The Subway Way

By Lindsey Knapp

Do you want to experience new things?  How would you like to expand your insight into human habits and different ways of life?  Would you like to do all this for only $2.25?

Come to New York!  Get on the subway at rush hour!  It’s a fascinating idea, playing Sardines with complete strangers.  You’ll be a part of the action—this never-ending game of How-Many-People-Can-We-Fit-Into-One-Subway-Car?  The ceiling’s the limit!  If you can see the floor there’s still room!  It’s a race against time to see how many will fit in before the doors close.

Come!  Stay with the Knapps!  Your trip will only cost you $2.25 (airfare, food, taxi fares, spare change, and the money you will blow off at the souvenir shop not included, price for one person only.)  You’ll experience a whole different aspect of city life, one that thousands of people do every day.  You could be one of them! *Offer not valid in Czechoslovakia 

Yes, I’m kidding.  Please don’t be calling me up anytime soon to ask if you can come to New York and ride the subway...we’d love for you to come but certainly not for that reason.

Riding the subway, at any time, can invite discomfort, yet also provide an interesting perspective.  About 5.2 million people ride the subway, in all of New York City, every weekday.  That’s all kinds of people, and I’ll admit, it’s not always a fun thing to do.  Often there’s a conversation going on beside me that I’d rather not have to listen to, or someone’s iPod is blaring loudly enough for the whole world to hear, or I’m sitting beside someone I’d rather not sit beside.  It’s not the cleanest of environments, and there are often near one hundred people within that one car; so I understand when someone objects to the public-ness of it, or if someone doesn’t like things used by a lot of people.  These are two prevalent aspects of city life, and you get used to them.

The subway is a great place to study people, and why we do what we do; and also, occasionally, to laugh.  Funny first: the other day I heard the story of a friend of a friend: this guy gets on the subway like any other day, and promptly sits down next to Princess Leia.  Seriously.  Princess Leia, in full costume.  At the next stop, two Stormtroopers get on and grab her.  Next stop?  Darth Vader.  What a crazy place this is!

A couple days ago we caught the subway to go downtown, and a few stops down our ride a man came on the subway car with a guitar of some kind.  At first, when he announced that he was going to sing a song for “The lady in the orange coat, who has nice legs,” I mostly wrote him off.  Just some guy trying to make a little money.  But he was truly hilarious!  He started singing his own, personalized version of “My Girl,” and pretty soon everyone in the subway car was laughing and singing along.  How often does that happen?!  He then went on to crack some jokes that were actually funny and sang two more songs, for “The lady in the white coat” and “The man in the glasses.” Afterward he walked up and down the car gathering donations.  “I have three kids at home and they all need iPods.  I will take cash, Yankees caps, iPods, or foreign money.” This is not what your typical guy would say.  I loved it because it was such a different subway ride than what we usually take; and the laughing united the people in that subway car, even for only ten minutes.

The subway, which so many New Yorkers use every day, levels the playing field.  Everyone who steps through those doors, whether CEO or homeless man, is subject to the conditions and the rules of that subway car.  If it’s ten minutes between trains, everyone must stand on the platform and wait.  If the train is held up between stations (which happens all the time, to hear New Yorkers talk), then everyone on that train is held up and has no other option than to wait.  It doesn’t matter if you have friends in high places or no friends at all.

So the next time you’re on a subway train, look around.  Many books could be written about that train.

Settling In

By Tim Knapp

What a sight...4 Knapps; 14 pieces of luggage. As we stood atop our mountain of suit cases we only hoped we could get them all in one vehicle. It would require a van-taxi, which luckily, are plentiful here in NYC. We managed. But of course, the driver barely spoke enough broken English for me to understand him trying to tell me via cellphone where he had pulled up.

After 10 minutes of carting luggage across the busiest street at LaGuardia, we finally got everything loaded. Barely had room for all the girls! After an interesting 20 minute ride through the city to our apartment, and getting a fair history lesson on Russian politics, the Uzbekistan driver unloaded us in front of our building 839 West End Avenue.

We slept the first couple of nights on mattresses on the floor with make-shift covers, since our bedding hadn't yet arrived via mail, and we only had one actual mattress and an inflatable. But thanks to the internet and Craig's List, we soon made several furniture acquisitions, making our place a bit more comfy.

There's nothing like Craig's List in NYC! Hundreds of listings for furniture, housewares, etc., appearing daily...and all only a few minute's commute away. A couple million people within such a small area, of which probably 95% don't have a vehicle, present a lot of opportunities for furnishings that are either free or very much on the cheap. Many simply say, come and get it; others sell at vastly discounted prices, since if it doesn't sell they have to leave it anyway. Problem is, though, you either have to carry it or hire a "man with a van" to help you. And that's what we did. My friend Dave (a 26 year old from Michigan who, along with his wife Crystal, became our first NYC friends back in October) and another friend, Young Hoon from Korea, helped me go pick up a mattress for Beth's bed. When's the last time you saw 3 guys walking down the street with a mattress on their heads? And then we went to an apartment to pick up another free item, but this time a sofa sleeper a family couldn't take with them. I called on a guy with a van from Brooklyn who had helped me with a few items back in October. Carrying a sleeper down tight stairways ain't exactly easy no matter how many hands you have! And then last night, as I decided to do a quick check on items listed on the upper west side of Manhattan (our area) I found a much needed desk only 5 blocks down the street. After a quick offer and deal, I headed out to seal the transaction. Pretty simple, really; hello, here's the cash, give me the desk. And off I went, carrying a desk on my shoulders up West End Avenue back to my building. I managed to get it into the building, up the stairs, and into the apartment without waking a soul. Mission accomplished. And all by 1:30 am.

Since arriving Tuesday, Lindsey has gone skiing, Beth's been out with a friend for Ben & Jerry's ice cream, we've enjoyed at least three meals with company in our new apartment, and been out to other family's places a couple of times as well. We've been amazed at what God has gone before us and done; so many neat relationships already in place, so many friends eager to help and know our story. We truly feel at home and that we're a part of this community. And then to attend church--we did two services today--and meet so many who are so willing to help in any way possible. It reminds us how vital Christian community is and what a difference it makes to be a part of it.

And while I'm on the topic of Community...what a blessing it has been over the nights we've been here to sit together last thing before bed and read the cards from the church back home. What a lift we've received from our friends. We are so thankful for the considerate time taken by so many to encourage us and send us off with their blessing.