Abajo? Or Going Up?

I live in Washington Heights, which means I daily regret learning French throughout my academic years. I have a good friend that consistently translates for me; reading signs posted in my building, helping me tell my hairdresser to hurry because I have another appointment -- the usual interactions. Although he never forgets to mention that I need to learn Spanish and that I can't keep just nodding in agreement when people speak to me that I might unknowingly sign myself up for modern-day slavery. And then I rationalize - I imagine it's like a foreigner getting dropped off in the middle of Harlem and trying to understand what people are saying: "Yo, 'ey cuz.. whatido" or "wheredeydodat at"... they don't really need to know what they are saying to move along in their plans - and they don't think twice about it. Why should I?

But this is the Heights, there's so much going on around you, you WANT to know what's going on. Ironically, I've never seen the musical "The Heights", but I recently attended an event for the New York Beacon (a Harlem paper I occasionally freelance for) and they were honoring a Dance Company, where the performance featured the 2008 Broadway cast from The Heights. They performed: $96,000, which to anyone that has not see the play, this is a story of what each of the residents from the Heights would do if they won $96,000 from the lottery. It was a great number and it accurately described the neighborhood I live in, believing $96,000 could get them into a higher echelon, some place they only imagine on TV or in the movies but definitely outside of the hood -- no spoiler alert here, go see the play and then take a trip to Washington Heights and report back. You'll see.

 While, I've adapted survival techniques for living in my Dominican saturated neighborhood and learning that some of the events that happen are typical and some just hood-rich, I just watch and listen, or politely answer caliente to just about any question I'm asked in passing (my best guess is they are talking about the summer heat wave).

I've learned this neighborhood is an acquired taste -- you go to sleep to merengue music (or are woken up by it) and walk outside to short Dominican women selling mangoes in plastic bags, it has personality and the rent is cheap - so I'll stay, save up and I'll learn a few more words in Spanish - tal vez...