London calling

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together - marilyn monroe

Listening: Howl - Florence + The Machine
Drinking: Strawberry and Mango (Twinnings)
Reading: Kant After Duchamp - Thierry de Duve

Jolie matin!!!!!!

All-nighters are no fun. This is the only good part: sunrise!! Off to bed, hope you all have a great day!

Ahhhh, i don't mind going into work, and even early at that, when the destination is Santiago, Chile( for a 3 day layover no less!) I visited Chile in late 2007, when it was just starting to turn to summer; now i am in the middle of their winter - hopefully not as chilling as my canadian counterpart. The flight from Toronto is about 10hrs 30mins, and when you arrive, as a canadian you have to pay a $130 landing fee (however it is good for up to 5 yrs, or when your passport expires) It's good to be crew, all fees are waived!! Upon my arrival through the sliding doors towards my charriot ( a mini bus that will hold 9...uncomfortably) yes, i see it. I see my breath. It is cold here. Yes, i'm going to write it. It's chilly in Chile!!!




To be honest, i didn't do much more then eat steak and drink wine (it seems to be the South American way). The location of the hotel is very far from the downtown core of the city, and unfortunately stuck in tourista-ville. I prefer to be in the heart of a city, where you can see the beats in the people walking by, the small shops and cafes as opposed to the mega malls and chain restaurants. Below are some pictures from my previous trip (at the start of summer, hence the sunlight!) Santiago is a very beautiful city, with some amazing museums. One of them is one of Pablo Neruda's homes, La Chascona (one of three homes/museums in Chile). He was a Chilean poet and this is where his nobel peace prize is kept on display. This museum is found at the bottom of a huge mountain where a statue of Mary sits atop, overlooking the city. There is a funicular rail system (like a trolley) that brings one to the top of the mountain and across is as well.

MAIL! I love getting mail (really who doesnt't?!!?) Better yet is getting mail from Japan-land! Thanks Ian for my b-day mail! Love the cherry blossom bowl and the card.




Listening: Television - Disposable Heroes of Hipoprisy
Drinking: Japanese Treasure (Green tea, Steeps)
Reading: Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick Flynn

Being sick does have it's benefits: it allows one to catch up on old hobbies (case in point this blog). I wanted to print off some photos to hang in my apartment; usually I use Costco online, however this time it was a negative that I wanted to enlarge so I drove to the store and walked up to the photo centre and asked for a 5x7 - how difficult is that you ask? Seems that they no longer have the facilities to make prints from negatives, not since September. I was crestfallen. Are negatives really that old school? Albeit I don't use film as much as I used to, but to completely remove it from a photo shop?!? Wouldn't you want to enlarge this if you had it?

Listening: What's a Girl To Do - Bat for Lashes
Drinking: Silver Cloud (White tea, Steeps)
Reading: American Gods- Neil Gaiman

What better to do when you're sick but to write about how you became so. I have no one to blame except myself, and of course BA (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Friday night I was supposed to meet up with a friend and check out an art gallery opening, however I received a phone call at 7pm that changed my evening plans. I did go to the art opening, but instead of bar hoping around the city, I went to BA for work instead (a much better deal I believe). At Gallery 47 (47 Milky Way Ave.), Jaclyn Quaresma's Of Many show was having its debut. Quaresma laid over the floor her own man-made white tiles with the intention of the audience to break the tiles as they trod over them during the length of the exhibit (one month). It was an odd mixture of emotion; at once you feel like a child, been given free reign to play, dance and step anywhere to make something happen, however once you do in fact break one of the tiles, you almost feel ashamed, like yikes, i just cracked your floor dude, sorry. It reminded me at once of Nijo castle in Kyoto and its nightingale floors, with just the lightest step one could hear an enemy approaching. The same technique seemed to work on these tiles, the lighter you tread, the easier to break, and once they did start moving away from one another, it started to take on a landscape of passing icebergs.




Ok, so I left my friend at a bar , and off to BA for me! We arrived in the afternoon and what better way to wind down from a full nights' work = malbec at an outdoor cafe of course! My friend Paulette took us for dinner to a carne restaurant named El Establo ( Paraguay 489), which served a delicious assortment of CARNE, CARNE, CARNE, and of course more malbec (there's nothing wrong with that). Afterwards I took everyone to Club Bahrein (Lavalle 345) which I had frequented in the past and enjoyed. It hadn't changed much! Three levels, top being a low key lounge, main floor a 80s-90s throwback and the basement is where it's at with house and electronica. There was a little something for all the different age groups in the crew. However, Argentinians don't typically eat dinner until well after 9pm and start going to the clubs 'round 1am. We were there at midnight (2 for 1 drinks end at 24:00 in the upstairs Yellow Bar). The music started to get really good a little after 3am, and my friend Elmo and I stayed until 4:30 (reason #2 of why i became sick this week = out too late...oh reason #1: worked an all night flight, did not rest upon landing).



Got to sleep 'round 5am and woke up at 10am to get ready for work (a Santiago, Chile turn; where we had some time on the ground to play around some).


We got in fairly late but were still hungry, unfortunately most kitchens were closing 'round 1am. We found one open until 2am, but i will refrain from mentioning it, it was not very good. I had promised Elmo to go to a mix club (gay/straight) so off to Amerika (Gascon 1040) we went! Cover was $40 pesos, with one free drink from a set menu (which mostly consisted of either vodka or gin with banana - it was awful!) The club itself was pretty cool, 3 different levels open to one another-in order to check out everyone. A drink that is pretty popular in BA is Champagne + Speed (which turns out to be their version of Red Bull) and it's delicious!

Again I made it home for 5am and woke up at 10am (reason #3 = no sleep) to make the most of my last day. A few haunts on my own that i wanted to check out. Tealosophy (Av. Alvear 1883, Galleria Promenade) which is a little shop i discovered on my previous trip, and 2 years later it's just as good! Unfortunately they only had 2 of the 4 teas I desired, but beggars can't be choosers. Ines Breton, the women who makes the teas has served the King and Queen of Spain along with the Dalai Lama. I recommend Green Geisha, Green Berries and Calm. From here I walkeded on the outskirts of Recoleta cemetery to Tea Connection (Uriburu 1597) for a great salad and of course some tea! Walked along the footpath shopping street Florida to check out the home goods at Falabella.

I enjoy working overseas, however it usually involves pulling a few all nighters in a row and when you get home you're on a wacky sleep schedule, and that can lead to a head cold, which is where i'm at. Boo.

Listening: Smoke Without Fire - Duffy
Drinking: Tea a l'opera (Green Tea, Mariage Freres)
Reading: L'elegance du herisson - Muriel Barbery

My friend Ian, who resides currently in Osaka Japan, posted not too long ago a few pictures and tales of the beautiful cherry blossoms he was witnessing. This in turn made me jealous, because I am not experiencing this sight residing in Toronto. However, with my vocation, I was the lucky traveller to Victoria, BC at the beginning of march, and TA DA = Cherry Blossoms!! Hahaha Ian, we got 'em too!

From Victoria, I flew to Los Angeles, and upon my walk back to the hotel from an early morning Trader Joe's shopping spree, I saw my first ever Humming bird. It literally stopped me in my tracks. I think I just stood on the sidewalk for a good 10 minutes watching this beautiful creature flit and fleet. It was mesmerizing. I had never seen one before, and never realized how much work it must be for that tiny bird to maintain itself, it's wings are moving at 50 beats per second! The smaller they are the faster they beat. Did you know that they are the only type of bird that can fly backwards? I am ever so grateful to have spied it's movement. My apologies for the pictures, this little guy is fast!

Listening: Dogs Days are Over - Florence + The Machine
Drinking: Cherry Blossom Tea (White Tea from Steeps)
Reading: L'elegance du herisson - Muriel Barbery

November = VACATION!!!

Finally vacation time! Where to go? Where else, South America! First stop Lima; on to Argentina to visit Ian and Urara, then the three of us fly over to Chile for a week o' fun!

LIMA! I was going to Lima by myself for two days (the direct flights to BA, Argentina were all over sold on AC). I reserved a room and a taxi from a hostel near the Plaza de Armas. Unfortunately, my flight was late arriving in Lima (4am ish instead of 1am) I had to scramble to find a taxi driver and get to my hostel. We arrive downtown, about 2 blocks from the plaza (4 blocks away from my reserved hostel) and what do we see? There is a four block radius surrounding the Plaza de Armas that is blocked off, there is NO WAY to get to my hostel, unless i want to walk through the streets of Lima at 4:30 am followed by my two suitcases which equal a big sparkling sign, please come mug me. My cabbie turns around and says: "what you do?" Eventually he informs me he knows a hostel around the corner that can take me, and I really have no choice.

The next day I try and figure out why there is a blockade surrounding the plaza, but to no avail, I can't even go into the center until mid afternoon when they start allowing certain people to enter the Plaza. I saw a protest going on and there were police with full riot gear everywhere, the Plaza had tanks, there were police on horses, it was crazy.....but nothing seemed dangerous to me. For the first day I just walked around, went to a few museums (the Spanish Inquisition) and cathedrals. That night i went for dinner at a French convent in Lima. It was a really good home cooked three course meal (cheap too, and the wine was quite tasty). It was nice to be able to communicate with someone! I was able to speak French and find out what the riot was about! It had to do with train workers and better wages. The second day I went to Miraflores (the coastal area of Lima) because I wanted to go parasailing!! And I did!! It was the best 15mins ever!!!! At night I went to the airport to hop on a flight from LAN peru to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

October

October started off wonderfully! My first flight of the month: Tel Aviv!! I love it there! I decided to go to Jerusalem, because I didn't go last time. Unbeknownst to me it was a holiday, so no buses, no trains, only Shirooks (a transport van with 10 seats). It was amazing to walk around the old walled city of Jerusalem; to see the Weeping Wall, the room of the Last Supper, the winding stone laid streets; Solomon's tomb and the Mount of Olives. It was a mesmerizing day.



When I returned home, I had a great turkey dinner with the family, and off to work again. Or not. I was in a car accident (I was not a fault) I only suffered severe whiplash, but for my faithful Jimmy, it was his last drive; my car was a write off. It was a sad day to say goodbye to such a great car!!! I know, it sounds silly, but it was a good car to me. So i took two weeks off from work, in which either the pain or the boredom were killing me. I finally went back to work just so that I could see the sunrise over the Pink Ladies in San Francisco (they are the famous line of Victorian homes painted in various bright colours - you can see them in the opening segments of Full House).

September

September wasn't the best month for work. I had wanted to start Japanese lessons and arranged my schedule accordingly. However, there were not enough students signed up for the night I wanted, the class was cancelled and I was stuck with the not so great flying schedule. There were a few redeeming factors: I climbed Signal Hill in St John's; I went to Victoria, BC for the first time on a beautiful sunny afternoon; I was able to go for dinner and drinks (and more drinks) with Kat in Van city and I had dinner with an old friend while in London.


I sent my friend Katherine an email to see if she would be able to meet me while I was in London. She is living in London, and working as a playwright (she had just signed herself an agent!) and as luck would have it her apartment is quite close to my hotel. I had not seen Katherine since she left Osaka, so it was nice to hear back from her, inviting me for dinner. She told me of a great place to go for a walk in the morning, just follow the canal near my hotel and it will lead me to Camden Lock, a huge outdoor market area....and it did! It was such a lovely morning, and I didn't have to leave for my flight for a few hours, so I walked along the canal until I hit the market.