A random day in the life of a Jozi girl in NYC June 19, 2009

This is how terribly exciting my life in New York City is … **

** this post mostly for the fam, who are probably the only people interested in my daily activities!!

First, I wake up and stream the Alex Lester show online (*sings*BBC RA-D-IOOOO TWWWWOOO). Lester’s show is my favorite thing to listen to in the morning, next to NPR’s Morning Edition.

I also have this thing about making my bed, I HAVE to make my bed before I go and shower, I just can’t.EXIST.with an unmade bed. Seriously.

This is the messiest my desk will ever get...!

Then I go shower and when I come back, I get dressed, feed the plant Malia gave me, and THEN open the blinds, only in that order.

I don't know why I feel compelled to show you guys this!

Then, it’s makeup and accessorizing and packing whilst the kettle is boiling.

Makeup and cutlery, the two most important things in a girls cupboard.

Then I prepare breakfast and eat while furiously checking Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, Twitter, HandV forum, the New York Times, Newsweek, the Mail & Guardian and The Times.co.za!! Then it’s a rush to check I have everything in my bag, throw on my coat, put my iPod shuffle, Metrocard and cellphone in my pockets, slather on some lip gloss and  run out the door, usually with a coffee in my hand (this time I stopped briefly to take a pic!)

Late ... eek!

Run down the road (generally in flats, which I wear until I get to the coffee shop at the office and change into heels), take the escalator up to the 125th Street subway stop, wait for the 1, get on the 1, try to avoid bumping into the irate / crazy / asleep / Kellogs Frosted Flakes hyper kids / head-bopping hip-hop / newspaper-reading business like subway passengers, get off at 96th Street, wait for the express, try find a seat, arrive here:

34th Street, Penn Station! I use this stop for both the BBC and TONY, who are coincidentally very close to each other.

This is probably the worst part of my morning. Penn Station is ALWAYS mad, with people rushing to get to trains, rushing from trains to get to the subway, buskers, police, vendors … It is the walking version of a traffic jam. After 3 months of using this stop, I finally know the short cut to exit here:

33rd and 7th, more popularly known as the location for Madison Square Garden!

Then I have to walk a rather excruciating 15 minutes to get to either of the offices I work at. Today it’s the BBC and my favorite thing to do is stop at the cafe downstairs to get a coffee and change my shoes (except today, the day I made a very unwise decision to wear heels the whole way. Bad idea!)

The thing I struggle the most with in the U.S. is the huge quantities of food you find everywhere. Standing in line for a coffee looks something like this:

Food everywhere you go...

And the cookies … THE COOKIES!

In my time here, I’ve eaten one cookie that big. And it was … big.

Finally, I arrive at my destination (for today). On time nogal!

BBC, New York bureau!

The proud, and already exhausted intern.

Sadly it doesn't have my picture on it. But as long as it gets me where I need to go, it'll do!

I’m not sure what’s worse. Going through this every morning, or battling the traffic and general madness of the Jozi streets! I kind of prefer the solitude of a car in the morning … with the radio and your coffee and the texting in between robots (traffic lights!) On the other hand the subway, which has no cellphone signal, provides you with an rare opportunity to read and people-stare, which are two of my favorite things to do! But perhaps because of my personality, both end up being equally crazy morning activities.

And that’s a random day in the life!