Favourite so far

Chicago is definitely my favourite place so far on this holiday. It has a great mix of city and seaside, although it's more ike a collection of small towns and it's a lake not a sea. It's probably been better here because my brother has friend's here through his band stuff and straghtaway we met up with them and were told what to do and what to avoid.

Saturday night we met up with John and Mindy, had some really nice Mexican food then went to see John's show which was fantastic. The idea is that each member of the group writes so many plays (really, really short plays - 5 minutes max) and the audience call out which play they'd like to see. Every week a member of the audience rolls a dice and they bin that number of old plays and write some new ones. The ticket price is also determined by a roll of a dice. Each person rolls the dice and they pay that amount plus $7, so it could be $8 or anything up to $13. Some of the plays were funny, some were rude (although I think a British or European company would have taken far more risks) and some were quite thought-provoking. It was a really good night and hopefully I'll see some other things they're doing during the summer.

Outside the downtown area where all the big hotels are heading towards the north of Chicago there are lots of little neighbourhoods which are quite similar to the West End or Merchant City but a lot bigger. This makes the place seem very friendly and more personal than New York. The people here are also fitness obsessed with gyms and yoga/pilates classes everywhere - even on the beach! I've found some aerial classes to go to as well as the dance stuff I already had organised. Can't wait to get started and now I've moved into my rented room I'll be able to cook normal food as well not the Giant Haystacks portions we've been getting so far.

Still in the tourist trap

The city of Toronto is lovely, very cosmpolitan, the people were really friendly and the place felt very clean and safe. We went on yet another tour, this time out on Lake Ontario. The views of the city were gorgeous but the tour guide wasn't up to much and there were lots of bored kids making a lot of noise... I think one might have gone overboard by mistake - oops!

How did you do that?

I'll be right back.
I'm thinking.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Here I am.

Imagine all these phrases coming from a set of 3 year old, Canadian twins who like to play Hide and Seek but aren't very good at hiding and tell you where they are when you're seeking!

In Toronto we were staying with my mum's uncle, Teddy, and his wife, Isabel, and they babysit their granddaughters, Rowan and Kielyn, every day which was great as we got to spend some time with them and get to know them. I had never met Teddy and Isabel before but I had been told he looked like my granda. This turned out to be the understatment of the year. Not only does he look EXACTLY like him, he has the same mannerisms and the same ability to ignore everything else around him and focus on just one thing.

Rowan has already decided she's moving to Scotland to hopefully we'll see them more often in the future.

Go Kart driving

Manual cars don't exist in America so the only car we could hire was an automatic which means that instead of changing gears you just accelerate until there's loads of revving and the car changes the grea for you. Weird at first but surprisingly easy to get used to. Less easy to get used to was slowing down. Each time I came off a main road or motorway I found myself trying to put the clutch down and brake.

I'm sure by the time I get to LA I'll have it sussed.

Blackpool with a waterfall!

It's safe to say I wasn't that impressed with Niagara Falls. The Falls themselves are amazing and doing the Maid of the Mist boat tour where you get dressed in a blue bin bag then still get soaked as a tiny boat pushes close to the bottom of the waterfalls was really breathtaking but the town itself is like Blackpool, tacky, glowing with neon and packed with casinos, amusement arcades and crappy restaurants.


In contrast, Niagara-on-the-Lake, half an hour up the road, is gorgeous. It's been preserved as a historic town so there are lots of little shops and bars that fit in with the surroundings instead of being an eyesore.

Possibly the weirdest place in the world.

New York is mental. Everywhere you go you recognise things and places and there really is something happening on every corner. Some people are overly friendly and helpful and some people are so rude they wouldn't keep a job for more than 5 minutes anywhere else.

Day 1 was spent travelling via Heathrow (where Slash from Guns'n'Roses hassled my brother for a photo) to New York then after checking in to a very nice hotel on Broadway we proceeded to walk in the wrong direction for almost 20 minutes trying to find a restaurant only to come back to where we started and eat in the Greek restaurant opposite the hotel. As well as getting a plate of meze which resembled an Iceland party pack we were also treated to a performance by the staff who were all obviously having a bad night and keep arguing with each other.



The next few days we wandered round Central Park, took the Staten Island ferry for the view of Liberty Island, went on a couple of open top bus tours, some of which were better than others, and decided that if I was going to move there it would have to be Greenwich Village or SoHo I lived in.

The whole area around Meatpacking - Chelsea - SoHo - Greenwich Village was a lot more manageable, more relaxed and less manic. There also seemed to be a lot going on without it all being in your face and OTT, it was comfortable wandering around taking everything in, and, believe me, we did a hell of a lot of wandering around. We managed to spend hours looking for restaurants or bars only to end up going back to the first one we saw. It was starting to become a joke, 10 blocks in one direction then straight back to the start. Nightmare.

Pure Hunners tae Write Aboot

Loads of things have happened since I left Glasgow including;

crazy New York driving,
a showdown at the Alamo,
getting soaked at Niagara Falls,
wandering for miles to find a restaurant only to walk back to the first one we saw,
meeting my 2nd cousins for the first time,
being called "Over Easy' at my brother's friend's show and
getting laughed at in the Stussy shop in SoHo.

I will write in full about all these things and more when I move into my home for the next month on Wednesday.

In the meantime, Have a Nice Day!

x

Only 1 More Sleep!

In the morning I shall be jetting off to the States for 2 and a half months. Excited doesn't cover it. I'm sitting here making sure I have all the addresses I'll need, printing off emails, e-tickets and insurance forms and making sure I have all the cables, batteries and most importantly cash I'll need for the longest holiday I have ever been on.

Just think... my next blog will be on an American computer - woooh!
x

America's Going Green

Ok, not in an environmental sense just in a 'Susan's been there and added it to her show-off tourist map' sense.

I always thought I was quite well-travelled but seeing it here in green and white it seems I still have some trekking to do...

Excellent!

Fantomasofobia Blok Rocked

Blaze and FireBox were performing on Sunday night and it was one of those rare occassions where I actually knew it was going well at the time. I'm generally a bundle of nerves when other people are performing things I've choreographed as there's nothing I can do if they get something wrong or bump into something or someone on stage or their costume falls off or the lights don't work or the CD skips. It's completely out of my hands and as most of you know I'm not very good at handing over responsibility. So it was a relief on Sunday when I arrived and the techs had almost finished setting up the lighting rig, the DJs equipment worked straightaway, the projector was focused, the DVD didn't jump and the dancers all turned up with the costumes that looked great knowing all their moves.

In fact, the very fact that the dress and tech rehearsal was going so well was beginning to worry me!

Luckily it continued into the performance, we had a great show and the audience gave us some amazing feedback which will appear on the website at some point.

Special thanks to John on Sunday. It was his first DJing gig and he nailed it, although I've never seen anyone quite as nervous before a show. Although threatening to swith his records with Russ Abbott's greatest hits probably didn't help...

Oh what an atmosphere...

Tons of 'To Do' lists and only two weeks to do them!

At the 2 weeks to go stage my obsession with 'To Do' lists has reached scary new heights. It would be hectic enough if I was only going on holiday but stretch that into 3 months, add a performance with both my dance companies this weekend, an application for a Masters course and organising work for September and you end up with a very stressed Susan surrounded by lists.

Oh and don't let me forget car hire, Thursday camping and ferry passes for Bestival! Although I'm sure Alasdair and John were in charge of organising those. Seems with me being the only one connected to t'interweb I've drawn the short straw (nothing to do with my control freak tendencies, ok).

Before anyone feels the need to point it out for me, I do realise that if I stopped making lists and blogging about making lists I might actually get some things crossed off my lists. The irony hasn't escaped me.

Right, I'm off to do some work...

where's today's list again? x

I've got that Friday Feeling...

Even though it's just Thursday. BUT it's no ordinary Thursday, it's a pre-Bank Holiday weekend Thursday, aka Fake Friday.

The past few weeks I've not really been feeling like myself, a bit sluggish and rundown which is unusual for me so I'm happy to be facing the weekend feeling invigorated and ready to go.

Tomorrow night Alasdair and I are going to see Nouvelle Vague after he bought me tickets for my birthday (yes Isla, I know this is taking the extended birthday thing to new levels!) then Sunday night we're going out dancing which means I have 72 hours to decide what to wear.

Better go then x

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The lovely people at the Scottish Arts Council have awarded me some money to fund the time I'm spending with Breakbone DanceCo and The Dance Colective in Chicago. I am obviously very pleased with myself.

Get them while they're hot!

Tickets are now on sale for Fantomasofobia Blok at Gilmorehill G12 on Sunday 10th June.

Fantomasofobia: Film Noir, Femme Fatales & Dodgy Detectives
Blaze's latest piece, combining tap, street and contemporary dance, is set to unsetttling yet intriguing music by Messer Chups.

Blok: Aurally, Visually and Physically Electrifying
Driven by the energy of the dancers and the on-stage DJ Blok is as exciting to watch as it is to perform - almost!



Come and see it - you won't get a second chance!

Fantomasofobia Blok
Sunday 10th June 7.30pm
Tickets £7 from G12's box office 0141 330 5522

Chicago Sorted

I got confirmation this morning that one of the dancers in the second company I'll be working with (ooh get me!) has a spare room she rents out and I can have it for my entire stay in Chicago.

Glad that's sorted, now I just have to figure out how to get from Chicago to LA. I've allowed 3 weeks to do it but I'm not sure whether to do it alone or take a tour or do half and half.

Decisions decisions x

In other news: I'm trying to get a flat of my own; Am looking into getting a new car; I'm considering going back to uni