I arrived in New York yesterday. It is amazing. Yesterday night I hung out with my friend Peter and his friends, and tonight we are going to a party in Brooklyn. There are so many things that I would like to tell you. From New York, but also from the last week: One long party and a wonderful visit from my Danish friends Søs and Katrine, who study in San Diego. I will tell you much more about all that, when I have a little more time. For now, you get a snap shot from New York’s subway:
A girl around 15 years old with big ear rings ask a guy in white uniform (who sits beneath a boy eating a big green apple in the underground of the big apple) she asks the man in uniform, “so what are you protecting?”
“It depends,” the guy in uniform says nodding his head slowly to underline the authority of the white uniform. What he does is important, I understand that overhearing the conversation. He says it once again – still nodding. “It depends.” It is a mystery.
New York is full of sailors this week because of fleet week. They walk up and down the streets in their perfectly folded uniforms. It is as if the dirt of New York’s streets peel of their shiny leather shoes. As if the odor from rotting fish in black plastic bags does not get in to the fibers of their shirts. As if the steam from the underground obey their command. Some have a girl under the arm. Others want to have one.
The sailor reveals a bit more of his job. His important job. “We are on a fregat,” he says.
“A freak-at?” the girl bursts out.
“A fregat, a little ship,” the sailor says trying to show his ship between his hands. “What we would do,” he says slowly and in a deep voice, “is to protect shipping routes.”
“My brother is in the army,” the girl says.
A woman sitting next to the girl – it might be her mother – says:
“He is doing communication. It is kind of the same, only on land.”
Kategorier:USA
Tags: fleet week, New York, per, sailor, sand, skovkjaer, subway, times square