(written without seeing Ilana’s version)

Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today. Leaving from my home for the past two and a half years, New York, New York. I first arrived in November 2007, a day after finishing the Israeli army, having never been to the US before, and having 6 weeks to find a job before my visa interview at the consulate. Thankfully, everything has worked out. I’ve grown to love the city, and even become a New York snob – I don’t usually leave Manhattan unless its to leave the the continental US! Here is the things I’ll miss, and what I won’t miss about New York.

Things I won’t miss:

1. Garbage. On the street. It stinks. For non New Yorkers, the New York method of garbage disposal involves putting garbage in large plastic bags and leaving them on the footpath (sidewalk) on garbage day. These mounds of garbage sit and leak and stink until they are picked up.
2. Everybody is obsessed with their work. People work long and hard in a manner that is utterly offensive to an Australian.
3. The high concentration of lawyers, investment bankers and real estate brokers. Not only are people working too much, many of them earning ridiculous money doing absolutely nothing productive for society.
4. The weather. How is it below freezing in winter yet we still have sticky tropical heat in summer?
5. Air conditioner rain in the summer. There are lots of high rise buildings with window set air conditioners – you know what I’m talking about.
6. The prices and the inequality. Sometimes it seems like New York is like a Third World country, with so much wealth and so much poverty side by side, and almost complete racial segregation in some parts. I certainly wont miss 18% tips, or buying fruit where its dollars per item not dollars per kilo.

Things I’ll miss:

1. Jewishness is such a given part of the culture. Local news reports that Rosh Hashanah is coming. Beggars ask if you can give some tzedakah. Black people using Yiddishisms.
2. On a similar note, the great access to kosher and vegetarian food. In our time here we have probably sampled most vegetarian restaurants in Manhattan.
3. Its hard to go past not owning a car. Its great to be in a place where everything is walking distance or a short subway ride away.
4. Finally, the hustle and romance of the big city. Every street corner, yellow cab or column of subway steam seems iconic. The skyline as a monument to American success. Crossroads of the world, with throngs and throngs of people form everywhere across the globe. Riding my bike through Times Square in peak hour traffic, weaving between taxis, being close enough to feel both the heat of their engines and the cool breeze of their air conditioners. That’s my New York.