Uma das coisas mais legais de New York é conhecer as histórias de seus moradores; pessoas que vieram de todos os lugares e por diversas razões. Abaixo a história de Alejando, um espanhol de Barcelona que veio para a cidade a 17 anos e encontrou o amor.
Baseado em fatos reais, mas com alguns toques de imaginação.
Alejandro arrived in New York City seventeen years ago. After a painful break up, he knew he had no other choice besides try to rebuild his life and re-fix his heart. So he left Barcelona and arrived in Brooklyn. He didn’t know what to expect about this new life he decided to design for himself, and he didn’t even think about it. He just wanted to be in a place where nobody would know his story, desires, and failures - where nobody would be aware of his loss and his humiliation. He wanted to start fresh and tell himself a different tale.
The first place where he lived was a basement in Berry street, Williamsburg. In order to survive he started to work as a bartender on Bedford Avenue. Even though he didn’t like his place or his job very much; he decided that Williamsburg would be his home for as long as he stayed in New York. He loved the old industrial buildings, the grafittis that filled their grey walls with color and even the wind that came from the East River.
During the first winter that he spent in the city, he thought that he wouldn’t be able to bear the cold weather. He used to go outside with as many clothes as he could; he looked liked a bear. That was when he learned that in New York nobody cares about what you’re wearing. And it was in the winter that he met Fernand, a New York artist who had just moved to Williamsburg. One night to avoid the snow, Fernand entered Alejandro’s bar. Since he was alone they started to chat, and from that day they never got separeted. Alejandro was healed from his Barcelona heartbreak and ready for a new New York love; and Fernand fell in love with his accent and strengh.
After a few months they moved in together and opened a store to sell Williamsburg artist’s work. That is where I met Alejandro, one of the kindest persons I have met in New York. But unfortunately he and his Fernand are moving from New York; they are going to raise horses on a land that Alejandro has in Andalucía. I’m sure that Williamsburg will miss him a lot, but he promised to come to visit from time to time. And I’ll never forget about the advice that he gave me: “Wear as many clothes as you can in the winter, even if you look like a bear. Nobody cares, it’s New York”.
