NEW YORK - 24 Jan
In many ways I'm seeing New York for the first time. It's hard to say when and how I've discovered new ways of seeing, but the years I've been away have given me experience such that life has taken on new qualities and textures that my hormone-riddled teenage could not have imagined. In fact I wonder if I spent most of my early life staring at my shoelaces.

The most basic, banal activity is exciting to me. When living here, jumping on the train and heading downtown was an everyday activity. Today, I notice all of the people. The Dominicans and Puerto Ricans around my mother's neighborhood near 204th street and Inwood. The addition of asian faces around my old neighborhood in the Bronx. The spanish accents on top of New York accents. The leather jackets and boots, the original Hip-Hop style that I've seen spread across the world with regional variants -- but now I'm back at the source.

And the culture. There is so much culture here it's overwhelming. As I walked around 59th street, I was beginning to perceive all of the different colors and flavors in this mixing-pot that I once only saw as a rich, yet homogeneous blend that could be describe as the Native New Yorker. But I was wrong, that label is like the jacket and boots. It may apply. In may cover all that you see on the surface, but beneath is so much more. It took a change in my situation, from insider to outsider -- and a journey that took me across the country and around the world to transform my perspective.

I've often said that my 'Home' does not exist, because it is both a place, New York, and a time. However, I'm now seeing that it was also a fantasy achieved by a child's incomplete view of the world (not that an adult's view is any more complete). Home is in fact the subjective experience that I carry within myself. Just as the statement "Home is where the heart is" can seem silly and trite, just as with anything it's meaning deepens with interpretation. For instance, I've learned that "heart" and "mind" can be represented by the same Chinese character. So as I change the statement changes.

I'm beginning to believe there is infinite wisdom in those old adages.

NEW YORK - 22 Jan
I changed my plans yet again. After seeing some of my family in Arizona, I decided to come back to my hometown for a few weeks. I'm going to see if I can experience New York as an outsider, so I may still add stories to the travelogue while I'm here.

ARIZONA - 8 Jan
The weblog is going to be a little slow for the next few weeks. I've returned to the States for my Grandparents' 60th anniversary. And while there are stories to tell -- some things are best remembered offline. I haven't fully worked out my plan for what I'll be doing between now and February, but I'm taking this opportunity while I'm back to catch up with friends and family who thought that I'd never make it back to the New World.

Check back in February, when I get ready to face the Amazon. After that maybe I'll have figured out what to do about the part of the trip that takes me to Buenos Aires...

Stay tuned.