Day 34: useful

Its a no-frenchie day! My brain can relax...

Spent the day building a urte (mongolian house - pictured), sorting saran wrap teepees, blacking out windows at the tippy-top of a very tall but not quite tall enough ladder, and running errands.

Got to know some of the people I've been working with better & had some great conversations with Kat as we shopped the aussie version of Lowes.

I kept busy so the day went by quickly; suddenly it was 7 and the crew & a few artists were sitting around having a beer. It was nice having some time to sit and talk & laugh with everyone, and it definitely made me feel a part of the group.

They asked, are you sick of us yet? Regret signing up? And I said no, anytime I feel a bit ugh, I just remind myself I'm in AUSTRALIA working an ARTS festival!! I'm so lucky!!

After a few beers, all of the crew scattered home & the last artist, Marley (pictured, with J), peddled off on his bike, J, Kat & I went out for a lovely, late Chinese dinner. They're pretty much my bosses, so its really nice to feel accepted by them. I know I'm not the most experienced when it comes to tech stuff but I'll do what you ask me, I try my best & I have no ego about it. And, let's be honest, they mostly like me bc I saved their butt by speaking some french. :)

It was too late for busses or trains so I caught a taxi & had a moment of panic bc I didn't have as much cash as I thought, but I ended up with just enough to get me home. Sigh of relief.

Today I'm so grateful & happy for:
~ getting to know people
~ gaining respect
~ scrounging enough cash for the taxi
~ soft-shell crab
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Xo! n.

Day 33: just call me mademoiselle seamstress

On the bus, I watched the schoolboys board in their brown boy-scout-looking uniforms, obeying their own social code by not speaking to each other or sitting together.

This is the 8am bus. The driver doesn't like kids & makes hard stops that cause old ladies to clench the railing in fear of breaking a hip. Guess he's not much of a morning person...

The houses we pass in Cottesloe are SO Australian, with wide verandas & silver tin roofs with scrolled supports. I love that the houses have names, written on placards beside or above the door; I can't tell if they're family names or if they're the names of the cities the original residents hailed from.

I have a lot of thoughts this morning.

The terrible blue cloth & its monsterous machine await me. Makes me wish I'd just finished it last night. At least I'll be alone to sew & won't have to speak French til I'm fully awake...

Done! Blue cloth conquered! Maniacal laugh of the victor!

...and then they brought me more fabric... Sigh.

Major miscommunication between me & the only English-speaking frenchie; even though I told her I'd sewed the panels she asked for & even described to her which edge was best to keep visible, apparently she had no idea what I was talking about but said "ok" anyway. So then she freaked out when we rolled the remainder out & it was only 3 meters. I, thinking she knew what I'd just explained, called the crew member who'd gotten the fabric to tell her it was wrong. Which it wasn't. After re-cutting all the pieces for what I had just sewed, I finally said something that triggered a "huh?" in her & she realized I wasn't lazy & HAD done what she'd asked, and I realized I shouldn't trust her when she says ok & the fabric WAS right. Major sigh (of relief, annoyance, exhaustion...).

Luckily we could still use the pieces we'd just cut & I spent most of the next 4 hours sewing them. There was a bobbin mishap for which I emailed my mom in a panic, but I managed to sort it out. There was also a needle miscommunication & instead of calling J, I just searched the convenience stores til I found some - and bought myself some chocolate in the process. I needed chocolate at 11am; that's how stressful my morning was!

BUT I got everything done. And, to their credit, the frenchies were very grateful.

Take that, sewing machine!! Ha ha!

I finally finished sewing around 5 & thought yay time to go! AB & The Scot had gotten tickets to a wine tasting from 6-8 so it was perfect timing.

But oh no, it just couldn't be that easy. Not today.

J & Kat (J's second in command - really cool techie girl) picked me up & we loaded all the frenchies set/props into their dressing room. Then went up to forest chase & watched the frenchies argue about set placement for an hour, during which I had to run back to the Blue Room to get the key for William Street from the Amsterdam artists to get the staple gun for the frenchies. Phew. Stapled the fabric that caused the mornings drama to a board suspended between two trees, while at the very top of a ladder, in the middle of a public square. Don't screw up, don't screw up... The frenchies hung up a bunch of little sandbags but then we had to take them all down again in fear of vandalization. Some punk kid stole some bubble wrap.

AB & The Scot showed up at 6, dressed all fancy, but I was still working so they wandered til I was done. At 7. It was a full-on day.

Finally heading back to the office so I could change, they looked so nice & I looked so gross that I felt like a kid whose parents had just picked her up from summer camp - today I learned how to sew & used a staple gun, mom! :)

Sometimes a glass of wine after a long day is just what you need to make your muscles un-knot. Ahhhhh...
The wine tasting was posh & fun, in an art gallery; AB & I chatted while The Scot took everything quite seriously, rating each bottle with a star system. Turns out the three of us have very similar taste in wine, so if one of us liked it, we'd all try & compare.

Apparently Sarah Palin's sister was there! We heard someone introduce her as such & thought it was a joke but she got really embarrassed so I think it really was her. She's the woman in red between AB & The Scot, pictured. Its weird that aussies even know who Sarah Palin is - I challange all of you to name a single VP candidate who WASN'T elected from ANY foreign country. I can't.

The Scot made friends with one of the wine guys (and a weird weird girl - AB & I had to intervene to get her to leave him alone) who gave us a free bottle of sav blanc! Yum. We took it to an Indian restaurant & drank it with our curry & naan. Highly delicious.

Then we caught a cab home and, sleepy with wine & a busy day, impressions came to me in fragments. Croatian taxi driver, soft-spoken, playing Led Zeppelin. Racing a train & watching the yellow lit tableaus retreat as we pass. The heavy fragrance of unnamed flowers through an open window. Home. Bed. Goodnight.

Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ being able to handle such a crazy day
~ good friends & good conversation
~ this experience

Xo! n.

Day 32: ton epaule est l'oreille de mon vie

Spent a long day working with the frenchies. I mostly painted signs for them; I'm covered in bleu et rouge paint.

It was cool though bc we actually had quite a few conversations & I managed to keep up! Well, keep up might be a bit of an overstatement; there were things I understood without having to think, things I understood after my brain processed them, things I got out of context clues, and things I only got after a quick game of charades. But the point is, we communicated & I'm proud of myself for spending the entire day "en francais".

one photo from "The Museum of Everyday Life" - the Frenchies show

For a chunk of the morning, there were volunteers helping & one of the frenchies, Pierre, cracked us all up with his English pick up lines, which I was helping him translate. One of them is the title of this post: your shoulder is the ear of my life. Ha ha! Turns out he meant pillow, not ear, but that's pretty damn funny. He also said, your butt is the pillow of my life & we told him he'd get slapped for that one.

The volunteers are mostly college (uni) girls & super sweet. There's one older retired lady; we started talking about LA & turns out she knows Curtis Stone, the Take-Home Chef on TV! She told me he's single & "such a nice, handsome young man" & that she could give me his phone number! Ha ha! I'm gonna get me a celebrity date! ;)

Late in the afternoon, the frenchies needed some fabric sewed. A sewing machine was procured & I made the rookie mistake of opening my big fat mouth & volunteering. As soon as I did, the panic set in; I'm not very good at sewing & if I screw up, its a really big deal! But I just kept telling myself its ok, you can do this, just think of how proud you'll feel when its done.

Its 4 panels, 3.5 meters long (which I did not comprehend - its looong), on a sewing machiene that threads way differently than I'm used to. It took me at least an hour to thread the damn thing. The thread kept breaking when I tried to catch the bobbin thread! Grrr! But I finally got it working (yay me!) and then realized it has no setting for a plain, lines in a row, stich. What kind of sewing machiene won't sew a basic stitch!?!? Grrr again. But, sigh, no use in growling; I picked a simple zig zag & finally sewed the first seam.

By this time I'd been working on it for about 2 hours & J called & said I could finish it tomorrow morning. I almost opted to stay & finish tonight but I'd had it with the machiene & I was hungry so I locked up & left.

On the way back, of course (bien sur!) the frenchies were leaving at the same time. I don't know why but I did NOT want them to see me; I totally hid from their view & took a different route back to the office. I probably looked like a crazy stalker hiding behind a column. It was immature but my brain just didn't want to process any more french & I didn't want to explain I hadn't finished their sewing.

I tried to go back to the Awesome office but the lifts need a key after hours (and 6:30 qualifies as after hours) and the stairway doors lock behind you - it would not be fun to get locked in the stairwell all night. So I had to leave my sweatshirt & wallet in the office for the second night in a row.

As well as I thought I'd avoided them, the frenchies kept popping up - it was like a game of war! Especially when I realized I'd gone the wrong way to catch the bus home & had to go back the way I came - oh la la la la. It probably wouldve been easier to just say hi. :)

 At the bus stop - so cold bc my sweatshirts in the office! - I overheard an American guy describing LA. How funny.

Arrived at the house to a deeeeeelicous dinner courtesy of The Scot - red pesto salmon with an avocado spinach mango salad & a bean salad.  I could get used to these gourmet meals!  :)  Then got my fix of home watching Glee & time for bed.  Zzzzzzzz....

Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ keeping busy
~ knowing I can handle whatever comes, even if I'm not super confident
~ je parle un peu de francais

xo! n.

Day 31: bump the jamz

Woke up to what looked like a stormy day, with the wind screaming through the house, frothy white wave caps & a grey sky, but by the time I walked out the door, shielded from the weather by my faithful hoodie, the sky was blue & the wind playful.

I'm having some technical problems with the blog; yesterdays entry didn't post. I sent it twice but I'm going to have to take some time to look at it & figure out what's wrong. Sorry, dear readers.

the shed behind the studio, with the Frenchies signs inside

Worked worked worked. Not a hard day, just a long one. Officially worked from 10-6 with the frenchies but stayed til 9:30 to help AB bump in (load in/set up) her exhibit. That's what friends are for. Plus, its the first time since I got here that I've really felt useful AND there may have been free pizza & beer involved... Just sayin... :)

AB's exhibition space before bump in

Sorry for such a short entry, there's just not much to report. I'm in a foreign country, meeting locals, working in the arts & life is good. The wind is still howling but now its my lullaby.

Today I'm so happy & grateful for:
~ my technical theater ability & problem-solving mind
~ not getting stuck in a downpour
~ an official "staff" badge for the festival!

Xo! n.

fudge.

i've been having trouble with my mobile blogging the past couple days - hopefully i'll have time tonight to get it sorted.  meanwhile, sit tight, i promise new entries are coming soon...  xo!

Day 30: cameras & concerts

Went to the wrong bus stop this morning & missed my bus to work. Plus, in my cartoon-y Awesome T-shirt, capris, ankle socks & tennies, I look special.

Not really starting the day off right.

the wrong bus stop - but its a nice view!

Finally made it into the city & went straight to where the Frenchies were set up, as J told me yesterday I'd probably be with them. They were working with their volunteers & didn't need me for much but my stage manager instinct kicked in & I started organizing, making phone calls to the office (finally I have an Oz phone!), etc. Kept myself useful.

the Frenchie's volunteers filling sand into sandbags

The French performance is really quite interesting; without stealing, I'd like to implement the idea back home. They do living portraits where they set up the audience in picture frames with different themes, one might be a giant bed, one might be a clothesline. Its a little like those cardboard stands at fairs where you stick your face in the hole & you're a weightlifter or girl in a bikini, but much more participatory. Maybe I can find a link to it online to show you; its really cool.

They let their volunteers go at 12:30 & J showed up around 2 & said there's not much to do today so I had an early afternoon off, which was useful since shops close at 5 here so I hadn't been able to get anything.

the art installation in forest chase (told you about it yesterday)

Wandered around pretty aimlessly until I stumbled across a camera shop. My intention was just to compare prices but the guy was so helpful, they had exactly what I wanted, and he gave me a discount sooo I bought a camera! AND an underwater case! AND got a little tripod for free! Hee hee hee.

Its the newest version of my old camera, so I pretty much know how to use it & I can use the memory cards I have. The underwater case was made specifically for it & goes 130ft deep, which is most likely about 40ft deeper than I'll need (but the other option is a camera that only goes 30ft deep, per what I've seen online, and I've already dived deeper than that). It was all expensive but I feel like it'll be worth it. They're both by cannon so the picture quality & colors are good & I can get support in the US if there are any problems later.

 So I guess thats my Aussie souvenir!!

Celebrated (and plugged in) my purchase with a glass of wine with AB at her office & then we met up with one of the artists, M, The Scot, and their friend for a sushi dinner & a concert.

AB's friend Tegan is in the band Voltaire Twins & they opened for Massimo Park tonight. They were FANTASTIC. Tegan rocks it out in a ridiculously graceful way & the other singer is all floppy hair & spastic moves, but it works. I seriously advise you to look them up & buy their music. Now.

Massimo Park was pretty good too tho not totally my scene; the lead singer could've been my friend George & actor Seth Green's hyperactive British love child so he was fun to watch. :)

All in all, good day.

Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ being able to buy a new camera & underwater case
~ good music
~ not knowing what happens next
Xo! n.

Day 29: first day of Awesomeness

Went into my first day of work bright & early with AB. I didn't feel nervous, just completely unsure what to expect.

The Awesome office is cluttered & adorable; cotton candy pink with black & white stripes. Sweet & smart, like the girls who work there.

this isn't their office but it's a similar feel (from we heart it)

AB took me down to Forest Park, an oddly-named cement courtyard in the city where the festival is building a maze-like art installation. There I met J, my supervisor, who is total techie/hippie/bogan (bogan is kind of redneck - no offence meant to him!) with long almost dreadlocked hair & a zz-top beard. But you can't judge a book by its cover; he's super nice. As soon as I got there I was really intimidated tho - I was the only girl & all the guys were tough looking techies & all I could think is, its been a while since I wielded a screw gun... But he let me run some errands with AB to get familiar with the city & by the time we met up again, there were other girls on crew.

I helped bump in (load in) some real airplane chairs for an installation, and saw the space they're setting up for AB's exhibit. I went on a supply run with J to the house where he's staying; we went into the backyard and -- there are KNIVES embedded into REFRIGERATORS. And rusty tore up fridges all over the yard. Apparently his friend who lives there not only throws knives but creates (really cool actually) lampshades out of the hole-y sides of refrigerators. Phew. It was one of those moments where you think, should I laugh or run...?

i thought this could be me! (from we heart it)

Back to the site & J wanted me to stick with him bc he found out I speak a bit of French & could possibly communicate with the french artists they brought in. Oh la la! THEN I got nervous. But I thought, just do what you can & if you really suck, this'll all be over in a few weeks anyway. :)

Met the Frenchies, introduced myself in french, explained I speak "un petit peu" & stumbled over a brief conversation. Its so hard to understand them, but they seem to appreciate me making the effort & throughout the day I had quite a few muddled conversations that were exhausting but "tres interessant". :)

I was pretty much j's shadow for the first 5 hours; I felt pretty useless. When he took the frenchies to the hardware store, I couldn't fit in the truck so I went to the office for lunch. My morning had left me feeling uncharacteristically quiet & unconfident; its tough enough starting a new job, let alone in a foreign country & doing something youre quite rusty at. But after a chicken wrap & a coffee, I reckoned I was ready to try again.

this isn't the installation but it's pretty similar...  (from we heart it)

J was still sorting things with the french so I offered my help on a crazy Alice-in-Wonderland-on-crack type art installation. I don't think they really needed another person but I was tired of standing around. That was nice bc it was all young people working & I got to pick up a hammer & a screw gun without fear of being laughed at.

I did eff up though - ugh on my very first day! - the artist asked me to bracket the plaster deer head to the TV (don't ask) so I was screwing it in & the antler snapped off. Balls! In my defense, she was very unclear how she wanted it attached & I didn't know the antler was so fragile. But I felt terrible & as I hot glued it back together, I hoped she wouldn't tell J or blacklist me from working her show. Oops.

After a few other small tasks, it was 5 & she didn't have anything more to do for the day so I checked in with J & he said I could go. Checked in with AB & she told me where to catch the bus but she'd be done in an hour & 1/2 so I decided to just wander the city for a bit & go home with her.

This really is a beautiful place. Its not a very tall city and there's a lot of green space, which makes it feel welcoming. Its already decorated for Christmas (!); at home I'd be mad but here its just pretty.

I walked down through the park, past a Ferris wheel to the water & sat under a palm tree to watch the sunset. It seems every major city in Australia has a Ferris wheel; not in a theme park, just in the city, which is funny to me.

Caught the bus home with AB when she was done with work & she & The Scot went to workout with their personal trainer, so I had the night to myself for a while. Just messed around online (obviously got a fix of my we heart it.com obsession) & watched TV, then to bed.  :)  Another big day of work tomorrow...

Today I am so grateful & happy for:
~ my first day of work is out of the way
~ practicing my French
~ leftovers

xo! n.