Joy. Just Joy ...

Sometimes, I should confess, some Genovese are shocked by my passion for their city. The waitress on Sunday ... she couldn't believe that I had chosen Genova, over the UK and New Zealand!!???

But honestly, at the moment, my life feels like I'm a child again and so joy is the simplest thing really.  Small things ...

In these days, joy can be found in succeeding down at the shops. This morning I bought sweet tomatoes, and a pile of focaccia - because there's a party in the mountains tonight and I'm going.

But best of of all, I bought an abbonamento mensile integrato.  A month-long bus ticket, so much cheaper than the 10-ticket book I've been using. Thank you to Outi for that idea.

And everyone was so kind to me, to this non-fluent child of the South Pacific, wanting to live in their city.

The photograph ... here's me, casually writing, ohhh, that's just the bounty of my magnificent success!

And there's Coco, my beautiful cat companion here in the city.  She came to check out my purchases. We talk. Well really, I'm her slave and I ask her if she needs anything. She likes to wake me in the night, wanting me to rub her belly, to stroke her head and honestly, she taps me on my nose if I try to ignore her and cover my face.  Or she kneads my hair ... which is quite disconcerting at 3am.  Running her claws through the length of it but never touching my skull.  I'm quite impressed but remain disconcerted that she can even do that.

I'm fairly sure she thinks she's hilarious. I find her more amusing during daylight hours however, I have been known to laugh weakly, as she insistently works on waking me up a couple of times every night. 

And yes, I could close my bedroom door but I can't.  I think it would upset her and anyway, I guess it's nice to be checked ... you know, that I'm still breathing. 

In Memory of Fulvio Currò

I captured Lino Marmorato in the image above.   A truly delightful subject for my camera, and a retired Genovese referee too. 

I was attending the 19° Trofeo Fulvio Currò, up in the mountains near Genova, in a place called Torriglia.  The football competition is an annual event, organised as a memorial to Fulvio, son, brother, and friend of those attending.

It felt like a privilege to be there.  And as I photographed the day unfolding, I realised the thing I most wanted to capture was the deep sense of friendship and affection on display.

It was a sweet afternoon of old friends greeting one another, with quite some mocking, and so much laughter.  And some football too.

And then came the evening, a dinner in Ostaia Becassa ... a place where my football team is honoured.  You get an idea of it here ... note the rossoblù mementos, Genoa mementos, all over the walls, in this clip not related to Fulvio's evening. 

I hadn't imagined such a place existed but it does The food was good, and the company ... even better.

Some more from the day ...

Golden Days ... Genova

My mornings begin slowly in this golden city in Italy. Morning after morning, I wake to soft blue skies and 30 celsius.  It's changing the pulse of my body ... of my mind. 

I am finding my feet but so slowly. 

Every time I move countries, I have to relocate everything.  The names of simple things change with the language.  Favourite places and people need to be discovered.  And I search for that new rhythm for my days ... for my life.

My holy moment, those breakfasts I love, have to be hunted and gathered again.  Reframed by what is available.  I haven't quite found 'breakfast' here ... not yet.

My skin is becoming brown, my feet have become accustomed to open leather sandals, and I wear that silky clothing I found in the secondhand shops in Surrey.  And I'm bemused because I've never been a silky clothing kind of woman.  But it's hot.  Really hot.

I have this idea now, that wearing clothes only happens because we have been civilised.  In Genova, the heat and humidity dictate that we only cover the skin that we must cover because any more coverage is just plain insane.

But the city and its colour... I began this wanting to try and describe the peachy, golden glow of the buildings here. 

In the past, I've always lived 'in' the city but this time is different, just for a while.  And as my bus rolls down the hill into the city, I see the glow of the buildings and begin to understand that colour is one of the things that has made me fall in me love this ancient place.

Even here, looking out from my borrowed balcony, the buildings are shades of pale yellow through into gold and terracotta.   And yes, then there's the blue sky, arching over it all ... every single day so far.

Life feels soft.  The air, the sea, the colours that surround me.  It's early days and I'm letting myself sink into them slowly.  Knowing I shouldn't but unable to help it.  To rush, to be stressed, to worry ... would be to waste it all.

I have half-constructed that precious breakfast.  There's a coffee machine here so I have my espresso.  Peaches are ripe and cheap at the moment ... they remind me of Christmas, long summer holidays, and home.  And there's cereal but this is definitely only an 'under-construction' kind of breakfast.  The search continues ...

My dinners are mostly about salad.  Paysanne Salade might loosely identify the mix of ingredients that find their way onto my plate.  Sweet lettuce and baby tomatoes,  and a little cooked bacon.  Sweet potatoes (New Zealand's kumara) cubed and lightly fried in some oil, with pieces bread falling into that pan too ... after the bacon.

I'm not sick of it yet.

I have so many stories of good people and marvelous adventures.  It's time to start telling them but first ... you understand, I had to mention the colour.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose ...

And so it is ... 'nothing left to lose'  has gifted me the courage to move to Italy.  Finally!

I have been loving Genova since 2008 but ... I had stuff I could lose, I didn't dare move.  Who leaps from that kind of cliff edge really ... without wings?

Suddenly, and unexpectedly... I lost everything, even a country.  Everything, except my books and my desk, and that's only, so far.

But really, I'm smiling.  I'm slimmer and stronger than I've been in decades ... and honestly, that's a good thing.  Right?

'Stuff' can trap a soul in one place, oftentimes quite happy to be there.  Add that brilliant job, the family, those responsibilities ...

So my take on all that is ...how many people get the chance to wander off, in search of that next life. The next big adventure?

Mmmm but this is my second big move.  The first time, I packed my shiny, new university degree and flew out of New Zealand heading for Istanbul.  This time, I have meandered ... slightly lost and a little bit broken.

Finally, I arrived ... on a Tuesday, here in Genova, Italy.  In that city I have loved, more than any other since 2008.  I have that 'nothing left to lose' thing going on and I'm planning on making it here because I believe there is nowhere I'd rather succeed in making a life.

It's been so good to be back.  And fortunately, I really enjoy the northern Italian sense of humour.  Mmmhmm ... because there has been quite some teasing, as new doors opened and I've met new people.  I had forgotten the humour.  The affectionate mocking:-)

Most notably/enjoyably, I was documentary photographer at special event last Friday.  Up in the mountains here (I love writing of being up in the mountains in Italy) and it was such a privilege to be there, to be free to capture the day, to meet the people I met.  I will write of it soon but I need to process the photographs. Get permissions to share.

There is something about Italy ... about Genova, that fills my soul with a special kind of joy.  I have no idea what it is and, believe me, the Genovese cannot begin to imagine what this terribly 'enthusiastic' foreigner finds here.  Never mind,  I find something I warm myself on and so here I am.  Tasting it, trying it, loving it.

I suspect there will be stories ... lots of them.  And photographs too.  I'm slow at the moment, it's been 30+ celsius since I arrived.  I'm adjusting, and sleeping more than I've ever slept ...

Stories to follow.  I'll leave you with a favourite song, performed in a much-loved place in the city here.

Ciao for now.

The 6th Pesto World Championship ...

Here I am, almost overwhelmed by the joy I feel on returning to Genova.

The photograph possibly captures some of that ... mmmhmm, and in my hands ... that's the bowl of pesto I learned how to make last night.

The journey here was a story in itself but once I arrived in Genova, life became so very busy and full of good people.

I caught up with Davide, Alessandra, Federico and Isabella, at Villa Migone ... that exquisite 15th century house here in the city.  I had my pesto lesson out on the balcony, 17 celsius, generous people and beautiful food.

We ate at the grand dining table, and the pesto ... truly superb.  'John Lennon' played 'Let it be' and it went home with that in my head.

There is so many more stories but I need to return and compete soon.  I have the recipe firmly fixed in my mind, I hope.  I have learned about the soul of garlic, I have learned quantities, and how to beat and grind those ingredients into the sublime sauce known as Genovese Pesto.

I have met old friends, made new friends and, as always, Genova city has made me feel like I have come home ... to the home of a favourite family member, a best friend.  It's a city that, for me, seems like a powerful entity in its own right.  A city I'm so glad I am coming to know.

And the scent of Paola's apartment wrapped itself around me when I arrived, the streets smelt of favourite things, like good coffee and pizza, focaccia and all kinds of other scents that I've missed. 

And last night I fell into bed, hands covered in the perfume that is basil and garlic. 

It was a good day.  Wish me well.  I'm competing, with 100 others from around the world ... in one hour.