Leaving New York, going up the Hudson. It was a gorgeous day but I openly wished there was a snow storm to make me feel even better about leaving. Not that I needed much more of a reason, but its like when you go on vacation to somewhere warm in the winter. You want to know that you're really basking in the sun while everyone back home is suffering in 10 degree weather. Anyway, it was a gorgeous day.
We had a stop over for half a day in Chicago. Harold's
Chicken Shack and J.P. Graziano deli were the first places I stopped. Followed
by St Patrick's Church since it was there as I passed. It was rainy and cold.
Chicago felt gritty, industrial and comfortable. Halloween had just passed so
there were still leftover signs and decorations from the weekend.
The next train connecting was leaving Chicago around 3:00 to
go to New Mexico. It was scheduled to arrive there the next day at 2 p.m., so
it was a 24 hour leg on this trip. I should have known when the sour faced
woman greeted me to take my ticket that this wasn’t going to be as friendly of
a train as the last one. It was a large double decker and she said we had to
sit in the seat she assigned; unlike the last one where we just grabbed an open
seat of our choice. I got into my seat and there was a woman in her early 60’s
sitting next to me. At first she seemed harmless, asking us where we were from.
But then she sat up in her chair on her knees, peered behind her and started
talking to the people there too. She left and came back, beer and nuts in hand
and said” I’m being naughty” and put her tray table down. She leaned in closer
to me with her dyed red hair and started telling me about her life and the Missouri
River. On the other seat in the row across was a clean cut woman with short
cropped hair. She carefully opened some food she brought and took out her cell
phone. She told me she had just been in New York as well, in Chelsea. Then she
said she was on her way to move to Los Angeles to stay in a homeless shelter. A
few rows in front were a young mom and her 2 year old daughter. I had seen them
in Chicago in the lobby. She kept yelling to her daughter” STOP IT, I said SHUT
UP” over and over again. I had been thinking what a horrible woman she was and
was happy that I only had to encounter her for a minute. Or so I thought. Way
up in the front of the car were two middle aged, gray and slightly round coke
heads. They stayed up all night talking loudly with newspapers strewn
everywhere. When I woke up at 8 am the next day one of them was still awake and
was talking to a woman next to him. You could see the look of horror in her
face from the smell of beer coming off him but she was just too nice to walk
away. I spent most of this train in the observation car. I was happy that the
nazi seat assignment enforcers let me go to another car to sleep that night
though. All in all, I was still happy I took the train. Here is what it looked
like along the way:
We arrived at Lamy around 2 pm on November 4th, and I headed to Santa Fe. I was pretty exhausted since I hadn't gotten much sleep for two nights. It was sunny but much colder than I expected. The shuttle from Lamy dropped me off at the Hilton where I was supposed to wait for my temporary landlord to come get me. I had an hour to kill and was starving so I decided to go get something to eat. After walking for about 30 minutes around town i realized that delis didn't exist in these parts and there was no chance in hell that I was getting a chicken salad on rye. Finally I came across a food vendor who was making quesadillas for six bucks. I ordered one and couldn't wait to get to wherever I was going and devour it.
My renter came to get me in front of the Hilton. She pulled up in a dark green Suburu hatchback type car. She had shoulder length wavy hair, no makeup on, and was a stout looking woman in her 50's. I put my suitcase in and we went to the apartment which wasn't too far from the center of town. They were little casitas, adobe style apartments, at the end of a dead end street. She even volunteered to take me to the grocery store since she knew I didn't have a car. On the way she gave me a small tour around the town. all of it seemed like a fog since I was so tired. To be honest I wish i had a car and was alone because I barely had it in me to make small talk. Although, it was nice of her to show me around. After going to Trader Joe's and getting a few things she drove me back to the apartment. "Would you like a homemade muffin?" she said. She pulled up a dark looking carrot type muffin wrapped in a sandwich bag. "Sure, thanks so much" I said. People here were already so surprisingly nice. Although the cynical part of me wondered what her motive was.Was it a poison muffin? Did she have secret plans to kill me and take off with my security deposit? (of course I ate it the next day for breakfast because I cannot refuse a carrot muffin).
The apartment was cozy and had a little faux wood burning stove. It felt good to have my own apartment again after having roommates for so long in New York. I put my groceries away, made a good latte with the espresso I brought, and took a shower. Shortly after, coffee or no coffee, I couldn't keep my eyes open and went to bed.
About a week into being in Santa Fe is when I started to wonder about staying. I had started a hostessing job at a restaurant in town. Before I left New York I was in touch with the manager there who said she had a position open and to call her when I got there. The place was called..shall I say " Marti's" . It wasn't bad but the money was. When I told her I'd have to cut back two shifts to take a job offer I had gotten waiting tables so that I could make it financially, she fired me. Apparently she thought making nothing for five days a week should have been good enough for me or any other high school student living at home with their parents.
I looked for a job but there wasn't much out there. I started spending my days going for a run at the Acequia trail behind my house and then making up for it by going to Walgreens and getting cookies or eating KFC and following that by some wine and a netflix on demad movie-thon every night.The surrounding countryside and mountains were so beautiful. Every day I saw them I thought" if only I had the money to rent a car". But my whole life the past year had consisted of "if only I had the money..", so I was getting tired of it. One of the reasons I left were so that I wouldn't be saying that anymore. Every day i would walk into town to go on an interview or try to see something. It was thirty minutes to downtown and I would bundle up and have my Pandora ready. I'd pass the adobe houses, the one house with the geese, the few houses with the dogs that barked outside, then I'd be in town. Every day there air was dry and brisk and the sun seemed to be eternally shining.There was also the statue of Guadalupe on the way as well with a bunch of homeless Mexican dudes loitering around. I kept thinking to myself that I had to get a job or get outta there. I was happy for the alone time but this was getting to be a bit much. After my daily town walk I'd head back home and wonder what I'd get to eat and what I was going to watch that night.
After another week of this routine I decided to leave. It was two weeks, three days, 30 movies, and about 12 candy bars, after I arrived in Santa Fe that I got on a plane to San Francisco. I texted a few friends to say I was coming for a while,and mama said I could stay with her for the first week. The city that saved me once a long time ago, and I always looked at as a refuge of sorts even now.
My renter came to get me in front of the Hilton. She pulled up in a dark green Suburu hatchback type car. She had shoulder length wavy hair, no makeup on, and was a stout looking woman in her 50's. I put my suitcase in and we went to the apartment which wasn't too far from the center of town. They were little casitas, adobe style apartments, at the end of a dead end street. She even volunteered to take me to the grocery store since she knew I didn't have a car. On the way she gave me a small tour around the town. all of it seemed like a fog since I was so tired. To be honest I wish i had a car and was alone because I barely had it in me to make small talk. Although, it was nice of her to show me around. After going to Trader Joe's and getting a few things she drove me back to the apartment. "Would you like a homemade muffin?" she said. She pulled up a dark looking carrot type muffin wrapped in a sandwich bag. "Sure, thanks so much" I said. People here were already so surprisingly nice. Although the cynical part of me wondered what her motive was.Was it a poison muffin? Did she have secret plans to kill me and take off with my security deposit? (of course I ate it the next day for breakfast because I cannot refuse a carrot muffin).
The apartment was cozy and had a little faux wood burning stove. It felt good to have my own apartment again after having roommates for so long in New York. I put my groceries away, made a good latte with the espresso I brought, and took a shower. Shortly after, coffee or no coffee, I couldn't keep my eyes open and went to bed.
About a week into being in Santa Fe is when I started to wonder about staying. I had started a hostessing job at a restaurant in town. Before I left New York I was in touch with the manager there who said she had a position open and to call her when I got there. The place was called..shall I say " Marti's" . It wasn't bad but the money was. When I told her I'd have to cut back two shifts to take a job offer I had gotten waiting tables so that I could make it financially, she fired me. Apparently she thought making nothing for five days a week should have been good enough for me or any other high school student living at home with their parents.
I looked for a job but there wasn't much out there. I started spending my days going for a run at the Acequia trail behind my house and then making up for it by going to Walgreens and getting cookies or eating KFC and following that by some wine and a netflix on demad movie-thon every night.The surrounding countryside and mountains were so beautiful. Every day I saw them I thought" if only I had the money to rent a car". But my whole life the past year had consisted of "if only I had the money..", so I was getting tired of it. One of the reasons I left were so that I wouldn't be saying that anymore. Every day i would walk into town to go on an interview or try to see something. It was thirty minutes to downtown and I would bundle up and have my Pandora ready. I'd pass the adobe houses, the one house with the geese, the few houses with the dogs that barked outside, then I'd be in town. Every day there air was dry and brisk and the sun seemed to be eternally shining.There was also the statue of Guadalupe on the way as well with a bunch of homeless Mexican dudes loitering around. I kept thinking to myself that I had to get a job or get outta there. I was happy for the alone time but this was getting to be a bit much. After my daily town walk I'd head back home and wonder what I'd get to eat and what I was going to watch that night.
After another week of this routine I decided to leave. It was two weeks, three days, 30 movies, and about 12 candy bars, after I arrived in Santa Fe that I got on a plane to San Francisco. I texted a few friends to say I was coming for a while,and mama said I could stay with her for the first week. The city that saved me once a long time ago, and I always looked at as a refuge of sorts even now.
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