new yorkers: an empire state of kind?

the other day i say to chris, "i think people are nicer in new york, than they are in chicago".  i didn't say this without thought,  i had been caught off guard by people in subways, cafes, on the street, who are just personable, friendly, and happy to help me.

of course chris replies "is it possible that they aren't actually nicer, but they are just more everything, because there are more people and they are more extreme in every way". hmmm, that would mean that they're really mean too... oh no!

i don't think so, i just haven't seen it. 

the day before i leave chicago, i get into a fight with a man in the alley behind my apartment.  he tells me i'm the dumbest girl in the world and that his son went to school with barack obama, he keeps going as i just pretend he isn't there.  so maybe i have a chip on my shoulder. maybe chicagoans deserve to be a little cranky, i mean, the weather for one thing, the politics for another, the cubs, i could go on...

it also occurrs to me that maybe i am different. maybe because i'm happier and more carefree, people find me more approachable and easier to be nice to.   i've only been here for a few weeks, and i've helped out a lot of strangers, mostly elderly people, asking for help.

one young man, a tourist, with a french/african accent, asks me if i am american, i say yes.  he asks, "what does this bull mean?"  (there is a huge statue of a bull in the financial district) i am actually able to share with him my knowledge from the amazing Columbia Guide to New York 2007!!  "the bull is a symbol of power and money"

speaking of money, i still haven't found a job. can you get paid for being happy and carefree, wandering new york, blogging.  let me know!