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Making sh*t

I've gotten really into crafts lately, and wrote about it here

The crappo art is crapola which is essentially why it is good. I am lucky, because for me, lockdown is mostly just frustrating and dull. I hate how the days are like an old pair of nylon tights, stretching and warping, sprouting holes and ladders that run away. One moment they’re sagging and oversized, the next they’re too tight and you’re wondering when your ass got so big.  I constantly need…

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The Twelve Days of Procrastination

The Twelve Days of Procrastination

On the first day of procrastinationMy true love gave to meA block of chocolate just for me to eat On the second day of procrastinationMy true love gave to meTwo netflix showsAnd a block of chocolate just for me to eat On the third day of procrastinationMy true love gave to meThree hours on twitterTwo netflix showsAnd a block of chocolate just for me to eat On the fourth day of…

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anxiety

the flurry

even when the pond is calm the flurry

is waiting beneath the surface

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april showers

the birds in the main street

are doing that thing they do

at this time of year

when the afternoon rain has stopped

they are all chirping so loud

  i wonder

are they outraged at the rain?

grateful that it stopped?

singing the sun to set?

  the birds in the main street

are deafening us with their song

when the afternoon rain has stopped

singing the sun to set.

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Run 3min, walk 2min x6

Run 3min, walk 2min x6

Monday 12 November

I am hungry, I have wet hair, my legs are sore. But I’m slightly euphoric and I feel strong. There is strength in me still. Every minute of running was focused on that moment. It hurt my legs. My ankle is still weak. But I might be able to do it again.

I tripped over a tree root and scratched my knee – nothing more than that. I already have a bruise on my leg from walking into…

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The sky is falling

The sky is falling

We sat at home refreshing websites, saying to ourselves, no, there is still hope, there is still time, it will turn around, they haven’t called florida yet, there is still time. It was too hard to sit at home so we walked to a bar. Neighbours called off their balcony “Trump’s winning” and we wailed. One man stopped another – strangers – their faces lit by his phone screen. “Have you seen this?”…

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“San Francisco is a good place for walks if your legs are strong. The city is a tiny square punctuated by steep hills and bounded on three sides by water, and as a result there are surprise vistas everywhere… suddenly the ground will fall away and you’ll see straight down to the bay, with the buildings lit up orange and pink along the way.” Robin Sloan, Mr Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore. 

It has been a few months since I visited San Fran but reading the above quote brought it all back. That’s something I love about visiting big cities, finding and recognizing them later in books, movies or TV. It’s also interesting living in Vancouver, which appears in so many films but never as itself.

Visiting San Francisco had been floating in the back of my mind since the end of last year when I found out my friend Tash was going to be there at the start of March this year, and even though at the time I didn’t know where I was going to be, I made it a goal to get there at that time as well. This is probably the least prepared I’ve ever been for going somewhere new; my research basically extended to booking a ticket to Alcatraz and googling public transport on the way to the airport in Vancouver. This casual attitude extended to my whole trip; I’m not sure if it is the city or how I have ~grown~ as a person but the four and a half days in San Fran had an easy, relaxed feel, lacking the busy pace that I’ve found in other cities.

I managed to drop my phone and break the camera days before leaving; that camera I’ve been meaning to buy since I left New Zealand still wasn’t within my budget, so I was limited to selfies. This made me both extremely narcissistic (selfies only) AND extremely present; moments weren’t lost in thinking about how to take the best pictures, but perhaps moments were lost because I couldn’t take pictures.

Sunday morning I went to Alcatraz. This was an interesting experience. Going on the ferry across to “the rock” you certainly feel it looming ominously before you. Alcatraz was a pretty awful place. The constant references to the “terrible” men that were held there were pretty gross, as if that justifies the inhumanity of the place.

Alcatraz was my only planned activity before Tash arrived on Monday, so I spent the next two days meandering around the city. Some highlights:

Coit Tower, which I’d heard about from a friend. It’s fairly small, and the entire ground floor was encased in murals depicting historic bay area scenes, very cute. The squished elevator ride to the top was definitely worth it (it was even man-operated!), peaking through the small square windows gave amazing views of the city on all sides. Once again, the pastel colours blue skies and warm sun created a dreamy summer ambiance I wasn’t expecting to find.

City Lights Bookstore. 3 floors of books, the basement was especially satisfying. I got lost in the City Lights Bookshop for a good couple of hours, from the basement filled with various books on all subjects up to the attic where there rests a famous “Poet’s Chair”. Outside the window a neighbour was drying clothes from their window, men’s boxer shorts blowing in the wind threatening to drop onto the rooftop below at any moment.

I made frantic notes on my phone of many books (purchased one) and read a poem, City Lights 1961 by Diane Di Prima, a perfect way to feel the space.

“And dig it, City Lights still here, like some old lighthouse though all the rest is gone, the poetry’s moved upstairs, the publishing office right there now too       & crowds of people one third my age or less still haunt the stacks seeking out voices from all quarters of the globe”

Tips from another friend led me to visit the lobby of the SF Lucasfilm Offices and snap a selfie with Darth Vader. The suit was much bigger and more intimidating in real life than in this picture! Also spotted: Han’s blaster, Luke’s lightsaber, Boba Fett’s detonator(?). Best was the wee Yoda fountain outside. He looked a little out of place in these immaculate gardens and various buildings, the manicured lawns a galaxy far far away from the swamps of Dagobah.

The Musee Mecanique, full of antique arcade games. Super amusant, creepiest was Laffing Sal, a San Fran artifact with a disturbing appearance and even more disturbing laugh.

My wanderings also took me through Chinatown, which was busy busy busy and hot hot hot, a contrast to the breezier and touristy Fisherman’s Wharf, where I was staying. Also had my first cold press brew coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee (another recommendation), which was much needed and delicious.

Tash’s arrival was pretty surreal. We’d arranged to meet back at the hostel, so I returned to our room not expecting her yet, opened the door in a total daydream and there she was. I’m pretty sure my jaw hit the floor, I was so excited and surprised to see her FOR REAL. This was the first time since September last year that I’d seen someone I knew, from home, with the added value of it being one of my oldest friends.

  We spent the evening wandering, looking at Fisherman’s Wharf, spying seals from the dock, then on up to Broadway. Watching trams, spying steep streets in the dreamy, summery evening. We were staying at an HI hostel up in the historic Fort Mason, surrounded by national park land with beautiful views of the bay.

A cruisy bike ride across the golden gate bridge on Tuesday was followed up with lunch in Sausalito. This was the start of Tash’s birthday, given that ~technically~ it was already her birthday in NZ, and the day was ridiculously beautiful for it.

A lazy ferry ride back to San Fran 

Wednesday we wandered through the Castro neighbourhood, mint mojito iced coffee from Philz was delicious

Our neighbourhood traipsing also took us through Haight-Ashbury, bookstores and vintage shops, interesting architecture (and a desperate search for the loo). My favourite shop was one filled with hand-dyed tie-dye clothes, and the shop assistants offered us free body glitter, just cos who doesn’t need more glitter in their life?

Leaving Tash was very emotional for me. The businessman sharing my airport shuttle stop trying to be friendly when he saw my teary face. My return to what was then a rainy and fairly lonely Vancouver (not so much now!) and saying goodbye to a sunshine, a beautiful city and a cherished friend feels so far away now that the sun is shining here too!

San Francisco: Sunshine, selfies + a dear old friend "San Francisco is a good place for walks if your legs are strong. The city is a tiny square punctuated by steep hills and bounded on three sides by water, and as a result there are surprise vistas everywhere...

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Writing about New York now it all feels like a dream, that I really went there. I’m realising lately how excited I get about living out cliches – walking around a city that feels like a movie set was a dream come true. It’s hard to capture the feeling that seemed to rise in me, bursting out of me in uncontrollable smiles at just being there. Being in bustling, busy Times Square, looking down at people rushing around below on the ground floor of the Met, walking across the Williamsburg bridge on New Year’s Day. It is amazing to be there and experience it at the time but also whenever I tell people that’s how I spent my New Year’s Eve I can’t help but feel that rush of butterflies in my stomach again.

It was hard to get there, our flight was delayed eight hours so after getting up at 3am and then spending the whole day that was supposed to be in New York actually just sitting around at Halifax Airport was pretty disappointing. (Dear Westjet/Delta: $20 to spend on breakfast when the only thing open is Tim Horton’s is not acceptable compensation!).

But eventually arriving in New York and then going for a night-time walk to see all the street names and people and buildings was truly awesome and all the stress of getting there fell away.

Our first full day in the city was busy busy busy. As Kristel said, “getting all the touristy stuff out of the way” so after breakfast at a diner we headed uptown (we were staying Lower East Side Manhattan) to Times Square, to the Christmas Market in Bryant Park, to Central Park, and to the Public Library. The Public Library had an awesome exhibition displaying three centuries of female printmakers based off an original “unusually forward-thinking” collection by Henrietta Louise Koenen, (1830-1881). What a wonderful way to be described!

Times Square selfie

We dined at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown (oops) and then went for drinks at a not-so-secret bar called “Atta Boy” where they have no menu and the bartender just asks what you like and makes your drink accordingly. Pretentious and overpriced, sure, but also cosy and fun and played great music.

Grey day in Central Park

On our second morning, we were put off by a line stretching down the block outside a bakery which according to our AirBnB host didn’t make the best pancakes in town but still made very good pancakes. Still, we found some half-decent waffles elsewhere.

It was a day of poignant moments:

Seeing the Statue of Liberty (definitely an “I need a proper camera” moment)

Looking into the pools at Ground Zero (I feel like this place needs a “no selfies” sign, and then a little sad that it should need such a thing). It’s a beautiful memorial, but shouldn’t be a tourist destination (and I suppose equally shouldn’t just turn up in a list on some chick’s blog). I traced strangers’ names, and wondered who they were.

Looking up at the One World Trade Center. So very tall.

New Year’s Eve was spent at a rooftop bar in Brooklyn looking back at the Manhattan skyline. It was a beautiful spot, and we drank too much.

Photo angle reflects degree of drunkness when it was taken

The next three evenings were spent engaging in “New Yorky” activities: an improv show (amateurish but still funny), a stand-up comedy show (the one female comic was the best, in my unbiased opinion, yay), then a Broadway musical (Chicago, very excellent.)

Spent an afternoon rushing around the Met, which was sadly the only museum I visited. Will have to come back and do lots of museums and galleries.

Nipples hehe

Kristel will hate me for this

I liked this: “Tomorrow is Never”, 1955, Kay Sage, American. Designed to evoke feelings of entrapment and dislocation.

Walking the Highline was a highlight (ha!). It is an old railway line converted into a public walkway. Like Central Park, I imagine it is much more beautiful when the flowers are, ahem, flowering. Still: an excellent way to glimpse the city from a different perspective.

One morning we had brunch at a mysterious cafe Laura found. It didn’t have an address, and the instructions online just indicated which block it was on, and told us to look in alleyways. It served the best coffee I’ve had all year (not hard on Jan 3).

The last day was not just significant because it ended our New York adventure, but also because it meant saying goodbye to each other, making promises to keep our four-month-old friendships alive and to meet again in our respective countries. This hit me harder emotionally than I expected, and I confess I did hide a tear or two in the toilets of an Italian cafe.

Accidentally stumbling upon the New York Court buildings pleased my inner law geek (as much as I try to repress it).

For those interested, the New York State Supreme Court building (left) has an inscription reading “”The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government.” This quote from George Washington contains a typo and should actually read “the due administration of justice…” If administrating justice actually is the firmest pillar of good government, well that’s another issue altogether…

For our last morning’s activity, we took the subway to Brooklyn and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a clear, crisp, chilly day. Perfect views of the skyline, a perfect way to say goodbye, to New York and each other.

Kristel: pretending to be angry to make us laugh and forget that we are parting ways

I was amused to stumble across a bride braving the cold for their perfect wedding shot.

We are all tourists here

I feel I say this about everywhere but New York, I shall return.

As I write this blog, I am sitting in a backpackers in Vancouver, and it has been almost 6 months since I left New Zealand. This feels like a very long time ago, because I have been to so many new places and experienced such a drastic change of seasons in this time. I hope the next 6 months will bring just as much change and new experiences.

    New York, baby. Writing about New York now it all feels like a dream, that I really went there. I’m realising lately how excited I get about living out cliches - walking around a city that feels like a movie set was a dream come true.

[graceaway]

The Christmas season began with a trip to Value Village, where Kristel and I spent three hours in search of Christmas outfits.

  Kristel found true love amongst the fur coats

                My first Christmas dinner for the year was for international students, hosted by the Dalhousie Alumni (Halifax Chapter). It was a delicious buffet of traditional Eastern Canadian Christmas food (the seafood chowder was excellent), finishing up with some small pastries.

Jam, Chocolate, Cinnamon Roll and Carrot Cake

On Monday 21 December I finished my final exam and went out for a celebratory dinner at the Agricola St Brasserie. I ate a beautiful lamb shank and drank some Malborough Sauv! It was lovely.

Agricola St Brasserie

Before…

…After!

Apple and Pear Pie

On Tuesday we went to DeeDee’s Ice Cream with Grace for her last evening in Halifax. Grace’s ice cream was on the house because it was her last visit! Very sad times, but luckily we were not saying goodbye, just see you soon (in New York!).

Selfie pros

Christmas Eve

We had a traditional Danish-style Christmas Eve dinner made by three of my Danish friends. Roast pork with crackling (Flæskesteg), roast potatoes, red cabbage, caramelized potatoes, date and apple stuffing, and a delicious gravy-type sauce drizzled over it all.

Hosting Christmas ourselves was a new feeling and made me feel very grown-up! I now have a new respect for everyone in my family who has hosted Christmas.

  Christmas Eve Dinner (photo cred: Chris)

Christmas Day

    After brunch we went ice-skating in the Halifax Commons (it’s free!).

Skating Danes: Laura, Kristel, Katrine

Christmas Day dinner was potluck-style and everyone brought a delicious contribution.

My pavlova attempt

Boxing Day

On Boxing Day we went for a hike out to Crystal Crescent to make the most of the last clear day before snow.

Spot the human

Looking for the trail

Snack spot

Laura, Katrine, Kristel and Kara

Beach Art

  During our hike, I felt a beautiful sense of true contentment. It was a wonderful Christmas.

As I write this, it is snowing outside, and I have just packed up my entire room. New York City, here I come!

  Christmassy Days: a glimpse of my Christmas in pictures. The Christmas season began with a trip to Value Village, where Kristel and I spent three hours in search of Christmas outfits.

[graceaway]

Nova Scotia, My Heart is Here

Long overdue blog update

I have been in Halifax for almost 3 months, which is insane. It feels like I’ve been here forever, whilst simultaneously there is still something new every day. Some things don’t change when you move countries. I’m still behind on my readings, disorganised with a messy room, buying too many coffees and struggling to pay attention in class. Routine has set in. I know what buses to take, and I run…

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Paris

I went to Paris for five days on the Eurostar, my first taste of travelling alone. This was a big deal for me, but I also felt like I had to pretend it wasn’t a big deal, because all the people I met (I imagined) would be seasoned travellers for whom this was not a big deal. And it was only five days. Greek butts in the Louvre I really liked being a tourist on my own. I just went where I wanted,…

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London

London is an incredible city. A busy city. I only saw a fraction of the city, from the top deck of red buses, collecting Monopoly properties. Whitechapel Road, Bow Street, The Strand, Trafalgar Square, Regent Street, Oxford Street, Piccadilly, King’s Cross… I could never figure out which side of the street to walk on, but elevators were always orderly. It feels like I spent every day running…

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AKL-HKG-LHR

Flying into Hong Kong Auckland -> Hong Kong High up in the air and suddenly nothing really matters. Someone told me once I got on the plane all my worries would vanish and it’s true. Nearly 5000km from home, in a metal cylinder in the sky, I’ve suddenly become extremely insignificant. It’s dark outside, and everyone on this plane – and in the world – seems to be asleep except me. The people I…

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Loving a city, leaving a city

Loving a city, leaving a city

It’s been four years of living in you properly, Wellington (sorry about this year, I know I’ve neglected you). Now it is coming time to go. No more days of struggling up stairs and hills, no more nights of running giddy through your streets. It’s hard to articulate exactly what I’ll miss. The weather lately has been awful, yet there is a stubborn persistence among those of us who live here to…