buses, music, bombs, and floodwaters (part 1)

i feel like i have a lot to talk about, especially since it's been awhile since i've blogged. and i know this will take more than one post to give each story it's full attention.

so i'll start with buses:

my friends and i went to new york city last week. two weeks before leaving on our trip, we all met at myka's house to discuss our plans. normally when the three of us girls get together, we get all sidetracked and never stay focused on one topic for long. this time was different. we made our plans. andrea even drew up a little calendar, listing what we planned to do each day. (and of course we left room for flexibility and impromptu decisions.) we just wanted to make sure we could fit in all the big things we definitely wanted to do there.

after the meeting, andrea and i walked down the stairs leading from myka's condo. and then andrea stepped off the curb. but the curb was taller than she expected, and all of a sudden she was on the ground. of course, i laughed at her before asking if she was okay. turns out, she was not okay. so i called myka and her husband came down to help me, while she grabbed a bag of ice to put on andrea's ankle. i drove andrea to the er (mind you, i was barefoot), and we soon learned that she sprained her ankle, and possibly tore a ligament.

they put her in a walking boot and gave her crutches. this made getting around the city a lot of fun.

so, fast forward to last week. it's monday morning, our first full day in the city. we had gotten those hop-on, hop-off tour bus passes. we were touring around uptown manhatten and all agreed to get off at the next stop and change buses, as the current bus we were on held a group of girls conversing in their native tongue at a volume which prevented us from hearing the tour guide. we start walking towards the stairs to leave the bus, and the tour guide sees andrea's walking boot. he tells her to take her time climbing down the stairs. she goes down first, then me, and myka in the back. andrea gets to the bottom of the stairs, puts her good foot on the ground to step off, and the bus driver closes the doors. i immediately try pushing the door back open, but then the driver takes off. andrea falls on her bad foot; her good leg is still hanging out the door. i'm trying to grab her to pull her back in. myka is behind me banging on the side of the bus, and all three of us are screaming. i can't say for sure how long the driver continued to drive (i'm sure in reality it was only a matter of seconds), but to me it felt like minutes. we finally got off the bus and were all shaken up. andrea wasn't injured (well, it hurt, but no serious injuries), but we were all definitely freaked out, and for the rest of the week we were extra cautious when stepping off any bus.

and that, my friends, is story number one. stay tuned for more.