I started writing this post over 6
months ago, but never finished. Now I have completed the daunting
task of bringing my stories up to date since my last post over a
year ago! I guess it's been a busy year. Sorry if this gigantic post
is intimidating....it's funny how much I remember while writing!
Me and my sicilian roomies
Upon my re-arrival in Palermo in
October 2012, things were feeling a little different. Like vacation
was over, and it was real life now. After finishing the storyboarding
contract in August and spending September in Canada, I was
encountering some questions of what's next? And I decided to invest
the money I'd earned suffering it out storyboarding, into giving
myself time to paint with the intention of organizing a gallery show
in the new year. Thanks to jet lag, I got a head start, painting a
set of canvases into the early hours of the night.
Playing with Paolo's kids
Within a few days of my arrival, what
luck! There were waves and Marco and I set out for Isola Delle
Femmine, the surfing beach. It was a beautiful day and still hot like
the summer; a wetsuit wasn't even necessary. That was the way to get
reacquainted with my life in Palermo. A few days later, I reunited
with some friends at skateboarding night, and handed out stickers
from 'The Source', the skateboarding store in calgary and chocolate
loonies.
As winter is the season with the most
waves in Sicily, the opportunity to surf became more and more
available. I decided to sign up for a month of surf camp in December,
seeing as I wasn't dancing anymore, and sometimes I was able to go
3-4 times a week, even in the rain, wind, crazy waves, everything, I
was there. My progress started to show as I was catching more waves
and getting faster popping up. Once, when I came in from a surf
session (which often lasted many hours, involved many wipe-outs, and
only a few successful waves), Danilo, the surf coach was super pumped
and told me that he saw me surfing the face of the wave (when you get
the side of the board totally making contact with the steep part of
the wave) . I actually didn't realize it at the time but I knew
something felt good haha.
In this season there were days when the
sea was full of jellyfish. They are beautiful to look at but nasty if
you touch them. I was full of jellyfish stings on my hands and feet,
which had me waking up in the night itching. I even got swatted with
a tentacle on my face once. I have scars on my feet that I don't
think will ever totally heal. My battle scars. Some days all the
jellyfish get washed onto shore, and the beach is totally covered in
gushy jelly. Then they get shriveled up with the sun. There was one
day without any waves that I went out on the sea with the SUP board
(stand up paddling) board for the first time. Looking into the water,
there were swarms of jellyfish and I marveled while watching them
through the super clear water and trying so hard to keep my balance
so I wouldn't fall in and get stung. But your first time out, a few
falls are inevitable. Despite my shrieks and the anticipation of a
sting, the blow of the fall actually made the jellyfish scatter, so
that day I remained sting free.
Due to my limited budget, I was only
intending to do surf camp for a month, but one day Danilo proposed me
a deal to trade him english lessons in exchange for surfing. That was
probably the best proposition anyone has ever made me, ever. So from
January on, I started giving him lessons about once a week, sometimes
during the car ride back to Palermo while he was driving. And texting
his friends on his iphone. Yes Italians are super multitaskers, as
seen in my illustrations: Things Italians Do. Although he was a bit
shy in the beginning and sometimes he got bored with the exercises I
gave him, he made considerable improvement and is now quite
comfortable having conversations with me in English. I've been
teaching him lots of slang and surf lingo, but sometimes I'm caught
off-guard when he responds back to me 'gimme a break' or the day I
taught him 'I ate shitloads of pasta' hahaha.
In the beginning of November I had a
visitor, Rosie, my old roomate from Florence, who had since returned
to live in England as she'd finished her studies at the portrait
school in Florence. We first celebrated the first of november with friends of Marco at a house in the country and then, with her ability to drive a stick, we decided to
rent a car and tour around a bit on the west side of Sicily. Day 1 we
started off to Agrigento and visted the amazing Scale dei Turchi at
sunset which was already the highlight of the trip for me.
Le scale dei Turchi
The next day we visited an
archeological site of greek temples before passing through Sciacca
and Mazara del Vallo and finding our hotel in Marsala. As it was off
season we were able to stay in nice accomodations for a fraction of
the regular price. The next morning upon waking up however, we had a
little surprise. Rosie opened our balcony doors and gasped. Somebody
hit the car!
This resulted in delaying our plans for
the day to go to the police station and file a report. We were a bit
nervous as although we had insurance on the rental car, we'd bought
it online from a 3rd party, so for sure it'd end up being
a little complicated. We went to the police station immediately but
they told us we could only file a report after 2pm, so we killed some
time in the quiet center of Marsala before coming back promptly at 2.
We waited over an hour before finally being called in.
The police officers were friendly and
even a little flirty as probably two foreign girls coming into their
office was the highlight of the day. They gave us some
recommendations of places to eat on our next destination, Trapani. We
had to nix our plans to visit the island of Mozia as there wasn't
enough time but we stopped along the road for a few photo ops. We got
settled in our B&B and got dressed up to hit the town, but
unfortunately it was a monday night and we were the only ones out. We
had a nice dinner in a vacant restaurant, and I ate a sicilian
speciality for the first time, pasta with ricci (sea-urchins), as the
restaurant offered gluten free pasta. I can't say I was crazy about
it but maybe it merits another try one day.
Erice
Day 4 we were off to Erice, a medieval
town on the top of a mountain. It takes a good half hour up winding
roads to arrive, but the view is amazing the whole way. We wandered
around and took in a bit of sunshine before heading back down the
mountain for our next destination, some other greek ruins in Segesta
(Rosie's request), followed by a hunt for the natural hot springs in
the area (my request). The marking on the map was a bit confusing and
the signs on the roads were too. We stopped at a few places that had
constructed spas out of the springs, but what I really wanted was the
all natural outdoor hotsprings which I had read about, which we
finally found after getting directions.
We followed a bumpy road in the middle
of nowhere, parked the car, and walked down a path including rocks
to hop across a river. It was so beautiful and magical, the water was
super clear and warm. If there hadn't been 3 slightly grizzly
middle-aged men there, I definitely would've gone in, but as it was
nearing sunset, it didn't seem like a good idea. We stayed a few
minutes and chatted with the least grizzly of the men before making
our way back to the car and completing the loop back to Palermo.
We pulled up at Hertz, the car rental
place, with the police report in hand, ready to deal with whatever
had to be done. The man looked at the police report, looked at the
car, looked at us and said, don't worry, don't tell anyone, just make
sure you take the insurance through us next time. I was like
really????! and we thanked him profusely. We were so relieved as we
walked back to my place. I'm not sure but probably it was another
case in which being foreign and female helped.
Upon Rosie's departure, I was back to
my routine of surfing and painting. My computer was broken,
skateboarding night was suspended, and life was feeling pretty quiet
some days as I was in my room alone for hours on end, hunched over
with a paint brush in my pajamas. But it was so satisfying to have
the images in my head finally taking shape for real. I was really
enjoying the whole process, without being overly focused on the end
result while working. It really takes the anguish out of it, working
in this way, feeling present the whole time, without rushing or
forcing anything, just planning the image out and then following the
steps to take it to completion, of course with unexpected issues
along the way, but keeping it on track.
I think the biggest difference which
has allowed me to work in this way is the subject matter, painting
things to tell stories and feelings, with the aesthetic and the
technique take a back seat, and are allowed to be just the tool for
communication of the idea instead of the purpose itself. So thinking
in this way really helps me to take the pressure off, and resulted in
finishing paintings that I was really satisfied with. In the past
I've had the tendency to suffer from perfectionism which can be super
stifling and lead to lots of unfinished work and low self esteem. Now
that I'm aware of this hopefully there won't be any relapses.
With December came Christmas, and the
weekend prior I decided to have a little getaway to Napoli (Naples).
A cheap ticket on a brutal 10 hour ferry ride was all it took! I'd
only passed through there once before, on a bus ride returning from
Pompeii when I was 17 with my high school trip. They wouldn't let us
off the bus because they said it as too dangerous! The city was
breathtaking however, with the historic center on the coast, some
islands in view, and Mount Vesuvius, the volcano, hovering on the
side. Amazing.
A Napolitano friend I'd met in Palermo
while he was on a business trip picked me up one afternoon and showed
me around his suburb, which was simultaneously entertaining and
frustrating. His two cell phones were ringing non-stop and we were
waiting long periods at random places for people for reasons I didn't
understand. And often they didn't show up. However driving around
with him I was able to decode italian communication via horn honking.
One short honk = watch out! Two short honks= Hello friend! One long
honk= What the hell are you doing??!!! Finally he finished 'working'
as he called it (it was since suggested by italian friends upon
recounting this experience that this guy may have been doing some
shady business...) and he took me to eat were I got to taste some
napolitano specialties. Most famously pizza, fresh buffalo
mozzarella, babba`(an alcoholic dessert), and sfogliatelle (a pastry
with sweet ricotta inside).
I'd decided before leaving on the trip
to experience the Christmas season like a normal person, that is
eating things with gluten, which definitely made traveling a lot
easier (and delicious). The rest of my time in Napoli involved a ton
of walking to see all the different neighborhoods and some monuments
scattered throughout. There were lots of people out and about doing
christmas shopping and socializing. I hung out for a few hours in
Piazza San Domenico the following afternoon, watching an amazing band
play.
I arrived back in Palermo, super bagged
at 6am on Christmas eve day. After crashing for a few hours I headed
over to Marco's parent's apartment building with the intention to
take place in the Lio Cup, an annual soccer game, involving wine on
the sidelines, with Marco's childhood friends who grew up in the same
building. Marco had described it to me as very casual and that even
girls play, but instead, I showed up late and was still the only girl
on site. The guys were all decked out in their soccer gear and
passionately arguing in good italian style. Yeah, I should've know
that the italian guys can't take soccer lightly, especially with wine
in their systems. So I refused the invitation to participate and
witnessed the fun from the sidelines. It was good that I did because
then I received an important call. My niece was born!
Marco's family was very kind to invite
me to both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners. If there was ever
an occasion to eat normally this was it, with amazing lasagnas,
ravioli, desserts, and cheeses available. I survived the festivities
without too much digestive discomfort. Festivities continued for New
Years at our friend, Giulia's house where there was more amazing food
and I got to eat for the first time another sicilian specialty of
Pasta al Forno (Baked Pasta). It wasn't long after all these feasts
that I wasn't feeling weel and needed to return to my gluten free
ways, but I was glad that I got to enjoy food, restriction free, over
the holidays.
I continued painting and surfing
throughout January 2013 but was feeling an itch for another of my
favorite activities and ended up signing up for a month of salsa,
this time cuban, with a new instructor who insisted that I come to
the choreography class despite my request to be in the normal class.
He was african from the island Cape verde and was pretty
entertaining. Despite obviously being a great dancer, he would
occasionally have a temper tantrum on one of the students or make
them do a step a thousand times over, each time yelling out the
details that they hadn't perfected. Eg. Arm! Arm! Arm! I was his
victim a few times and it just made me laugh because he was so vague
and I usually didn't understand what he wanted. Anyway, I would've
liked to continue the class as I was learning some advanced
combinations but entering February I was surprised to be getting zero
responses to my teaching english ads, and was starting to get a
little nervous about money.
Luckily my trips to the surfing beach
started to include a bit of earning, as the owners of the
bar/restaurant where the surf school is had asked me to tutor their
teenage son, Tonino (little Tony), as he was flunking his english
course. I knew Tonino already as he was a surfer, although not the
conventional type. It was a bit ironic that his name is little Tony
as he is anything but. Some of his friends call him the big kahuna
which is more fitting. My first conversation with Tonino went like
this, months before we started lessons, when I recognized him on the
train one day:
Me: “Are you going surfing today?”
Tonino (without making eye contact): “
Boh” (a sound italians make which means I don't know)
The End.
Haha. Well as our lessons went on, he
started to open up, and I found out about his love for english music.
Every so often upon studying his textbook he'd burst into song when
he recognized a word or phrase from one of his favorite pop songs.
Eg. Studying the present perfect sparked Rihanna, 'Where have you
been all my liiiii iiii iiii iiife?'
Plans for my first ever solo exhibition
lined up perfectly as the place I had my eye on accepted my request
to host it. I had met the event organizer of the
bar/restaurant/concert venue the first time I had been in the spring.
The friend's sister worked there, and I had mentioned to my friend
upon walking in that I liked the place and would like to do an
exhibition there one day. The organizer happened to be walking by in
that moment so she made the introduction immediately. When I returned
nearly 9 months later he said he didn't remember me but it didn't
matter as he liked the painting I'd brought and he showed me the
space and we discussed my intentions to open on March 1. He told me
to call 2 weeks before and he would confirm.
Knowing that things in Sicily don't
always tend to go to plan, I continued to work on my paintings while
keeping in mind that it wouldn't be 100 percent until I was actually
hanging the paintings on the walls, but I felt a lot more confident
when I made the scheduled phone call two weeks before and he told me
to design an ad which he put up on their website. So I continued with
preparations and figured things out as I went along, getting giant
sheets of plastic printed with my designs for the lightboxes above
of the bar, figuring out how to hang the paintings, and cutting out
tons of paper dolls for the installation. When the day came I was
super exhausted but super happy, as it felt like a huge personal
accomplishment for me and I shared it with many people who came to
support me. Two reviews were written for online sites and I felt very
satisfied.
Shortly after the opening I started to
panic a little as I realized I didn't have much planned in my life
after that important date, creative or otherwise. So I plunged into
an idea that I had for a super short animated film about surfing, as
well as going forward with a collaboration at a bar/hangout to offer
super affordable group english classes aimed at young people, using
music and film as learning materials. It seemed like a great idea and
so many people expressed their interest, however the maximum number
of students that actually ever showed up was 4, the usual amount
being 0, and after sticking it out for a good six weeks, I had to
give up.
One day I decided to hang out in front
of the cathedral where the tourists gathered and offer caricatures. I
drew an example in my sketchbook and held it out as people walked by,
asking 'Do you want a caricature?' in clear English. But I think the
majority of the tourists that day were non english speaking eastern
europeans as many didn't even acknowledge me. A few italian guys were
flirting a bit and asked me how much, but when I told them I
understood they weren't interested in paying so I asked if they'd let
me draw them to use as an example. They agreed but it was funny how
they went from confident to self-conscious as they had to stand still
for me to inspect them and draw.
Then a group of enthusiastic italian
school kids came by and asked me how much. They said they didn't have
money and I said that I'd do one for them anyway. So it went from a
group of about 4 kids to the whole class (about 20) as they all
jumped in, including the teacher. So my pencil fired across the page
and the kids who I finished crowded behind and marveled and yelled at
each kid when I had finished their part so they could leave their
position. At the end the teacher was insisting that they had to go so
I blasted through the last couple of kids and handed them the drawing
before she whisked them away. They were very complimentary and
appreciative and despite not making any money that day as was my
intention, I felt really happy.
Another of my great ideas for income
was to convert my 'Things Italians Do' illustrations into postcards,
with the intention of selling them in the souvenir stores in Palermo
and other cities in Italy. As I tend to be overly positive, I jumped
the gun a bit and printed 1000 due to bulk printing deals.....and
then started making the rounds in the tourist district, only to hear
the same thing over and over.
They weren't interested, tourists only
buy postcards of monuments and things particular to Palermo, ect.
and I was a first hand observer of the closed minded Sicilian
mentality, but tried to stay positive and perfect my sales pitch,
telling an anecdote of how, when I traveled through italy previously
as a tourist, was always searching for an amusing postcard to send to
my friends back home. Well that didn't really help. I went to around
20 shops hearing no after no, until one place, agreed to take 5 of
each. Not a total bust at least, but without much promise, after that
I changed my focus to other things.
Danilo had suggested that I could
custom paint surfboards and it had the potential to go over well.
Overly optimistic once again I ordered a bunch of special markers on
ebay (well I wanted all the colors!) and did research on the process.
My first design was for a fellow surf student who had come to my
exhibition and had full faith in me to work on his brand new board. I
really enjoyed it and charged him a modest rate for being my first
customer. Since then I painted a board for Danilo, myself, and a
couple others friend for free, and just recently had my second paying
customer.
Gianluca and the first board I painted
As I wasn't continuing with any dance
lessons during that time due to tight finances, I decided to invest
in my friend's second hand skateboard, that way whenever I wanted to
get some exercise, it was at my disposal. Plus it would help with my
surfing. So from then on I spent many evenings alone behind the
tribunale (courthouse), listening to music and practicing my moves.
It's like a new form of dancing.
My finances were helped that I got a
few months break in paying rent, as Marco needed some graphic work
for the tour he was setting up, the now famous 'STEAT Palermo Tour'.
A tour which started as him showing friends around the city to taste
the sicilian food in the markets has now evolved into his full time
job and is generating a lot of publicity between TV, magazines,
radio, and the internet. This spring he should be in full swing!
On Easter weekend I was invited to San
Vito Lo Capo, a place I'd heard about many times but had never been
to, with my friends Andrea, Claudia, and Eliana who were celebrating
Pasquetta (Easter Monday) with Andrea's relatives in the typical
sicialian way, that is barbequing tons and tons of food, mostly meat,
in a house in the countryside. We took an intermission to see the
town on the sea and go for a little skateboarding before returning
for dessert.
At the end of April my first family
visitors in Sicily arrived, Uncle Barry and Auntie Pam, who had
booked a beautiful apartment across from the port. They were excited
to be guinea pigs on Marco's Street Food Tour, and we took them
through the markets and had them taste all the foods on the eating
passport (which I designed) to earn their stamps.
Another day I brought them with me to
the surfing beach outside Palermo, and they had a nice lunch while I
hit some waves. Another evening I took them to my exhibition and they
were very generous to become my best clients. As they were wishing to
visit my great-granparents town in Calabria, we put together a little
toad trip tour through Sicily and Calabria, which would make the most
of the 3 day car rental.
on the ferry
With Uncle Barry confident and calm
behind the wheel (despite the crazy drivers on every side of him) we
set out for Tropea, a very charming town on the west coast of
Calabria. This meant taking the ferry across the sea to Calabria from
Messina on the eastern tip of Sicily. Spring was in the air and it
was a nice day to stand on the deck and take in the views as we
sailed to the italian mainland. Our GPS was a bit confused in taking
us to the hotel we'd booked in Tropea, but once we found it and
enjoyed the complimentary desserts they brought us, we set out for
the beach. I soaked in some sun and even went for a dip, not bad for
the end of April! Later in the evening we went for a nice dinner at a
restaurant recommended by the hotel, which happened to be the same
restaurant I had eaten at before with Giuseppe and his cousins when I
had been there 2 years prior. Before going to bed we watched the
glowing lava in the distance, coming from one of the volcanoes on the
aeolian islands.
The next day we were off to Amato, the
mountain top village where my great-grandparents grew up and got
married before deciding to immigrate to Canada. Our GPS brought us up
the back way, a bit-treacherous and time consuming, but breathtaking
amidst the olive trees and valleys and little farm houses. We stopped
periodically for pictures and upon crossing paths with a local, we
knew they must have been wondering who we were and what the heck we
were doing. We finally made it to the top and we found the road that
was listed on great-grandma's identity card before making a little
loop and finding our way into the main piazza.
We entered the only bar in town to use
the bathroom but as it was sunday afternoon, the place was deserted
as were all the streets. I chatted with the men working for a few
minutes as they asked what we were doing there (it's generally not a
town where tourists drop by) and I told them our story. They informed
me, as I had found out last time, that the last Cardamone in the town
had passed a way many years ago, and only the widow was left (I had
knocked on her door last time). He sent there were many people with
the last name of Masi (my great-grandma's maiden name) but there were
actually so many of them and they weren't all related. They were
shutting down the bar for lunch time but they said if we hung around
until late afternoon there would likely be some men in the bar later
that could give us more information. We decided not to wait around as
there was no guarantee and we wanted to carry on to our next
destination. We hung out in the main piazza a little longer and I
climbed a tree before we hit the road, this time taking the main road
back down the mountain which took a tiny fraction of the time.
Our next stop was Catanzaro Lido, on
the east coast, where we had something to eat and then I had a little
relax time on the stoney beach while Uncle Barry and Auntie Pam went
for a walk. Then we were back on the road, all the way down the east
coast of Calabria on a slower highway often with a view of the sea
which we got to observe during sunset. We powered through and made it
all the way to Reggio Calabria, a city with a view of Sicily across
the way, so we could easily cross back over on the ferry the next
morning. We managed to find a hotel near the sea and had dinner at a
modern restaurant right on the water before calling it a night.
The next day we crossed back to the
island and I led us in the direction of Taormina, a pretty town I had
visited with my friend, Alex, and a place I figured they'd like to
see. With an amazing view over the coast and a lively atmosphere with
many tourists and shops, we enjoyed an afternoon there before heading
for our next destination, Mount Etna, the volcano which mesmerized
Uncle Barry. We took the road up that allowed us to drive as close to
it as possible and we stopped at the cabin at the end some pictures
and a drink. It was a lot colder up there. Somewhat satisfying his
curiosity of the smoking mounting, we started the long journey home,
through winding mountain roads and villages that would take us back
to the main highway....or so we thought.
The view from Taormina
on the base of Mount Etna
Poor Auntie Pam was feeling a little
car sick from all the winding, but just as we were making our way
down a mountain which connected to the highway underneath, we passed
a strange road sign and then all of a sudden, we found ourselves
stopped in front of a barrier completely blocking the road. We were
really confused but with no other options, we turned around and
started back up the mountain while I scrutinized the map for an
alternative. It was about 9pm and fortunately upon returning to the
town at the top of the mountain, there happened to be a little mini
mart still open. I went inside with the map and told the people what
had happened, to which they nodded knowingly and said that the road
had been closed for a couple months due to a landslide.
They said there were a few alternatives
and started explaining. However, first, these were rural folk and I
had a hard time understanding as they talked primarily in dialect,
and second, they don't know how to read maps, so they were giving me
directions based on landmarks (mostly restaurants) and lefts and
rights, nothing I could really program into the GPS, and seeing as it
was dark and we were tired and Auntie Pam was sick, I was getting a
little nervous. Then by chance a man walked in and said he was taking
an alternate road that connected to the highway and that we could
follow him, so after consulting my companions in the car, we decided
to go for it. The man was kind to wave us on after he'd reached his
destination and it wasn't long before we were on the homestretch of
our journey, exhausted but relieved.
After seeing them off a few days later,
it wasn't long before I had another visitor. Rosie was back for a few
days but this time the farthest we traveled was to Mondello beach and
back. One day I had left Rosie suntanning to do a bit of
skateboarding with my friend, Andrea, and after saying goodbye to him
I was walking back to the beach when I got stopped by a girl on her
bike. She asked 'Are you American?'. I smiled and said 'I'm Canadian'
and her next question was ' Are you Sergio's friend?' and I said
'Yeah! Are you his frisbee friend?' and she said 'Yeah!'. My friend
Sergio from Tuesday night skateboarding had told me a number of times
about an english friend of his who he played was a frisbee expert
that he played with on sundays. Apparently he had told her about me
too, as his Canadian skateboarding friend, so that's how she had
recognized me. I invited her to hang out on the beach with Rosie and
I that afternoon and she also accompanied us later on to party with
some New Zealand guys that Rosie had met on her flight. Since then,
I've seen Eue regulary and we've become good friends.
With all my visitors gone I was getting
a more worried about finances and discouraged that my endeavors
hadn't worked out. Then by some stroke of luck I received an email.
It was from a magazine art director in Vienna who had been on
vacation in Palermo and happened to buy my postcards. Well she liked
it so much that she wanted to publish it in the italian issue of the
magazine she worked for. I couldn't have been happier! The payment
for the illustration quintupled the printing costs of all the
postcards, so it made everything worth it. I was so fired up that I
made another round at the souvenir stores with my postcards,
convincing the place who had taken 5 of each to take a larger load,
and even making a second attempt at some of the others that had
turned me away. Unsuccessfully. But at least I told them they were
wrong that people DON'T only want to buy postcards of monuments.
In another stroke of luck I was asked
to record a voice over for a publicity video that an advertising
agency was working on. They needed a mother tongue english speaker
and it's hilarious that due to slim pickings, I was one of few
candidates for the job. It was kind of amusing doing it, and paid
well for the time spent, but in the end they didn't end up using it
as the client wanted a male voice instead.
Taking whatever jobs I could come up
with, I also filled in a few times for a girl who needed me to do
check ins and check outs at her family's villa that they rented to
tourists. It seemed like an alright deal as they would pay 25 euro
for each check in and check out, and in theory it wouldn't have taken
longer than 20 minutes each. However, as I didn't have a car I needed
to make arrangements with the girl's father to pick me up and take me
to the villa, about 20 mins out of town. Well, as I learned after my
'orientation session' when the girl picked me up one day to show me
the villa and give me the run through; every day I was involved with
this family, it was a full day operation. And there would also be
voices at high volumes involved. They were quite friendly and I was
always fed lunch and invited to make myself at home when the Dad
needed to nap after lunch before driving me back to the city, but
what they didn't realize is that there were many other ways I would
have preferred to spend my time. Once spending an exhausting 8 hours
with them just for 25 Euro.
Apart from these one off jobs, I had
gotten a call from a doctor who wanted english lessons at his office
twice a week, and so I had a more regular gig for a couple months. He
was a very nice and intelligent man and I didn't mind the 25 min bike
ride to his office each way, especially because we spent most of the
lesson in conversation and I didn't have to prepare much.
Despite my reluctance, I had also
contacted the animation studio in Rome who I had done some work for
previously, as they had informed me earlier in the year that they
were expecting an animation project that I could work on. I hadn't
been very thorough in following up previously because a) they had
said the same thing to me times before when nothing actually came
through and b) I was so desperately trying to find an alternative to
working in this field, and c) they didn't pay me for 8 months after
completing the last project......but as I was trying practically
everything and struggling, I had to trust that the thing that came
through was the right thing, and so, when this animation work came
through I accepted.
It was the first time that I animated
professionally in Flash, but it didn't take long to get the hang of
it. However I quickly realized that I'd made a huge mistake to accept
the project. Each animator was responsible for a full 6min and 40 sec
episode and the management was so disorganized (or possibly there was
no management), the material always late, the communication horrible,
the pay peanuts, and the regular deadline super tight. Having some
doubts about being able to work on it full time I had negotiated a
longer time frame prior to starting, but I quickly saw that it didn't
really matter as I couldn't do my work without the material I needed
being ready.
A summer day with Andrea and Claudia before work started
The Santa Rosalia celebration
So as it always seems to happen when I
work in animation, the stress arrived in full force. It was summer
but I was on house arrest. The only good thing was that I wasn't
missing any waves because the summer is nearly completely flat. The
one day we did get some waves and I escaped to the sea, one of the
young surfers asked me really concerned “Jennie why are you so
pale?!” That day I learned that surfing works best with a clear
head, as I was distracted and stressed and couldn't get any waves.
That was the day that I also had a giant burn on my leg after a glass
pitcher full of boiling water broke while I was making tea. I had my
leg desperately bandaged up with waterproof bandages despite the
pharmacist's recommendation that I shouldn't risk going in the water
because it could be infected. I told her I just wanted to go the the
beach, but didn't say anything surfing hehe. Well the bandage managed
to stay sealed and even though I surfed like crap that day, I was so
happy to be out in the sun and water.
An eve out with friends
Somehow I managed to meet my deadline
and finished the episode in time. My sister, Amy and her husband
Darryl arrived shortly after I had sent off the files at the end of
July, and I rushed over to meet them at their B & B. It was great
to see them and I heard some stories about their experiences in
Venice before we went for a little stroll and grabbed dinner. Over
the next few days together we spent time on the beaches in Mondello
and Cefalu` (with AC breaks and sunburn recuperation time for them
inbetween), and toured the markets of Palermo. It wasn't long before
our time was up and they were off to the airport to catch their
flight to Rome. I was to followed their path to the airport a few
hours later as I was off to Toronto.
I arrived in the center of Toronto
around midnight, but had to make alternate arrangements as I found
myself homeless due to a date mixup with the friend I was supposed to
stay with. Luckily Firas took me in for a few nights and I spent the
week catching up with friends, running errands, and having a few
adventures with Tess including skateboarding on lakeshore and a
random afterhours dance party in Trinity Bellwoods Park with a sound
system equipped tall bike.
Soon I was off to Calgary, and reunited
with my sis Amy who had a arrived back in Canada a few days prior.
The month of August was spent in Alberta with my family and I got to
meet my precious niece for the first time. I was juggling work
revisions in the mix too, so it wasn't total relax, but I managed to
have lots of family time, catch up with friends, and even hit up the
Calgary skatepark.
My sis and Jayde
Kelly's goodbye party
In the meantime, the animation studio
had offered me another episode to animate, and I turned it down based
on the scandalous workload to pay ratio. However they shocked me by
agreeing to my proposed payment which was over 4 times the original,
and so, I was locked in for another 7 weeks, interrupted for a week
as I had a vacation already planned. I was going to France on a surf
trip with the surf school in Palermo.
Back in Palermo for only a few days, I
went out for dinner with my friends and Linda, Firas's sister, who
was on vacation in Italy. Jet lagged and a little bit broken from a
skateboarding spill I had in Alberta, I managed to make it to the
airport early morning a few days later to meet the group of surfers
(mostly teenage boys) before taking off to Bordeaux.
The italian waiting game began early on
in the trip as we had time to kill before the flight and I resisted
nodding off until I sat down on the plane. Upon arriving in the
Bordeaux airport we were all eager to hit the waves immediately but
our pick up from the surf house where we were staying was late and
hours passed before we finally began the 2-3 hour journey to
Hossegor. As one might guess from the tardiness, the surf house was
ran by italians. We didn't waste anytime unloading the vehicles once
we arrived, and as the rooms weren't ready yet, everyone changed into
their wetsuits on the patio and made a run for the nearest beach, La
Graviere, one of the beaches where the Quiksilver/Roxy pro would take
place a few weeks later. The waves were big and powerful, a bit
intimidating for the first day out after not surfing for months....
My travel companions to Hossegor: Antonino, Vice`, Santo, Tonino (my ex student), and Giulio
It was difficult to just make it to the
lineup, and I tried to stay off to the side, away from the good
surfers as to not get in anyone's way. I made a few attempts to catch
waves and had a few nasty wipe-outs before my head was clear and I
was in rhythm to paddle for a wave coming my way. I popped up and
found myself super high up on the biggest wave of my life. I managed
to make the descent, pushing hard with my back leg to not get spit
over the falls and made it to the bottom before the wave closed out.
Feeling satisfied and lucky, I packed it in for the day shortly
after, and watched the other surfers from the beach.
After my first day epic wave
I went to bed early in the bottom bunk
of a room I shared with 6 other boys and caught up on some well
needed zzzz's before we packed up the vans the next morning to hit a
nearby beach, La Penon, which would become one of our regular spots.
It was always a bit complicated to decide what beach, and what time,
would bring good waves. In the ocean it depends not only on weather
conditions but also the tides which change many times throughout the
day. One day I was the only sucker to set my alarm when Danilo had
called for a 6am wakeup call. After we didn't actually leave the surf
house until 10am, I never made that mistake again.
Some days when the current was so
strong, I was using all my energy paddling to just try and stay in
the right spot, (usually never actually getting there) and if a wave
actually came to me I didn't have enough juice left in my arms to
catch it. Another day we were blessed with some great waves at
another spot to the south of where we were staying, but it was no
secret as the water was packed with surfers. I was a bit intimidated
as I was not used to the volume of people in the water, including not
just surfers but bodyboarders (who have an advantage catching waves
as they wear flippers) and Stand Up Paddlers (who also have an
advantage catching waves as they have heavier boards and a paddle,
which allows them to start from farther out).
When there are so many people, there
becomes an air of desperation in the water and this can be dangerous.
I saw a few people having arguments due to drop ins (when you catch a
wave that someone else is on) and near collisions, and tried my best
to keep an eye on everything going on around me when paddling for a
wave. Unfortunately I'm not experienced enough to watch all the
people AND the wave I'm trying to catch at the same time, and due to
my nervousness to the possibility of getting hurt and/or of hurting
someone else in the event of a mistake, I couldn't catch any good
waves that day. Just the crappy ones that nobody else wanted. It was
frustrating as I'd surely have been having the time of my life with
the waves if I were on my own, and it made me appreciate how many
sunsets I'd surfed in Sicily, completely alone.
In the whole area of Hossegor, surfing
was everywhere. The shops, the schools, the people. I loved it. I
explored the area on my own a few times and we checked out the outlet
stores on the outskirts as a group too. Our trips to the supermarket
were also fun, often minutes before closing time, with everyone
running around desperately. On the Friday night, I made an escape
from the Italians to a nearby town,Vieux Boucau, to meet up with my
friend from Toronto, Olga, who was on a surf vacation too. Despite my
efforts to rent a bicycle (I didn't have my id on me) and take the
bus (I missed the last one), I ended up cabbing it to the town about
a 20 minute drive north. It was amazing to see her and we sat down to
a dinner she'd prepared at her hostel while we caught up. Partying
with her friends was on the agenda that night and I was surprised by
the campground completely full of Germans who had spent the summer
there.
We had a good time dancing at the only
club in town and crashed late. The next day morning, although small,
the waves were long and super smooth. Olga lent me her spare wetsuit
and a Belgian guy lent me his extra longboard and we all hit the
water. After some adjustment to the longer board, I caught some waves
that gave me the longest rides of my life. Famished after a couple
hours in the water, we all went to eat before Olga's friend gave me
a lift back to the Italian surf house.
Departure day was a bit sad as the
waves weren't suitable for a quick surf session before hitting the
road. Also because part of the group was staying another week. I
helped the teenage surfers get checked in and arrive at the gate, and
tried to keep them in order. Italians in general don't tend to be so
aware of other people, like when they cut in line or stand in the
middle of traffic flow, and not just when they're teenagers.
Sometimes it seems intentional and shows a total disregard for
manners, but other times (in the case with the teenagers), they're
completely oblivious.
I would find out a few days later when
I met up with the Grandes, a family from my town Drumheller, in
Palermo, that we were on that same flight from Bordeaux to Palermo.
Despite recognizing me from afar they had figured I was an italian
woman, likely the wife of Paolo, the Italian man in our group with
his 2 surfer kids. We met for dinner in Palermo one evening and upon
sharing our stories about the preceding days, they put the pieces
together, and realized that we had actually been sitting rows apart
on the plane. We shared a number of bottles of wine and many laughs
before saying goodnight. They continued on their trip the next day to
Syracuse.
A few days after that was my 30th
birthday, they eve of which was also the last night in Palermo for a
girl who had become a good friend, Zoe. We decided to make a joint
celebration out of it, and it would become an epic night that we'll
never forget. As it was a Thursday we had some difficulty deciding on
a place, but we came across an event on a hotel terrace and decided
it would be perfect. In true italian spirit we arrived late, but our
reserved table was waiting for us. Over the next few hours, a small
group of good friends assembled and we joked and danced and drank and
it was great. At midnight I not so conspicuously popped the bottle of
champagne I'd brought (as it the customary way to celebrate birthdays
in italy) and had a toast with my friends who I felt really lucky to
have.
The night continued on in the Vucciria
for a few of us and then back at Zoe's apartment where no one got
much sleep. The next morning she was a bit frantic as she had a plane
to catch, but I helped her get packed up and walk her to the bus
stop. She was so sad to leave but I tried to console her and wished
her well before seeing her off and riding my bike home to crash. It
was 10am before I finally did. When I woke up in the afternoon I
realized I still had time to catch some waves and my friend, Al,
accompanied me to the surfing beach for my birthday surf session. We
went for gluten free pizza after that and I crashed early with a
smile on my face after having a great 2 day birthday.
Birthday surf!
It was only 2 weeks after that Zoe
decided to accept a job she'd been offered in Palermo and move back.
She was my house guest for a few days while she looked for an
apartment and I was deep back into animation work by that point and
it was nice to have her company and support to snap me out of zombie
mode. One day, late at night after finishing my quota for the day, I
glanced at my email to find a message from the New York Surf Film
Festival. I had submitted my short surfer girl cartoon to an online
surf film festival collective months ago, and they had seen it and
wanted to include it in the festival in October. I was over the moon!
Also in early October I had the
motivation to meet my deadline before the upcoming weekend as an old
friend wanted to visit. My ex Giuseppe, who I hadn't seen
in over a year and a half. I managed to send all the files off in
time and although wasn't exactly in top form afterwards, I was happy
to see him and took him on Marco's street food tour and to the beach
and for a few nights out during his quick trip.
Early November I helped assemble an
Eco-Exhibition with Danilo and Paolo from the surf school. They had
done a project involving surf therapy for young offenders, taking
them surfing and on beach cleanups, which they collected material
from to use to make sculptures. I attended one of the creative work
shops in the spring to make a creative contribution, and now it was
time that they were going to display the works. I helped Paolo bring
together his vision and had the idea to add a background with bright
blue waves.
Me , Paolo, and Danilo
The colorful fish I constructed in the spring
My surfing escapes in late september
and early october were some of my best surf sessions yet as I was
nailing some maneuvers and was so satisfied. I had less and less
opportunities to surf over the next few months as work took over and
the few days I could have spared didn't bring waves. Through November
the weather was really rainy and that meant no skateboarding either
in the evenings after I finished my work. During an anticipated
lighter work week of revisions I convinced Al to attend a trial tango
lesson with me. Intrigued, we decided we had nothing to lose by
signing up for the promotion for a month. We had some laughs whenever
we were able to make it, but from about the second lesson on I was
bored with the repeated basic steps, and wanted to learn faster. I
was often just watching the clock and waiting for the lesson to end.
There was also a lack of men which meant the girls had to rotate off
and I was sitting on the sidelines for too much of the time. I
stopped going for the last two weeks as it wasn't living up to my
expectations as a stress relief activity. Al had come down with the
flu so he didn't go either. Tango itself is lovely and I really like
it, but as always, finding the right class can be challenging.
Dinner at Al's
As December neared, my life had
completely fused with work and I was fighting an internal battle
against my conversion from human to robot. I was struggling with the
old familiar high-stress and low energy pessimism that unfulfilling
animation work brings out in me. Having good friends
around helped, as did having a light at the end of tunnel. I was
finishing just before Christmas and ready to plan a change in scenery
immediately in order to help wipe the slate clean. I considered
escaping for a few days on my own to a sicilan island over Christmas
but upon skyping with my mom one day, we happened to find a cheap
flight home and we booked it right away. Afterall, there was no
better place for me to recuperate and I was so happy to get to share
Christmas with my family after missing out last year.
In the days before setting off for
Canada, we threw a party for our friend, Eue, and another British
friend, Vicky aka. wonderwoman, hosted an amazing christmas dinner
for which she cooked a 13 kg turkey among many other things.
Having a week and a half of work to go,
I started a long day of journey across the ocean, working in airports
and on the plane and was relieved to arrive in Calgary where my sis,
Amy was waiting. I had been warned about the weather and had all my
winter gear ready to go, but was still surprised upon exiting the
airport into -15 degree, snowy weather. It'd been awhile since I'd
been in real canadian winter. I spent a nice weekend with Amy in
Calgary before heading to Drumheller. Due to jet lag, I was often
starting my work day at 5am, which at least left the evenings free to
spend with family. I enjoyed celebrating my little neice's birthday
who had grown so much since I'd seen her 4 months before, and by
Christmas I had my work totally sent off.
The indisputable
The holidays were nice and relaxing and
just what the doctor ordered. We had lots of family time between a
Christmas morning card game, watching movies, a jam session,
snowmobiling, and sledding and although the two weeks passed quickly,
I was so thankful to be so comfortable in my mom's warm house and
have lots of hugs and love everyday I was there. I caught up with
Canadian friends on the phone and got to meet up with my best friend
from high school, Kelly, to hear about her adventures living in New
York. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport and I was
able to squeeze in one more visit with my 'cousin' Martinho who I had
known in Florence and was back in Calgary for the holidays.
24 hours later I rolled into my
apartment in Palermo, exhausted, and chatted with Marco before taking
a hot bath and crawling into bed at 9 pm. I knew there were waves the
next day and had it in the back of my mind to go, but sleep was the
priority and I woke up at 4pm (16 hours later). That evening was
Marco and Andrea's joint birthday celebration and then the following
day New Year's Eve. We put together a dinner at my place, including 2
Canadian friends of Andrea's on vacation. It turns out, Jenny (one of
these Canadian girls who was Andrea's colleague in Sydney) and I we
both worked at Core Digital Pictures in Toronto around the same
period and we knew a number of the same people. It was just a group
of 5 of us girls that continued the party after the cheers at
midnight. We'd reserved tickets across the street from my place at a
theater turned disco. We danced until the early hours and didn't have
any of the usual new years hassle of waiting for a cab as we just
walked right back across the street to bed afterwards. Strategically
planned of course.
Zoe is staying with me for the week as
her apartment had been rented to tourists, and on new years day
(yesterday) we had a number of visitors with whom we shared leftovers
from dinner. Today is sunny and fresh and I'm feeling like I may have
beat jet lag already after the couple of late nights and sleep ins.
2014 is feeling super exciting as I have a number of things in the
works including another gallery show and and a big move, all left to
unfold in the upcoming months. I'm so glad to have finished working
for now and can dedicate my time to myself for awhile instead of to
making money. Let's just hope the animation studio will pay me within
a reasonable time frame. It looks like we'll have some waves arriving
on the weekend, fingers crossed!
Thanks for reading!
