermarket; the streets, shops and houses are festively decorated and the loudspeakers in the shopping malls fill the air with the sound of international Christmas carols. That said, however, December 24 and 25 are completely normal work days. no one celebrates or exchanges gifts.

St Nicholas, the person we celebrate on December 6 (St. Nicholas Day), was born in Patara, a small town in Turkey and spent a big part of his life there. He was bishop of Myra, another Turkish town which is now called Demre. During his lifetime, he was known for his generosity, his humanity and his love for children. The word is that he always had his pockets filled with sweets that he handed out to the children in the streets. http://www.sakkara.de/en/font2/299/
According to reference.com, Christmas in Turkey is celebrated on January 6. On Christmas Eve, seven purple candles are lit together. Families go to church at sunset and sit down to a seafood dinner. On Christmas Day, people attend Christmas Mass. A religious parade starts at 10am in the Kumkapi district in Istanbul.

Christmas was celebrated on January 6 until the 4th century. The Roman church then moved the date to December 25. By then, the Armenian church had separated from the Roman church, and they continued to celebrate Christmas on January 6.

The second country chosen by my Facebook friends was Uzbekistan, but I can't find any mention of Christmas outside of a Wikipedia page that states that they don't celebrate Christmas.

The third country chosen was the United States, so I will leave that one for an entire posting of itself.

Uruguay was also chosen by Joseph Erickson, so that's next. The little information I was able to find indicates that Christmas is more secular than religious which is surprising since 60% of the country is Catholic. Christmas here is called Dia de la Familia or the Day of the family and is the unofficial kick off to the beach season. In Puenta del Este, Uruguay's world-famous and jet-set beach resort, the focus is on sun, sand barbeque and fireworks.During the week between Christmas and New Year's, gunpowder hangs in the air like thick fog (unable to discern the reason for this-maybe from all the fireworks). I was surprised at how little information there was about Christmas in this country and it was interesting to learn the little that I did.

Should I stay or should I go?

As many of you know, I have been unhappy here in NYC and have been struggling for some time about what my next steps would and should be, how I will finance a move out of the area and many other questions that I can't stop trying to answer. After doing some serious thinking and number crunching, I have decided to remain in NYC for another 6 months. I have to move regardless in October as our lease is up and we do not intend to renew it. I will be looking for a new single room where I can stay for the remainder of my time here. I will continue applying for new jobs outside of NYC, but will also be seeking a new job here as I cannot continue at just $13 an hour when my expenses will be going up exponentially. It is still my intention to move to Washington, DC, but I am also considering other locations with more job opportunities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

I will be travelling to Washington, DC for Christmas this year and will be seeing a mutual friend. This will be my fourth trip this year and I will be staying at the same hotel I stayed at in May.

There is just something about Washington that keeps drawing me back. When I get off the bus there, I immediately feel a shift in my mood and feel like I can be who I am meant to be. When I am here in NYC, I always have music playing on my phone -even while in the park as there is so much background noise. When I am in DC, I can go an entire day without needing music or social media to distract me from what is happening in my daily life. While the cost of living may not be that different from here, my well being would be different and I believe that I would be happier as I loved living there the in the past. The only reason I left there was because my husband asked me to move to NYC.

Lincoln Memorial

One of the most recognizable monuments in Washington, is the Lincoln Memorial. It is also the most recognizable and since 2010, has been visited by approximately 6 million people each year. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. made his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. When you climb the steps to reach the monument, you will have be able to see the reflecting pool, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, The United States Capitol Building and some of the Smithsonian Museums among other sights. I have been here many times and am never disappointed. While this is a beautiful memorial, it is not my favorite.

According to the National Park Service, it is 190 feet long, 119 feet wide and almost 100 feet high. The building is constructed of marble from Colorado, the columns are limestone from Indiana, and the statue is constructed of marble from Georgia. It is surrounded by a peristyle (a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or courtyard) of 36 Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death, and two columns in-antis at the entrance behind the colonnade. The 48 festoons above the columns represent the 48 states in 1922. The statue of Lincoln is 19 feet high and weighs 175 tons. There are 87 steps leading up to the statue of Lincoln that represent the four score and 7 from his Gettysburg Address. The original plan was for the statue to be only ten feet high, this was changed so that the figure of Lincoln would not be dwarfed by the size of the chamber. The current design was not approved until 1910 and construction began in 1914. (https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc71.htm) 

Over Lincoln's head is an inscription that reads:
"IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER."
The memorial was opened to the public on May 30, 1922 in a ceremony lead by former President William Howard Taft, who at the time was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and president of the Lincoln Memorial commission. Taft presented it to President Warren Harding who accepted it on behalf of the American people. the ceremony was attended by Lincoln's only surviving child, Robert Todd Lincoln. 

I was not able to find the answers to some of the questions asked of me, including how much marble was used and how many people were injured in the building of this monument. I was asked to research this and the Washington Monument and let my readers know which I like better. I don't like either more than the other and in all actuality, prefer the Jefferson Memorial.

I have been trying to avoid politics on here, but I can stay silent no longer. Many people are saying that what Trump did was legal based on a 1952 law (Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 or McCaren-Walter Act). This law is nothing at all like what our current President has done.

In the case of Trump, he immediately banned people who were born in 7 countries (Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia) whether they have green cards, visas or American citizen children. It is interesting to note that these are Muslim countries and given that, many people are calling this a Muslim ban. This is because while campaigning,Trump called for total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” When he was in the process of writing and signing this order, it was without the guidance of the secretary of homeland security who was on a Coast Guard plane heading back to Washington when he heard that this had been passed when someone turned on a tv.

That act established a preference system which determined which ethnic groups were desirable immigrants and placed great importance on labor qualifications. It also defined three types of immigrants: immigrants with special skills or relatives of U.S. citizens who were exempt from quotas and who were to be admitted without restrictions; average immigrants whose numbers were not supposed to exceed 270,000 per year; and refugees. This law ended Asian exclusion from immigrating to the United States and introduced a system of preferences based on skill sets and family. (https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act)

In 1965, a new act was created, called the Hart-Celler Act which eliminated national origin, race, and ancestry as basis for immigration. For the first time, immigration from the Western Hemisphere was limited.

It added a labor certification requirement, which dictated that the Secretary of Labor needed to certify labor shortages.Refugees were given the seventh and last category preference with the possibility of adjusting their status. However, refugees could enter the United States through other means as well like those seeking temporary asylum.

The Hart–Celler Act abolished the quota system based on national origins that had been American immigration policy since the 1920s. The new law maintained the per-country limits, but it also created preference visa categories that focused on immigrants' skills and family relationships with citizens or U.S. residents. The bill set numerical restrictions on visas at 170,000 per year, with a per-country-of-origin quota. However, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and "special immigrants" had no restrictions.^{[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965)}

In 2015,President Obama brought his own immigration law which includes allowing the citizens of 38 countries to travel without visas and to give Americans reciprocal privileges.  The amendment removed from the Visa Waiver Program dual nationals who were citizens of four countries (Iraq, Iran, Sudan, and Syria), or anyone who had recently traveled to those countries. The Obama administration added three more to the list (Libya, Somalia, and Yemen), bringing the total to seven. But this law did not bar anyone from coming to the United States. It only required a relatively small percentage of people to obtain a visa first. And to avoid punishing people who clearly had good reasons to travel to the relevant countries, the Obama administration used a waiver provided by Congress for certain travelers, including journalists, aid workers, and officials from international organizations like the United Nations. (http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/30/sorry-mr-president-the-obama-administration-did-nothing-similar-to-your-immigration-ban/)