Day 3

This morning I went to see the apartment in Jersey. It is in a brand new building, right behind the PATH train station that will take me to the city each day. The apartment is all new, with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and my own washer and dryer, which was VERY exciting! The best part was that it was available that day. I headed back to the city where I checked out of my hotel and stored my bags. Then I made my way to the office. I spent a little time reviewing documents and started the paper work on the lease for my apartment. Then, I went with some of my office mates to a presentation on the North Lawn. There was an event for Stand Up Against Poverty! The event was taking place at UN offices all over the world in hopes of breaking a world record for the number of people “Standing Up” for extreme poverty! The Secretary-General was there and spoke to us as well as several others. Then we were all asked to recite the Stand Up Pledge. It was at this point that it really hit me, how great it was to be part of an organization that works on a global scale to help improve the quality of life for so many! You can find out more about Stand Up at the following website: http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/

I had to do a bit more paper work that afternoon and continued reading documents. Then I left a bit early to get settled into my apartment. I went back to my hotel to get my bags and asked the concierge about a taxi to New Jersey. By now it was nearly rush hour so she advised that I would be better served to hire a private car for $65 to take me there. I told her that would be fine, since I didn’t really have another option. When she called to make the reservation they told her I would need to wait 1 ½ hours for the car to get there. I decided at that point, being frugal and stubborn, that I could make better use of that hour and a half by moving my luggage myself. Some probably would call me crazy, but hey that’s what makes me who I am. I went to the luggage room and got out my small suitcase (on wheels, of course). I took it with me on two subways and then the PATH train to my apartment, where I checked in and got my keys. I took my bags up to my room, and headed back to the city for round two! Project BIG suitcase. It was getting to be after rush hour at this point, so I got back to the hotel and took a taxi with the big bag to the PATH train station. There was an elevator there to the train level so it was pretty easy to get on the train. The train ride was uneventful and when I got to my stop I only had to carry my suitcase up one flight of stairs to the escalator and I was right outside my apartment building. It really wasn’t that bad at all…I’m sure it sounds worse than it actually was!

At this point I was worn out so I went right outside my apartment to a little ‘bodega’ where I bought a few things for my apartment. I then went next door to McDonalds which I can honestly say was the worst McDonalds I’ve ever been in. Anyway, I went up to the apartment and talked to Don and the kids so long my food was cold when I finally got around to eating it….so it was even worse!