Last week, we road-tripped up to NYC to submit our residence permit applications at the Danish Consulate.
Todd hates cities, NYC especially, so he was not looking forward to this trip. My goal was to change his mind. I felt like I was succeeding a little bit when Todd got out his phone to snap a few pictures of the Statue of Liberty on our drive in. But it was all downhill from there.
The neighborhood around our Brooklyn hotel was sketchy: run-down, dirty, graffitied. Nothing like Manhattan. We happened upon Little Israel--everyone wore traditional Jewish dress! We probably looked out of place anywhere in New York, but I, in my white jeans, and Todd, in his chino shorts, were clearly out of place here. And we were carrying originals and copies of our passports, social security cards, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and college transcripts, plus $800 cash, 2 iPhones, 2 laptops, and an expensive camera. We scream ROB ME.
We went inside our hotel room and started looking at dinner options. We checked a crime map to see if the 6-block walk to the subway was safe and found recent assaults, robberies, and shootings. (Why did I not check this before?) I wanted out immediately, but it was already getting dark. And this wasn't entirely just me being prissy-- Todd wanted to leave, too. So we ordered pizza in and thought about our options/cried (me) about the stress of the move, the paperwork, the scary neighborhood, and everything we had to accomplish in the next month.
This was our 4th anniversary. Todd said we'd laugh about it one day, and I knew he was absolutely right. I did find it funny that the graffiti immediately outside our window looked, at first, like it said "I like Todd." Really, it said "I like to do bad things." Comforting.
2 comments:
It will always be a great story. In all my times going staying in manhattan is the best. Though expensive.
Ha! I'm glad you guys made it out of there alive! I have so many of those stories where they were awful at the time but then I can laugh about them later on. And the funny thing is that I always realize this at the time but it never helps make me less upset. It's almost more aggravating to know that I'll laugh about them one day!
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