vivi torontali

Not caught up? Read Episodes 1-22 here.

With winter in full effect, it’s been an intense 50ºF (10ºC) every day for the past week. Of course, I say that with a hint of sarcasm– lately, the northeastern US got the worst winter blast in history, reaching -20ºF (-29ºC) in some areas like upstate New York and Massachusetts. Winter in New England is no joke, the aggressive winds and waist-high snow inspired me to write one of my best songs last year, “Winter.” The ‘blast of the brutal winter cold’ also inspired songs like Noah Kahan’s “Northern Attitude,” “Snowbank Blues” by The Backseat Lovers, “Laramee” by Richy Mitch and the Coal Miners, and “The Door” by my favorite band, Melt. Here in Copenhagen I find myself spoiled rotten with a temperate climate since I still wear thick winter hats and complain about how cold it is. 

One rainy evening, the 20 Grams staff prepared for the grand opening of our second location. I was amazed to see all of the equipment and machines in such pristine condition. The espresso machine is a model that has not been released to the public yet and the coffee grinder is intelligent and automated, just to name two of many things that blew my mind. The majority of the staff working there are new hires, and I fear that they will never have to learn how to make the perfect coffee because the machine does most of the calculating for them. I may be a little jealous of the newbies because I will continue to work at the old location, washing our milk pitchers in the sink like a caveman. That evening, the whole team worked together to tear off the stickers from the outside windows that were used to shield the café from the outside world during its construction. It was so unbelievably difficult to peel off that my arms were sore for the next three days, and sometimes two people weren’t enough to get it off. Turns out all the hard work over the past couple months was worth it because they had a full house within three days.

All the marketing for the new place has been so successful that it affected the traffic in the old location as well. This past Friday was my hardest shift to date. I was closing with a new hire, and it was consistently busy all night, so much that I had to call another new hire from the second location to come help us close because we were so far behind. The sink was overflowing with dishes and everything was messy, and it was impossible to balance executing the closing tasks while simultaneously teaching the new hires what we needed to do. On top of that, the starting and ending cash wasn’t aligned, which I was made aware of that morning, but the situation was very complicated nonetheless and I was very confused. I had to call the manager who was having similar money issues in the new café, and in the middle of our phone call I heard three blood-curling screams coming from next door. Apparently a woman was attacked either with hands or a knife (I still don’t know), and while taking out the trash the police asked me what I saw and heard. My colleague saw more than I did and gave a statement. She truly was a hero that night. An hour past close, the three of us were finally finished, but I only learned the next day that we missed many things. I felt awful because we had left the window open and the dishwasher on, which were my responsibility to notice and correct. I’ve had one more closing shift since then with another new hire, and we stayed much longer than we were supposed to in order to make sure everything was in good order. I take it all as a learning experience as I am still fairly new. I’ve always closed the café with people who are more experienced than me, and this was the first time I had to take leadership. The more I work, the easier and faster closing will go, and the more I get to practice latte art as well. Don’t be fooled, with as many successes I’ve had come just as many, if not more failures.

The morning after that hell of a shift, my family woke up at 6am to go to Malmö, Sweden for a day trip. We’ve been planning this trip for months because it’s the only day all four of us were free. It was quite possibly the easiest international trip I have ever taken. The whole journey took an hour and a half, with only one transfer. We took one train from our apartment to Copenhagen Central, and then transferred to a regional train to go over the Øresund Bridge to Sweden. We didn’t even have to buy separate tickets or go further than one platform to switch trains.

The goal for that day trip was to see some Christmas markets in the city. We started off with some coffee and pastries, then walked around the old part of town. We passed many squares including the Lilla Torg, a bucket list item for us because my sister’s name is Lilla. My dad and I enjoyed some alcohol-free apple gløgg, a classic Swedish staple (though they spell it glögg). The architecture was very old Scandinavian– it was absolutely gorgeous, especially with all the Christmas lights and decorations. The items sold in gift shops were very cheerful and full of childlike whimsy. However, we only saw one Christmas market, and much of the rest of the city was basically empty. I was very happy about the lack of people because of my unwavering hatred for crowds, but it affected the character of the area. I found myself underwhelmed, but reminded myself that it’s probably very different on a sunnier, warmer day. Please enjoy this slideshow of photos so you can see Malmö for yourself– a picture says a thousand words, after all.

I can’t end this episode without mentioning the progress of my artwork. While I have yet to receive the contract for my gallery exhibition, I have been reworking my linework for Aoraki/Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in New Zealand, towering at 3,724 meters above sea level. My original drawing shows every 100m interval, and now I’m reworking it to be every 20m. I know it’ll turn out great when it’s done, especially because I’ve been paying close attention to the water features of Mt. Cook’s glacial environment. Unfortunately, I have to put my 3D puzzle idea on hold while I prioritize my illustrations, but I will include 3D models for the exhibition, and if I can make them 50x70cm as well, then the puzzle idea will come back into play.

While winter calls for slowing down and hibernating, I’ve been doing the opposite. Yes, I’ve been exhausted, but I’ve been looking forward to the future more and more. I have something really exciting planned to write about in my next episode, and I am looking forward to the rest of the winter as well, as crazy as that might sound. To all my friends in the northeast US, please stay warm, be careful on the roads, and don’t get buried in the snow.