Dos and Don’ts in NYC

Do: Invest in a sensible pair of shoes!

Don’t: Lean forward on self-flushing toilets

Don’t: Swipe your metro card on the left and try to enter on the right!

Don’t: Go shopping on an empty stomach

Do: Go shopping in Soho

Do: Go skating in central park

Do: Picnic in central park (except in winter!)

Do: Go to Macy’s with time and energy

Don’t: Get on an express train going the wrong way, in fact

Don’t: Get on ANY train going the wrong way/if you don’t know where it’s going

Do: Make reservations

Don’t: Go to the same place twice, unless you love it. There are too many places to explore!

Do: Take photos

Don’t: Drink the tap water

Do: Go to the theatre

Do: Go to Dean & Deluca

Do: Have rooftop parties

Do: Find international counterparts

Do, do DO!

Too much choice can make you sick!

As I stepped out of the subway onto the streets of Times Square, I heard a combination of Matthew Dix and Hannes Otto’s voice in my head saying “S@!T BALLS!”Before me was a sensory overload like nothing on earth. Flashing lights, bright colours, billboards towering over you making you feel like one of the kids from “honey, I shrunk the kids.”

The place is just, if not more insane than it looks on TV, and again I found myself amazed by the fact that this place really DOES exist. Nothing stands still (pictures, lights, cabs, people) and in a few seconds, it wasn’t hard for me to see why they call New York the city that never sleeps. Especially in Times Square!

After visiting the M & M store (an overload in itself with 3 floors of M & M themed merchandise and over 30 different types of M & M’s to choose from), strolling past the hardrock, Madame Taussards  (yes, they have one here now too), countless stores, restaurants, production houses and souvenir stands, I decided to head down to Madison Square Gardens to check out Macy’s, which I thought would be marginally less overwhelming – BOY WAS I WRONG!

By this stage, my feet were sore to the brink of tears, I was dehydrated and miserable and THEN was faced with 8 floors of what is supposedly a shopper’s paradise. I’m not much of a shopper so it was anything but paradise and the clearance sale made it all the less appealing!  

Macy’s sells everything you could possibly think of wanting to buy from suits, dresses, fragrances, food and coats to bags, shoes, lingerie and pretty much every type of clothing imaginable. Determined to rescue my feel from their discomfort, I began to sift through hundreds of shoes from the 65-75% off sale, which was absolute chaos. When I eventually found the perfect shoe, the corresponding shoe was nowhere to be found! Another hour later, I had only looked at one floor! So I decided to save myself from the rest; feeling physically ill and overwhelmed by my surroundings.

 Just a block down, I found my real saving grace – a pair of combat boots from Steve Madden, also drastically marked down that saved my feet from impending doom.

Although shopping is not a love of mine, I’ve realized that it is part of the inevitable in New York. There are shops on every block and the sad truth is that shopping here is like our beach or Lion’s Head back home: it’s what people do for recreation! Having said that, I know to be better prepared next time: wear comfortable shoes, eat and drink before and in between shopping and DON’T try to do everything in one go!

Making (sub)waves...

Some of my most interesting experiences and learnings thus far have undoubtedly been in the underground subway system. It took me only ONE day of deterring slightly off course and having to walk an extra 20 minutes for not being able to find the connecting train, to conquer the subway system, and now that my heart has started to beat a little slower, I can sit back and take in what’s really going on down there…


From the second I set foot into my first underground on Tuesday, my eyes have been like saucers, taking in everything the place has to offer. The people and goings on in this city are an actor’s DREAM! Everything we see and hear about New Yorkers back at home is EXACTLY how they speak and behave, and I have found it fascinating to observe these people who seem as though they are from another planet.

The soda pop Yankees hats with head scarves underneath them (never quite worked out what those are for), the business men, the born-and-raised Bronx inhabitants whose warm, resonant New York accents make you forget just how hardcore they really are, the blue-collar workers, the musos, students, foreigners, kids… These are some of the types of people I encounter on a daily basis. The other day, I met a Puerto Rican artist (Ian Rios) who was more than willing to show me his artwork (and other things of his, I’m sure!) and give me his number, just because he saw me staring bewilderedly at my person-sized subway map. People here are so uninhibited too. Whether it’s swearing (“Watch it, asshole” is not an uncommon phrase to be heard in these parts), mask-wearing or singing randomly in public, the Americans seem to have far less “mind-talk” than South Africans when it comes to what they say, wear and do.

Just this morning, I was sitting peacefully staring at my newest unsuspecting victim, when a chorus burst into song! Out of nowhere came these rich, powerful voices that immediately brought a grin to my face. They were so vibrant and melodious that it saddened me that this talent was not being put to better use. I mean, if Paris Hilton can make it as a singer, why can’t they?!

If that wasn’t good enough, I entered the subway later this evening, sick, tired and sore after a long day of exploring, and there before my eyes (and ears) were a group of exceptionally talented men break dancing in the middle of the station – WHAT JOY! The only requirement was that we had to clap.

The conversations you hear on these trains are also hilarious. From exes getting married, to illegitimate children to plotting revenge against ex roommates; one can learn a lot about people just by being a fly on their wall.

It’s not all sunshine and roses though. Most of the stations smell like urine (you stop noticing it until you try to eat or drink something and realize how off-putting it is) and one can tend to feel rather stuffy and claustrophobic, not to mention the length of time it takes to get anywhere; but the subway system is definitely my favourite way to people watch!