On the fourth of March at 10:45 am I was waiting for the Brighton Beach bound Q local train on Kings Highway station which smelled of old rusted iron and it was quite moist due to the constant snowing. Luckily the train arrived momentarily and as I boarded I contacted my group members. The inside of the train was quite warm and I caught a whiff of mold and worn out clothing. As the doors opened on avenue U a strong stench of dead fish filled the compartment and I looked up there were a few men who were caring a bag which I sensed was the source of the foul stench. As I persevered through the journey I finally reached my destination. As I disembarked from my ride I was struck by a cold bitter wind that ran chills down my spine. My nose was instantly frozen and all I cold feel and smell was cold, ice and moisture. I felt as If I just experienced a brain freeze. We went down the stairs to the streets beneath us and on our way I could sense some fresh paint and upon closer inspection I saw that one of the doors was freshly painted.
We then headed to the little Odessa neighborhood or more commonly known as Brighton beach neighborhood. As we approached the beach I could smell the salinity in the air as the cold sea breeze brought it to our attention. We crept our way onto the beach carful not to slip. As we passed the board walk I sensed a fire crackling because of the smell of the smoke we looked around and saw that one of the metal garbage cans had a little fie gleaming in it. We soon came to the conclusion that someone lit it last night or earlier that morning to help reduce the cold by using it as a fireplace. We continued on towards the ocean and smell of the salt intensified but now there was another smell mixed with it something that reeked of bird droppings and when we heard a bird call and flapping of wins above us we finally saw what the source was. It was a flock hundreds of sea gulls circling around swooping up and down the beach, walking and swimming on it and marking their territory with the pungent smell.
While walking along the shore line we picked up some sea shells which stunk like fish as well and the smell was further intensified when I picked up one of them and closely inspected it. After exploring the beach for quite some time we got hungry so we doubled back to the market place near the train station. Mark was our guide who helped us get to a proper place to eat some Russian food. As we walked past the different food store the aroma spread out to the streets and activated my sensory receptors further intensifying my appetite. We finally stopped in front of stall that was extended from a bakery and Mark ordered some pieces of bread for us which contained potatoes, cabbage or meet in it and we each picked our poison. The bred was warm and buttery. The smell was quite delicious and as I broke it in half a gush of fresh aroma punched my nose making me realize how good it actually smelled. After finishing our short lunch break we went to another food store where there were countless Russian delicacies i.e. salads, meet, vegetable dishes, cakes, pastries, cream puffs and many more. All these odors forced us to buy some more food and so we gave in to our temptation and bought some and headed towards the beach where we sat on a seating area and enjoyed the food. During this meal I smelled a streak of very strong cigarette smoke which burned my lungs as I breathed the contaminated air and when I looked around I saw that there was a couple sitting on the table behind us who I immediately identified as the culprit of this foul smell as one of them was smoking. After that we we ended our expedition and went back home.
On the15th of April 2016 we decided to go on our second ethnographic survey so we meet up at the same place at 11:00 am. It was a bright sunny day and the neighborhood seemed much more lively. As we made our way through to the beach we meat a group of people who were protesting against the corporate powers of Verizon. We decided to walk all the way to the end of the boardwalk of Brighton beach until we reached the cony island and the amusement park. The wind smelled much less saline as compared to our first endeavor. When we finally reached the amusement park we walked into the outstretched part of the boardwalk that extend about 500 meters into the ocean. The area smelled like rotten wood and algae and suddenly there was a strong smell of earth/soil not sand and when I looked around I saw a man reaching into a bag containing worms and some brown stuff that I assumed was the source he attached the worm to the end of his fishing line and threw the bait into the ocean and waited.
Once we started to head back Robin and I had cravings for some cotton candy and as we were buying I we smelled something frying that tingled my appetite but I resisted the urge and headed back to the market area. There we met the same lady and sensed the delicious bread she made so we bought the bread to satisfy our hunger and we also conducted an interview of the lady who was selling them. After which we walked to the train station and on our way we met a violinist who was performing he was 73 years old, wearing a suit and playing the violin on his shoulder. We asked him for an interview and inquired him about his experience in the Brighton Beach community. He said that the people there were very nice and that he had been performing there for 17 years. After this interview we went to the train station and parted our ways to home.
~Asad
