We’d like to give a huge thank-you to Fat Franks for agreeing to be part of Reasons I Hate Being Single ! Audiences will see a Fat Franks hot dog cart in the film, and they’ll also provide on-set catering for the cast and crew.
Please visit one of their restaurants or outside in the spring and summer!
Thank you to everyone who’s supported us, and the Easter Bunny so far.
Please note: the campaign email address is MINE: hmorrow@takeabite.ca . Contact screenwriter Heather with any questions or for information about the film!
You have 2 weeks left to get your Easter chocolate bought here, AND support our next film at the same time, as long as you live in Edmonton. Deadline to order is March 24.
Maybe you know someone in Edmonton who’s not into artsy films…but is VERY into chocolate.
Point them our way for Easter candy, and YOU get to come to our virtual screening of Nowhere Normal.
The website asks you to register as a supporter / customer, and then you can click on Marketplace (the Easter catalogue) or form. Purdy’s doesn’t keep your information – we called them and checked!
It’s said that when you move to a new country, there’s a honeymoon phase. Everything in the new place is, to you, exciting, different, and often magical. This will, however, at some point, be followed by phase 2: Reality.
My honeymoon phase in Santiago is over.
It began raining here about 2 am on Thursday morning. Rain was slapping against my window so hard it woke me up — I’ve been sleeping fitfully anyway because it’s cold here, which is compounded by a lack of indoor heating except with space heaters. It continued raining for a straight 26 hours! Despite experiencing flooding in the past, and regular rain in their autumn and winter, Santiago’s drainage is very poor, so there’ve been streets flooded. It was also very windy last night, and there were broken branches landing on cars. A friend who lives near Salvador metro station had part of her building’s roof fly off.
Today, Saturday, I slept in and went to have a shower at 11 am. The water was off throughout our apartment. I had been warned this happens sometimes in Santiago during winter, because the sewage system gets overwhelmed. Buildings will be told to shut off water to keep from adding to the problem. If this had been a weekday and I had to work, I’d be going there looking and smelling like an angry cat.
The water’s come back on since, but now the power is off in all the common areas of our building. We still have electricity in our flat (thank God), but my flatmate had to rescue three wet loads of clothes from the common laundry room. She’s hanging laundry off the shower curtain rod, on broom handles laid across the tub, off the curtain rod in our living room, off the backs of the stools at our breakfast bar…!
All that, plus buses with plenty of room sometimes not stopping if they don’t feel like it. And transit fares having THREE rates depending on time of travel, rush hour being TWICE as much as off-peak (what’s called “normal” time is only a bit cheaper than rush). There’s the banks closing at 2 pm every day (including, of course, pay day). I find the drinking culture here is on par with Scotland — that is, more insane than France! Sure, you CAN say no if someone offers you another drink… it’s just not DONE.
Overall, I do still like it here. Except when it rains. And this is proving to be an unusually cold, especially RAINY, autumn.
The gaping maw of darkness outside our door. Apparently the elevator still works, but I’m not trying it.
Laundry!
And more…!
….laundry.
Ice cream. With strawberry sauce. Not going outside for a warm dessert, uh uh.
At Fuente Oficial, Santiago. Most restaurants in Chile have Menu del Dia — which will come with an appetizer (or in this case, tapas!)……a main course (I went for the menu pacifico, tuna AND salmon!)……a dessert and coffee!I mistakenly bought this — ONE LITRE of PRE-WHIPPED CREAM– in a tetra pack, instead of milk!Churros. CHURROS.When a friend handed this to me, I said “What is it?” It’s called mote con huessillos, a very traditional Chilean drink + snack. At the bottom is a husked, cooked wheat and whole peach (pit still in). You eat that with the spoon, while sipping the juice, which is made of honey, water, and cinnamon. REALLY nice!Another Menu del Dia example, from a little village in the Andes. The starter was bruschetta, salad was sliced tomatoes and cucumber. Main course was Cazuela — HALF A CHICKEN, with rice, potato, corn on the cob, and squash, all in chicken broth. And dessert was…a banana!You can get mussels in a tin, like tuna! This makes me weep with happiness.This was my first asado, the Chilean barbecue. NO VEGETABLES ALLOWED.Ketchup. In a pouch. Why do I find this weird? A bottle isn’t more natural. It’s…just what I’m used to.Marraquetas, Chile’s version of sliced bread. Which is not sliced, is precisely baked to come in 4s, and is more like a bun. Perfect for chorizo at an asado, for example.I admit to being confused by some Chilean words: in any other Spanish-speaking country, this would be torte de limon, but here, it’s pie!I can’t explain how good these cookies are. I’ll let their placement in the supermarket do it: These cookies can’t be found in the cookie section…but in the chocolate section.This. This is the glorious empanada, fast food of South America. But putting this into the same category as McDonalds doesn’t do the empanada justice. They can be filled with almost anything – cheese, chicken, beef, black olives, eggs, shrimp, mussels! – and they’re available everywhere. I’m busy so I eat take-out a lot here, but take-out is usually this, and there’s nothing here to complain about.
My first full day in Japan, I visited a university friend who’s been teaching English since 2002. He lives in Shizuoka Prefecture, and we met up in Kategawa, 90 minutes south of Tokyo by train.
This is what Japan’s “countryside” looks like, and this area grows mostly buckwheat. However, industry is never far away – my friend teaches Yamaha employees at the local plant.
Entrance to the castle grounds.
The tower, donjon, of Kategawa Castle. The original fell into ruin in the 19th century. This is a complete reconstruction.
The view!
Looking down onto the ORIGINAL Palace – a separate building from the donjon.
Entrance to the Palace.
Not a great photo, but still, samurai swords on a rack of antlers!!
The inside of the Palace. The floors are entirely tatami. When it was in use, the doors would’ve all been closed.
A courtyard in the palace.
Another courtyard, partly for the greenery, partly for air circulation – it’s hot and humid here.
What is there to say. !!!
The Garden.
Is this cool or creepy?
On the way to Shuzennji Izu shrine.
I decided not to take a picture closer up, as there were worshippers visiting.
Cool tree!
The restaurant where we had lunch – the only time I sat on the floor.
We had the soba (buckwheat noodles and fresh tempura. SO good.
For International Women’s Day, our school’s staff went on an outing to a fruit farm just outside Zhongshan. In Alberta, Canada, you see canola and wheat. Here, in a subtropical zone, you can see, and immediately EAT, these:
Sunflower!
Photo by my co-worker Vicky.
STARFRUIT TREE!
The farm’s owner picked this starfruit just for me, and asked to take my photo with it.
Closeup of the ripest starfruit I’ve ever seen. At home they’re usually tiny, and green.
TOMATOES.
Not sure…sadly, not ripe enough to try.
Green dates! They tasted like mealy apples.
Me eating starfruit. Juice all over my face, hands, and shirt.
Field of dragonfruit.
Closer on dragonfruit plant — don’t they like cacti?
That’s a BANANA TREE!
Papaya tree.
Fresh. Cut. Papaya. Indescribable.
A very attractive photo of me masticating on a piece of newly cut SUGAR CANE.
Watchdog!
And THEN, we had dinner.
All the meat. ALL.
This is meant to cool you down during smoky barbecues. Vanilla flavoured chrysanthemum milk won’t replace beer for me.
Or Macao. For various reasons, I was only able to stay one night. NOT ENOUGH. Will be going back. I spent most of my time there giggling because my Spanish allowed me to understand just about ALL the Portuguese I saw!
Just past the gate from Gombei Port in China…
…is the entry to Porto Centros, Macao.
The fountain before The Sands hotel and Casino near the harbour.
What street is The Sands Casino on?
“Lotus Flower in Full Bloom,” across from the Sands.
The flags of China and Macau.
One ferry arriving from Hong Kong, another just leaving.
A Cine-Concert…The Triplets of Belleville, with live music. How fricking cool is that?!!
This fellow was just handing out lucky red envelopes to kids!
This is part of Fisherman’s Wharf, very nice restaurants and shops in slightly kitcshy new buildings made to look “old”.
Beautiful fountain in between faux Italian and Tudor English houses!
The aptly named Harbourview Hotel. Not sure what style architecture this is…
Lovely red lanterns everywhere.
Most of the buildings in this area were old-style, but the brick and stone of these tells me they’re genuine.
Looks like a Roman column, doesn’t it? Hee here!
The “Roman” column overlooks the “Roman ruins” of the Babylon Casino!
“Roman” Amphitheatre. I kept telling myself “I should hate this…but I don’t!”
“Give me your money to eat! Bwa ha ha!”
New Year’s Display on Fisherman’s Wharf.
How much more like Vegas can you GET! So ridiculously awesome!
LOVE THIS.
Jardim Vasco de Gama Garden, as seen from the front of my hotel!
Sports centre to one side of the Garden.
Orange trees. I am NOT exaggerating, orange trees EVERYWHERE!
Fountains of Vasco de Gama Garden.
Vasco de Gama himself.
And this is my hotel, from the Garden. If you didn’t hate me yet, you do now. 😀
I treated myself to dinner at Fado, the Portuguese restaurant in my hotel. These are fresh codfish cakes.
All of this came with every meal! 6 different breads, 3 flavours of olive oil, carrots steeped in olive oil, olive tapenade, and garlic-tomato butter.
Seriously, ALL the seafood. This is shrimp and bread stew. Happy Place.
The church of St Michael.
This is a bridal shop!!
Rua Horta Companhia Rotunda.
I wish I could tell you what this shop sold, but it was shut!
The other half of the crazy-awesome display.
The air smelled different in Macau. It took me a while to realise ALL of these shrines had incense burning. Those are wrapped cookies in front.
Just hanging off someone’s door. Amazing.
New Year’s decorations down a street median.
I couldn’t stop marvelling at the streets here…
Monkey see…
…monkey do.
Tap Seac Square.
Tap Seac Square.
St Lazarus Church.
Another church. I lost track. I think the Portuguese colonists were Catholic.
Bonito gato negro, esta desayando.
This was a church, now it appears to be apartments. Sigh…
The paving on the street is modern–it fits around manholes–but it’s very nicely done.
Looking down from the ruins of St Paul’s. The crazy pointy building at the back is The Grand Lisbon Hotel and Casino. (Macau has a LOT of those.)