Kat Eye Studio

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How Things Stack Up

I was working with the photos from my last trip to Venice earlier this week, and came across this image of GROM gelato cups. Not only is it a great repeating pattern in a couple of different ways, it’s a reminder of some of the best gelato in Italy. GROM is a chain, but has very consistent high quality. If you visit Italy and see one of these gelaterias, duck in and try it. My favorite flavors are in-season fruit gelatos, such as apricot and melon. Eating this gelato is like eating the best, ripest, most perfectly tasting fruit you’ve ever had. I don’t know how they do it!

As I was looking at this photo, I was thinking about my transition back. Do I miss gelato? Not so much. I didn’t eat it all of the time. I’ve found that I really miss good parmigiano reggiano cheese, and we had to search for a source of good balsamic vinegar here. The stuff we first bought at the grocery store was horrid, even though it was labeled with the official “Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.” We think they send the worst stuff to the US since we don’t know any better. If you’ve never had it, really good balsamic vinegar is one of the most wonderful flavors. Find yourself a specialty store that imports the good stuff, and try it.

All in all though, the move back has been much easier than I expected. I’m very happy to be back. I think I was worried, by coming back to the same place, I would be coming back to being the person I was two years ago, slipping into the old routines and ways of thinking. It seems silly now, but all of the changes and discoveries and learnings I’ve had are still with me. Of course they are! The only thing I’m doing is learning how to adjust my schedules and balance my time with different demands. But the core of who I am, and how I work creatively, is the same as in Italy.

In a couple of months, when I haven’t travelled to another country in a while, I might feel differently. I did have an overwhelming feeling of strong emotion, maybe yearning, at one point when I was working with my pictures from Venice. We’ll see how that goes.

All in all though, I’m glad to be home.

PS – It’s the last day to register for the July session of Find Your Eye: Starting the Journey. Class starts on Sunday!

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One Year in Italy

What’s in this jar? Gelato spoons. 220 gelato spoons to be exact. Approximately one year of gelato consumption for a family of three, not counting the occasional cone we ate or spoon we accidentally threw away. This is a visual representation of our first year here, but there is so much more that has filled this year than can fit this jar.

One year ago today, I stumbled off the plane bleary eyed with two suitcases and a disoriented cat in tow to begin this adventure. I was a few days ahead of Patrick and Brandon, to get into the apartment and get things a little bit set up for when they arrived, while Patrick was finishing up with the movers and getting our house in Corvallis ready for rental.

I had no idea what I was in for.

In this year, I have learned:

– There is nothing like moving to another country, with a different culture and language, to humble you. You go from being a confident, independent, contributing member of society to a person who literally doesn’t know how to pay the bills or find an item in the grocery store. Everything is different, and you have no frame of reference. No experience to pull from. No language skills to work through new situations. You have to learn to laugh at your ignorance, accept where you are, because otherwise you will have a nervous breakdown.

– To throw out assumptions of “how things are done” because you will encounter, over and over again, that they are done differently here. It opens your eyes to how much we really do assume or take for granted by growing up in one culture. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense to you, you have to accept it and move on because doing it differently doesn’t mean doing it “wrong.” You will never be able to change the culture you are in to fit your own comfort zone.

– There will be things you love and things you hate about living here. You have to try it all and then revel in the things you love while accepting the things you hate. I have discovered I love the Italian pizza, real parmesan cheese freshly grated, visiting new places, creative store window displays, art exhibits, hanging out in the piazza of a city to feel the energy, to name just a few things. I have learned to accept the convoluted, confusing beaurocracy you run into, stores closed on Sundays, the passionate responses you get from Italians that quickly blow over, cigarette smoking everywhere, the non-standardization of electrical outlets and plugs.

– Travel is expansive. Travel changes your horizons. Travel gives you an insight into new places and people. Travel is nothing like living in the place you visit. Nothing.

– Many of the things we fill our lives with are not needed. I’m talking about things and activities and people altogether with this statement. By completely changing your environment, you can start to see the essential pieces of your life that are important and which you can easily live without. For example, we lived for two months without our household goods shipment, buying only the essential things we needed. We have a whole lot more in storage in Corvallis, too. But in those two months, there wasn’t much of all of that “stuff” we couldn’t live without. (Except maybe a wine bottle opener. That was at the top of the list of items we bought right away.)

So many ideas are popping into my head to share that I know I can’t share them all today. It’s like they each need their own little essay, maybe I should write them all down and put it in a book someday with some of my photographs.

I think I can sum up the learning from this first year in Italy with one word: Acceptance. Of who I am, of where I am, of the people around me, of the situations I find myself in, of ideas other than mine, of my own ideas. I can’t think of a better thing for me to learn at this time of my life.

I can only wonder, with a smile on my face, what the next year will bring.

Footnote:
I’ve mentioned previously that I’m participating the the Creative Every Day 2010 challenge through CreativeEveryDay.com. I’ve written a guest blog post that will be posted there today. If you have time, stop by there and read it and answer the questions I’ve posed. I’d love to see your answers!

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