a general malaise

OK,

This working six days a week is wear me down. The one and 1/2 days off I had last week did little; I can see that now. Next week, I actually have two days off in a row; that will be nice--except I am hopping a train to Philly. How restful will that be?

I think I should have known what I was signing up for, but did I? My weekend classes are a lot more involved than I thought they would be. I spend a lot of time on the trains marking papers and reading the texts in the books I use. When I get home, I just want to veg.

Also, I know I am getting grumpier and grumpier. Is that possible? Apparently yes. I came into the charter school this morning and I wanted to rip out someone's lungs merely because they had taken the time to plug in and use my computer which had been moved because of some carpentry and electrical that was done over the mid-winter break that the public schools had last week. There is more: I'm frustrated that they moved my computer, that they left it on--because they always leave it on--that it is dark in the corner over here. blah blah blah.

And now, RIGHT NOW, there are a bunch of teachers behind me making a lot of noise and I am unhappy about it. They moved my computer (I originally typed desk, not computer--but this is merely a work station) to a corner near the copier. It is before 8am, and all the teachers are here to get copies made. OK, I'm exaggerating; there are only five, but, geez, with them and the copier going...

I don't know if I should hit something or just cry. Maybe if I had a nice bottle of something handy right now, I could put it in my coffee...

four months

If you had four months left in NYC, what would you want to do?

I have been asking myself this question all week. My lease is up at the end of June, which is pretty convienent since the public schools and my library classes end the week before. What should I do that I haven't done before? Going to the UN last week was high on my list. I have asked for tickets to The Daily Show. There are some musuems I haven't been to yet and some I could return to.

Can you believe I haven't walked over the George Washington Bridge yet? And, yes, I have been living near it for almost 3 years...

Ice on the River

I read a comment in a book once (I have forgotten who said it) that went something like this: If you can't enjoy the weather, ignore it. Thus, I was celebrating the ice on the river. I live right on Riverside Drive, in Washington Heights, and I can easily see the river. This past week, with the bitterly cold weather, ice started coming down the river. I noticed it first in the morning on Wednesday I think. It is dark when I get up most days but the light from the George Washington Bridge showed me that something was different on the river. I looked more closely and saw ice. As it got lighter I saw that it was floating down river when the tide was going out and just sitting when the tide was coming in (on the west side of Manhattan the Hudson River is actually an estuary). I think with the warming up there will be less ice today and tomorrow.

Last year was pretty warm and I don't really remember ice on the river. Three years ago though, it was so cold ice extended across the Hudson River. Because the Hudson is an estuary here, there is a fair amount of salt involved which make the freezing of the river hard to do. That year, even the East River froze over. That is hard to do because the East River is not a river at all, it is the ocean trapped between two islands.

My point here is that, yes, I can complain about the cold (my apartment was not that warm last week!) but why bother? Instead, while I was looking for the beauty in winter, I found it in the ice on the river.

A Visit to the UN?

I'm not from New York. I've visited a lot of local sites, some repeatedly (I live by the Cloisters so that is my most visited museum, not only in NYC, but ever). Some I have no urge to see. Some are on my list to see.

Near the top of the list--the top?--is the UN. It is one of the things that inspires people to call NYC the capital of the world. It is an independent piece of land, ruled by no government, which is unique in the world, unless you count Antartica. In addition, it lies on E 46th St in Manhattan, just east of Grand Central.

Another professor at the school, Gail O'Connel (also a non-native New Yorker), and I were thinking we should invite some students to go with us. If we have 12 or more people, we can reserve a time and we will not have to wait with the tourist masses. We were thinking next Friday, Februray 16, would be a good day to go. It is cheap ($8.50 if you have an student ID and are under 30--Gail and I are going to have to pay $13) and you only have to get yourself there on time. Are you interested?

One day a week

Wow, I'm tired. This is the only my second week of only having one day a week off, but it is getting to me already! My work week starts on Saturday when I teach 2 classes, a matched Writing and Grammar course, at Hudson County Community College. Sunday is similar, only then I teach a matched Reading and Academic Speaking course. Then on Monday, I teach at the charter school in the Bronx for a few hours, have a short break, and then teach adults in a library near the charter school. Tuesday I teach Writing with a workshop at St. John's. Wednesday is a mirror of Monday as I do the same thing. Thursday, I return to St. John's to teach Writing again, only with no workshop. Whew. And that leaves me Friday.