New York. I will always love you. Of course, I will.

Many famous people live there. There are lots of buildings we all know about and people always say this city never sleeps. Well, I think it’s absolutely true. There are flower shops, grocery stores, hairdressing and other beauty salons in every corner of the city. Times Square is glowing 24 hours a day. This place is a shamelessly big electricity eater! You can’t really describe New York with words. It’s just New York. It says it all.

I don’t want to sound weird to you but if you think I am weird, it’s ok. : ) I am a person (and I’m sure I’m not alone with that kind of thing) who always loved New York. I love almost every movie, series, book about New York. For example I have seen the series Sex and the city 6 times so far. The whole series with every episode in it. I’m not kidding. Watched Gossip Girl 2 times and will watch it again when I have time. Now I’m watching Suits which is also my huge favorite. One of my favorite books is Big girl by Danielle Steel. It’s based in New York and I love imagine every moment of this book.

  

I went to New York from Washington D.C. in 2011 November 24. When I got off the bus I felt so strange. You know that feeling when “your heart is beating in your throat”. That’s what I felt. A friend was waiting at the station. He is also Hungarian and has a bar in Manhattan. How cool is that! : ) He let me stay at his apartment while I was in NY. It was only 4 days but I was very grateful for his help because I didn’t have to spend money for a room in a motel and I didn’t have to feel so alone in the big city. 

We had to walk about 3 minutes to Times Square from the station. It was a shocking sight. Neon lights, huge screens everywhere! In that very moment I have just realized I am in the United States of America. It’s funny because I moved to USA at the beginning of August and it was late November. 

I had lunch in a very special restaurant near Times Square where the waitresses sing during serving the meals. They are extremely talented. From time to time a few of them are lucky enough to be discovered and bye-bye restaurant, Hello Broadway! I had fun eating my turkey meal. It was Thanksgiving!

Later that day I was on the 86^th floor of the Empire State Building. It was already dark outside and I could see whole Manhattan. It was beautiful. I know it’s silly because it’s just the sight of millions lamplights from buildings and cars but it really was a special view. 

I had dinner at a Korean restaurant in Chinatown. It felt like I’m not in New York at all. Then Times Square again, of course. It was my favorite place in New York. It doesn’t matter if it’s night time, you almost have to wear sunglasses to see properly. It’s very-very bright. There was a guy who painted amazing pictures about New York for 20 dollars. I bought one and now it’s on our living room wall. I love it!

Korean restaurant

There was another guy who was holding a paper board in his hands. It said: “Free Hug!” So I got a long and tight hug for free. It felt great. I was so far from all the people I love that it was a surprisingly good feeling to be hugged. That night I went “home” at 2 am. Thousands of people and yellow cabs were everywhere. I was very tired and also excited. I remember I kept repeating in my head: “I’m in New York. I can’t believe I’m in New York!!!”

On my second day I got up at 9 am. My plan was to see the famous Liberty Island! I took a ferry. (Before taking it I had to stand in line to buy my ticket then another two hours to get on the ferry.) It looked to me that no matter where you are in this city or which season, month... Millions of people everywhere. Finally I arrived to the island and I spent an hour there. Wandering around, taking pictures, saying “Awwwwww” and things like that. The statue is much smaller in reality! After seeing it in movies you would think it’s tall.  Well, it is not. It’s pretty though. I took the last ferry back to the city. The timing was just perfect because it was sunset. I felt like I’m in a fairy tale. The ferry swam slowly in the cold water and I tried to memorize all the beauty I was seeing. It was amazing and absolutely breathtaking. I took a few pictures about the sunset but of course they can’t give the moment back. I’m very lucky I could see it myself.

 

 

After my feet touched the ground I went shopping! It was Black Friday and in every shop everything was on 60-70 % sale. It was crazy. Really! Hundreds of people everywhere and they were serious about one thing: shopping! I tried to take it easy so I only bought a pair of converse, three sweaters, a hat and I had dinner in a McDonnald’s. Where a homeless man locked himself in the toilette and no one could get in. At least 20 men were standing in a long line wanting to pee. A chubby and strong looking cleaning woman had a key and went inside. The homeless started to shout angrily something like that: “Hey, I’m trying to take a shit here!” But the cleaning lady was stronger just like I imagined and the poor man was out in the street in less than a minute. The cleaning lady appeared soon after that and everybody started clapping and wooo-ing. Except me. Ok, the old man caused some trouble but I don’t think they all should have considered that lady a hero, after throwing that poor man out. Anyway, I ate my cheeseburger watching this scene then went home to take a shower and wash my hair and in an hour I was ready to party! 

I went to my friend’s bar and had a really great time. I had a few yummy but not too strong coctails, I danced on the table and laughed till my tears came down on my cheeks. I met a lot of interesting people. I met fashion models, a few Hungarians without green card or visa and they were very proud to live in the big apple even if it’s illegal and they can’t go to doctor, no matter what! I even met the designer of the series Sex and the city! It was an honor to tell that man how great job he did with all the clothes and dresses on the show. 

After midnight I needed to get some fresh air. (I mean, air. In a big city like New York or Budapest you hardly can find any fresh air.) I remember I was sitting in front of the bar and suddenly I started to cry. Not just sobbing, crying like an “angry, hungry” baby. What happened that night inside me was very complex. First of all, I had a few, maybe three drinks. I always got emotional after even a tiny little beer... Second of all, I was madly in love with a man who lived in Budapest, Hungary. (We never met in person but I knew he is the one for me! : )) Third of all, New York sucked me in completely. I felt so strange. I didn’t know what to do. What’s wrong, what’s right. I didn’t know if I should stay in the States and have fun, have crazy adventures or I should go because it was just too hard for me to have a whole Atlantic ocean between me and the man I loved. I felt so depressed that night. When I was calm enough I went back to the bar, drank some water and the owner started to play Hungarian Koncz Zsuzsa songs. Well, it didn’t help. I started to cry again, of course. What can I say? I am a girl. :D My head hit the pillow at 6 o’clock in the morning and I was up at 10 am.

After a shower and some breakfast I went to see the Brooklyn Bridge. I got off the subway too early and I had to walk about an hour to get to the bridge. I loved getting lost in Manhattan! It was so exciting. I ate a delicious burger on the way then my long bridge walk began. It was a very shiny and warm day and I walked across the bridge then back to the city. The view was just dazzling from there. 

It was getting dark when I arrived to the Central park. In New York everything looks so nice during sunset. Not everywhere though. There are many high buildings and the sun has a difficult job to sneak in between them. If you look up, you feel dizzy because you can hardly see the top of the skyscrapers.

 

 In Central park I was a witness of a wedding. It was really touching to see the young couple getting married in front of me and other strangers. It smelled a little like eloping to me but it was cute anyway. I started to feel that crying randomly is going to be my new life style.

I was on that sweet, little bridge. You know which one is that! We always see it in movies as a romantic place. The air was warm and balmy. I was in love with this city. I saw chariots with beautiful white horses on Park Avenue. I was wandering on Fifth Avenue. All in all, New York is much cooler than I thought. 

Seeing this city in movies makes us think it’s the best place in the whole world. Well, yes, New York is really something. But there are other things as well and we shouldn’t forget them either. For example on my way home I saw a young girl and boy sleeping on the street. They were not older than me. They were lying on a dirty blanket in a dark and not so busy street. I still think of them sometimes. I will never know what their story is. Or all those people who live in the US illegally. They are proud of living in that country and feel very lucky but they never know when will they need to go to the hospital or need other help. They all have to live hiding. I'm sure it’s very stressful.

I spent 4 days in New York and I had an absolutely unforgettable time there. It was a very instructive experience to me. On my first day I felt I never want to leave Manhattan. I want to stay and live there because it’s so interesting and special.  But three days later I felt differently. 

Since my 4 days in New York 7 years passed by. I was 23 years old. I was a child, really. I’m not saying that I’m so adult at the age of 30 but now I know that New York couldn’t trick me again with all its magic. When someone is young, doesn’t have a family and children and doesn’t want to sleep at night, New York is one of the best places to be! But if you want to live a quiet life, get some quality sleep and live in a healthy environment with your family, well… These huge cities are not best places for that.

My last words on this post: “New York. I will always love you. Or course, I will.”

I'm an orca at the bottom of my heart

I was six years old when my mom let me stay up late and watch a whole movie! Usually I had to go to bed early so I never knew the end of the films. But this time she let me finish it. It’s called Free Willy. I watched it again a few months ago and of course with adult head it’s not the best movie ever but at the age of 6, it was. For me, anyway. I still remember how I felt, what I felt about the whole story. I have never seen an orca before and I fell in love with them forever. I mean it! From that night, orca is my favorite creature in the whole universe and if you ask me which animal would I like to be… My answer would be orca, in any day of the week. 

Free Willy movie

 They are beautiful, pretty, extremely skillful and highly intelligent. I think they are perfect.  Three years ago I painted a picture about one and it’s on our living room wall. I love it and my family loves it too. It feels great to see that painting every day. 

My orca painting :)

But enough of the happy stuff, let’s began the real story:

People think, it’s ok to kill them. People think, it’s ok to capture them and put them into tiny tanks in Aquaworlds around the world. But it’s so not ok! 

Orca show in a shockingly small tank

What do we know about orcas? They live in families. Sometimes three generations swim and live together. They are talking to each other, they are singing, playing, having lots of fun. They are protecting their babies and each other and they hunt together. They are one of the greatest predators in the ocean.  Female orcas can live 70-80 years in the wild and male orcas around 60 years. In captivity they usually die in their twenties. Isn’t it interesting? And why is that? They die so young because of sadness, depression, boredom, loneliness. Just think about it, if a person feels that way for many-many years surely he/she will get cancer or try to commit suicide. Those orcas have to live in such small tanks, it wouldn’t be enough for a penguin. Those animals feel what we would feel.

Orca family in their natural habitat

Scientists are studying them all the time and they know a lot of things about them by now but not enough. I hate drones. I think it’s not fair to use that thing in a war. (I think the whole war thing is not fair.) But I found a very interesting article a few weeks ago. People took amazing pictures about orcas by drone and got a bunch of new information. The drone didn’t bother the orcas like an underwater camera, a boat or a scuba diver. Here is the link of the article (It's in Hungarian but at least check out the amazing pictures!):

http://www.origo.hu/tudomany/nagyhasab/20141010-gyilkos-balna-orka-kanada-dron.html 

Picture by drone

Aren’t they beautiful? I don’t understand people. How dare they kidnap these creatures, rip families apart forever and force them to live in a pool instead of the ocean? They are born to swim and live in the ocean! And then everyone is so surprised when a captivated orca kills someone.

In this post I’m going to tell you a couple of stories about captivated orcas around the world. Let’s start with Tilikum:

Tilikum

Tilikum was captured when he was only two years old. He was just a cute orca baby when people caught him by a purse-seine net in November 1983 in Iceland. He had to live in a very small tank in a Zoo in Reykjavík for almost a year. I can’t imagine how he must felt. Alone, scared, depressed, apart from his family forever and he was only a baby. Then he was transferred to Sealand of the Pacific in Canada. He was kept with two older female orcas, Haida II and Noolka IV. Who knows why they behaved so aggressively toward him. Later he had to move to a tiny medical pool, so he could be protected from the other two. He had a really hard life. The three orcas had to sleep in a floating metal box in complete darkness at nights. The owner of the Sealand thought this is how he can keep the orcas safe from people who would want to hurt or free them when the park is closed. Tilikum came out of the box covered with scares and blood almost every morning. 

This is how people kidnap an orca baby

Tilikum is performing in an extremely small pool in Sealand of the Pacific

Injured orca

He kept growing larger and longer until he became the biggest male orca who ever lived in captivity. Orcas are usually kind and calm even when they have to live in a tank but Tilikum couldn’t accept his fate. He kept trying to ask for help, trying to say: “Please, let me go. Let me go back where I belong or kill me. Anything but another pathetic dolphin show.” Do you know how did he try to get attention? He killed three times. The first time was in 1991. He and the two female orcas drown a 21-year-old marine biology student who accidently slipped into the pool containing the three orcas. The females were circling while Tilikum hurt then drown the girl. After this incident Sealand of the Pacific closed and the Sealand in Orlando was happy to buy Tilikum. Nothing is better than a maniac, depressed, oversized orca who is ready to kill anytime, right?

First incident in 1991

One morning in 1999, a 27-year-old man was found dead over Tilikum’s back. Isn’t it creepy? The man waited until the park closed then undressed and went into the tank where Tilikum was kept. Cause of death was drowning. He also had many bite marks and missing genitalia. To do such thing, this man must have been more depressed than Tilikum. 

 

Second incident in 1999

The third incident… it’s a big one! He killed his own trainer, a 40-year-old woman at the end of their show. She was lying on a shallow area next to the tank were Tilikum was and she was rubbing the orca. They were having a “relationship building time” when Tilikum grabbed the woman’s arm (others say her ponytail) and pulled her into the water. Experts say Tilikum thought of her as a toy and he started to play with her. I really doubt that theory! Why? Because we all know that orcas are highly intelligent and as a human wouldn’t make such a mistake to consider a chicken wing as a toy (You know it’s food. It’s on your plate and you know you have to eat it, not to play with it.) and believe me Tilikum was absolutely aware of what he was doing. He knew exactly who she was. A human, a person, a trainer and I think he wanted to show us he had enough of all this crap. People who work in Sealand should have seen the signs. Because there were signs. I’m not an expert and of course I didn’t meet Tilikum but I think it’s obvious that he was in a very bad mood that day and he had to do the show just like any other day. There wasn’t enough fish in the bucket, he didn’t perform well and because of that the trainer didn’t tell him he did a good job, then he didn’t react of the whistle. He never missed one before. The whistle meant he can stop waving and he just kept swimming around and waving to the audience. Well… he was a bad-bad orca, right? Not listening to the command. No more yummy fish after a crappy performance like this. Of course it’s not enough reason to kill that poor woman. It wasn’t her fault. But it wasn’t Tilikum’s either. It was those fault who captured him when he was just a baby. 

Tilikum with his trainer

After this shocking incident the Seaworld thought: “Oh, no! What a tragedy. This orca is crazy and very dangerous! Hmmm, you know what? Show must go on.” What? Really? After all those killings they kept him and forced him to perform again and again. And why? Money of course. Millions of people bought their tickets to see Tilikum over the years. A lot of money walked into someone’s pocket. 

These people are having fun, I guess. What about the orca?

Last year (2016) Tilikum got sick, he was very week and this year in January 6 he died. He was 35-years-old. He had to live 33 whole years in this terror. No wonder he went crazy sometimes. It surprises me it only happened three times. The saddest thing is that he was only one of them. There are many other orcas in very similar condition, in very small tanks around the world. 

Tilikum had many health problems. As you can see his teeth were in catastrophic condition. He got infected through those teeth many times!

46 orcas live in captivity in this very moment and this is only the published list! Of course I can’t be sure but I’m afraid there might be others. There are so many sick and shamelessly rich people I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about secretly kept orcas one day.

 Keiko

Keiko in wild at last!

Keiko was captured near Iceland in 1979 at the age of 3 and was sold to an Aquarium. People kept selling him so he was transferred many times in his life. He was the star of the film Free Willy in 1993. Seeing his miserable life and the place where he was kept, after the movie Warner Brothers Studio found him a better place to live, a “better home”. After the movie people started to think about setting him really free. In 1998 they put him back to the Klettsvik Bay in Iceland and gradually reintroduced to the wild. He could return to the open sea in 2002. Keiko died in 2003 at the age of 27, after beaching himself during the night. He had severe pneumonia.

Luna

Luna was born in 1999. When he was still a baby something very rare happened. He got separated from his family. No one knows why. As we know orcas live together and they are very close to each other emotionally. But for some reason Luna swam away and lived in Nootka Sound (West coast of Vancouver Island) for 5 years, alone. Or I could say, without orcas. He loved people and boats and was very friendly and never been aggressive in his life. Tourists were delighted to meet him in person and the coast was always full of paparazzi. Some expert said “Maybe Luna doesn’t know he is an orca and this is why he wants to be near humans because he thinks he is one of us.” I can’t agree with this theory because I don’t think he thought of himself as human but he definitely chose to live where people lived. He never tried to swim back to the open where he could meet other orcas, maybe his own family. 

Luna loved people. People loved Luna. <3

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans authorized an effort in June 2004 to capture Luna and place him in captivity. Fortunately the Mowachaht/ Muchalaht First Nations Indians stopped the mission and Luna could stay were he was. He was harmless, cute and playful just like our children.

Luna was very special. So friendly, so cute!

One day something terrible happened to him. He liked to swim close to boats and follow them. On that day he swam too close to the propeller of a tugboat. The propeller caused him severe injuries, he died immediately. It was a great shock for everyone. He was only 6 years old. His story is told in the 2001 documentary film “The whale”. It’s really touching. Please, watch it. 

Dear Luna! Have a great swim in Heaven! <3

Nakai

One of Tilikum’s son, Nakai had an extreme accident. Nakai swam down to the bottom of his tank and hurt himself somehow so badly that a dinner-plate sized chunk of skin and flesh missed under his mouth. On the bottom the boundary of the concrete and steel caused the demage and I am sure it was not an accident! It wasn’t a scratch. Maybe Nakai tried to commit suicide. I could imagine that. Doctors put him together with laser therapy and of course he has to perform. He has a huge scar under his mouth.

Nakai after the "accident"

Better than ever! Ready to perform...

Kasatka

She was less than 2 years old when people captured her near Iceland. She tried to bite trainers during shows a few times. She has many children. In 2006 there was a horrible accident during her show in San Diego. She had a calf a little earlier and the baby was in a bad mood, maybe she was ill. The baby was separated in a small pool near Kasatka and the show was almost over when the trainer Ken Parker jumped into the water and Kasatka bite his leg under the water and didn’t let it go. She swam down to the bottom of the tank two times with the trainer’s leg in her mouth and didn’t let him breath for minutes. It’s a miracle that the trainer survived. Finally Kasatka let him go. 

Kasatka is biting the trainer's leg under the water

Later the trainer said he heard the sound of the calf just before Kasatka bite him. The baby cried, screamed, it was obvious. I think it’s completely understandable how the mother reacted. I’m sure she wanted to be with her baby immediately and calm her, help her. Maybe the baby was in pain or just wanted to be with her mommy. Kasatka only wanted to tell people she can not do the show any longer, she has to go to her calf. Let her go! She didn’t kill the trainer because she didn’t want to. It wasn’t her goal. So if we examine every accident that happened in Sealands I’m sure there was always something going on. Something happened that changed the orcas behaviors. I hate to read about captivated orca attacks "without reason". Please… There are so many sings. And the sings are screaming, the orcas are shouting for help. How can’t people see it? 

Orcas belong to the ocean

Over the years many calf died who born in captivity. One died after 3 days, another after 14 days or two months. Sometimes doctors can’t find the cause of deaths. They all seem healthy. I read somewhere that it can happen because the babies know, they feel that born into a concrete pool with bad quality, pee-warm water is not their natural environment. Plus they know that their lives have no meaning at all so their system gives up.

Welcome to our concrete world, poor orca baby :(

The other thing my stomach can’t take is when they separate the baby from the mother because the mom doesn’t do the shows so well or the baby is not a good performer. So those bastards send the baby away to another Seaworld! The only comfort is having each other for these orcas! Like real relatives. Seaworld don’t give a shit about an already proven fact that these animals have a part in their brains that we, humans don’t even have!!! This part is responsible for emotions. Orcas are able to feel things we can’t, orcas are more connected to each other inside their families than we, human beings are.  That is a proven fact. So I’m asking how can people hurt these wonderful creatures when we all know the facts?

You could say it's touching to see them perform together. But I think it's sad. What kind of life is that?

Another interesting data is that there is no record about orca attack in the wild! Not a single one. They never even hurt people so far and we know orcas and humans meet each other from time to time in the water. When an orca attacks somebody, it happens only in captivity! Only! So it’s absolutely the humans fault that this particular phenomenon as “orca attack” even exists.

Not so clever. Sealand workers let a simple secretary ride an orca. It didn't end well... But the woman survived.

I spent many hours to read about orcas to have enough information to write this post. (Only at nights after my babies went to sleep. :) Now that I know a bit more about them and their lives in captivity, sadly I have to say they wouldn’t survive in the ocean. Of course it’s easy to say “people should let them go back where they belong” but in reality it wouldn’t work. They couldn’t protect themselves, maybe they couldn’t hunt and eat enough, they would get easily pneumonia because of the extremely cold water. It’s a fact that the water is very warm in their tanks in Seaworlds. Which is absolutely abnormal for an orca. They are always sick because the temperature and quality of the water is very bad.  And the most important thing is the family and as we all know they would have a tiny chance to find theirs in the wild ocean. Oh, and what about those who were born in captivity? They don’t even have a place to go back! So it seems those poor orcas in captivity have no chance to have a normal life. I think the solution would be to make bays for them, you know, separated areas in the ocean near seashores so they would be protected from the wild ocean but would be in real water in natural environment. Most importantly they wouldn’t have to perform and do those stupid shows every single day again and again!

The Aquaworld signed a paper last year. It says they will stop artificial insemination. If this is true, there won’t be another orca baby born in captivity. We all know how greedy and moron people can be so they will capture orcas in the future. I realy hope it will be illegal to do this soon and it sould be illegal to buy orcas as well!

The only thing we can do besides talking about it and protesting against it is never going to Sealands to see orcas because if we do, it will never end. If those idiots don’t get money from it maybe they will stop doing this evil thing.