well, i moved to south africa 3 years ago this june 28, 2014.
i've lived in cape town city bowl district in The Piazza on Church on the Square on Parliament street for 2 years in flat 905. dead center. ground zero if you well. well, that ends this month. i gave notice i will not be renewing. the plan was to keep the place in town ostensibly for work and the weekend cottage in the country for, well, the weekends. but that's not how it went.
this year/season (nov-may) was disastrous for me work wise and to keep both places proved unsustainable. even with a roommate (fashion photographer jean pierre) this year was still a zero sum equation. i booked 2 jobs. period. and teaching the master class isn't hugely profitable. i crapped out, of sorts.
but after losing a beach house in malibu to el nino, i've learned to go with the flow and go where life takes me, and presently that means surrendering the prized flat in town and living full time in Stanford Village, about 2 hours out of town. i do the big move June 25 with movers and large pieces and my flat inspection is july 3. then i am done with town. i didn't expect my city dwelling to end so quickly but the cottage came up and felt right so i bought.
my fleece was getting the bank bond/loan and when that came through i was all in. being a homeowner doesn't compare to being a renter. the cottage won. i can always commute into town and quality of life is much higher in stanford. plus i actually have more friends out here. community.
cape town is exceptionally cliquey. friends are made in grammar school. and maintained forever. making friends in town wasn't easy outside of barmen, servers, and baristas. i had few dinner parties. it was somewhat lonely. even DTLA (los angeles) was more friendly. so be it. i have had countless dinner parties already in the cottage. small town trumps big city?
i loved cape town. a fantastically diverse city surrounded by splendor. small enough to walk everywhere and uber home if it got late. if i was rich i would've bought a place 2 years ago when i moved into town. now everything has doubled or tripled. and mostly foreign bought and owned. they buy, like in my building, then Air BnB it. and visit once a year. it's driving local housing costs up and making it increasingly hard for people who work in the city to live in the city. shame.
but living in the part of town i lived ("below Adderley" read: the poor side of the tracks) was very diverse & showed me south africa is truly "better together" at the end of the day. sometimes i think africa would be better with no whites here at all. but then what? no Indians? no arabs? no asians? no Jews? so i began to embrace all of us, and the slogan here that we are in fact "better together". it's true. we are. i've lived it, shared it, breathed it. it works for everybody.
i enjoy rubbing shoulders with all races and ethnicities and nationalities. even my master class had a wide range of backgrounds and i loved it. i'd like to think by now i'm completely colorblind after teaching 100+ students. to me the main things that matter are Effort, Attitude, and then Ability. in that order. nothing else means much. "know your lines & be on time." the end.
But HAMC may be ending. as an expat living abroad, collecting social security early mandates i can no longer advertise my master class. so...hmmm...that may mean the end to the www.thehollywoodclass.com. at least for profit. maybe i do pro bono sessions. i'll see. teaching definitely energizes me and i get a kick out of it. even my freebie one day commercial workshops i do are fun for me. there's a buzz in the room. it's palpable. like being on set. so i imagine i'll keep doing those. but probably not more of the 8-week bootcamps. and that's okay.
things are changing in my life: moving into the quiet country, leaving HAMC, leaving my flat in town, and i can fight it or go with the flow. hopefully by now after nearly 6 years in africa i've learned to go with the flow. my lease is over, my master class boot camps are over, my work permit is over 8 sept, and the new, uncertain life is ahead.
so, i'm embracing the change with wonder and keeping expectation or outcome at bay. it's a time to let things come to me. to stop chasing the brass ring. to chill. to reflect. to enjoy the moment, enjoy the cottage, enjoy new friends in stanford, and let life sort itself out. whew. exhale. step off the treadmill. not easy for someone like me who has led a performance based life for 6 decades.
my visa status is still in limbo. 16 months now on appeal for my Permanent Residency Permit. it means the world if i get it. and a lot of hassle, headache, and possible heartache if i don't get it. the clock is ticking. i must exit the country by 8 sept or risk becoming a deplorable "Undesirable" and expelled from ZA for 5 years. so without a permit to stay, i have a hard "Dexit" (david exit) before 8 sept.
my american friend matt's mom, Mimi, arrives 5 sept for 6 weeks and i'm taking that as a sign for my own Dexit 5 sept and walk the Camino de Santiago during the 6 weeks mimi will cottage-sit. (she'll also catsit as i took in Yoda, a rescue). and in the meantime i'll either get my PR permit, be denied my PR permit, or still be on appeal when i return.
i'll get a fresh 90 day visitor visa when i return, and that can be extended another 90 days. so the worst case scenario as an expat here is i live on a tourist/visitor visa for 180 days and then fly away and return.
so i leave the country twice a year, and go away 6 weeks a year whilst Mimi is in my cottage visiting her 12 grandkids and petting Yoda. that could be a nice plan. lots of caminos to walk if all goes well in spain, and the COTW can get back to seeing more of the planet.
i don't really have a bucket list, per se, but i would like to see Reykjavik, Dubrovnik, Budapest, Ireland, Greece, and if things get too quiet in stanford and i'm keen to keep working somewhere in the world doing print, VoiceOver, acting, and maybe teaching, Hong kong kinda fascinates me. a city of 7 million, incredible subway and transpo, clean, efficient, diverse, historical, a former english colony, much to see and explore. 7 times bigger than cape town.
so that's all the news thats fit to print. leaving the big city and trying to avoid the small town gossip. i had a fantastic last master class boot camp, i enjoyed my last months in town, but a new life is awaiting me. and so...the "new life adventure" continues.
now for lots of pics...in no particular order. enjoy and thanks for following my blog! - ddm
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| HAMC - Hollywood Acting Master Class 8-week bootcamp. we met 1 block from my flat. |
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| we had a fabulous last class. lots of fun, dedicated people. |
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| Lindura graduated, flew back to canada, and booked a speaking part on a michael jackson project. |
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| class certificates matter! what a good bunch! |
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| some hotties in class! |
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| a very diverse group. |
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| Beverley missed a few but did great work when she made it. |
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| will & zola my loyal sound man! |
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| whitney, charelle and didier. |
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| aimee young. now she knows "how to work"! i dubbed her "surfer girl". |
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| they get such great on-set experience. no one else offers that. charelle blossomed. and got an agent. |
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| Donya is from Iran. english second language. she always knew her lines. |
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| Will made huge strides personally and took himself seriously in the end. |
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| yes we have a script super on set in case you ask for "line"! |
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| UK actor David Gyasi came to visit our class. he plays Achilles in the BBC 's "Troy: Fall of a city". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1408543/?ref_=nv_sr_1 |
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| he spoke for an hour. it was brilliant! |
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| and gave free hugs to all after the pep talk. |
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| truly enjoyed meeting him. i offered the cottage to his family when they visit. |
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| david and roomie jean pierre. |
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| david and french student from ivory coast, Didier. |
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| david & zola. |
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| one of my scholarship kids...stephanie. great effort and attitude and natural chops. |
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| sometimes word fail in giving directions. |
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| this class was really fun! |
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| didier runs this storefront pizza joint. |
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| walking the "city trail" on table mountain is always stunning. loving the nature. prepping for the camino. |
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| jean pierre and i got out on a sunday morning. |
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| the TT and Lion's Head. |
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| downtown cape town or the CBD. |
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| City Trail...abandoned fire road. no vehicles allowed! |
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| cape town harbor looking down from city trail. |
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| Lion's Head and signal hill to the right. |
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| wider angle. |
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| table mountain. 1000 meters high. |
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| panorama 1. |
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| the nature. also good to soak in for long periods. |
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| city trail is usually empty. all the better. Lion's Head is always packed. |
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| shark windvanes in town. |
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| Didier's shop with annie and Guy. |
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| a lovely spirit. his dad was a diplomat. |
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takeaway slice
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| Yoda the rescue in my loft space in the cottage. |
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| more students at a director's seminar i offered. |
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| i talked story about my life journey in TV & film! |
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| had a nice turnout! |
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| old school cape town eatery...Nelson's Eye. |
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| a real colonial pub feel. |
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| coffee corner in stanford is definitely where the locals hang. |
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| Didier & business partner Guy. |
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| packing up 905 |
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| friday night dinner at Graze in stanford with the girls! |
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| another commercial workshop to students in Paarl. |
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| Viktor did good work. |
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| most of the class is petrified. |
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| micaela had a nice edge. |
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| nothing like a cold one on a wintry day! |
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| happy students at the end of the day. |
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| Craft burger bar. CBD. a bit pricey but jolly good. |
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| last looks at cape town near my flat. |
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| diverse architecture as well. |
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| longmarket square. lots of vendor dukas and pop ups. |
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| HAMC HQ at the CMM offices upstairs in the corner. |
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| not a fish eye lens. my building actually wraps around the church. |
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| winter fire at the cottage. |
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| sunday morning coffee in cape town. image lodge. |
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| my back stoep at the cottage. |
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| reverse angle. that pool is cold. |
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| a sunday roast at a friend's cottage in stanford. lovely. |
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| downstairs at The Piazza. |
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| loved these pillars from day one. |
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| stanford sunday walk after the roast with caro and annie. |
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| Yoda. last update: return Qatar airways ticket: cape town - paris purchased to walk the camino! 5 sept - 19 oct. Mimi confirmed to Yoda-sit. time for me to "buen camino!" |
