Bye Bye London

Now that the DTS prerequisite was completed, it was time to make plans to attend the university in Hawaii. It runs on a modular system, in which you take just one class every day per quarter. I was planning to just get an Associate of Arts in Communication Arts starting with the Photography course in January.

Laura was going to work until the Christmas break in just a few more weeks. We would fly to California for Christmas then on to Hawaii. My mom lived in a condo right next to the University where we would stay to save money. It was only a one-bedroom place but she was building a loft for herself so that we could have the bedroom.

The Cicchettis (whom Laura had sort of worked for before the preschool) let us stay with them until we left. It was a much more relaxed home to stay in than the more high-strung household Laura had been in while I was in Greece. She was kicking herself for not asking them if could have stayed with them the whole time. They told her they would have been more than happy to have had her.

Now that I was married to an American, it was time for me to get a work visa for the US. However, I had to have someone who would sponsor me. If things didn’t work out, I would not be able to fall back on social security or welfare for up to two years. Laura’s father agreed to sponsor me but I assured him that he was not going to have to bail me out of anything. It was a long process but in those weeks before we left, I was able to go to the American embassy to receive my two-year, temporary green card.

It came time to say goodbye to London. We had both loved it here but we were ready for our next chapter. For me, it was back to the Hawaii of my childhood to take the next step on my meandering journey toward filmmaking. For Laura, it was the opportunity to see what it was like to live in Hawaii for the first time - a dream for most people but (as Laura was about to discover) not without its drawbacks.

We flew to California and stayed with Laura’s sister and her family, the Whitemans. During that time, I found out that you had to have your own SLR camera to attend the Photography school. I didn’t have one and neither did I have the money to buy one. I quickly tried to see if I could register for another school but it was too late. I wouldn’t be able to start until the next quarter in April.

The Whitemans agreed to let us stay with them for the winter until we left for Hawaii but the only space they had was in the garage. It was a large garage though and semi-finished with a bed and all we needed. We just had to go into the house for the bathroom. Now I needed to find work for living expenses. It was the first time I would be able to work legally in the U.S.

I found a take-out pizza joint in the next town that was hiring called Angelos. It was owned by a guy from the Middle East whose name was not Angelo. He was hiring someone to learn the skills of making the pizzas in the traditional way that included throwing and spinning the dough just right. As an added benefit, he was working on opening up another store just around the corner from the Whitemans. But for now, I’d have to drive to the next town.

I didn’t have a car but the Whiteman’s worked out a plan to either let someone drive me to and from work or I could just use their vehicle. It was one of those old, small Volkswagon vans called a bus.

One day I was backing out of the driveway and what I didn’t see was that one of the girls had left her bike lying on its side with the kickstand sticking up. I backed one of the tires right into it. I was so ashamed. It may seem kind of trivial but it was a big deal to me. They were graciously letting me use their vehicle and I had not only just punctured one of their tires but also half destroyed the bike.

Ken and Diana were not happy with the daughter who owned the bike. They had already warned them not to leave their bikes in the driveway for this very reason. I offered to somehow pay for the damage but they said that they had needed new tires anyway, maybe just not quite so soon. I don’t know if that was true or not but we came up with a semi-payment plan that became a family joke.

As they were letting us stay with them for free, I tried to help out around the house as much as possible. Although the girls were supposed to be responsible for certain chores like emptying the dishwasher, I often ended up doing it. But from then on, that became my job. It was going to take a while to work off the cost of the tire but that was going to be how I made amends. Even when we would visit in years to come and I would help unload the dishwasher, we would joke that I was still paying for that tire.

Christmas California 1990


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