It’s been a while, I’ll be sure to put up a mammoth post in the coming weeks.
I’ve been building up experiences and whatnot to write a small novel for everybody.
Ha. Soon though.
I’ve been out of the country for three months.
The funny thing is it doesn’t overly feel like I’m far away from home, regardless of me being on the other side of the world.
I think the difference lies between being on the move and settling down in one place. Not that I feel disconnected when I’m on the move, because I’m not, at any time I can talk to any of my friends or family face to face, which really helps to bridge the gap in distance. They are only as far away as I choose to make them.
When I was on the road time flew by in an instant, almost two months on the move and it feels like I just got here. Although by the end of my trip, I felt myself wanting to get to the end, either to establish a routine or from a certain kind of homesickness that I had created for myself. I was spending more time on my computer and rushing through the last of my stops on the south island. I think this stemmed out of a want to have a solid world around me – I was getting too far away from my routine and it was almost my natural instinct to revert back to it by embracing the same habits I longed to leave. Whether I was doing this subconsciously or not, I’m not sure, but I definitely remember wanting to feel an increased connectivity to my friends and family.
Looking back at my last leg of New Zealand’s southern island, I feel like I didn’t fully absorb my beautiful surroundings, not only that, I feel I didn’t want to, or I was preoccupied with other thoughts that prevented me from taking the most out of what was in front of me, I just wanted to get down to business and get my temporary life in the country sorted out, and start living like a citizen not a traveller. This might have been me preparing again for the reality that I have been used to for the past few years, or it might have my version of homesickness, but nevertheless something I will make sure I am not subject to again when I’m on the road.
The point is when you are able to look through the distractions of monotony and familiarity, you can really start living. I really am just noticing this for the first time reflecting on my experience on the last leg of my extended travel. This is even more apparent when I take weekend trips in between classes with my friends here in Auckland. The presence of new, exciting, and beautiful situations allows me to really reflect upon myself, where I am, and what I am experiencing in the moment, and I surprisingly shut down that ability when I return to university and the dullness/bombardment of the week in the city center. I really started thinking about this when I went to see family friends last weekend, it was refreshing, giving me a taste of what I was missing, and what I had experienced when I was on the road. On the ferry ride back, I even felt a great appreciation for the city which I temporarily call home, looking at it as a whole from a distance, emanating with life. I was stuck in that mindset until I went to bed that night, I even appreciated and was in awe of my surroundings outside my apartment window.
I have to find a career that allows me to live with this mindset, to not let pending commitments interrupt a particular experience, and to realize that every moment in front of my eyes is a new, exciting, and beautiful situation, one that will never be seen again. This mindset gives me a clear mind with a kind of genuine gratitude towards who and where I am, and it’s shocking to see how travel enables this in retrospect. The goal: to take out of my everyday situations that which a traveller might see.
I am having the time of my life; it’s just this school thing is getting in the way. I would love to let my feet keep moving.
Peace and love.
Surf’s up brah!
I don’t actually say that.
Would be pretty cool though, eh?
Some of this is fact, some of this is fiction. It is up to you to decide.
So get this, you’re probably not going to believe it, but I’m going to tell you about my weekend.
So I go to class in the morning, people are all shocked like, “Yo Steve, how do you do it? That’s pretty badass!” I give them a nod, and I fake throw a basketball into the prof’s face, just to let everyone know whos boss, and walk right out to the bus. I heard the class chanting my name until the elevator door closed.
So I’m on the bus. Got my surfboard underneath. I wanna get there quicker so I try and fall asleep, but it’s kind of hard with the entire bus chanting my name.
I get off the bus, and the bus driver asks me if I need directions. I pushed him against the side of the bus with one hand firm enough to shock the people around me. The chanting begun again, and I just stared into his eyes without saying a word.
I haven’t booked accommodation, whatever, who needs it? I pretty much quit that stuff. I set up a tent, and got out my surfboard, and hit the waves. Solid shred sesh. Well, at least thats what the crowd of photographers were yelling out to me. I packed up my board and slept in my tent without a pillow or blanket in the pouring rain, not to mention the crowd chanting my name outside my tent.
This pretty much continues all weekend. I get up early, surf, nap, then surf again, then sleep. I did that three days in a row. Made some serious progress. Majority of the weekend I looked like a dying fish on my short board, but I caught some pretty wicked waves so I’m getting there.
Good weekend though, tiring, frustrating, very fun, I’ll try and get out again either this weekend or the next, if not, I’ll try and spend the month of June in Raglan if I can find work there etc.
Peace and love y’all.
Auckland blues setting in.
But epic weekends make up for it.
A bunch of us took a trip on down to Rotorua – in a van of all things. Got in late, traffic etc, stopping at a couple of little places. We went to a little Irish pub and I got a Guinness to celebrate the Canadian St. Patrick’s day, an excuse to buy a much to expensive beer. It was all good. I slept in the van. Pushed down the seats and had some queen size bed action going on.
Woke up early the next day to go whitewater rafting off a 7 meter waterfall. I was pretty excited. And it was pretty exciting. We were a perfect match, me and the raft and the river. I thought my adrenaline would go but it stayed, and in between the waterfalls it was pretty tame, the raft was just bouncing around. I kind of wish it was more physically challenging but in the end I did raft over a 7 meter waterfall. So it’s all good, yo.
So that’s what I had for breakfast, I had some pies for lunch. Then we decided to do the zorb thing, I figure I’ve spent more money on things that last half as long (ZING!!) and purchased a ticket to roll down a hill in a plastic ball filled with water. It was fun. My friend Taylor and I did it together (ZING!!) and I wanted to run the whole way down, but he fell before we started and tripped me. I hope you are reading this Taylor. When you are about to make a move on a good looking lass I’m going to trip you right there. That’s how important that zorbing was to me.
But I got over it. And joined a gang. West side.
Decided to then check out the Rotorua thermal shit. We were walking around that park like no one’es business, watching mud boil from the ground and little ponds practically on fire. It was like leisurely walking around on a volcano, a couple of us dove into the pools just to see if we could bear it. We could. I actually took a relaxing boiling mud bath. Rotorua stank up a storm. The air had a nice sulfur tinge.
THEN we went to Mount Maunganui, where I got my surfboard, but sadly I didn’t bring my board, so I rented one. And surfed on it.]
Back to Rotorua, bottle of wine, and a sleep in my queen sized bed van.
Switched cars in the morning, we were on a quest to go on a big hike, but that didn’t pan out and we ended up back in Raglan, where once again surf boards were rented, and surf boards were surfed. Stellar, brah.
Can’t get enough of that surfin’, heading back to the Mount this weekend by my lonesome to get some mad surf skillz.
Peace and love.
I’m well adjusted.
And here is an update.
Well adjusted to life in Auckland at the moment. In fact, while I’m here, it feels like I never left home. People are saying that I’ll feel homesick and I think I did, for about 2 days a month ago. Not too bad. I do wish some of my friends were here with me though.
I’m finding school at Auckland University of Technology to be extremely easy. So I am trying to focus on other things, I definitely wish I didn’t have a TV.
I’ve been going out a fair amount, with a bunch of different groups of friends. Its good.
I have yet to go out surfing again, I desperately miss it and want to keep working at it.
I am going whitewater rafting off a 7 meter waterfall in 3 days.
I think its about time for another adventure, looking forward to a two week break coming up.
I’m waiting for my passport so I can get a part time job here.
I’m going to use this blog to update new habits, and new experiments to keep me occupied.
One new habit I have is that I haven’t taken a hot bath or shower in over a month, only all the way cold. Weird right?
