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| 24/12/2016 22.20 Trujillo Peru SEASONS GREETINGS |
Well,
2015 was a year of decision making and after much discussion and
deiliberation I decided to return to Peru and Nick. I was back in
Peru by January 10 and stright back to work at the conservatoire BUT
having got completely frustrated with the closed mind syndrome, I
decided that the only way to resolve my feelings about how music was
to be taught was to start my own academy.
This
also coincided with the decision to really put some effort into life
with Nick, and so we went out and searched for a new flat to rent and
found an absolutely beautiful flat close to the centre of town but in
a quiet and “posh” residential area. The flat is lovely, our
home and our refuge. (We got all our furniture out of storage!)
Fortunately
I found out that if I formed a limited company here with Nick as
the owners and then, with Nick as General Manager the same company
employed me I was entitled to apply for a residential “workers”
visa for up to three years and then apply for extensions. So we
started this process in April.
Of
course this process was far from easy involving innumerable trips to
the lawyers, and various government departments however, the process
including obtaining my “Carnet de Extranjeria” was completed
shortly before my 60th birthday in August. So I am a
legal worker here and Nick is my boss.
On
August 23rd the “Academia Internacional de Musica”
held its inaugural concert in a packed Teatro Municipal and we were
up and running. Growth has been slow but steady over the last four
months but it has and will continue to need financial support until
we reach a break even point in the middle of 2017.
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| Inaugural concert |
Back
in April on St. Georges Day Nick and I held a small party to
recognise our relationship and we swapped rings to marked the event.
It was a lovely evening amongst our close more liberal minded
friends.
The influence of the church is still way to dominant, but
I think even Pope Francis has a special place in hell reserved for
the arch conservative, right wing, homophobic and misogynistic
Peruvian cardinal Cipriani who makes his own interpretation of canon law, and
has way too much political influence.
In
order to focus on my new life in Peru and to curb any sense of
wanderlust or enabling doubt to creep in I took the rather harsh
decision to reduce my contact with friends and my ties to the UK.
Hence for the last 6 – 8 months you have heard very little from me.
It was tough to do this but I felt that it was also necessary, I
wanted to make sure that I could be satisfied with life here and that
meant no “home country” distractions. I hope you can all
forgive me for my silence.
I
feel Peruvian and certainly now work Peruvian hours 9am – 1pm and
4pm – 9pm. Nick and I hardly see each other in the week-night
evenings, just time for a bite to eat and bit of telly and bed! And
of course Nick works tirelessly for his company (but is very tired)
and is out from 7:45am to 9pm as a rule. I also work on Saturday
mornings whilst the business is building up.
My
Spanish fails to improve and frankly I cannot get stressed over this
(there is plenty of other stuff to stress me) so I speak my “Mott –
Spanglish” but it is sufficient to teach with and my pupils and
Peruvians friends are very understanding and indulgent. Nick of
course has improved his already excellent English to a new level: we
talk English in the flat and watch BBC World News and Nick is
starting to appreciate the English sense of humour and irony.
For
my 60th we managed to take of to Punta Sal for 4 days,
which was lovely, this quiet beach resort was even quieter than usual
as it was low season and actually just perfect for our needs for rest
and relaxation. We don't see another vacation until March (and that
will be subject to both the demands of Nick and my work).
September
hailed the AIM “Academia Internacional de Musica” Festival of
Young Musical Talent and I participated in 9 of the 10 concerts we
gave in a two week period. Including 2 concerts with the symphony
orchestra ay which I accompanied 7 young soloists (all students of mine at one tim eor another).
I fell fowl of
the administration of the orchestra who objected to the extra
promotion we were giving the concerts via the Academy, even though
the usual audience of 60 – 80 “old dears” was changed to 400
and then 500 young people under 30!
Pigheaded jealousy is preferred
to the benefit of bringing music to a new audience and I was accused
of vanity! Simply because I used my image on some very striking
advertising that pulled in the crowds. The Administration refused to
see this as a benefit and these successful concerts went by with no
formal recognition. (F**k 'em – I and the orchestra had a great
time!)
The
orchestra performed new music and although we have had our
difficulties in the past we were reconciled and they played the best
they have ever played for me. See videos.
The
Academy is slowly and surely building up a young following for our
concert series and we are consciously aiming at an under 35 audience,
our concerts are more informal, and we play a mix of classical, jazz
and popular music styles. The Academy facebook page has nearly 1700
likes, so we are doing good! We should hit more than 2000 in January.
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| AFter presenting Riley in C |
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| Joking with the audience I threatened we would play the piece again! |
I am
determined to change the way music is taught here and to encourage
young talent and to foster real musical development. It is fun,
frustrating buy ultimately will be worthwhile. I am contemplating
the formation of a charity/NGO so that we can attract funds to take
professional development of musicians to a new level. Especially in
the fields of popular music and jazz, where, outside of Lima there is
no provision at all! I want to start a professional development
programme of 1 year for 15 young musicians to kick start their
careers: tuition, concerts, recordings and business advice (if
anybody knows where I can lay my hand on £25K of funding do let me
know).
As
yet a dream, but I want to make it a reality in 2017-2018.
My
ambition for the orchestral directors post is firmly on the back
boiler and the position is so enmeshed in politics that apart from
asking to be invited to conduct once or twice a year, I have shelved
any other plans (although of course I will apply if the job ever gets
advertised again - just to be awkward!)
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| 4 years Oct 21 2016 |
I
continue to have problems with sleep, now down to around 5 hours a
night if I am lucky and I do feel perpetually tired. I also
feel my age some days, with my memory playing tricks on me, but I put
this down to tiredness. And my legs feel like lead weights by the
time bedtime comes. Hey ho!
Just
invested in photo-chromatic lenses for my glasses and my word what a
difference. Need to stop straining my eyes (and everything else!)
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| 4 years Oct 21 2016 |
Nick's
career is going from strength to strength but he has a difficult boss
and all the sales executives are treated in a manner that would lead
to prosecutions in the UK – there are no rights for workers here
and contracts are abused and ignored. This year he travelled to USA
several times, Germany and France. 2017 he will be in San Francisco,
Anaheim California, New York x2, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cologne, Dubai
and Sydney. He looks after around 15 millions $US of contracts, but
his company certainly demands their pound of flesh but for Trujillo
he is well paid. He is the “king of the artichokes”
responsible for the exportation of nearly 20 million kilogrammes of
the product!
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| Homes and Gardens ? |
We
celebrate each month of our relationship passing 50 months this last
week on the 21/22 December.
There
is no Christmas Day or New Years Day “extra” holiday here, so
people will be working on the 24th and again on the 26th
and the same for New Year. It is hard to believe it is Christmas
when it is around 24 degrees and sunny and the start of Summer. But
there is no sense of festivity in the air, people are generally
dampened for some reason. We have our tree up and the balcony is
now looking like something from the pages of Home and Gardens. Which
is lovely as we need this as our relaxation space and all the summer
it will be drinks and food al fresco.
This
year I have accepted the invitation from Nick's family to join them
for the Festive meal at Midnight on the 24th. We will
have our own quiet celebration on the 25th as well.
So,
it's been a hard year but Nick and I are working our best to create a
more secure future. I keep busy and try not to miss people and
things and this can only be achieved by being more Peruvian and less
of a foreigner in Peru. Peru has its challenges and drives me way
beyond crazy at times but I have a good team at the academy, we are
creating something worthwhile and I have the love and support of a
good man. So lots to be thankful for.
A few more fotos before I go .....
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| National Day "Fiestas Patrias" with Friends in the Club Central! |
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| The new Preident of Peru PPK "A very, very good musician in his spare time" |
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| 4th anniversary meal at La Piadina (Our favourite restaurant for 2016) |
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| Mr Cool aka "Fumble fingers Mott" |
Seasons
greetings to you all.
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| 24 - 12 - 2016 |
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