.SOMETIMES RAW.

Hello and Happy Monday! 

“In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York” – Jay Z

My dream was always to live in New York City and when I finally made the decision to the Big Apple from Jersey I fell in love. I needed to move there. I needed to finally do it. I needed the change. I needed Midtown Manhattan. It was love at first sight. No ifs, ands or buts! I moved into a tiny apartment but I did not care. I just needed the place to sleep, write and store my few things.  My new goal was to discover this amazing city one day at a time. 

All the museums and galleries, restaurants and areas in the lover east and west side that have so much to offer were on my agenda. In New York you have it all – in any aspect, but especially culturally. You can go eat to a Vietnamese Restaurant, then take a walk to China [Town]. This city is one of the most culturally mixed places in the world and never ever sleeps. It maybe rests a tiny bit here and there with a somewhat fast-paced heartbeat. 

New York is multicultural and has this sweet versatility that you can see and feel wherever you go. Here you sit in the park next to the poor, the rich, old and young. Artists, next to bankers, next to the sweaty Yoga girl who eats her salad on her lap. Here, people pray to different gods; or none. They go to different churches; or not. Some people seem to rush everywhere, some try to take their time but then usually get run over. Some talk to each other, some laugh and other look sad or angry. Everything seems normal once you lived here long enough. Nevertheless, it never becomes boring. Walking around downtown I always feel this electricity in the air, this craziness, the old buildings, vintage stores, little cafés with strange opening hours; usually pretty early to pretty late. All this electricity that is constantly in the air makes room for opportunities  and changes. Every day a new gallery opens up somewhere, a new restaurant or new café. So many hidden gems that still want and need to be discovered. Where does this little staircase lead to? Nowhere? Maybe to an underground jazz bar with live music, maybe to a hookah lounge with awesome food. It seems that everything is part of my life, everything means vitality. 

I just want to share two places that I love dearly. There are two restaurants that I love and always make me feel like home when eating/drinking there. Les Enfants de Bohème and Les Halles. [Les Halles Review here!] Seriously, as soon as I enter either of those restaurants I feel so special and happy to be at a place so calm and intellectual at the same time.  Such great memories! 

I am damn lucky! Sometimes I forget, but usually I remember and I am grateful. Many times my husband and I talk about how lucky we indeed are. How lucky to live in the middle of the Big Apple, so see and experience it all and call this city “Home”.

In a couple of minutes we are at Central Park. We walk around  with a big cup of latte from Starbucks, two books and a blanket. Looking over my shoulder I see the Empire State Building; the colors: blue, white and red. We observe two old gentlemen playing chess in the park. Next to them two people are dancing. Further along, someone is practicing playing his saxophone. There is always something going on! They might dance and play chess until 1 am in the morning. This colorful mixture of old and young is great to observe. 

As it starts getting colder we walk back home and decide to buy some groceries and whatnot for dinner. This little supermarket has it all we think and browse through the aisles. I ask an employee who put cans in a shelf and wears a “How can I help you shirt” where I could find olive bread. She looks at me,laughs and leaves. “Okay,” I thought while looking at my husband who smiles. The woman came back shortly with a bag full of frozen shrimp. They were on sale. “Olive bread?”, I asked again. She’s takes the bag of frozen shrimp and leaves again to come back with a bag of frozen burgers. “Everything already on it!”, she says and smiles at me. She must have detected a somewhat surprised, annoyed look on my face and offered me four burgers for the price of two. I walked out of the store with husband and burgers. We passed a little fruit cart on the way. Nobody was there to sell us anything. “Should I maybe just take some lettuce? It would be perfect with the burgers?”, I thought. “Oh, yeah, I don’t steal things!”, I say out loud and we kept walking home. A cab honks consistently and the driver curses like there is no tomorrow. “I love New York!”, we both say while the plastic bag with our burgers swings back and forth on my arm. 

Hello and Happy Friday/Earth Day! 

Today is Earth Day. Facebook reminded me this morning while I enjoyed my cup of coffee. I think it is important to celebrate Earth Day every single day. Just simply cutting down on waste and learning about how to recycle and compost is important to me. I wrote not too long ago that I love to cook and I am amazed every single time about the amount of plastic and garbage I throw away afterwards. Have you heard about  this place in Berlin? Zero-waste is key! Check out their website.  What a great store concept, no? So in honor of Earth Day I try to be extra aware how I can create a healthier, happier place to live for me and my family. And if it is just for buying a coffee to- go without the plastic lid. This week went by so quickly again. Way too fast. This is what I have been up to if you would like to read. 

Reading: A lot. Actually, I found good book recommendations and literature blogs all over the place and my list of books-to-read grows and grows. I read Benedict Well’s book Vom Ende der Einsamkeit which kept me breathless several times. I have never heard of this amazing author before but a book that actually made me cry in the end is always worth recommending I think. Mr. Wells, I will read all your books for sure! Highly recommended! Next, I loved Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove. I actually won this book and a movie ticket at Riemann Bookstore.  Beautiful, simple story and a gem of a feel-good novel! To observe how Ove’s world full of sadness and anger changes over time is fantastic. I want more Fredrik Backman!  I read Blauschmuck by Katharina Winkler and this book made me uncomfortable. In a nutshell, it is about Filiz, a turkish woman, who suffers psychologically and physically the beatings of her husband Yunus. Blauschmuck (Blue Jewelry) describes the different blue-shades of bruises she has all over her body. And this is by far not the only pain she experiences. This is a book that cannot be reviewed so easily because the everything is based on a real story. I suffered with Filiz, it made me so angry, sad and helpless. Highly recommended, disturbing, thought-provoking but a book like this needs to be read.  I finished Wreck and Order by Hannah Tennent-Moore. Read the review here.  Currently, I am reading Jed Mc Kenna’s Spiritual Enlightenment -Book One. Review will follow.       

Watching: I went on a movie-date with my husband to see A Man Called Ove. The movie very accurate to the book’s content which made it so special. I only found the German trailer and don’t know if and when it will be released in the States. Soooorry! Or you learn Swedish. 

Learning/Discovering: I found this blog about a couple who travel the world, write about it while living mostly on raw food and back to nature. No shampoo, deodorant, shower gel but plain water. Check out their website. It is definitely worth it to get a bit of inspiration. Tie-Restaurant in Coburg. You like vegetarian/vegan food? Do check out this place! Also, it is National Letter Writing Month! Yaaaay. When I moved to Munich and later to New York I used to send my mom a letter at least every two weeks. It was a tradition that we somehow started. Also sending letters and postcards to my grandparents, sister and brother is just still a great thing I like to do. I used to have pen pals as well but for some reason, lack of time, smartphones, Skype, FaceTime and emails letter writing is not so much on my mind these days. I also remember writing consistently to my best friend Julia and attached a Simpsons Postcard. How awesome is this feeling when you open your mailbox [not on your phone or computer] and find a handwritten letter or postcard? I love it and I am great at writing letters. I decorate the outside and letter itself with stickers, paintings, add photos – it is so much fun! When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone? Do it TODAY. 🙂 

Loving: This t-shirt

Listening to: Nick Drake’s Album Pink Moon which is so beautiful. I love discovering new musicians and then be instantly hooked. Usually, I pick my favorite song of the album and listen to it on “repeat-one” for days until I am tired of it. Crazy, I know! For some reason I believe that this won’t happen with this song. What an amazing voice Mr. Drake! Makes me almost tear-up a bit. 

What are your plans for the weekend? What are your five things for the week? What are you up to? I would love to hear from you. Have a great weekend. 

Advance Reading Copy Disclosure:

Thanks to Blogging for Books and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I have not heard about Hannah Tennant-Moore before but what drew my attention to this book the most was the cover and title. This does not affect my opinion of the content or the book in my review.

“I was not loved as a child and now I find it difficult to love others- how can I heal? I hate my job but I need the money – should I quit and live as a pauper? The monk answered them each the same way: Be earnest. If you want to be free, do not let anything stop you. Examine every thought, desire, sensation until you fully understand its source. Expect nothing from the world. Then you will naturally wake up to your true state. Remain open and quiet. That is all you can do.” 

This book is very raw and honest and about a young woman, Elsie, who is searching for a purpose in life. She also feels stuck in a weird and impulsive, abusive relationship with her boyfriend Jered. Her father helps her financially until she “finds what she is looking for” while she works at a newspaper for a while and makes a plethora of bad decisions mixed with alcohol and drugs. Then she meets Bryan. He seems perfect – no drugs and alcohol and no physical pain. However, she is not happy and this relationship seems not to be right either. She goes back to Jered. After a weird drug party she decides that there is only one possible solution at this point. A drastic change. She travels to Sri Lanka and Paris in search for a new way to live, new connections and friends and experience. Elsie is on a quest to figure out what she wants and most importantly who she is and come face-to-face with herself. 

She wants to be comfortable in her life, to not make these bad decisions anymore and most importantly think about these sexual cravings she has and needs to fulfill with Jared. There is quite some spirituality in this book but not as much as I hoped for. Also, the Elsie character bothers me at points. Her constant whining and going back and forth in this abusive relationship trying to make it work even though it seems all hopeless and self-destructive is annoying. The sexual descriptions are very graphic but not vulgar. But, if too many graphic details about violent sex offend – or make you uncomfortable, this is most certainly not your book to read. I guess since 50 Shades of Grey sex sells. Sometimes I had the feeling of reading a memoir because the descriptions of places in Sri Lanka were so real and accurate. You will get a  pretty good idea on how people in Sri Lanka live as well as their culture and lifestyle. 

“I need to reconcile my ideals with my personality,” Elsie stated and wanted to help a woman she befriended in Sri Lanka. Her desire to do good and make some changes is definitely something I enjoyed reading about. Elsie’s character is very realistic and I loved to find out about this little barrier a person may created between actions and thoughts. 

Order your copy here.