I went to Manhattan last weekend to complete my final tea class—Professional Cupping—and graduate from The Specialty Tea Institute as a Certified Tea Specialist. I am very happy to say that I successfully completed the class and celebrated with a few other student graduates who have been on the same class schedule as me. We’re all doing different things with tea—creating tea experiences in our communities.
Finally Certified
What I really want to share in this post though is how struck I was by the outgoing helpfulness of the New York residents. This was only the second time I have been in Manhattan and decided to try to navigate my way by train and subway from JFK to the Time Square area where my hotel was located. All along my route, people went out of their way to help me figure out which train to board, what stop to take, the direction I wanted to walk, etc. One man saw me checking my map at a street corner and asked where I needed to go, then pointed out the direction and approximately how many blocks to walk. In getting on the train I had help with my bag, which was very heavy, without even asking.
I’m not sure what I expected before I arrived in New York, but by the time I left, I had a renewed appreciation for our human connectedness and innate generosity.