I live in the Bronx area of New York in an apartment that has 5 other families living in it other than my own. About 4 months ago I had something awkward happen to me. I was catching a bus to Manhattan from my neighborhood and this lady was staring at me at the bus stop. New York is full of mentally ill people. When you take the bait and begin talking to a stranger, alot of times you regret it because you are subjected to hearing every weird and sordid detail of someone's life story or because its a panhandling trick. I continued listening to my mp3 player and tried to keep my eyes off the lady ( honestly if she was a little better looking I probably would have tried harder to strike up a conversation). On the bus ride it dawned on me that the lady was my neighbor who has lived in my building about as long I have (7 years). My building doesn't have that many people living in it. I am friendly by nature, but I don't talk to strangers in the street, guess its a product of my upbringing. Many dominicans in Santo Domingo will board a dingy crowded bus and loudly say "saludo" to everyone on the bus. Murphy's law being what it is, I recognize that lady much more than I did before around the house and the neighborhood, and she avoids eye contact with me now. I ruined a chance to get closer to one of my neighbors because I followed the cultural norms of New York instead of D R. She's as guilty as I am because she refused to make the first move. Yeah, its different here.
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