talking to strangers.

It's the number 1 rule that parents teach their kids, but I find it very rewarding to talk to strangers. There's a new girl, Eva from Spain, in my old room. And after talking talking talking, I decided to tag along to the Saint Nicholas' church in Harlem with her cousins, to hear the gospel choir. It was not allowed to take pictures, but I recorded a lot of it. There was a lot of "praise the lord, amen", but not as Jesus Camp crazy as I had hoped. It was just a bit church-boring. The choir was quite amazing though. Afterwards, Eva and I went to Fika on 58th Street. I spoke Swedish with the espresso guy, who became so nervous that he forgot about our Överkalix sandwiches. The coffee was great by the way. Löfberg's Lila. After that we split and I went downtown to the Staten Island ferry. I saw the tiny Statue of Liberty on the way over. She looked very grey on a day in March. On the way back I spoke with a woman named Patricia who had lived in New York for 56 years. She loved parks and had just visited a new park on Staten Island. She had married a soldier, travelled all over the country, worked as a nurse in a Japanese hospital on Hawaii and was overall happy about her life. She said she wouldn't want to live anywhere else than in New York.
When I got off the ferry I saw this guy:

I asked if I could take his picture, and he laughed "am I THAT hansome?" He said he was from Milan and asked if I had a boyfriend. I told him a lie.
As I walked to the west and into Battery Park, I saw this guy:

He wanted to do my portrait, but I said no and asked if I could take his picture instead. He smiled in a flattered way. I asked for his name, but he answered "Chinese, notö speakö Ingölish". A few yards later this guy stopped me:

His name was Chris and I baught a bag of M&M's for 5 dollars to support his basketball team for kids. Having my mouth full of chocolate, I strolled alongside the Battery Park harbour, taking pictures of Miss Liberty in a distance, thinking this place have gone smaller since I last sat foot here. It was so sunny and warm back then, and Lee took snapshots of me jumping up and down in NYC-exhitement. I was wearing my I heart NY t-shirt, which I now use as pyjamas. I still love New York though. Very much so. Today I was wearing a coat. There were no leafs on the trees and I photographed a bad mimer. I didn't give him any spare change. As I walked a few hundred meters further, I was asked to photograph these guys:

One of them was Mario from Boston, and the other was a stripper from Mexico. Apparently, stripping is an artform and Boston is da shit - the place to be.
After Battery Park and Wall Steet, I walked all the way across Brooklyn Bridge as it got darker. It was pretty nice, but not as cool as I had imagined. Brooklyn seemed different though. Like a completely different city. As I tried to find my way to the F train, I ran into the same smoking guy with a dog twice, who showed me the way to the station twice. I said "thanks, man" twice. Down the train I saw a little street dance performance by a bunch of kids. They were quite crazy, litterally running on the doors of the train and throwing eachother. Opposite me there was a family with two young daughters who had both got their portraits made. They were so proud, bragging about who got the prettiest cloths or bag illustrated onto the bodies of their cartoonish faces, not looking one bit like the actual girls. The parents were carrying huge bags from Toys'r'us and they looked very tired. And so am I, after a day with true New Yorkers and fun tourists. Good night, everyone.