I LEAVE NEW YORK

I'm racing across Manhatten in a classic New York yellow taxi, with a halfcrazed middleeastern driver driven by the extra bucks promissed if I got on my flight back to Europe on time. From JFK International airport to Newark Airport in under 40 minuts, passing police cars, and risking speedtickets, only to arrive at the destination on time with a passenger holding a insufficient mastercard. It was safe to say he wasn't as pleased with this pale european foreigner.

There I am, 10 meters from the check in, and the guy won't give me my bags. Cursing, pleading and briebing with cigaretts will only get you so far, this transporter had his mind set on the mighty dollar. He even offered me his phone if I wanted to call the police. Luckely the bank was still open for another fifteen minuts back in Seattle. I called my roommate Jef and he transfered the despretly needed cabfare. Thank you. The cabdriver who quickley turned into my bestfriend helped me run over my bags to the checkin, and with only a couple of minuts to spare the airline approved my late bags. The taxidriver gave me his hand and gave off a "pleasure doing business with you" before he ran back to his suprisingly well airconditioned yellow office. I ran off to the gate with a big smile on my face. I was going home.

Sitting in my seat, with gravity vertigo, I started to think about the last few days in New York. The city that you see every day on the tv had finally turned into something touchable. From the first time I stepped out of the subway and saw time square to my frantic escape four days later the city had me. The people, the drive, ambition, skylicking buildings and culture overfloaded me like a missisippi boathouse, or a thailand beachhouse if I may. I saw the view from the empire state observation deck, chinatown, wall street, ellis island, statue of liberty, harlem, trump building, central park, and all the other sites that stands out on the map.

I lived in a hostel in Harlem with a bunch of other travlers. Nice people with stories from all over the world. Beeing almost the only white person living on the block I at first suspected to be treated as an outsider, but the people in Harlem was authentic, friendly and outgoing. "This scene would be very different ten years ago" a harlemresidents told us as he passed us sitting outside the hostel having some beers. Nicholas, a new yorker living at the hostel, said the only reason that we weren't arrested was the colour of our skin. Harlem is still a place where people are beeing treated as a criminals only because of their skincolor.

My stay in the USA was almost six months long. I really feel that I have returned to Europe with more knowledge, confidence and hope. I've learned a lot about past and present American culture, myself, and why this is the country everybody loves to hate, and hates to love. The best and the worst sides of society. If you fall for the anti american propaganda you are missing a big piece of the picture. How can you judge a country that is so diverse and vast. It's like reading the last pages of the bible and think you know all about the christian masterplan. In my case it feels like Ive only finished a chapter of this great book of the united western states. I hope one day I can continue where I left off. This book is a pageturner.