If you know me well, then you can probably ignore this post.
If you don't, then it may be helpful for you to click on the link to my other blog, "Kyrstyn's Crete Blog", on the right-hand section of this page. It details a lot of what I've been up to for the last couple of years, and gives a glimpse into where my interests lie.
Basically, I've sort of been "living the life of Riley" since I left my job in the financial sector in the spring of 2009. I spent a year on the island of Crete in the southern Mediterranean, making new friends, frolicking in the Aegean, hiking the olive-covered mountains, learning to cook, blogging, and learning the art of "dolce far niente" - the joy of doing nothing. I was able to do this with the proceeds I took when I sold my house in 2004, and I did not need to work to meet my living expenses. One of my goals had been to obtain an apprenticeship at a winery in western Crete; however, it didn't end up coming together and so I satisfied myself with simply visiting the occasional vineyard/winery on the island, and learning about Greek varietals as a consumer.
Crete is a magical, wondrous place and when I left at the end of my year, it was with a very heavy heart. I'd have stayed longer were it not for two factors: my money supply was dwindling (it's very difficult for an American to work legally in Crete) and I missed the heck out of my family back in the States.
So I came back to Washington, DC and did what I figured I had to do; I got a job and an apartment and resigned myself back to the rat race.
I had expected to experience a bit of "culture shock" and displacement anxiety when I returned, and knew that I would need some time to adjust. What I found instead was that the longer I remained, the less at home I felt. Whatever beauty I once saw in this area seemed dull and monochrome compared to the intense colors of Crete. People were either rushing to get somewhere, or shuffling along with blank faces. It seemed that everyone I talked to was in a competition to prove that they were busier and more overworked than the next (as if this is something to be desired). I came to believe that something in the chemistry of my brain had changed during that year abroad, and I seriously began to doubt that I wanted to remain in this area for much longer. A catalyst of sorts occurred when I abruptly quit the job that I had held for just a month and a half. My main reason for quitting was a complete incompatibility with the work environment; I was the personal assistant to the CEO and COO of a small, family-run financial services firm, and found that the intense family drama that characterized almost every aspect of my day was nothing I wanted to be a part of. I could go into some pretty incredible and amusing details about the way my bosses comported themselves, but I really just want to put that small chapter behind me. Suffice it to say that although I knew I was committing financial suicide by leaving a relatively decent-paying job in this economy, I felt enormous relief once I walked out of that office for the last time.
Subsequent attempts to find employment yielded little; any jobs I was offered would have paid only enough to cover rent; I would need to get a part-time job in order to come up with enough money simply to eat, and if I was lucky, cover my utilities. I signed up with two temporary agencies but never got called, despite following up with them regularly. It was when I was down to the last $5000 of my savings that I realized I was going to need to raid my 401K retirement plan in order to continue to meet my expenses, and with this realization came the uneasy truth that these funds wouldn't last for long, especially in an area with a very high cost of living.
So I decided to go back to Crete for six months, where I could live for about half of what it would cost me here. Delaying the inevitable? Absolutely. However, I decided that instead of returning to Washington, DC this time, I would take what was left of my money at the end of those six months, head to Oregon, and attempt to find work in wine out there.
Why Oregon? I was asked that not long ago by someone who lives out there, and this was my email reply to him:
1) Beautiful, Burgundian style pinot noir. I'm a bit of a wine geek, and have finally decided to ditch my old career in financial services forever and pursue a career in wine, which is something I've been dreaming about for a while. I'm not really a fan of most Cali wines, and I think that job market is probably saturated anyway. The New York Finger Lakes produce some stuff that I like, but it gets too cold there in the winters. Point is, I think that the Oregon wine scene is unique and exciting and I would love to be a part of that.
2) Natural, wild beauty. I found it during my year in Crete, but unfortunately it's very difficult for non EU citizens to get work there so I'm looking for someplace in the States where I might get that same sense of "commune with nature". Mind you, I am not a hippie by any stretch of the imagination, but I have discovered that I am at my best and my happiest when surrounded by big nature.
3) I'm in the middle of reading Mark Twain's "Roughing It", and to head west for a while just seems like a rather nice idea. I suppose I could stop in Colorado, but I really feel like I need a coast nearby...
4) There's this really nice-looking and eloquent man called Bob out that way....;-)
In case you can't tell, that last one was my lame attempt at flirtation with a guy I had met online while I was doing some preliminary research into Oregon. Well, it must not have been too lame, because it turns out that he and I hit it off spectacularly once we met in person, and are now in what I guess folks would call a "relationship". Which is why I am heading to Oregon for the months of February and March, before I head to Crete.
While I was visiting Bob in Oregon over the New Year holiday, I took an afternoon to visit with the owners of A Blooming Hill Vineyard in the nearby town of Cornelius. Holly and Jim have been kind enough to offer me an opportunity to gain some experience working in their tasting room on weekends while I'm there for those two months, as well as to pour with them at the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival at the end of February, which by all accounts is one massive, crazy party. I'm really looking forward to the experience.
Additionally, I have a tentative offer to do some work with a wine shop owner in the city of Chania in Crete. It would be another volunteer gig, since she can't legally pay me, and I anticipate only putting in a day or two a week (any more than that wouldn't make sense, since the round-trip bus ticket into the city is around $12, and if I'm not getting paid, then...well, you get the picture.) We'll see how that pans out; I'm hopeful it turns out better than the winery apprenticeship did!
Finally, I've been given an opportunity to be one of the photographers for a symposium on Cretan cuisine to be held in Chania in July. I became enamored with Cretan cooking during my previous year there and am very pleased and honored to be a part of this event.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. Now that I've got the background out of the way, the rest of this blog will be dedicated to my adventures in the world of wine and my attempt to find gainful employment once I return to Oregon for good, in October 2011 (although I am strongly considering cutting the trip short and returning at the end of July, depending on how the wine shop gig goes off, and on how crazily I miss Bob by that time!).
If you've arrived at the end of this post without drifting off, I can promise that most of the posts going forward will not be this long-winded.
