africa blog: July 2014

Saturday 26 July 2014

CAPE TOWN ACCLIMATION PROJECT JULY 2014

GETTING SETTLED IN SOUTH AFRICA

well, i am out of kenya and getting acclimated to south africa...or "south of africa" as some say. this is my 3rd time to SA this year and that NYE's i spent at betty's bay 2012 where COTW was born, so i'm not exactly a stranger here. but there's a big difference between visiting a place and moving there full stop. visiting before i stayed with dear friends paula & flippie at their incredible house with amazing views. and their neighbours ria & andre were the other couple i had met on my holy land tour in 2013. i met these 2 couples on that trip and that instigated the thought 8 months later in Jan of this year that maybe i could live in SA. they all live up the hill in Raithby.

my work permit was due for renewal in May in Kenya and nothing was justifying my staying in East Africa. those doors had closed or never opened. and conversely it felt to me that doors were opening in cape town for me. too many instances to list, but QUITE a few presented themselves. i did a rekky here in feb which yielded a 6 month rental at Papyrus Lodge starting july 1, and online post production on the turtle doco in march solidified the vibe that CTSA was for me.

then i hired NWI - New World Immigration to handle my work visa for me and we were denied this month. my goal is Permanent Residency, and to be able to work here in TV & Film, acting, doing voiceover, narration, direct, teach, even do a photo gallery, but i need that work visa to be legit. so, not getting it was pretty devastating. i was gutted. but NWI sez they have never lost an appeal and not to worry. so...i appealed the rejection on tuesday and fingers are crossed. they decide in 4-6 weeks. it could be a game changer. or maybe not. IDK, what does it change? i want to live in western cape, i can come and go every 90 days on a tourist visa, isn't that good enough? i suppose so, but i have to move in january into a more permanent place hopefully and that may require buying furniture and having a bigger footprint here. as if buying a car and motorbike wasn't an over investment as it was! but those i can sell quickly if need be. all part of being an expat.

the main thing is i'd like to settle here and shoving off every 90 days isn't that conducive to having a home and being in a relationship. so something has to give. still, i believe the divine plan is opening doors for me to be here, so where is my faith to believe He can sort out a simple little work visa???? geesh. IDK, seems like i go from choosing one thing to obsess and be anxious about until a better one comes along! i need to chill and believe!

some good news on the turtle doco...Off The Fence was keen to send it to the London office acquisition team back in april, then crickets. nada. radio silence. all hope was lost. then this week they reached out and said they lost my last email dated april 23 in their Junk Mail folder. so...maybe we're back on track. they take a lot % wise, but they are global and it could add up. i'd be happy to be with them. even festivaling this thing isn't as easy i had thought. i'll keep ya posted. so far, i'm still waiting for our first Official Selection. stay tuned turtle lovers!

acclimating is really about building community at the end of the day. my Raithby friends are awesome and are my bedrock. but they all are busy with their lives and paula & flippie are off to south sudan for 2 months. the motorbike trip down from east london was great, but at the same time, added to my feeling of isolation in a new land. easy to meet folks, harder to build your posse. but slowly day by day and week by week, i'm building my inner and outer circle of friends and acquaintances. i live in a remote place on a farm, and am not involved with much, so hanging out with peeps is infrequent and appreciated when it happens. i knew this would be a tough transition building a whole new network of friends. but it's coming. and you never know who you're going to meet.

tuesday i bought a second-hand juicer on Gumtree from a girl who, go figure, she was in casting. she hooked me up with the Homeland TV series casting office and with a top agent to meet next week. her boyfriend is in production, owns Triplane, and his sound guy may have a rare Mac Pro tower i've been searching for. so lots of little connections, orchestrated in advance for me walk into.

been looking around the WC for my next move, lots of options! but i'll find the right place. and i may go to Chad to see a friend from kenya for my next "leave the country every 90 days trip".

had some little issues pop up from past Kenyan dealings, one required money to fix, but overall, kenya is drifting farther and farther away each day from my shores. i miss my students and few friends dearly, and LoJay and her family and Paka paka, but time changes everything. and being fresh in a new land, new things are always on the horizon, and the things behind you drift farther and further...by distance and degree...slowly out of sight.

so that's the state of affairs at the minute. for what it's worth, i really had the sense movie here that CT would be "home" for me. i've been drifting all my life and something about SA and WC the Western Cape just felt like home. then last sunday i randomly attend Hillsong church and there is a huge sign: WELCOME HOME. then the TV series Homeland has been on my radar since i arrived and i broke it down yesterday...HOME LAND. so my spider-sensors are going crazy. is this the place? will all my visas come through? will i settle here? marry here? find Home here? all in due time. stay tuned!

now for some pics!

SAA has wonderful planes. love the leather seats!

no bugs allowed!

century city is a living option but mostly for how 1st world posh it is! and affordable. but not much soul.

And the canal walk mall next door is a mixed bag but certainly i'm back in civilisation! if that's good???

with some german friends in front of karen blixen museum from yesteryear.

Always too tempting not to use this lane during morning rush hour!

conveyor belt sushi in Cent City. happy hour half price!

spent 2 hours with Film School Africa last friday. thanks katie taylor!

made the class a "hot set" Hollywood style.

teaching shooting, directing and acting all at once.

giving notes...remember kiddo, it's not personal!

5D with my 135mm Nikon prime.

this micro brewery has been a great find!

Home. the theme, played out.

Hillsong SSW reminds me of malibu vineyard days!

luckily my flat has a fireplace...it's bloody cold right now!

TT gets a wash between storms!

Betsy has a new home.

A storage unit til warmer, sunnier days!

Truth coffee shop in DTCT.

More Truth, the morning of my appeal. does that have a meaning?????

Truth's old coffee roaster.

Cape Town Side car adventures. next door to Simone's casting office.

love the name. in Waterfront mall.

a triggerfish.

Angel fish

predator tank

penguins, all at 2 oceans aquarium

11 billion tons of plastic are dumped every year. insane.

fun display. so many species.

leopard eel. incredible.

my farm.

my vineyard.

Buratta in Old Biscuit Mill building in Woodstock.

cool vibe.

great za! 90 second pizza oven!

finally, useful umbrellas at night with ambient lighting.

my view.

my lake

my dock

my unit on the right side.

cabins by the lake.

so scenic.

my terrace.

my main room.

triggerfish happy hour...fridays are busy! here is Laurekey, my new buddy Johan's daughter.

A makeshift headshot for CT meetings

today's blog written entirely at W Cafe at Woolworths in Waterstone Village...my new hood.

UNTIL NEXT TIME! COTW IS OUT!

Thursday 17 July 2014

KENYA TO CAPE TOWN - JUNE/JULY 2014

LEAVING KENYA - ARRIVING IN CAPE TOWN

wow, i'm really behind on my blog! my bad! sorry for the long radio silence!

so...i moved!
sold the safari prado and left kenya june 28 on a saturday.
arrived safely in cape town that night.
bought a second hand audi TT on june 30, the last day of the dealer's financial year in CT, so i got it for what i sold the Prado for!
moved into my new digs at papyrus lodge july 1.
www.papyruslodge.co.za

then flew up to east london to pick up a second hand yamaha dragster.

i had a need to go far and go fast! impossible to do where i was coming from!

so i rode the motorbike 120kph,1200kms back to cape town. took 3 days. spent the night in jeffries bay, then stanford, then home.

been battling with home affairs over my work visa. on appeal at the minute so fingers crossed. and generally getting used to first world lifestyle, like malls and highways and cinemas, and afrikaans culture, language, and vibe.

the turtle doco has yet to be accepted at a film festival, which is discouraging, but there are lots out there. the big one, Wildscreen, in the UK had half a thousand entries for 24 slots. pretty tough sledding! but hopefully it will find a home and a buyer in time.

not sure what this COTW will do without a work visa. kinda hard to settle down in a country for good having to leave every 3 moths on a tourist visa. and CTSA (cape town south africa) is definitely where this COTW (Citizen Of The World) would like to be right now. USD exchange rate is very strong, the countryside is stunning, the vibe is safe and positive. i learned today kenya is the 3rd most corrupt country in the world. no wonder it is unsafe, insecure, has no law and order, no justice, no infrastructure, and is so oppressed. you can feel the heaviness of the corruption there, as it trickles from the top down. SA is also facing similar struggles with this president Zuma, but such is life in Africa. the temptation to take and take by its leaders is too much to resist. then the greed and selfishness spoils it for all. a very hard cycle to break.

but the violence and terrorism in kenya is behind me now. sure there are random acts of violence everywhere in the world, but last week my favourite hang in Karen, the Purdy Arms pub, right in my hood, less than a kilometre from the karen blixen museum, was held up at gunpoint but kenyan bandits and everyone's cash was taken. that's gnarly. the lawlessness is growing. and the police force non-existent, underpaid, and easily bought off. plus with the growing unrest along the coast...even lamu county...probably a good time for me to bail.

almost feel guilty being back in the first world. things work here, the infrastructure is maintained well, the roads are smooth, there are streetlights, traffic lights, lane lines painted, reflectors, signage, etc. all the little things you take for granted until you live in third world africa for a 1000 days. then you notice all these little things that make life safer and more enjoyable.

presently i have no community per se, no real homeys as of yet, and feel like i'm floating in a sea of anonymity. a colossal loner. but i feel this is one of my harder transitions into a new life and it will take a while to build a whole new network peeps. nothing here is familiar at the moment, but every day here things feel more normal. i had way more connection in nairboi when i landed there and made community very easily. not so here. it will take time. but the rewards will be worth it. bigger risk, bigger reward? thinking so.

hey, i moved to NYC and DTLA without knowing a soul, so i'm sure i can work and play well with others here in CTSA. i will adjust, it will just take time. one acquaintance at a time. one day at a time. one chance encounter at a time. one new favourite hang at a time. but alone in a sea of people feels like your floating outside reality. invisible. an observer. no roots. but kinda cool as well.

my lodging takes me through jan 2015, or 6 months, so where i live next is already a concern. curious as to where i'll end up. could be up the coast in stanford or hermanus, could be gordon's bay, could be the strand, could be DTCT or the CBD in downtown cape town, or could even be in century city by the mega canal walk mall. lots of options. but need the work visa first to really decide where i'll be, or if i even stay in SA. lots at stake with the immigration details. always part of being an expat! get your papers in order or get shipped out!

let's get to the pics! and i promise more regular updates! although the internet in SA is rubbish compared to kenya! no fiber here, mondo slow, and pricey! so pics will be smaller and probably fewer. really need to sort out my wifi issues!

peaceout!