Sunday August 16

Day off off. I stayed at home most of the day to sort out things, do some cleaning in the house, picked up my laundry and wrote in this blog !
In the evening I went to the Maccabi Games Inauguration in Madison Square Garden. It's a huge stadium next to Pen Station. I was invited by JASA. The Maccabi Games are the Olympics for Israël and the Jewish Diaspora. The athletes are 12-16 years old from U.S.A. , Canada, Venezuela and Israël. The first one was held in 1982.
At the door they couldn't find my name on their list but they nevertheless very kindly let me in for free. However I didn't know where the Jasa people were so I picked up a seat at random. There was some broadway singing, some choregraphy and of course some speach and the procession of athletes. They had a ceremony regarding the 1972 Munich Olympic tragedy. I left at 9 (it started at 7) after the oaths.

Saturday August 15

By the way : we didn't have any rain for at least 10 days. Temperature are in the 90's and it is mostly sunny. A bit humid but bearable - for me anyhow.
I had commited myself to go to open "Coney Island" from 1 'till 3 p.m. There was a neighborhood party and they needed to get access to the fridge. I met the boarding committee of the residence association and went for lunch in a Russian restaurant in Brighton Beach where I am by now a regular too. Needless to say it's on the walk board facing the Ocean so I'm happy. Back to the center I actually didn't have to let any people in. They didn't ask to. I believe they had very few customers for their hamburgers. Every body was either away or on the beach 2 minutes away on foot.
Today I had the voice lesson with S. in Long Island. I was there around 5:30. She was obviously disappointed for me too that the show didn't take place. Nevertheless she encouraged me to get an other gig as soon as possible and we looked at new songs to work on.

Friday August 14

Early start again to go to Coney Island. I'm so overwhelmed every time I see the Ocean, watching people jogging, strolling, having a good time... On Fridays the seniors have aerobic and art & crafts. They have lunch - sandwiches and salads - paid by Jasa on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. I didn't stay for the art & crafts and I walked back to the station with L., the fitness instructor. L. told me how she came into teaching. She used to be in business while always very keen on fitness. Her husband being the Manager of a Gym, he asked her one day to teach fitness to a small group. And eventually, gradually, she saw that it was "her calling" and became a full time fitness instructor.
Back to the City I went through the routine "café-dance lesson". I really like the way D. teaches. He's very patient and has a nice way to humor you. Beside his job D. takes ballet dancing lessons three times a week.
At home R. is recovering from his burns, B. is mourning his cat, J is J, O. is coming back tonight from a business trip, Y. just bought a new camera. It's a 1970's Japanese copy from the 1st submarine camera created by French people in the 40's ! So she's got the perfect excuse to go to the beach every day :)

Thursday August 13

R. the director from the Jasa Coney Island center is on vacation. There are in facts 3 different centers in Coney Island. The one I'm at is on W 35th Street. While R. is away I go there every morning - except Wednesdays - to open up. Staff from the 2 other centers are coming into shifts to take care of things. But I'm coordinating and making sure it's going smoothly. Today I stayed until closing time - 5 p.m. Thursday the seniors only have bingo. I didn't win not even a nickel. No dance lesson tonight so I went straight home for a change.

Wednesday August 12

Day "off". I had the Spanish-French exchange with L. in Bryant Park. I told him about my last "adventures" in Spanish. Tried to anyway. L. told me in French about his last cooking and his 1st visit to Coney Island with his wife last week end. We had lunch together at a nearby self. Then an other trip with a suitcase to J. Street. I had a light dinner in a café - a "café" is in fact a restaurant, a "coffee shop" is a tea room and a "dinner" is a restaurant but as well a "restaurant" is a restaurant - next to the dance studio. I'm a regular client there by now. I only noticed the 2d time I went that they include 10 % service charge on the check (bill). I previously paid religiously 15 % tips. No wonder I had a big welcome the 2d time round !

Tuesday August 11th

I went as planned to help out for lunch at the West side Center. As I came in the main room I noticed my show wasn't mentionned... Anyway I did the job as a waiter and afterwards I went to see a lady from the management to ask her what was going on. She just told me that the Director had probably forgotten about my performance... So I left quite frustrated and annoyed as you can imagine ! I went to J. Street to collect more stuff. That's actually quite funny. Because every time I had a dance lesson - and sure enough I had one in the evening on Tuesday as well - I came round with a bigger and bigger suitcase...
After the lesson - I had a bite beforehand - I went back home. There a small disaster happened : R. and Y. were seating outside on the steps leading to the back yard. I joined them with a hot mug of tea. I left the tea to cool off one step above R's back. All at a sudden he got up knocking over the boiling drink on his lower back ! He burnt himself 2d degree ! Since then R. got some advice and medecine to take care of that but still the poor guy is going through a bad time !
All in all a weird day.... :)

Monday 10th

I went as a volunteer waiter to serve lunch in the Jasa Manhattan West side center. Afterwards I stayed on to see a voice show by a Broadway singer. He was really good. What my performance is going to look like tomorrow in comparison ? I then had the last voice coaching before D Day. J recorded a sound track for me.

Before to go for the dance lesson I met up with L. who very kindly did some shopping for me : I have been so busy I needed some help there.

Sunday 9th : moving out from Jefferson Street

Eventually I got tired of the situation in Bushwick : not seeing a soul there. K. is away until mid-August and F. has been out of town too but I don't know when he's back. It was nice to start with to have the place for myself but I missed my friends from East Brooklyn. So I packed up a few things and moved back to the house in C. Street where they happen to have a room free.

Bronx : Van Courtland Park (1)

Bronx : Van Courtland Park (2)