Arriving in NYC 18 Feb. 2011

It is with great anticipation that I am preparing to board the plane for New York City and the 55th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW55 or simply CSW55). The day is sunny and skies clear at Pearson International, but a last-minute check of my email brings a "flight delay" message from my room-mate in Winnipeg where a storm is raging.

Preparations have been underway for months in anticipation not only for progress on the CSW 55 themes, but also for the official launch of UN Women, the new Gender Entity for Women that began its work on 1 January 2011.

The skyline of NYC looms, and we descend over the water to LaGuardia. The sights along the taxi route to my hotel are comfortingly familiar but always exciting. The I Love NY t-shirts were created with me in mind. We are on the toll bridge, now hurtling past old haunts, crossing First Avenue where my eyes are drawn to the left with the imposing UN Headquarters promising a session ahead with discussions, new ideas and compromises.

Here we are at the hotel. Unpack, check wireless access, scoot over to d'Agostino's for groceries where I see Sarah Belanger from the trade unions, eat dinner, organize all papers for next week.

There is a knock on the door late in the evening. There's Mary Scott, just checked in after a long taxi ride from Newark, glad to be in NYC, exhausted, and grateful for dinner waiting for her in the fridge.

Tomorrow: registration at the UN.