Lesson 1 Let’s Visit New York!

New York, New York. The city so nice they named it twice.

These words were used to describe New York When it was by far the largest, richest, and most developed city in the United States．New York still remains the largest and most famous city in the U.S. today, but some of its "nice" reputation has fallen over the past thirty years with stories of rampant crime making headlines around the world. How true are these stories? Is New York still a "nice" place to visit? If so, what can a tourist do in New York? Let’s take a closer look at America’s premier city.

First, as personal and social security are always uppermost in the minds of travelers, just how "dangerous" a city is New York? Despite the glaring headlines, New York, located in the northeastern U.S., is one of the safest cities in the U.S. In fact, New York states (which include New York city thus, " New York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice") ranks below other big-population States like California in both violent crime (of much concern to the tourist) and property crime. Other major cites have higher crime rates, too. Thus, the foreign traveler to New York City can feel more secure here than in most other large metropolitan areas of the U.S. besides safety, why do more foreigners visit New York than any other American city? The answer lies in the character of New York itself. No other city in the world is more cosmopolitan. A walk through its hundreds of residential neighborhoods is like walking around the world itself. Place names like Chinatown and little Italy can be found on any map of New York, but smaller ethnic neighborhoods also abound. Also, all these groups sponsor annual or seasonal festivals, so that nearly every week one or more of these peoples will share their cultural experiences (and food!) with other New Yorkers.

Because of this unsurpassed ethnic diversity, the restaurant goer will feel that he has died and gone to heaven while in New York. There is hardly a cuisine on the planet that is not represented here.

Even better, many of these exotic restaurants are reasonably priced. One is never far from a restaurant in New York. There are thousands of Chinese restaurants alone.

Besides the internationally famous sight-seeing attractions-mostly in the borough (district ) of Manhattan--such as the Statue of Liberty, the world trade center with its two 110-story towers, Wall Street, the United Nations, and Broadway, many other interesting places await the curious traveler.

The Bronx Zoo in the northern borough of the Bronx is one of the world’s best. The borough of Queens offers a great variety of ethnic residential neighborhoods. Brooklyn contains the Botanical Gardens, Coney Island (a beach with an amusement Park), and J. F. K. International Airport. Finally, Staten Island, the smallest borough, still affords a Look at what New York used to be like, including a farm!

For culture lovers, New York has more museums than any other city, but some of these are not internationally known. A visit to any of these historical, technical, ethnic, or academic museums is well worth the time. New York’s art, music, dance, and fashion scenes are a mecca for the young and professional alike. The internet website for specific information on New York City and state tourists is www.iloveny.state.ny.us. A toll-free number for tourists already in the U. S. or Canada is also available at 1-800-call-NYS.

No matter what your interest is, if it can be found in an urban environment, it can be found in New York. Its eight million citizens hail from every corner of the globe, but they are united in the love of their challenging but rewarding city. AS the locals there say, ’Sure, you have to be a little crazy to live in New York, but you’d be nuts to live anywhere else!"

Lesson 2 The Amish

In the land of rock and roll, the space shuttle, and computerized living, who could imagine that about 50,000 Americans do not use telephones, electric lights, or cars, not because they are poor, but out of choice? As hard as this may be to imagine, the Amish, or more properly, the Amish Mennonites, still live a traditional, rural lifestyle direct from 17th century Europe!

To understand these unique Americans better, it is necessary to understand their history. Beginning with the revolution started by Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany in the 16th century, Europe was wracked by religious wars for several hundred years. Modem Europe is a product of these wars and of the political and religious philosophies of those times. The main figures in this tragic period were the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants, those who rebelled against papal rule from Rome. Among the thousands of splinter groups formed outside of Rome’s religious rule were the Mennonites, a group of particularly conservative, rural Christians situated in what is today Switzerland, part of eastern France, and southern Germany.

To make along story short, the Mennonite Amish were so conservative that they made more enemies than fiends. In order to preserve their peculiar lifestyle, they began to immigrate to the British colonies in North America in about 1720 (before Canada and the United States were formed as independent countries). There they found the religious freedom they had sought. Amish settlements sprang up in the colonies and territories of Pennsylvania, Ohio & Indiana as well as in Ontario, in what is today Canada. Surprisingly, there are no Amish groups today in Europe.

Little has changed about their lifestyle since then. Just how conservative are the Amish? A group of Amish looks like a cast from a biblical movie set. All the men wear large brimmed black hats, beards (but not mustaches), and clothes made by their wives. The women wear a hair covering called a bonnet, long dresses, and black shoes. Even though all Amish men and women marry, you will not see a wedding ring, for even this simplest type of jewelry is banned among them. The Amish are primarily farmers, and good ones, despite the fact that they do not use modem farm machinery. Their children are educated in local primary schools, but secondary education is in the home. Sundays are spent mostly in church. An old dialed of German mixed with English is used in church and at home. Their lives are uncomplicated and few Amish leave their homes to enter the mainstream American society.

Rural Pennsylvania where most of the Amish live is beautiful countryside. If you have the opportunity to drive through the gentle, rolling hills amidst lush farmlands, perhaps you will see a horse and buggy driven by a family dressed mostly in black. These are the Amish, an enduring and endearing people.

Lesson 3 Indoor Pollution

So you think that by staying at home you are safe from all the terrible kinds of pollution present outdoors, such as in or near factories, roads, and garbage dumps? Do you think that by staying in your office you are breathing cleaner, safer air than when you go outside for lunch or are on the way back home from work? Think again. Recent research done at the University of Texas has shown that staying indoors may actually be more harmful to one’s health than being outdoors even in smoggy cities.

Apparently, we are safe neither at home nor in the business office. We use water in both places, but the above-mentioned research shows that chemicals added to our local water supply to kill harmful bacteria can have unwanted side effects. These chemicals can cause potential harm through drinking and in seemingly harmless activities as cleaning one’s house. These additives are released from water by daily actions like water running out of faucets, spraying from garden hoses, or splashing in dishwashers and washing machines. As the water is agitated, these chemicals are released into the air and then breathed in. Once inside our bodies, they start to affect our health adversely.

Does this mean we should stop bathing? No, say the scientists, but we should put all pollution into perspective. Activities at home such as the burning of propane, coal, cooking oil, or even candles and incense release carbon monoxide and particulates such as soot which have been proven as harmful to health as working or living near high density traffic. New rugs, bedding, and even clothing give off that "new smell;’ which is a sure sign of chemicals. In the office, newly applied paint, newly purchased telephones and other telecommunications equipment, and computers and their peripherals release polluting chemicals, too. As offices and homes often have inadequate ventilation, these chemicals can build up to become health nuisances. Their toxic effects are only now being slowly recognized.

These facts suggest that, at a minimum, proper airing of newly purchased goods with an obvious chemical smell is a wise precaution. Home and office windows should be opened during good weather to allow a flushing of stale air. Even one’s car need to be ventilated as well as the garage.

We need further research to understand better other potential health hazards, too. For example, the effect of overcrowding of schools (carbon dioxide build up), factory work environments (an endless list of potentially dangerous substances), and even home heating and cooling (the furnace and air conditioner may be our enemies, not our fiends) have only recently started to come to light. Until we understand the effects of our new technological environment better, we can only hope that " there is no place like home"