On day 2, I worked with Casey; a cool chick from New Jersey close to the Hoboken area. It's a good thing I had visited my cousin Becca a few months ago; because at least I had an idea of where she was coming from. She had commented only an hour into our work that it was nice to talk to an American where she can use "inches" as a reference point and other idiosyncrasies that us Americans do differently than the rest of the world. We chatted and worked, and she was able to give me the ins and outs from a 20-something point of view. It was actually quite funny at one point, she got so excited when we went into one room that had left plenty of croissants and toast uneaten. She snagged a croissant right up and stuffed it with the quickness. I had to snicker at her a little bit, but she smirked back and said it's one benefit to cleaning other people's shit! That being said, she was able to get into her story a bit more while we worked the rest of the day and afterwords for a couple brewskies that were left over in a room as well! Casey had moved with her family to Hong Kong after she graduated from University of Boulder. She's backpacked around China, Japan, Thailand and oh yea, she's a Phish Head. For those not in the know, it's similar to a Dead Head but they follow around the band Phish. She's been to over 50 Phish shows and has even taken breaks in her backpacking adventures to fly back to NYC for a few Madison Square Garden shows in the past. So I was getting her jist, and we talked more only for me to find out that she's been living in a tent for 3 or 4 months! I won't lie, my jaw kinda dropped. But as she explained it more, it actually sounded not too shabby. I told her that I was in need of a place to live very shortly, as Giac and Julie's house was quite full and Giac's cousin was to arrive on Wednesday; thus I'd need to vacate the room and find accommodation. I am so thankful that they were able to let me stay with them for 2 full weeks while I got my feet firmly placed on the ground! We went from work back to The Arts Factory, the hostel where she was staying and had met so many friends during her time there. I was there on talent show Tuesday; so there were a few acts that were amazingly impressive. Many of which can be seen on YouTube if you click here... I met a few of her friends who were living only a few tents over and hung out on their "porch" for a little while. There are big tents, little tents, tall tents and short tents; it's actually quite amazing. A little Tent City, with separate little nooks here and there; very reminiscent of "Occupy Wall Street." The main difference here is that Arts Factory people are just occupying life and nature somewhat off the grid. After spending the evening there meeting quite a few people, I had pretty much made up my mind that this may have been what I was looking for the whole time. It combines my thirst to live off bare minimums and puts me in a situation where I meet new people and do new things constantly.
Flash to Wednesday... I left work with Casey and we stopped by Giac and Julie's to pick up my stuff. That was all she wrote; I had my backpack with the essentials and left one other bag at the house determined to just check in at the Arts Factory and see what happens. The campgrounds were full, so I checked into a dorm room where there were 5 bunk beds and at least 3 or 4 different countries represented in the room. (the German names seem to be the hardest so far) The dorms are $31/night, so I was hoping that I'd be able to find a campsite in the next few days. To live on the campgrounds it's only $17/night, but if you do odd jobs around the hostel they will deduct from your rent and could give you free accommodation for 10hrs of work per week. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me! I hung out with a few of Casey's friends last night, without her, so that was actually even better since she'll be leaving to go on a "festival run" for a while then maybe off to Thailand; she isn't sure. But introducing myself and making new friends and acquaintances will be of the utmost importance when moving into Tent City.
I woke up today and went to Ashley's yoga class. Ashley is from Philly and has been living at the Arts Factory for 6 months or so. She is a licenced message therapist and yoga instructor ta boot. I think she's 24 or so and seems to be a pretty cool hippie chick. This was my first yoga class EVER! I must say that it was very challenging and fun too. It lasted almost an hour and was grueling to say the least. It was free but donations are accepted; I used my 1st timers special to slip out without donating. (don't judge me) After finishing yoga I went up to the front desk of the hostel to check to see if there were camp ground openings and there were. Jasper, a kid born and raised here in Byron told me to just pitch the tent in the spot and come back and let him know so he can give me a # block to set by my tent. It's been a fairly hot day, maybe even up to 80; and I still have no idea what that is in Celsius. I was setting up my tent, when the neighbor in a half tent/half camper introduced herself. I forget her name already, but she's moving out so no worries. She mentioned that I may not be in a legal tent space, but I explained that it seemed that Jasper said it would be fine. She didn't care too much, but went on to introduce me to her boyfriend Duncan. She was from England and has been here for about a year, it seemed like Duncan was from Canada and had been here a bit longer. (There are tons of Canadians here, and I've been accused of being one a half dozen times) I was invited to their porch for some tea, and had a chat with the two of them and their friends Achilles and Jake; a couple of Aussies.
After tea I finished up pitching my tent, thinking about my buddy Dave all the while doing it. There are certain times when I reminisce in my head about people and things back home... Cue In My Life by The Beatles. Anyway, I put the tent up and through my things in and realised that it may take some getting used to, or at least an air mattress. Some of these people have some tent mansions that they've grown over the months and months staying here. I've just got a little studio tent. I'm pretty much set up and here I am typing this right now. That being said, let me fill you in on some other events of the week that I missed.
I tried shellfish for the first time in 15 years! For some reason it seemed that I developed an allergy to shellfish when I was 10 or 11 years old. I remember it specifically the first time because it was the Crosstown Shootout night and we were at my Aunt's old house "Castle Gray Skull." The other night Julie and I thought, better now than never; and she and Gwen whipped up ANOTHER fantastic meal. Take a look at the pictures to prove it
I've gone surfing a couple more times and did alright. If I do want to get good, I will definitely need to go a few times a week; it's basically just like golf, especially in the group instruction that I had for two days. Oh yea, speaking of golf... I also bought a very cool terry cloth bucket hat that reminded me of one of the veteran Golf Pros that I work with back home. It's blue, not white like his, but it keeps the sun out of my face on my walk to work!
Real quick on some people I've met. Gulami, is a Turkish dude who spent part of his youth in France plays a wicked instrument that is very closely related to the sitar. It reminds me of George Harrison each time he plays; it's actually very beautiful. Gulami played music for the entire yoga session this morning, it was like having a live soundtrack which was great! I'll try to profile one or two people that I meet for each blog so that you can somewhat experience these amazing people with great stories. Click here if you would like to hear a little bit of Sitar that sounds very similar to what Jermani was playing last night and this morning!!!
Jim Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment