Most of the people I have met here are fairly worldly. Often they are foreign nationals, they have gone to school abroad, they work for the UN, they spend their summers researching in Africa... it's easy to forget the other half. It's very easy to forget that some of my neighbors have never been so far away as the airport.
Yesterday, I stop into a convenience store. When I space out, as I often do, on the debit card machine, the young man behind the counter asks me where I'm from. I get this a lot. When I say the US, his eyes light up.
"The US!" he says with heavy accent. "I want to go to New York!"
I nod. "New York is great."
"I hear it is big--much bigger than even Copenhagen."
I almost laugh. How would you compare the endless urban landscape of the five boroughs to tiny, genteel Copenhagen? There are more people in New York City than in all of Denmark. "It is bigger, yes."
"I hear that the trains in New York," he continues, making excited gestures now, "travel underground, on top of each other." His tone and expression turn skeptical, so I nod again. "Yes, that's true."
"And they built the tallest building in the 1930s..." I realize he means the Empire State building, which is now, again, the tallest building in NYC.
"Yes."
"Amazing..."
He looks wistfully at some midpoint near the Dorritos, and for all my world-weary condescension, I suddenly remember a 20-year-old me in New York for the first time... I remember how I felt: humbled, scared, exhilarated. I realize that I still feel that way.
"It's very big and very exciting. You should go if you ever have the chance," I say, sad because he probably won't. I turn to leave.
"Yes," he agrees. "Yes, I want to go to New York. And to Detroit City!"
"Um.." Okay, sure. Rock on.
The weird thing is that I have more in common with the guy behind the counter than I do with most of the people I know here. I've been starstruck by Europe. Much like my first trip to New York, I walk around amazed. So different... so old... so beautiful.
I can just imagine this kid hopping up and down in front of the Statue of Liberty, because if I ever get to see the Eiffel Tower, I'm going to pee my pants.
2 comments:
Before my parents and I moved down here, they made sure that I went to the Statue of Liberty, saw a show in the city (Peter Pan) and saw the landmarks. I don't think I appreciated it then, but I do now. To be honest, though, other than the landmarks and Central Park (the size of which I still don't fully comprehend), I think there are so many better places in the States. Of course, that may be because I am from somewhere close to the city. The subway thing is pretty cool.
It's an iconic thing. I think for a lot of people, New York IS the US. That's what they think of, I mean. Which is funny, because of course it's nothing like most of the country...
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