I slept in pretty late and then called the Manhattan New York Temple to see when they were available for me to come in to do baptisms. They gave me the option to either be there in 20 minutes or to come at 12:45. I picked the 12:45 option. I put on my awesome wrinkle free skirt that had been folded in my suite case for a week and looked like I had just pulled it out of the closet). Can you say New Favorite Skirt??
I headed out and started my 20 minute walk to the temple. I stopped by a shop and grabbed some breakfast. The walk to the temple was really nice because the weather was great and there wasn't a ton of traffic. When I was about a block away from the temple I saw the Angel Moroni statue. I can't not even begin to put in to words how excited I was to see that statue. I couldn't get there fast enough.
I walked in and headed to the front desk. I told the Brother at the front desk that I was there to do baptisms and he kind of just looked at me funny. It took me a minute to realize that he probably wanted to see my temple recommend. I pulled it out and showed it to him and he told me to have a seat while he rounded up some priesthood brethren.
Everything went incredibly well and it was such a relief to be there in such a quiet, peaceful environment and feel the spirit. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for the peace that it brought in to my life after how crazy the last several days have been. I missed going to church and the temple last week and was grateful for the time I was able to spend there. The church is true!
After the temple I stopped by one of the corner stands and bought a real (or at least as real as I am going to get) New York hotdog. It was delicious. I ate it as I walked the 3-4 blocks over to Central Park.
Central Park is really big. I walked through the front half and watched runners, walkers, dogs, and squirrels. It was fun to walk so much and I loved being outside and surrounded by trees instead of buildings.
I hailed a cab and headed over to ground zero. My Taxi driver was crazy and so I buckled my seatbelt and held tight to my bag. I arrived in one piece and headed in. There was no line at all so I was able to walk through all the barriers really quickly and head straight to the monument.
The Ground Zero monuments were absolutely incredible. All of the people walking around were so somber and reverent as they walked past the names of those who lost their lives on September 11th. It was an incredible and unforgettable experience to stand in that area and look at all of the streets and buildings that surrounded the twin towers and attempt to even imagine the destruction that occurred just over 10 years ago. I was in awe at the response of those individuals who came to the rescue of so many and truly felt for this who gave or lost their lives in that tragedy. It is incredible the influence that one event can have for so many and for so long.
After visiting ground zero I walked around Time Square again and ate dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe with Nick. Then I headed back to the hotel to sleep for a couple of hours before I met up with Elizabeth for my first night shift. When I walked in to my hotel room I was extremely grateful that I had ear plugs because the cars and their horns from the street below could be heard loud and clear through my window. I slept until 8:30 and then got up to get ready. I met Gloria, an older black lady, and Elizabeth, who is white and in her 30's, in the lobby. From there we walked 2 blocks to the entrance for the 1 Subway and I had my very first subway experience. I saw no rats, thankfully, and we only had to ride the one subway. I had the chance to talk with Elizabeth and found out that she received her Bachelors in International Relations and her Masters in Public Health and Emergency Management. She has the travel bug and has been just about everywhere, been involved in so many programs, and supervised projects around the world. It was really cool to talk with her since we have a lot of the same interests and goals.
When we got off the subway we walked about 5 blocks to the Ferry. We picked up some food to eat and then boarded the ferry to cross the Hudson. It was pretty cool to see the New York skyline at night and to ride past the Statue of Liberty. We arrived on the other side and took a short taxi ride to Bayley Seton hospital. In total it is almost a 2 hour trip.
The Bayley Seton hospital was originally built in the 1830's and was a Navy hospital for a long time. It was abandoned in the last 100 years but was recently transformed into a mental hospital. Comforting, right? When we arrived it was too dark for me to really see anything so I didn't really get a good look at the building. We headed in and went up to the 5th floor of the building and into the cafeteria.
This shelter is actually run by Project Humanity. The Red Cross was just volunteering their services in the cafeteria area. We manned a table with food and snacks and talked with the clients that came through while we were there. My shift was from 11pm-7am. Now you would think that there wouldn't be very many people awake during those hours, but there were. We usually had between 5-20 people depending on the hour and whether or not people were having a hard time sleeping or if someone was causing a ruckus that night. This shelter was the sketchiest place I have ever been to in my life. We found out that The American Red Cross was actually going to pull out their volunteers the next day, which meant that I would only work 2 night shifts. I think a large part of the reasons why they were pulling us out was because an article was released last Friday stating that there were more drugs in the shelter than on the streets. Which isn't true, but the article really rapped on the shelter, how it was run, and the kind of people who were staying there. Although the article was biased and not entirely true, there are definitely a lot of problems and a lot of crazy people at the shelter. I met several who are alcoholics, a few who seemed to be drug addicts and pill poppers. At about 1:30am we had one kid come in completely wasted. He kept trying to talk to us but would fall asleep, standing up or sitting down, mid sentence. It was pretty pathetic and made me all the more grateful that I don't drink. There is something about that Mormon church.
During the night we had the chance to talk with a lot of really nice people. Not everyone there is crazy, and a lot of the people there lost there homes, and even watched them be destroyed or were in them when they were destroyed. There is one lady who Elizabeth has talked with who had to climb up on her roof and hang on the the rain gutters to keep from being blown away. Another lady couldn't sleep a few nights ago because she kept hearing her sisters voice. Her sister drowned after her home filled with water during the storm. They had been on the phone together when the storm hit and the lady felt so bad that she was helpless to do anything. These people really have been through so much and a lot of them really have absolutely nowhere to go.
At 12:30 we closed down the cafeteria for cleaning. Elizabeth was talking to a guy who said that he could give us a tour of the basement that has an old morgue in it and a bunch of abandoned equipment. I was invited to go and I figured I might as well since I won't ever have a chance to do something like that ever again. We headed down and went to the old morgue first. It was really small and only had 4 beds for bodies and an incinerator. Elizabeth thought it would be funny to lay on one of the pull out beds and take a picture, so she did. And then I did. Probably one of my dumber decisions, but we got some good pictures off of it. (See below). We continued our tour of the basement and it was super creepy. Lots of pipes, random noises, dark rooms, peeling paint, old machines, and trash. About halfway through the tour I asked the guy if he worked here. He said that he didn't, he was actually just a client that had explored down there enough to be able to find I way around. That was super reassuring! It made the experience all the more creepy.
During the rest of the night we had 2 cat fights take place. One in the hallway and the other in the cafeteria. The one in the cafeteria was over $5. Both fights involved the same girl. The shelter has about 20 cops wandering the halls and sitting in the cafeteria so we thankfully didn't have to intervene. It is so sad to see how big headed and quick to anger people are.
The end of the shift was fairly uneventful as we got everything ready for breakfast and cleaned up. We were driven back to the ferry where we crossed, took more pictures of the Statue of Liberty and headed back to the hotel to sleep. I crashed as soon as I got to my room. I figured I would sleep for like 2 hours since the girls were coming in from Nassau County for their day off. I fell asleep at 9am and didn't wake up until almost 2 and I could have slept much longer than that.
Just before 3 the girls came up to my hotel room where we chatted for a few minutes and then headed out to Central Park. We walked down 8th and stopped at Starbucks for coffee (them) and hot chocolate (me). We walked through basically the same area of the park I had the day before but it was much more enjoyable with them. We also took what has now become my all time favorite picture of the trip. It is the 5 of us sitting on a bench in the park. I have only known them for 8 days, but I have come to really know and love them. They are incredible girls and are a blast to hang out with.
After Central Park we began our walk to Central Station. On the way there we passed by the Apple store and a ton of other expensive big name stores. We also went in to the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church. They were having a choir rehearsal that was incredible! The church is so beautiful and incredibly detailed. We walked down the street a little bit farther and stopped by the Saint Patrick's Church which is currently being restored. We were able to walk around the entire church and it was amazing to see. It was at least twice as big as the first church and was incredible. Jenna is actually Catholic and loved every minute of it. She also collects Saint pins and was able to buy one at the shop there. It was a really cool experience.
We finally made it to central station where we all rushed to use the bathroom. Then we spent a few minutes trying to route out which train they were supposed to take where and we headed out. We took the express train to Time Square where we parted ways once again and they left to go to Penn station. It was sad to see them go again, but I definitely enjoyed spending time with them. I headed back to my hotel, stopped by a whole in the wall place for dinner, went in to a gift shop where I found a sweet subway phone case and then went to the hotel to sleep for a few more hours before my shift. It was lovely.
After eating some awesome chicken and Mac and cheese I slept from 6-8:30. I got up and got ready yet again to go to my 8 hour night shift. We met in the lobby and headed out. It was much colder Wednesday night than it has been the day before and we bundled up tight! It was decided on the way over by Gloria (who has been in the Red Cross longer than I have been alive) that I would be trained as a supervisor so that I could move up in status. I agreed because I figured that it couldn't be that hard to supervise 2 women who are older than I was in putting out snacks and cleaning up a small cafeteria. She said that I would also have to call the shots on whether or not we should try to intervene on any fights. Oh boy.
We arrived at the shelter and got started with organizing things right away. There had been a mixup earlier in the day with food not being delivered. Because of the mix up the food that was eventually delivered was better then any of the other food most of the clients had eaten in quite some time. They were pretty happy about it.
The night was fairly slow and less eventful than the night before. We spent time talking and cleaning. The same girl who was involved with the two fights last night came in for about 15 minutes with a bunch of random items (mostly trash) that she left on the table. After about 30 minutes of her being gone Gloria started wiping down tables and was about to throw away the trash when the girl came storming in. She accused Gloria of trying to steel her money (a quarter and two pennies) and kept asking what she was "looking for". Gloria started to walk away but the girl wouldn't leave it alone and I even said that she would "slap the black off of her". Which neither Gloria or I heard at the time because the girl mumbles really bad. Gloria kind of started to talk back and so I stepped up and kind of pulled her away from the situation and told her to "leave it alone" so it didn't escalate further. The girl eventually settled down and finished her dinner. She kept mumbling as she left and then came back in 5 minutes later to ask for Gloria's name so that she could report her. Gloria was standing behind the table and I made sure that I stood in the path between them incase anything happened. She left without any further incident.
The rest of the morning was really mellow. At about 6:39 Elizabeth and David (a spontaneous volunteer who is living in the shelter) took me to a back room of the 5th floor to show me the sunrise. It was incredible! The colors and the view were absolutely amazing! I included several pictures below.
At the end of our shift we cleaned everything up and then headed out. We decided to take a train to the Midland area so that Gloria and I could see some of the damage that had been caused by the hurricane. The pictures that I took do not even begin to do justice for the area and the amount of suffering they have experienced. We spoke with one guy who has opened up a relief aid station where people can come for food, water, clothes, diapers, and other supplies. He spends his day manning the station and he received donations from all over the place. His name is Aiman Youssef and you can read more information about him on Facebook. His house is the one with the red paper stating that it was an "unsafe area" which means it is going to be demolished. It looks okay on the outside, but because the water was 10 feet high in the area the amount of damage done to structures and the interior is too much to salvage.
There was another aid station a few blocks away that offered us free bagels and hot chocolate. I found out that they are actually open 24/7 for anyone and everyone who may need anything. There was also a Uhaul truck parked nearby with a sign offering for demolition services. We also saw a man in his home taking pictures of the interior for his insurance. The home had already been completely gutted.
I am so glad that I was able to see the things that I did so that I could better understand the importance of emergency response and the recovery process after a disaster. I was so impressed with the community response and their ability to step up and be their for their community.
After walking around for a while we took a bus back to the ferry and headed back to the city. Gloria's hair had been pushed up by the wind so we took a picture of that while we were in the subway. On our way to the Manhattan Chapter we stopped at a small diner and at breakfast because we were all starving.
Then we went to the chapter to be reassigned to another area. Gloria and Elizabeth are going to be working in the office. I was originally assigned to return to Nassau County but because I only have a few days left they decided to assign me to the cot cleaning project. I was so bummed be aide I was really looking forward to working in the shelter again and being able to spend time with Holly, Jenna, Crystal, and Dani. Holly and Jenna also have one of my shirts from when we did laundry. Anyway, I left the chapter really bummed that I was assigned to cots. I texted Holly to let her know and then headed back to the hotel.
While I was walking back I received a text back from Holly and she said that it looked like they were going to be transferred to cot cleaning as well! We should end up on the same assignment and probably in the same hotel.
I got back to my hotel and slept for a really long time. Then I got up and went to Walgreens to get cold medicine and juice. I walked around 3 blocks trying to find a place to find a rice bowl and then settled for a Mexican place. I returned to the hotel and settled in for the night.
There are moments when this whole experience seems like a dream and other times when everything back in Utah is what feels like a dream. I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have here and in the rest of my life. I am incredibly blessed.
Enjoy the pictures!
From New York,
Kaytlyn
Wow, you are getting quite the education in New York !! Way different than happy valley ! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures !! You are AWESOME !
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