Rats, Sharks and Mangoes, Oh My!

Another day, another salad. I have been eating a salad for dinner every single day since I've been here. Go me. Of course, the abundance of fresh boston lettuce, vine ripe tomatoes and Persian cucumbers make it easy. Mmm, exotic produce...

Anyway, today was fun. Instead of researching sharks like I have been lately-- yes, I know how to spell ovoviviparous now, by heart-- today I worked on editing the files for a Yoga for Teens card set thingy, which was cool. The people there totally love the project tracking spreadsheet I created for the cookbook we're doing (kudos to Kazumi for making me do it exactly right) so that's good, too. Plus, two of the editors other than the ones I know already actually spent time talking to me, just because they were interested! I was pleased as punch.

The way home was quite interesting indeed. I stopped at the fruit stand near the subway to pick up a sweet Haitian mango (I've craved one ever since I mentioned it the other day), which was expensive ($1.75) but lovely. I shall devour it later. This very fruit stand was the scene of an amusing exchange I witnessed yesterday:

Young Pretty Girl: Do you know the way to Woods street?
Me: Um...
Wacky Looking Guy: Hey! What do you want to know?
Young Pretty Girl: Um...
Wacky Looking Guy: Ask me! I'm the mayor of New York!
Young Pretty Girl: Oh.

Pretty awesome. So, I got my mango, and the train took an eternity to arrive. As I waited, I was fortunate enough to spy a genuine New York subway rat on the tracks. I watched it as it scuttled around; I thought it was cute. But I figured most other people would yell or spit on it or something. Instead, a young white guy in dreds saw it, and started making kissy noises in its general direction. I *heart* that guy.

Once the train finally came, they announced halfway through the ride that it was now miraculously an express train and not a local train, and since my stop was local, I had to get off again and wait for another. In waiting, I was sitting next to a black guy who was sitting and minding his own business. An old asian guy sat next to him, and immediately said hello to both of us. I and the black guy said hello and smiled. Suddenly the asian guy reached out and grasped the dogtag that was around the black guy's neck, curiously.

"Were you in the military?" he asked.
Amazingly, the black guy just smiled and said, "Yeah, I was in the Navy, but that tag is just decoration."
"Oh!" The asian guy said, delighted. "The Navy!"

I was thunderstruck. They were so friendly! The guy didn't even mind that this stranger just reached out and inspected his neck accouterments! What a town.

Once I got on the next train, I sat next to a middle-aged white guy editing papers. We were kinda all sliding around because the train was jerky, and the guy eventually looked at me and said, "Boy, are we sliding around or what?" He then went on to tell me about this 70-some year old lady who had just the other day flown halfway across the subway car when it took off because she wasn't holding on.

"She just flew!" he said. "And then got right back up. She needed help, of course, but she said she was more embarrassed than anything. All dressed up for a matinée! She was a trouper!"

And coming up the stairs I was fortunate enough to run into our TAN (Totally Adorable Neighbor) who said she would come visit me when she wasn't rushing about. How lovely.

So hooray for friendly New Yorkers. I was getting pretty tired of talking to the cats!