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Brooklyn, United States
42° 25' N 78° 44' W
Feb 26, 2007 22:14
Distance 439km

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Moving into my place in Brooklyn

Text written in: English

For those of you who have seen the Spike Lee movie "Do The Right Thing", you will have an idea of where I live. The film was not shot in Bedstuy where I now live. It is primarily an African community although it is on the horizon for gentrification as there are quite a few brownstones which are coveted in the NYC area and of which there aren't many left that haven't been taken scooped up on the real estate market. Reports say this neighborhood is considered one of the last true brownstone neighborhoods.

One change for me that I can attribute to my New Zealand experience is the way I see neigborhoods. While the United States would like to think it is integrated, it is not. There are certain areas where white people live, african people live, etc.. New York City is the same. Of course there are those who don't fit the norm, overall there is definitely segregation. With that said, I don't feel out of place at all in the neighborhood. I think part of it is because I lived in Rotorua for so long and was not only an outsider in the Village being the only American white guy amongst the Maori, I was also an outsider in general in the larger community which is primarily English.This lifestyle I had for years has definitely continued here in Bedstuy where again I am technically an outsider yet I still don't feel it...just like in New Zealand.

The place I live in is two blocks from the C line which is the local bound train that takes a hell of a long time to get into Manhattan. If i had a car the driving time is probably 10 minutes but with the train it is easily closer to 30 minutes and that is just to the tip of Manhattan. I have had to go to mid-Manhattan which can take up to 1 hour and then above that, when the trains are running on shit schedules on the weekend, I have take a train to the Upperwestside where it took nearly two hours.

The street I live on is wonderful in terms of its architecture. I live on the 5th floor of a browntsone. I have a roommate, the first time I have had a roommate since 1993. It is a difficult situation but Im learning to deal with it. The roommate is in his 50's and is a professional architecture photographer.

The apartment itself is not as small as others in NYC but is still small for the price i pay. I will not disclose on here what my share of the rent is but I will say that what I pay for a room here I had 5 times more space in Clemson and paid a quarter less.