The First 24

I woke up this morning around 8:00am, unable to fall back asleep. The window was open and a myriad of city sounds were floating in with the breeze. I was happy to hear that city sounds include the morning songs of birds along with construction, cars, and the occasional human morning song. I slept on a padded mattress with one sheet to cover me, and a pillow under my head. Both items were provided by my new roommate, Hannah, for none of my belongings have arrived yet. 

Hannah is a very sweet young lady, my age, who is a graduate from NYU with a degree in Theatre. I met her in person for the first time yesterday, after I wandered through East Village trying to find the apartment. Our meeting was sufficiently awkward and a tiny bit forced which is honestly no big surprise. Most obligatory first meetings with strangers aren’t natural.   Since she is rather quiet I uncontrollably babbled to fill the space that would be awkward silence. The sound of a saxophone, that Hannah later explained was one of our neighbors, came from outside the window (which is obviously a beautiful portal of sound).

After she left for work, I took a much-needed nap on that naked mattress. When I awoke, it was early evening and the sun was low.   I decided to take a walk and find food. I ended up wandering around, somewhat zombie-like, as I was still exhausted from traveling, and eventually decided on pizza (as it was the easiest of choices for my poor little brain).  I also stopped at Rite Aide and bought a few essentials (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.) before I headed home (Home? What?) and proceeded to go back to bed. 

This morning, I walked across the street to this adorable little coffee shop called “the bean” (specifically all lowercase letters) and asked for any bagel, I didn’t care which, and a medium coffee. I journaled and people watched… two things I love to do most.  
I stopped back at the apartment to get my backpack and decided to explore. I ended up at Washington Square Park where I sat on a stone bench and enjoyed reading in the sun and breeze. Of course there was music; a few street performers playing Jazz. One guy had a saxophone (I sincerely wondered if he was my neighbor), and a group of three guys, one with a snare, kick, and a few symbols, and the other two with brass instruments. For some reason I can’t remember if the were both saxophones or not (I did not wonder whether either of them could have been my neighbor).

I think my favorite thing about New York by far is studying how everyone dresses. It’s utterly fascinating. It’s amazing, so many different people in one place. I could people watch forever.

But while I was enjoying myself in the park, two students, Lord forgive me for forgetting their names, asked if they could sit with me. It turned out that they were visiting New York for the month of June with the mission group CREW. We ended up having some good conversations about God and I prayed with/for them before we went our separate ways. Upon leaving they handed me a little flyer for a meeting at a Church called Apostle Now. Why not? They said there’d be free pizza, so… it sounds good to me! I kid, sort of. But I’m very excited about meeting new people.

It’s amazing how God connects us together so specifically. Who knows where God will take this opportunity? There were hundreds of people in that park and God led them to talk to me.   I prayed for Godly friends and connections and within the first 24 hours God has already moved.

I can’t wait to see what else he has in store.

I’ve been here 24 hours, and I think I just might like it here. Maybe…