New York day six

So, you always wondered what it's like to be a New Yorker in New York? Very different then coming here on vacation. Here is what we get to experience everyday!


This is the subway entrance we go into everyday to get to the number "1" subway we take to get to Time Square. It's about 1/4 mile long. Dirty, smelly, long, busy, graffiti, messy...

This is a picture of the outside of our apartment. We are in Washington Heights. It's an old area of Manhattan - but a lot of historical events took place in this area. We live in an apartment that is the farthest away from everyones apartment on our team. In other words, we have the farthest to travel every day. It's always an adventure.
This is the local laundry we take our clothes to. There are no washer/dryers in our apartment. Many apartments have a general use washer/dryer in the basement, but just as many do not, so many utilize the local laundry. They have two services - you can stay and wash/dry your own clothes, or they have a drop-off service. Drop your clothes, and return in 3 hours to pick them up. We are going to have to drop them off as we have almost no spare time to be able to stay and wash them ourselves. Almost every minute of every day is taken up in ministry work!
This is a very typical mini-mart. They can be found on almost every corner in the borough's in Manhattan. We are right outside of Harlem. Fitz has already become our friend - they recognize us as we are there almost every day. As no one has cars, you just can't buy lots of food at any given time. You only buy what you can carry, or carry in small wire carts. So - fruits, veggies, bread, milk, etc. we go often to purchase these things. The water from the tap has an interesting taste, so we prefer bottled water - heavy - so only 1 or 2 large containers at a time. As it is very humid here (although nothing like the South), we are drinking up a lot of Gatorade.

I'll be honest - we are all pretty tired. We are so busy learning, participating, up at -630 everyday, and in bed by 11:30 or later. August 1st we will come home and sleep for 3 days straight! With almost no time off, it's going to be a challenge getting to see some of New York as a tourist! Tomorrow morning we have a prayer meeting in Central Park from 0900 - 1100, then we will actually have some time off. We are hoping to get out to the Museum of Natural History. We shall see what comes of it.