Here I go again (not on my own)...

For some reason I thought it would be appropriate to title this post sort of like a Whitesnake song.  Where on earth did THAT come from?

So, I'm off to another super-fun camping/trekking adventure relaxing in Auckland and Napier.  I will have two travel mates this time-an American boy and a German girl (not the same one I was traveling with before though).  We are leaving tomorrow and will camp for the next few (?) days in/near Tongariro National Park, home of Mt. Doom.  Missing Mt. Doom (ok, Mt. Tongariro, but it was Mt. Doom in LOTR-see an earlier post) was one of my main reasons for staying on the North Island longer. So, weather being on my side this time, I will do the crossing on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have made some lovely friends here and I would like to pose a question to anyone willing to answer. I would first like to make a couple of statements about my frame of mind.


Clearly I am not on a schedule. Well, not really. I don't HAVE to do anything; it's the beauty of holiday! But there is a lot that I WANT to do. In making new friends abroad, it's pretty obvious the chances of meeting again in the world are slim-to-none. Will that always be the case? No. But it's expected.

I am ready for a non-English speaking culture. There is some physical challenge here, sure, but that's pretty easily overcome. You walk, you climb, you sweat, you rest, and you keep going. There isn't a lot of mental challenge here, which I am desperately craving. I would like to have the walk, trek, climb and rest, of course, but I would also like to tack on think, learn, expand horizons and try new food to that list. And it's just not going to happen in the way I want here. Since I'll be in Australia for my return flight anyway, I could skip Australia now and head straight for Asia.

That leads to this question: what if you had the chance to be useful to a new friend that you made by doing something that was easy for you, completely legal (I didn't want Amy to worry), but would cost you several hundred dollars in hostel cost (unless some other option pops up, of course)? It would also delay you in getting on to a new culture, new country, and things that you want to see and do, but only by a couple of weeks. But it would also mean being in Auckland with nothing to do that didn't cost money. But the hostel has books to read and free parks to read them in.

I guess my main dilemma is the money. But it's only money! The thing I would be doing is providing English lessons to someone who MUST rank in the top most-awesome-people-of-all-time list. Nothing strenuous, but something I could probably do quite easily. Money is just money, but when you are not earning any, spending a chunk like that is a scary proposition.

Just to answer the pending question, it is NOTHING romantic. I know some of you are wondering...

Let me know your thoughts! I will be internet-less again for at least 5 days, so take a day or two and let me know what you think.
 
Hearts and stars from Napier, Art Deco capital of New Zealand :)

Email, argh!

In case anyone that has sent me an email reads this posting, I have been having some email server issues. That means I am receiving emails but I am not able to send them.  I have gotten a couple of emails out, but the rest seem to fail. :(  So if anyone has sent an email in the past few weeks and hasn't received a reply, please don't be grumpy!  I have several messages in my "drafts" folder, just waiting to be sent.  I thought it was my not-so-good internet connection at the farm, but now I've got solid internet.  If anyone out there works for Microsoft can you figure out what's wrong?  Thanks. :)

Hearts all!

Just something

Right now it is 10:06 Sunday morning, the 7th of November.  My blog publishes things still in Turkish time, as my last post said it was 11:06 Saturday evening.  I suspect almost everyone who reads this blog is in the US, varying in times from 2:08pm to 5:08pm. I'm not sure why I find that so bizarre.

See?  Just something. :)

Farmer Brown has left the building...

Hi shoestringers! My farming days have come to an end, and I have found myself in Auckland again. I was here before; I don't know how much I described Auckland, but I felt a real disconnect here. I stayed in a hostel very close to the city center but I didn't feel inclined to look at much, other than the harbor. It's much better already, which I am relieved to say. I chose a different neighborhood this time around; I'm staying in a place called Ponsonby, which close enough to the center of the city if one needs to shop, but far enough away that it is less frenetic. More on Auckland later...

As you may have suspected, my farming life has come to an end. I had an amazing time! Many thanks to the lovely Leigh family (Stacey, Anya, Brian, Judy, and Jeremy) for taking me into their home and making me feel like an absolute insider. I gained several extra abdominal muscles from laughter, and that's an unforgettable thing. I saw a horse with the map of the world on his back, a ewe fighting off a well-trained dog to protect her lamb. I saw nature take hold in the worst way: maggots eating a sheep from the inside-out, leaving the sheep to die a slow, painful death. We found the sheep too late. I saw the simplest (hardest, for many) lesson in life, and that is accepting that death is its inevitable end. I was astounded by the amount of hard work it takes to keep a farm going, even though I grew up not so far-removed from such a life. Most of my days were spent taking care of Anya, which was great fun, but my last couple of days allowed for real physical labor, and I don't care what anyone says: there is nothing better than a hard day of physical work. I don't know if I'll always feel this way, but I love having sore muscles and seeing a task completed. Ah, accomplishment!

Today I have to decide how long I will stay in New Zealand, as I must change my plane ticket by the end of the day. I'm going to the Stardome Planetarium this morning for its grand re-opening, which is free (hooray!), and see a show on Southern Hemisphere constellations for only $2. I have no idea about the constellations here, so it should be fun. It's also near a place called One Tree Hill, which I think is a terrible teenage soap opera in the US, but here is a place of cultural significance for the Maori.

After the Planetarium, I'm off to meet up with my favorite Auckland boys for the afternoon. Yesterday we met for tapas at a lovely restaurant and then we went to...KARAOKE! Anyone that knows me knows that is not how I roll. It's different here than it is in the States. How, you inquire? You rent a private room so it's just your group choosing songs and singing. I did a dreadful version of “Material Girl,” which I suppose coming from a girl with three totes and two backpacks of possessions borders on ironic, and an even worse duet with Faris of that song from “Music and Lyrics.” I would never have agreed, but anything remotely related to Hugh Grant has to be a go in my world...

Speaking of handsome men I have crushes on, Ali works out with The Rock's uncle, Sunny. He said you can see they look quite similar. He also works out at the same gym as the All-Blacks, New Zealand's rugby squad. Remember that “hard day of physical labor” comment from earlier? How about a hard day of exercise? Of course, the All-Blacks are in England right now, but if they weren't, I would go for some eye candy personal training. :)

Tomorrow I will find the library and upload photos of all of the latest adventures!