Dirty Knees, Look at These

I've seen a particular argument many times around New York City: a Latin guy refers to an Asian fellow as "Chino" and the Asian man retorts, "I'm not Chinese, I'm (enter any other Asian nationality here)." Then the Latin guy says, "I'm not trying to insult you, but it's what I was taught to call all Asians" or something along those lines. I always wrote that off as a local thing, but I had a similar experience today.

As my plans last night were aborted thanks to a combination of poor timing & fatigue, I was up on the early side & decided to explore some more. When I started to get hungry I had trouble finding an open place (locals here often refer to Sunday as "Dormingo" which is a contraction of "dormir" the verb for "sleep" and "Domingo" the word for Sunday). My friend had mentioned a "Chinese Market" not far from where I wandered so I decided to check it out. It turns out it was Japanese & even said so on the awning next to the name. So it saved me from being a stereotypical New York Jew & eating Chinese on Sunday, but it also brought back memories. Anyway, there was a surprising array of Japanese imports, plus a large yakitori station outside which had many authentic-looking options, and also some weird hybrids like onigiri- grilled rice balls- filled with Oaxacan cheese. I decided to save it for another time & walk back towards my place for something more traditionally Mexican.

I have to admit I'm rather nervous about starting class tomorrow. It's my first class in over 13 years (how is that even possible?!?!) but I'm a little surprised at just how anxious I am tonight. I just took an Ambien in the hopes it will knock me out despite my nerves & the sadly ever-present bass from my upstairs neighbor's stereo. I've asked my friends to stop speaking English with me after a couple of days of class to accelerate my learning process so these blogs will be my only English "interactions" by the end of the week. Wish me luck. ¡Besos!