this is my new york: i wouldn't wanna be ya

"If you two weren't an hour late then we could have had those tickets to get inside the Liberty Statue. And more importantly, we'd still have enough time to roam around Manhattan," I snarked as we boarded the ferry boat headed back to the mainland.

The trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island lasted for more than an hour. I wasn't really checking on the clock but it felt that long. The former is jam packed with tourists, pigeons and more tourists. The massive crowd made it really hard for us three to take nice pictures of the landmark. It's hard to make a good pose when you're thinking that the final image will have a stranger's body part or two sticking out from either edges. And call me weird but I find it hard to hand over the camera to anyone but myself. I refuse to delegate the task of immortalizing my memory to people who treat cameras as a "point-and-shoot" device. It is so much more than that.

Anyway, after a few shots we headed out to the souvenir shops and bought a few, overpriced, key chains and a pretty snow globe. My New York trip was actually a quest to find me a snow globe that snows "snow" and not glitter. Luckily, I found one for twenty bucks. And if I'm not mistaken I spent another ten dollars or so for two bottled water. One wasn't enough to quench my thirst. It was that hot. I thought the same would apply to Ellis Island. Good thing that we were directed to a museum. An air-conditioned one for that matter. Didn't do much in there except use their washroom to freshen up. Museums do not bore me but what the hell would I do with statistics, maps and charts. I already have enough of those in Excel.

"Eh kasi naman hindi ako makakilos. Bawal buksan yung ilaw kanina dahil natutulog pa yung TL namin. Bawal din mag-ingay. Yung konteng galaw naririnig niya. Kamusta naman yun," Josie said pouting, as she poses for another shot with the Statue as her background.

"That lady is really giving you a hard time. Sabi ko na nga ba, hitsura pa lang, kontrabida na talaga," I said confirming my impression on their team leader. "Kala mo naman kagandahan. Sobrang bastos kaya niya."

Mickey laughed. "Yun ba first impression mo sa kanya?"

"Oo. Sabihin mo sa kanya halatang ni-relax lang yung buhok niya. Nagpapaka-sosyal na lang siya hindi pa niya ayusin. At hindi bagay sa kanya yung suot niya nung huling araw niyo doon sa Maryland. Lalong lumalaki yung legs niya."

I'm really not that rude but that lady, let's call her j.Hoe, is really unnerving. She's so bad that she's totally redefining the word bitch. Take for instance during breakfast back at the hotel, she'll gladly take a separate table instead of joining us in ours. In their two-week stay at Gaithersburg, she never uttered a single syllable to acknowledge us, fellow Filipinos, when her colleagues are already rubbing elbows, among other exposed body parts, with us. But it's alright. I mean I'm a stranger. We both couldn't care less if either of us gets mugged, killed or raped here. Not that anyone would want to rape her. But to treat her officemates as trash. Now that's harsh. She's just a freaking team lead for Christ's sake. And that role ends as the clock strikes 5 PM. Josie and Mickey couldn't do anything but follow her around like sick puppies. We're in America! We're supposed to have fun! But they're not because they're miserable. They don't need to tell me anything for me to notice. I'm an empath. I feel what others feel. And my chat with Mickey the night before our New York trip confirmed all my hunches.

He said that their j.Hoe won't be joining them in going around the city because she's wants to rest. Apparently, she has visited New York before. Funny, but if I were in her shoes I would have volunteered to accompany them in a heartbeat. I sort of know the place, they're sort of my responsibility, it would be fun to bond with them. I don't know. It makes perfect sense right? But then again, she's the villain in the story so she wouldn't know what is right. No, even at the end, she won't get to reform. She can only look forward to being dead.

"So where to after this," Mickey asked as he pulled out the map from his bag.

"Manhattan? But we have to hurry though. Your beloved TL will be waiting for you at the Rockefeller Center at 5 PM. And we only have four hours to explore the city."

"Oo nga eh," Josie said as she took one last shot at the island. "Para san nga pala yung Statue of Liberty?"


"It's sort of the welcome sign for immigrants or travelers to the Americas in the old days. So metaphorically, it represents liberty from oppression. A concept which I'm pretty sure you two are familiar with."