¿Qué es eso?

So let's see. My neighborhood. I grew up here and I don't mean to sound like people should be in awe of me but I do think it's funny that I've gone and seen things that some in the neighborhood don't even know exist. How do I mean this? I mean, forget the Inwood of now. The Inwood with its one-bedroom Co-ops selling for over $400,000. Forget the Inwood of the Indian Road Cafe, of yoga in the park, of yoga period.

Remember when Inwood was sketch? Remember when the 207^th Street A train subway stop was one long, dark, dank hallway that you had to walk all the way down to get to the turnstile? Basically, the Inwood before money started moving in (or when the money was just on Park Terrace)?

Anyway, that's just a long intro into something funny I witnessed walking to work the other day. It was garbage day on my street and as I walked to work in my usual depressed state I saw a snowboard tossed on top of a pile of garbage. My immediate reaction was 'Holy Cow, a snowboard! In Inwood? On Vermilyea?'.

Now don't get me wrong, from the little bit I know of snow gear I don't think it was a very high quality snowboard, but a snowboard it was. So here I am, staring and I notice the old lady who sweeps the sidewalk staring at the snowboard too. Her friend starts to walk towards her and (everything she says in Spanish) she tells her friend 'Hey look at that'. Then the super of the building, the guy who would've put the snowboard out there, comes out of the building and she goes 'Hey old man, what is that thing?'

It gave me a good laugh. Part of me wanted to turn around and explain it to her in horrible español but I just kept walking. I really wish I could've heard his answer. But this is my point. Here I am, from this neighborhood, where most people don't even know what a snowboard is.

Meanwhile, I lived in Tahoe for almost 3 years. Worked in a ski shop for a winter (wha?) I've even skied (three goes on an easy slope where I cheated death). I've lived where every other person had a snowboard constantly strapped to the top of their Subaru. And I'm not from an adventurous clan. So sometimes when I see people here in awe of something so many people outside of this city find totally normal it kinda makes me giggle.