So here I am on my last day in San Fran....I thought i'd stay here a week but well i'm still here... partly because i lost my wallet! But also cause it's been excellent... Leaving to L.A. today.
It was a long and unremarkable plane from Melbourne with a stop over in Auckland that i had no idea we were going to make. Not because it wasn't scheduled just because I thought I'd booked direct! Infact everything leading up to me going away and begining this adventure felt unreal... surreal. Felt like a ball was rolling and there was no stopping it. Something I have to do - was going to do no matter what, weather the sky fell in or not. So here I am. Doing it. Living it. It's Great!
But me coming here - ending up here it's an interesting story... well not so much of a story but me responding to what felt right. Finished dancing in October in China of 2006 and didn't really know what was going to happen next... multiple reasons formulated the idea to go. I didn't want to get stuck doing the same things i'd been doing for the last 10 years again in Australia, and there was a big chance of that. I didn't really feel motivated or challenged - more than that - like there was anything worth me trying for in Australia - i just couldn't be bothered! Also i really wanted to change my head space on how i view myself and others from a gay point of view (!) and also in the greater sense of that and was begining to feel very much a product of the 'system' in Australia. I wanted a challenge - I wanted out baby! And here it is - i'm out! Simon Doe a dresser on the LK planted a seed for this to happen and the fact you can't get a working VISA to the UK after you're 30 also was a deciding factor. I still wasn't 100% though. I'd kinda had a big relax and got closer to me since finishing work in October but still wasn't exactly right yet. And the idea of moving to a country reknowned for being grey and miserable in winter from an Australian summer was just too abhorrent :( So I still wasn't keen to race off to the UK...
My sister set this up I guess... an email suggestion to "come hang in L.A and San Fran" by Fiora sounded like a good distraction and maybe on some level just what I needed before facing up to whatever it is I'll be facing up to in London. I'd never been to the states before and didn't know when I would go... so now seemed as good a time as any...and I had enough frequent flyer points to get there without paying a fare so... it seemed like everything was fitting neatly into place. Leaving Australia though just seemed like a movie I sat through - all the images brightly coloured from different locations around the country - Sydney - Melbourne - Tasmania all presenting like a slide show in my head but me removed from it already. At least this time I didn't feel like there was more that I could have achieved or done. Something I used to feel without fail in the past when I was about to move on from somewhere. Yes everything felt like it was predetermined and I was just living through it. To make the end.
Sad to say goodbye to everyone especially since i'm telling myself that i have no fixed idea when i'll come back to Australia.
So I'm here being kindly looked after by Savannah and her partner Rowland. Savannah is my flatmate from Brisbane - from when I first moved up there in 2000. She's friends with my sister. Back then Savannah was known as Jo and my sister as Amy, but since then they've both changed their names.
Savannah plays Violin professionally and while touring the US attended a gathering of other believers in her spiritiual faith met her current partner Rowland who is a San Franciscan local. Hence Savannah is now based here and I am their guest! Rowland owns art galleries in San Fran - of which he tells me their are now more than 400 - although his were the first. I believe him too! His galleries seem to do very well...he certainly has a knack for buying and selling art judging by their lifestyle! It's been awesome staying here a very different type of expereince than travelling any other way, living with locals.
So here I am in San Fran. not what i expected. a smaller city than i thought it would be. Melbourne is easily bigger. a beautiful and clean city though. hardly see any rubbish on the streets of 'downtown' which is what the locals call the centre of town as opposed to uptown. maybe there is more rubbish outside of downtown...but there is certainly a lot of money here! I can see it everwhere. The Americans love to shop! That's all they seem to do! Shop! There are four department stores within 500 meters of where Savannah and Rowland live, and a fifth opening later this year... and really nice stores we're talking David Jones styles...
So i've been having a great time meeting people and just getting around!
I met an english guy called Dan who lives here with his boyfriend and is a theatre performer from the West End.
We've hung out quite a bit and he's been awesome showing me the sites and giving me a hard time over my 'accent', which is fine he sounds more out of place than I do here! Done the gay club thing here - lots of bears in SF - (it's a term for a big butch gay guy - usually with a beard) been sightseeing - been shopping - lost my wallet! - visited the police station in the hope of getting it back but alas! I loved that wallet too! Savannah said it was probably the universe trying to keep me here. Or a sign that I shouldn't leave yet... for had i not lost it I would have travelled south already to L.A..Las Vegas... I think she's right. My horoscope said I would find an innovative way to save money this week...well i didn't think it would be losing my wallet. but it certainly was an innovate way. I can't spend freely as I don't have any bank/credit cards so in a way it's good :)
Now i've been told that California and specifically San Fran is totally different to anywhere else in the US. People are more friendly, San Fran is cleaner and the greenest city in the states (environmentally friendly) and most tolerant of minorities. This city is 30% chinese, there are heaps of gay people (it is San Francisco) and most of the city is latinos (latin americans).
Bearing that in mind here are my thoughts so far on travelling the US:
poverty - inspite of it's wealth and cleanliness there are a lot of homeless and crazy people here. Needing mental help crazy. Apparently that's because the Bush administration cut funding to the institutions that help these people and basically turned them out on the streets. This was nationwide but as California (where L.A and San Fran are situated) had a good reputation as a welfare state and has a more consistent climate than most other places in the US (it never snows here), these displaced people were encouraged to leave NY and other places to come live in California! I've even heard some of them were given one way tickets to get here....outrageous!
carbs - i see bagels, i see donuts, foccacias, turkish bread sandwiches, sourdough, pretzels, twinkies, cakes cakes cakes! OMG these guys really love their carbs. everywhere there are great things being baked and coming out of ovens! Not many salads... The bad thing for me is that i just want to try everything! Anything new or different i havn't had before I gotta give it a go! That said i'm not looking bad... just yet.
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