Two weeks notice.

It's time to answer the big question. After an enriching two weeks in New York, how am I doing?

The city and me are still honeymooning, I guess you can say. I'm still breathing in the shared air, still delighting in bustling parks, still eavesdropping on foreign languages, still enthusing over the appreciation for Theater. Still inspired to act, recent credit to Jude Law's chilling take on Hamlet (Broadway). I'm still learning the subways and how to reference cross-streets (it's street name, then avenue name). Still donating loose change like a tourist and accepting pamphlets like a tourist. Still trying to locate that New York accent we all fawn over, only to find that most of the people I encounter are transplants like me, so the accent of the city can sound like anything from Japanese to Haitian.

And I've honestly never seen so many practicing Jews. Yesterday was Yom Kippur, noted to me by observing stores that were closed for the day. It was really a blessing, because I was inspired to take time and learn what Yom Kippur celebrates. Now I know why that day there were Jews filling the steps of synagogues I'd pass; those beautiful buildings, easily overlooked amidst the many, many beautiful buildings.

That's one of the key aesthetic differences here: the buildings here are so old, some by centuries. There's so much history and antiquity that even the residential brownstones are a sight to see (the kind of housing complexes I'm used to are the ones I've known since they were nothing but a land plot). Yet inside these weathered walls lies such a modern people, both stretched and refined by a dozen other cultures vitalizing the place.

It's that very juxtaposition of history and modernity that made my two mornings attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church an intriguingly new experience, one that deserves nothing short of its own blog entry, which I'll follow up with soon. But let me just say, as the contagiously bromantic Ho Chuan-i would say, that Tim Keller is legit.



And get this, I haven't gotten lost. Not unintentionally, anyway. This can be attributed partly to the predictable street number system, partly to the subway map on my iPod, partly to the abundance of free time, and partly to the geniality of strangers...oh and out here, they get pretty strange.

Even greater a part to my success here would be the geniality of non-strangers. I'm told finding a place is one of the hardest things to do here. That, and finding a job. Thankfully I've felt the cushion(s) of friends. Laura & Xin generously offered a couch for my first 10 days, albeit shared with their cats Leon & Remy. Two friends have offered work contacts, as well as a third, who offered his help the day we met; and a fourth I just met last Sunday who's helping me get an internship at a local theater. Now I'm staying with Jana, who you may remember from accounts of my days in Italy. Jana, honestly is too much. Upon my first visit she cooked me food and gave me juice. When I first moved in she had already prepared a bath towel, a bed, and a laundry basket. She insists on washing the dishes and when I come back to the apartment after a few hours she's folded my clothes.

So many people to thank, so many parts, all to a whole that is God's sufficient grace. It's funny, because I came out here, leaving much of my security on the far corner of the country, in hopes of falling on my butt. Yet still I've received so much support. It's just like my mom often reluctantly says while shaking her head, "You know, Ian, God must really like you." I wanted to escape my mom's care and got Jana's instead. Sure I wanted to cut some advantages out of my life, but who am I to deny God's blessing? Never had a problem accepting a gift.

Dialogue with the life back home is a river still flowing (Boyz II Men much?), courtesy of living in the digital age, not to mention my brother's visited me twice since I've been here (via a Jet Blue month-long unlimited pass). I've been receiving phone calls, e-mails, wall posts and blog comments, and although at times I fail to respond, please know that I cherish each one. I'll do better to reply. And yeah, I still read the cards and watch the DVDs.

As for the lovely lady and me? We're doing just fine.

Much thanks and 143's to everybody, and keep 'em coming please. A hearty two weeks it's been, but still hardly any time at all. Still in need of work, still in need of guidance -- I'm still a man in need of prayer. Above all, only the Father knows what the future holds, because He's the one who's holding it.

“No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show...but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries."

- Daniel 2:27
Praise the Lord.