“If you want something done, give it to a busy person,” is a phrase I learned from a friend that rarely has time for a deep breath. So maybe it’s appropriate that only after moving into my mom’s PDX apartment, helping my sister move towns, babysitting my niece & nephew, and getting a full-time construction job that I’m finally writing again. Somehow having demands on your schedule inspires you to use your time more proactively. Who would have thought?
As the new guy on the jobsite I’m not only the low man on the totem pole, I’m also the only gringo among a 15-strong crew of carpenters from a smattering of Central American countries, though mostly Mexico. Luckily I have some working Spanish practice from my days in South Florida, but it’s a bit more difficult trying to prove your chops as a cut-man when you have to do math and translate at the same time, “Cortalo a dos cientos diez y siete y tres ochos” (cut it at 217 ⅜-inches). I’m still sounding out the number in my head and fumbling over my tape measure by the time Rafa grabs the saw and pushes me aside. At least they smile at my effort, and I can’t understand the smack they invariably talk behind my back.
So I’m mostly assigned to the shit one-man jobs and cleanup chores that no one else wants, which at least gives me plenty of opportunity to practice some newfound mediation skills I picked up earlier this year, ironically enough while I was in Mexico (more on that another time). Besides, I’m far too practical and efficiency-oriented to refute that it only makes sense for the one guy who can’t communicate with the others to be working on his own. “If you don do it, sum-buddy else gotta” the foreman tells me one morning in his best English as we’re rolling out for the day, not because I was objecting but rather as a simple nod of empathy for the task at hand that I’m being assigned.
Plus, despite being hired as a carpenter myself, it’s not difficult to see just how rusty my skills have become. I may have years of experience doing all manner of construction work, but these guys work as a tight-knit crew doing nothing but commercial timber framing day-in-day-out for 50+ hours a week…you don’t have to tell me twice when it’s best to stay out of the way, and watch and learn when the teaching’s good. Again, I provide ready laughs as I swing and miss a protruding nailhead, or fumble with the double-kick of an uncalibrated pneumatic gun. But it’s apparent enough they appreciate my attitude and work ethic, and having my extra number helps guarantee enough business for Ami’s Taco Truck to show up at 1130 everyday allowing me to enjoy a slice of authentic Mexican cuisine even if I’m lousy at the language.
Turns out I’m not the only one to land a job. Once again Clare is off to assist our good friends–Charles and Hilary–manage another of their Boardroom Events. Not only does she catch up with a variety of old friends, but she maintains her tan in the sun-soaked Saguaro cactus forests of Arizona while the weather here in the Pacific NW dissolves into a soggy bath mat. She calls it “work” but all I ever see are photos of five-star hotels, salt-rimmed margarita glasses, and shiny roulette tables. But of all the perks I think Clare most enjoys the chance to play business dress up, or she certainly doesn’t mind buying new shoes for the occasion 🙂
Either way, we both welcome a change of gears. There’s nothing like three fully-saturated weeks with family to make you excited about having commitments elsewhere, anywhere. It is the unexpected wedding of my sister that brings Clare and I back to the States in the first place, and despite its eventual and overall success, it nevertheless was a painstaking process to organize a last minute non-event with incessantly shifting goalposts. I’ll spare you the details, but if the weather on your wedding day is the proverbial indicator of its success then Alison and Bobby can count themselves fortunate, all the more so considering it took place on the notoriously fickle Oregon coastline.
Long before we knew about the wedding we had plans to visit Australia this winter (or summer as the case may be), so overseas flights were already in the works. Not only are Clare’s brother and his partner expecting their first child, but Clare’s parents are eager for a holiday season with their daughter and son-in-law. Considering that we’re still in the Med after what is now 3-years since leaving the Florida Keys (and with yet another winter to ride out in Turkey), I suppose they have justified reason to speed up our arrival by shouting us airfare–thanks again Mummy and Daddy Down Under!
So even though I won’t be arriving to Oz for the first time via the sea *dagnabit*, I nevertheless am very excited about finally crossing the equator and visiting my wife’s homeland. In fact, I’ve had so much time to prepare that I will be arriving under the auspices of a residency visa, which grants me the ability to stay and work in Australia more or less indefinitely! Not that we are ready to settle down yet (nor was acquiring the visa cheap or easy), but after five-years of hopping from country to country with no legal standing to actually reside anywhere together, it’s finally time to have a fallback plan. So throw another shrimp on the barbie mates, I’m heading Down Under in hunt of a G’day! **yes, you can cringe at that**
But first a layover in Hawaii, which will not only help to breakup the trans-Pacific flights, it will give us a chance to visit my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins that live on the Big Island and just in time for Thanksgiving. We both catch flights tomorrow to reunite on one of the most remote and beautiful islands in the world after spending a month apart…no pressure!
