Bits and pieces

1.
It is probably the most exciting city in the world. I enjoy it, I respect it, it inspires me and gives me a kick. Strange how it gives me so much positive energy despite the most useless and wasted year of my life I had spent in it.

2.
I have a well set routine when I come to New York. I have to visit my old friend and former class-mate with his wife in Connecticut, and I have to make a trip to the Russian town on Brighton Beach - to stock on the caviar and chocolate.

A trip to Brighton comes with a mix of emotions - a little confusion and excitement. No matter how different I may feel, how European, I relate to the people in Brighton. It is curious and exciting to walk along the dingy avenue of the Russian town, looking at the Russian signs on the shops, Russian food, books, movies and fur-coats, hear old and new Russian music. The best of all is to listen to the people talking - it is so familiar, yet so strange.

Brighton Beach reminds me of the past, of my childhood and the Soviet Union. But it is really nothing like Estonia. Hence the confusion and the feeling of relief when I finally board that train back to Manhattan.

3.
For the first time ever, I have found the first Estonian thing in Brighton - Kalev chocolates. I got a bunch!

4.
There are so many things I could say about New York. I enjoy the smells the most, the very characteristic smells of the Times Square, outdoor food stalls and restaurants, and even the strange smell when you walk into our old apartment block. The little unexplainable details, like the hissing of a radiator or the warmth coming from a bathroom light when you switch it on, are the most enjoyable about the old places I used to live in.