Hello!

My name is Sollai. I am an Artist, adventurer, philosopher, teacher, show carpenter and a student of life. In this blog I intend to share with you my time on earth. The many adventures I have, the great places to see, the wonderful people to meet.

The last few years have been epic, but I’ll sum them up shortly for you. I’ve spent much of my life from my teen years and into my twenties between; Tuscany, Italy and Melbourne, Australia with frequent stopovers and short visits to Asia, namely Hong Kong and Thailand.

I learnt carving in Italy in Pietrasanta, next door to Carrara, where the most beautiful marble of the world comes from. Here I spent a month living in a tent in a marble yard, discovering my favorite art form. To bring light and line and form all together, to understand and respect something as ancient and living as stone.

I also learnt a thing or two about horse riding and training. My friend had saved a stallion from the slaughter house when no one could sit on him. She put me on him, and not knowing he was a wild horse with a temper for humans, became instant friends. I think my innocents to his character won him over initially. However, pursuing the friendship of a wild horse has been one of the most challenging relationships of my life.

After my last stay in Italy I left with a TEFL course to teach English with a friend in Jakarta. On the way I stayed in Koh Jum, becoming one with a beautiful island, the night sky and the gentle Thai sea. I learnt there, to worship the sun, for evening brought the most beautiful sunsets and it was beautiful to see every one go down to the beach and say goodbye to the glowing ball of eternal, constant love. The sun is my name sake and coincidentally my role model.

After a brief and relaxing trip I made my way to Jakarta and quickly left again. There is not another city I least want to return to.

So jobless and near moneyless I caught up with my parents once again, shame faced, in Hong Kong. I meant to use my TEFL certificate to become a teacher there instead but nothing came of it. However, a good friend, Rowan, got me a job working as a stage carpenter for Cirque du Soleil in Macau. The show was called Zaia and it is one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen.

The whole theater was 7 stories high with an enormous basement below, where I spent the majority of the 9 months I lived in Macau. The stage was equipped with 3 gigantic rotating lifts that would move tons of sets and props every show, staging and technical run through 6 days a week. Over the audience and 6 stories high a giant crane, like the ones that move shipping containers, was installed, to move giant globes and dragons though the air, along with circus performers, somersaulting and gliding.

I wore black all day long, in the depths of the building, where everything was painted black from the floor to the walls to the ceiling to the furniture.

I was part of the Carpentry department, which mostly meant we cleaned the stage. But we also ran cues, moving the sets and setting the stage in show time. We were the manual labor behind the beauty of the artists. We were the grunts with no great ability but to get things done. We were also there for artist’s safety. Which meant when someone got hurt and they did (sometimes seriously) we were first in. And of course, maintenance. Never would I have thought I’d learn the ins and outs of a caster, but there you go. I can pull them apart, put them back together and I could tell you just how many ball bearing one had.

It was in this time, learning a trade that could keep me paid for life that I met the love of my life, Danica. The most beautiful woman alive and a fantastic performer. A trampoline artist, long and elegant, as graceful as a gazelle. She reminded me of one when ever she performed.

Danica was injured during training, however, and had to leave to Canada to have her shoulder operated on. It was day in and day out Skype calls. My contract was going to finish five months later and we were sure we could handle it, though we weren't handling it at all.

I was so happy to find out they were closing Zaia down, and 2 weeks later, after a crazy bump out, I was out, cutting down our  time apart to nearly 2 months. I think we manifested it out of our focused desires.

The plane trip was long and tiring, but I've never seen anyone quite as beautiful as Danica when I finally saw her.

Montreal is cold and its still cold, well into spring. We went to a Chalet and saw squirrels and watched spring break over a lake in the Canadian wilds. When we came back to live at the Cirque du Soleil residence, Danica went into surgery and I have been between carving and looking after her since.