From Residence to Home

It’s been a great week where I’ve been finally able to settle into Queens. Though labeled New York’s “most boring borough,” Queens is pretty ideal, and I can’t help but wonder if some of my colleagues in deafening Manhattan yearn for a little bit of “boring” as they work themselves to death. Rego Park is ideal in that Costco, Russian produce, the post office, the parks and rec, the library, and the train station are all one block away. The Chinese eateries are split between Elmhurst and Flushing in which Rego is in the middle, but really, my generous apartment space accommodates any Chinese food preparation I will undertake.

One fear (“fear” by the way is usually way too strong a word for males in talking about domestic things, but “concern” didn’t quite fit but it’s ok I’m over it) I had in coming was if I’d be able to make friends. I know many a young adult that struggle to establish themselves because making friends with people twice your age in a borough filled with immigrants while on a consistent work schedule is not easy. Christians have it a little easier because of an immediate network and spiritual kinship (Hebrews 10:25), but without immediate family in the same unit it’s still very difficult to feel “at home.”

Enter the Puerto Ricans. In my apartment building there resides an extremely hospitable Puerto Rican family who have been New Yorkers longer than I have been alive. I was asking fellow tenants basic questions about getting cable internet, and the next thing I knew, I was in a Puerto Rican apartment drinking French press coffee, Portuguese Porto, whiskey, Argentinian wine, Long Islands, and green tea while talking about life, marriage, and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” until midnight. Unbelievably hospitable. Us Chinese, with thousands of years of history, need to learn again what it means to be human, because as far as I see, the average Chinese immigrant in Queens treats complete strangers sub-dirt.

I look outside my window overlooking the courtyard, and our Russian super is trying to build community as well, getting involved with whatever he can. Last night, the neighbors and I went out to see the city’s most not-so-secret secret skyline by Long Island City – and it was unobstructed New York skyline magic. Queens is magic, and hopefully I can pay it back by learning a Russian and Spanish phrase or two.