Reflections

January 1, 2010

This morning (Dec 31) I had a lot of time to myself.  It was my first day off in nine days.  I went out to breakfast by myself.  I went bike riding by myself. I went for a walk by myself.  I ate lunch by myself.  All my friends and coworkers were working!

I really wanted pancakes for my birthday breakfast so I went to Cafe Neve’.  There were two people in line in front of me to order.  The first guy ordered pancakes and the waiter went to check with the chef to see if there were any left.  There were.  When it was my turn to order I just asked, “Are there any pancakes left?”  The waitress checked.  There weren’t.  I turned around. I walked out the door.  I went to the Hobnail Cafe across the street and had French toast instead.

One of the things I was most looking forward to on my birthday in New Zealand was being in the middle of summer rather than the middle of winter.  My dream and hope was to wear flip flops.  I wasn’t so sure this dream would come true here in Fox.  But wonder of wonders!  We had a beautiful day.  I wore flip flops.  It wasn’t too hot, but it was lovely and warm.  So I ate both my breakfast and my lunch al fresco.  

I was inspired by the nice weather to ride the 6 km out to Lake Matheson.  When I got there I sat on a couple park benches and just took in the view.  I was very reflective.  I’m 26 now.  This is not exactly where I thought I’d be at 26.  I mean, yes it is in a way, but in a way it isn’t.  In the last year or so I’ve been imagining turning 26 in New Zealand.  But before that I always hoped my life would be a little more normal at 26.

Since I was young I imagined myself married or engaged to be married.  I imagined living in a big city and enjoying the life a big city offers.  I’d have a good office job.  But I’m not anywhere near those imaginings.  I have no romantic resume to speak of.  I don’t have an office job.  And Fox Glacier is the farthest thing from a big city I can imagine.

These were the things I thought about while enjoying the views of the prairie and the mountains.  I was a bit sad.  A bit disappointed.  Sometimes I think I came to New Zealand because none of the things I really wanted to be doing were happening.  It’s like, “My life isn’t going the way I want it to. . . I think I’ll go to a foreign country in the meantime!”  This seems to be my way of coping.  

When I finally decided I should get up and actually do the walk around the lake, I began to think about the best years of my life.  I wanted to ascertain what stage of my life seemed like the best so far.  I’d recently read a blog by a friend and she was missing her college years.  I knew for certain that I was NOT missing my college years.  I don’t really miss high school either.  I really enjoyed being young like ages 3-10.  But finally I concluded that the years since college have been the most enjoyable years.

I might fudge a little and say everything from 22 onward has been great.  I was technically still in college when I turned 22, but I had finished all my required classes and was going to France to spend my last semester.  I definitely already felt like I was done with college.

In these years, I’ve enjoyed learning to take bigger risks.  I’ve traveled.  I’ve made new friends and redefined what I consider to be friendship.  My relationship with God has grown into something I couldn’t have imagined it would be back in college.  I’ve tried numerous jobs and learned how to live unemployed.  I have experienced horrible lows and learned how to get the better of them.  These years haven’t been perfect, cookie-cutter, do-what-everyone-expects-me-to-do years.  They haven’t been what I imagined they would be.  But they have definitely been the most exciting years of my life!

In the afternoon I had more fun and was less introspective.  I sat in the sunshine and read.  Caroline took me out for coffee.  I talked to my family.  I spent time with Maureen and Jessica.  I took nap.  I spent more time in the sunshine reading.  I went for a second bike ride, this time with Jessica.  

All my co-workers pitched in and bought me a cake.  We ate the cake at Maureen’s while we watched a silly movie.  Maureen, Jessica, and I counted down the new year together.  It was quiet and peaceful.  I liked it because it was how I usually count down the new year.  There wasn’t a lot of fuss or drinking or loudness.  We just jollily and soberly wished one another a “Happy New Year”.

I’m hoping this year some of the things I have been dreaming about since I was young will come true.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m very happy that I pursued this dream of coming to New Zealand.  But I want to see some of my other dreams come true as well.  

Here’s hoping that in this new year your dreams come true too!  Happy New Year!

The Holidays

The last few days have been crazy.  Work, work, work.  I'm really getting into the working part of my working holiday visa.  Christmas day was busy and since then it's just been go, go, go.

Christmas day we had a fancy Christmas buffet in the hotel restaurant.  Afterward all the staff sat down to enjoy a Christmas meal together.  Can I be honest and say all I was interested in was dessert?  I did eat my veggies though.  We gave each other our Secret Santa gifts.  I got a New Zealand address book.  Then we all cleaned up and went home.  It was nice, but I think I'm ready for a traditional Christmas.  I haven't had a traditional Christmas with the family in so long and I miss it.  I want to eat my Great Grandma's cheese rolls and see all the extended family and open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve!

The hotel has been either fully booked or near to it the last few days.  We were supposed to have another employee come just before the holidays but she didn't show up.  So we are all pitching in wherever help is needed.  I've been learning how to do housekeeping.  I'm getting up into the rooms a lot and just doing the little stuff for now.

I feel like I've never worked so hard or so much.  I'm buggered as they say here.  (I'm tired.)  It doesn't help that the weather hasn't been too good either.  Rain.  Wind.  Even hail.  The roads have been close and flooded in a lot of places.  This afternoon the sun came out a little bit and this evening has been quite nice actually.  I just want a sunny day for my birthday!  I was so looking forward to being in a warm place in the middle of summer on my birthday.  We'll see if that happens or if we get a typical Seattle winter day (clouds, rain).

On Monday my roommate Jessica made me birthday muffins and my friends sang happy birthday to me. That was very sweet and nice.  It made me special.  Everyday Jessica wishes me happy birthday and then Maureen feels bad because she thinks she's missed my birthday.  Then I have to explain that my birthday is still days away!

I think that will bring you up to date on things here in Fox Glacier.  I hope you're having a fabulous holiday season!

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2010

I am incredibly happy just sitting in my dirty little kitchen in my stinky, damp house.  I’ve been drinking hazelnut coffee and eating macaroni noodles with cheese and butter.  Reading The Awkward Age in the sunshine is my occupation this morning.  Then in a minute the sun disappeared and a dark cloud poured rain, the wind swept through.  I hardly understand The Awkward Age by Henry James, but I keep reading it.  Being in a quiet town takes away all my excuses for not reading challenging classics!

In the mornings I have the house to myself.  Josh is in the hotel kitchen serving and making breakfast, and this morning probably preparing for Christmas dinner tomorrow.  Yes, it’s Christmas Eve morning.  Jessica is working up a sweat cleaning rooms and making beds.  In fact everyone is at work except me.  So I’m going to have a cup of tea by myself.

I miss the quieter days when Maureen and Jessica and Josh finished work early and we all sat at this table together and had tea or coffee.  Jessica and Josh and I played cards.  I don’t think I appreciated those busy mornings like I should have!  But I am happy sitting here by myself too.  I’m hoping the sun will come out again and I can soak the sunshine up!

The radio is playing the only station we get out here.  They play music dating from the 70s to now.  But in my opinion they could play a bit more Christmas music.  When a Christmas song comes on I jump up and turn it up.  

This is a different Christmas.  Hardly any decorations, hardly any music, and none of the regular traditions I’m used to.  But that doesn’t make it any less Christmas time.  It may not feel like Christmas much to me, but it is and I need to celebrate it any way I can.  Even if the celebrations are not what I’m used to.

I’m ending this Christmas Eve much as I began it.  I’m sitting at my kitchen table in my stinky, damp house.  Sun has gone down and it is dark.  I’ve just been reading more of The Awkward Age and eating Nutella straight from the jar.  But I did a lot in between this morning and this evening.

Work was quieter today than yesterday or the day before.  It was pleasant though.  We had fun and it was nice to have a more laid back day before the big day tomorrow.  We’re having two Christmas dinner settings.  One at 6 and one at 7:30.  

I finished work early too.  I was home by 9:15.  Cookie made me a fabulous dinner.  I had a steak sandwich with an egg, tomato, lettuce, cheese, and hollandaise sauce on beautiful ciabatta-like bread.  Yum!  Quite the Christmas Eve dinner!  Very different from the oyster stew I grew up with!

After having dinner with Josh, I got a card game together.  We roused Jessica and played Big Two.  This is a fun card game Jess taught us.  She is quite the card shark! We have a lot of fun, the three of us, playing this game.  Playing a game made Christmas Eve feel more festive and less lonely.  They’ve both headed to bed now because they are working early.  I think I’ll head to bed soon too.  The sooner I go to bed the sooner it will be Christmas, right?

Wishing you a “sweet as” Christmas!

(That’s a Kiwi saying.)

Bad Night

December 22, 2010

I just need to decompress.  Tonight at work was horrible.  I could see all my faults and mistakes.  I suck at waiting tables and I can’t do anything on my own.  I have to have someone tell me what to do or point out the obvious to me. Why am I like this?  Why can’t I figure things out on my own?  Why do I have to ask for help?

The power went out in Fox Glacier today.  I saw hail.  It was a wild night.  We had to turn the generator on for the hotel.  Then it turned off. I had to call my boss so many times tonight and bug him about stupid stuff.  I just feel useless.  Why did he even hire me when he ends up having to do everything anyway?

We were really full at the hotel tonight.  We had a large group of bike riders.  I met one couple from Seattle and I even heard people talking about the Seattle to Portland bike ride in the dining room!  Needless to say all these people were quite demanding.  I haven’t had to deal with demanding guests in a long time.  It brought back memories of the Residence Inn!  The Americans in the group were definitely the worst.

Our restaurant is so small and we only have so many people to man it.  For this reason we can’t seat everyone at exactly the time they want to be seated.  And almost everyone wanted to eat with us tonight.  With the power out there were only two restaurants in town open.  Trust me, those restuarants were very busy. Almost all of our hotel guests ate at our restaurant and we had one walk-in table that weren’t even staying at the hotel!

It was just nuts. Cookie was throwing things in the kitchen.  I felt stupid.  We had to call Caroline in to help even though she wasn’t scheduled to work.  It was just a horrible, horrible night.  And this was the first day of work for me in a string of nine days in a row!

The best part of the night was coming home and being cheered up by Jessica.  You know you’ve made a good friend when something like this happens and your friend says everything she can to make you feel better.  She made me laugh and just calm down.  There’s nothing quite like a friend who will do that for you.

The night

December 20, 2010

Magical. Romantic. Dreamlike.  

Walking through the forest with thick ferns, trees, and moss surrounding me.  In the dark.  Late at night when everyone has gone to sleep, I’m out here in the woods surrounded by thousands of beautiful, glowing lights.

Well, they aren’t really lights.  They are worms or maggots, rather.

My last entry I expounded on my new least favorite insect.  But tonight I was introduced to the most lovely insect: the glow worm.

All right I’ll back up.  Ever since I moved to Fox Glacier I’ve been hearing about glow worms.  A simple walking path right out of town is known as a spot to see them.  I’ve walked it during the daytime and been enthralled by the beauty of the rainforest.   And my friends and I have talked about going out at night to see them.  But we’ve been putting it off because it doesn’t get dark until very late here.  It took out of town guests to get us out in the forest to admire the glow worms.

Jessica had a phone call out of the blue from some friends she worked with earlier in her trip here in New Zealand.  They were in town and so they came over to our place for dinner.  Jessica and her friends decided it would be fun to go out and see the glow worms and invited me along.  

So we stayed up late and ventured out with our flashlights around 11 PM.  First we went up by our house where Chris said we could see them.  They were quite amazing and pretty similar to what I had imagined they would be like.  

Glow worms glow green.  Some are a paler color and look white, but the majority are green.  We decided to also check out the Minehaha trail on the other side of town. This path is a narrower path. At times when you look up you can only just barely see the sky because the path is covered by ferns and trees.  Here the glow worms were intense.  There would be numerous ones clustered together.  We were literally walking through the forest at night surrounded by green glowing worms!  There will be areas that just look like walls covered in glow worms.  Or you’ll look out into the dark of the forest and see glow worms glowing far away.  And they are beautiful.  

I felt like I was in a Disney movie and I was walking through a magical forest.  It almost looks like little green eyes are staring out at you from the forest!  What an experience!  How beautiful!  How amazing that these little maggots glow in the dark!  It kind of plays with my mind.  How can something so gross be so beautiful?

The treacherous beasts of New Zealand

December 18, 2010

If there is one thing I wish I had been warned about before deciding to come to New Zealand, that one thing would be sandflies. Often when comparing and contrasting Australia and New Zealand people bring up the fact that Australia has so many treacherous animals.  Australia has crocodiles and spiders that can kill you!  New Zealand, it’s always pointed out, has none of these dangerous animals.  There are also no bears, no cougars, and no crocodiles.  But there are sandflies

When I met my future roommates and co-workers they all warned me about sandflies.  They told me to buy some bug spray and ointment when I went to Nelson.  I just laughed at them.  Jessica pointed out all her bites on her feet and legs.  I felt sorry for her, but felt no danger.  I rarely get bitten by bugs.  I get one mosquito bite a summer and that’s about it.  They might all get bitten by sandflies, but I would not!

Needless to say I did not buy bug spray or ointment when I was in Nelson.  I went around believing I was immune to sandflies.  I came back to Fox quite prepared to be spared any sandfly bites.

Apparently I’m as immune to sandflies as I am to the common cold!  My first bite woke me up one morning about a week after I arrived.  I awoke scratching my ankle.  In a half sleep, half awake state I asked myself why I was scratching my ankle.  This happened several times until I dreamed about my roommates telling me about sandfly bites.  I awoke and realized that’s why I was scratching.  I had a bite!  So I made a strong effort to stop scratching.  But then my ankle felt like it was on fire and burning!  I was trying to fall back asleep again and I remembered what Auntie Bunty said about sandfly bites.  (Auntie Bunty was the dear friend of Penny in Nelson.)  Auntie Bunty said to put deodorant on sandfly bites.  Instead of actually getting out of bed to grab some deodorant, I half dreamed, half imagined I was wiping my ankle with deodorant.  Before I knew it my ankle was no longer burning and I was back to sleep!

When I finally woke up for real I also discovered I had a bite on my left hand.  These sandfly bites are red dots like a blister or zit.  The one on my hand was red and there was swelling all around it.

Every bite I’ve had so far has swollen up.  I have a bite on my arm and two on my legs.  Not only are sandfly bites itchy and red, but the swelling just makes your body look deformed and diseased!  I have a pretty strong self will and I don’t scratch my bites very  often so they heal a bit quicker, but the swelling and redness is disgusting!

My one consolation is that EVERYONE gets bit by sandflies.  No one is immune to sandfly bites.  Even I have been bitten!  I who never gets bitten!  So all of us, even the tourists, go around with red swollen blotches all over our bodies!  Fox isn’t the only place with sandflies.  They are a problem all over New Zealand!  Was I not warned about these treacherous insects before my arrival?  Or was I just assuming I was immune to them and blocked them out of my memory?

I have dutifully swallowed my pride and learned to deal with sandflies.  I’m following Auntie Bunty’s advice and applying deodorant.  It helps a small bit with the itching.  For the most part I am just exercising restraint when it comes to scratching.  I’m hoping all my bites heal well.  I may have to just break down and buy some bug spray though!  Here’s to swallowing my pride and learning to live like everyone else!

The Job

December 14, 2010

Te Weheka Inn is starting to feel like home.  I’m getting into the swing of things at reception and I’m learning a lot about working in a hotel restaurant.  The last two nights I’ve helped out a lot in the restaurant.  Waiting tables is hard work!  I feel so awkward asking guests what they want, do they need more time, and how things taste.  Josh says I’m doing a good job at learning it, but I’m not so sure.

Last night we had a couple of the owners and the CEO of the management company in for dinner.  This added a little extra pressure to serving dinner.  One nice thing about this job is that I know I won’t be here forever.  I don’t have to be perfect and if the owners and CEO don’t like me, well, they aren’t stuck with me forever.  I’m just a little working holiday visa worker.  

Te Weheka is a small property with only 21 rooms.  One of those rooms is specifically for the tour guide or bus driver that may come in with groups.  We work mostly with travel agents and big travel companies.  This is pretty different from what I’m used to, but really interesting.  We receive emails from the travel companies asking for rooms for certain nights for certain numbers of people.  We book it and then email them back that it’s all taken care of.  So most of the bookings come through email and I become really flustered if a normal person calls me about booking a room over the phone!

The inn has a different feel from anywhere else I’ve worked.  It feels like a small inn and Chris is the innkeeper.  He knows everything about the town, the hotel, and the local area.  When he talks to guests he just sounds so natural about it.  It’s more like he’s a local telling a visitor some information than a hotel staff member trying to please a guest.  I really admire this in him and hope that some day I can feel like I’m casual and helpful.  

We had a hotel staff meeting today and Chris gave us our next schedule.  This schedule covers Christmas and New Year’s.  Chris is going on vacation over this period and anticipates that we will be quite busy.  We have one of the few restaurants in town that is open on Christmas Day so we can expect a lot of people from outside of the hotel too.  Chris has also planned a special Christmas dinner/party for the staff at the Plateau Cafe and Bar.  It’s this Sunday and we are really excited!  I personally can’t wait.  I love all the people I work with and I’m looking forward to spending time altogether!  A nice, free meal never hurts either!

Speaking of free meals, at the hotel I get one meal a day when I’m working.  If it’s the morning I get breakfast which can even include sausage, eggs, bacon, and potato hash!  In the evening I get dinner.  So far for dinner I’ve had steak and salad and vegetable frittata and salad!  It’s like having a $32 NZD meal for free!  Yum!  The food is so good!  

I’ve been here in Fox Glacier and at Te Weheka Inn for nearly two weeks already.  Time has really flown by.  I thought I’d feel trapped here, but I don’t.  I really like it. The job is engaging and unique and my friends and co-workers are varied and interesting.  There’s very little I more I could ask for!

Your Dreams

December 13, 2010

Have you ever had a dream come true?  A waking dream or a sleeping dream?  I’ve had both come true since I’ve been here in New Zealand.  This is what I woke up thinking about this morning.  How lucky I am that I’ve had the opportunity to come to a foreign country and live and work here?  This has been a dream come true.  I’ve also had a sleeping dream come true like when I unexpectedly ran into my only friends in New Zealand and they took me into their homes.

Sometimes you don’t realize you have had a dream come true until you are in the midst of life and realize how happy you are.  I don’t think I knew that I could be this happy about living in New Zealand.  When a dream comes true, life becomes surreal.  Am I actually living this life that I dreamed I would? When I wake up in the morning in my bedroom in my house in New Zealand and realize what has happened to me I become giddy!  “This is it Annemarie.  This is the life you wanted to live.  You are living it!”

I think dreams are the topic of the day because when I came down to have my coffee and read my Bible, the reading for today is all about Joseph interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s prisoned officials.  (Genesis 40:4-19)  They are sad because no one can interpret their dreams.  But Joseph gets it right: “Do not interpretations belong to God?”

Somehow I think that’s also how it works even with day-dreams. We have a dream for our life and think it means one thing, but God is the one who interprets dreams.  Maybe that’s why I find myself even more excited about the way my dream has come true than I ever expected.  I had a dream to come to New Zealand and work and live here.  It wasn’t very fleshed out, but God had it all interpreted down to a T.  He knew where I would be and what I’d be doing.  He knew how he would work everything together.  He took my very simple dream, interpreted it into what he had planned, and made it happen.  Maybe too that is why sometimes we feel we fall short of our dreams.  We interpret it to mean one thing, but God has a different interpretation all along.  This is kind of what happened to one of Pharaoh’s officials.

The first dream that Joseph interprets has a happy ending: the official gets his job back.  This happy conclusion gives hope to the baker who has been put in prison.  He begins to believe that his dream can also bode well for him.  But it doesn’t.  The interpretation is that in three days he’ll have his head cut off!  I’m not saying that God can take our dreams and turn them into bad outcomes.  I’m just saying that sometimes the dreams we have for our lives and our interpretations of them are not exactly what God says will happen.  We have to be listening for God’s interpretation.

What I like about this little story is that in the midst of all these sleeping dreams Joseph also admits a day-dream of his own.  He dreams of being out of this prison because he has done nothing to deserve being there.  Joseph tells one of the officials in hopes that once the official is back in Pharaoh’s good graces he can do something for Joseph.  

I think that dreams are an important thing to share whether they be sleep dreams or day dreams.  In sharing our dreams with others we let them out into the light of day.  Even preposterous dreams that we think could never in a million years come true are important to share even with at least one person.  Joseph shared his dream of justice and a life outside of prison.  That was a crazy dream.  But he shared it anyway.  It’s because he shared it that later the official was able to do something for Joseph and his life was completely turned around.  

It is hard to share dreams.  I know because I have some CRAZY dreams that other people probably wouldn’t believe if I told them.  They would probably shoot me down and say, “Well, that’s a nice dream but that’ll never happen!”  But sometimes you have to risk it.  Try and find a safe person who you can trust and tell them.  They may still think you are crazy, but tell them anyway.  They may actually think it is an awesome dream and help you achieve it!  I think that speaking your dreams out loud to someone else makes the dream real.  Then that dream isn’t something that you are just holding on to, gripping it so tightly on the inside. In Joseph’s case it was the telling of this dream that made the dream come true.  

I’m no expert on dreams.  These are just my thoughts and my experiences.  I’m still learning.  I’m in the midst of watching my dreams come true. . . 

What are your dreams?

The heart of travel

I’ve had a revelation, an epiphany.  

Riding a helicopter for the first time in my life was not the highlight of my day.  I love having new experiences and trying new things.  It brings me great joy to be in a place that I’ve never been before or have have an experience that is completely new.  But what put a smile on my face today, what made me beam, was an hour and a half visit with a friend.

This morning I went to work feeling down and quite seriously tired.  I’d had a rough night with little sleep and I was really not in the mood to work.  I ran into Chris before I even made it to the office.  He said, “Go get your jacket and a camera.”  Now that was a surprise!  What on earth would I need that stuff for?  “Why?” I asked.  “I booked you a helicopter ride to the glacier for 8 o’clock,” he responded.  Oh, okay.  That wasn’t on my agenda today!

Nevertheless I headed back to my house and grabbed the required materials and Chris sent me down to the helicopter headquarters.  I was thinking to myself, “I don’t feel like riding a helicopter today or seeing the glacier.  I’m tired.”  But I’m never really up to doing something that wasn’t planned as my friends will tell you.  When the boss says he did you a favor like this you go and do it--especially when it is free to boot!

When I got to the headquarters a group of Asians were checking in.  They were loud and rambunctious and once we got into the van to take us to the helipad, they wanted to know all about me.  They were so friendly, especially Sally the only female in the group.  They laughed and joked and helped me relax about it.

They kept me distracted so much that I didn’t really realize we were lifting off until we were already in the air.  I have to admit that I wasn’t that brave about taking a helicopter.  It’s not like they are the safest things in the world, but I had been swept into it by my boss and now by this group of enthusiastic Thailand tourists!

I can’t really describe the views, but it was fun to see the landscape from the sky.  I enjoyed seeing the little river running through the fields. The mountains began to dwarf this little helicopter.  The pilot came very close to the mountainsides.  I hadn’t realized just how steep these rainforest-covered mountains were!

What surprised me the most was that Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, was literally right there.  It was just right there!  Mt. Cook is over 12,000 feet high and we were hovering right next to it!  You can see Mt. Cook from the lowlands down here in the township, but I hadn’t realized how close we really were to it!

We landed on the neve’ of the glacier, basically right on the snow above the glacier.  The pilot let us out and we got to walk around the top of this mountain in the bright sunshine.  My Thailand tourist friends took a billion pictures and kept offering to take pictures of me.  I think I was quite overwhelmed though and only let them take a couple pictures.  They even had me get into a picture with them.  I can only imagine them showing this photo to their friends and saying, “Oh and here’s the American girl who came with us!”  Although Sally admitted to me that she doesn’t really look at her photos she just takes them for something to do!

On our way back to the township the pilot went down the face of the glacier.  He twisted and turned like crazy.  I felt like I was parallel to the ground.  It was beautiful, but I was grateful when we were back on solid ground!  I’m very glad I had this experience and I look forward to doing a heli-hike in the future.

But what really made my day was getting the courage to go knock on Maureen’s door.  I really wanted to visit her for two reasons.  One was that she had stopped by my house earlier in the day for a visit but I was not feeling well so we just said hi.  The other is that she just moved into a nicer, cuter place and I wanted to see it.  I’ve never been one to just go and knock on a person’s door without calling first so I was feeling a bit of trepidation.  What if she wasn’t there or what if I came at a bad time?

Everything turned out wonderful.  She was glad to have me.  We never ran out of anything to talk about.  Our discussions ran from guitars and music to travel and the winter olympics!  Maureen is quite musical.  She showed me her travel guitar and played me some songs.  I love her enthusiasm for music and instruments.  Maureen clearly not only loves music, but she loves the instrument.  She is very careful about not taking it out into the heat and has even purchased equipment to keep her guitar from warping.  I was just enchanted by her passion for it all.

People are truly what make travel wonderful.  I can visit all the most amazing sights in New Zealand and participate in all the awesome tourist activities, but if I don’t get to know the people what’s the point?  The way I felt after talking with her was so different from how I felt after taking the helicopter ride.  I’m not ungrateful for the experience, but I know that the elation I felt from getting to know Maureen far outweighed the excitement of flying in a helicopter.  These experiences today have just reminded me why I love to travel for months rather than a ten day trip.  I want to know the people and know the land.  I want to live among and be a part of this country.  I feel like both my experiences today have been a chance to do just that.  But somehow the time with Maureen meant more to me than any helicopter ride.

Dream Board Photo

I just wanted to post this image because I talked earlier about the picture of this girl on the airplane and I wanted to show you what it looks like.

The Sunset

December 7, 2010

I have the most beautiful view of a sunset from my bedroom window.  It is nearly 10 o’clock and it is still light out.  From my room I can see the expanse of the dark blue sky. As I lower my eyes the sky fades to a highlighter yellow.  From yellow it quickly fades to apricot and then the sky touches the low lying clouds over the Tasman.  I can see the huge Southern Alpine hillsides to the left and I know that beyond that lies the Fox Glacier.  Hanging just to the right of the hills is the thinnest, sliver of a moon.  The moon hovers just above the highlighter yellow in the softer blue sky.  It is cupping up toward the sky which according to old wives’ tales means it will rain tomorrow so I’d better enjoy the clear sky while I have the chance.  

The moon shines golden-like over the whole scene.  It may be only a sliver, but it makes this sunset that much more powerful to behold.  It is understated, but that understated attitude is the icing on the cake.  I can’t keep my eyes off it and every few moments I turn back to the window to get a glance at the tiny little moon hanging above a New Zealand sunset.  How marvelous our Creator is, that he would make a landscape so lovely and cover it in the shades of light that I see before me.  

I’ve just come home from my first New Zealand barbeque and made myself a cup of real New Zealand tea.  The barbeque was a birthday celebration for the cook at the restaurant in the hotel.  Her birthday is tomorrow, but since most of us had today off we celebrated today.  Josh created a lovely meal with four different kinds of meat and we had salad and potatoes and potato chips.  It was mostly the gang from the hotel plus the house of folks that live next door who work at Fox Guiding.  (Fox Guiding takes people up onto the glacier since it is too unsafe to go alone.)

It was absolutely roaring hot when we got the barbeque started and I loved it!  I was so cold yesterday and so cold this morning at work that when the sunshine came out I felt like I was defrosting!  The barbeque was a good chance to get to know Cookie, the birthday girl, and Maureen, who works in housekeeping, as well as the folks who live at the Fox Guiding house.  I just enjoyed the company.  Maureen is incredibly friendly.  She is older and has worked at a lot of hotels in Australia and New Zealand.  I really like her a lot.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon playing rummy with Josh.  He was bored because it was his day off and I offered to play cards with him.  He loved it and now he wants to learn to play poker.  I told him I have no idea how to play poker.  He’ll have to learn that from someone else!

We played at the kitchen table until I said I just had to go outside and enjoy the hot sunshine.  So we played on the front steps.  We don’t have any outdoor furniture which would be nice on a hot day like today, but unusable on a day like yesterday when it rains all day long!

Caroline has moved out of our house and into a tiny little one on the other side of this housing “commune”.  We really are a bit of a commune stuck between two roads.  On the main road is Caroline’s new house.  Behind that is the house that the guides live in.  Cookie’s house is next to that, and between the guide house and Cookie’s is a tiny little house.  I haven’t met the people that live there yet.  Caroline says they stick to themselves.  Then my house is next to their house and the quieter road.  Our house will seem quieter without Caroline who kind of holds us all together.  But I know she will be over all the time visiting and we all work with her so it won’t be that big of a change.

It is almost dark now and the moon has dipped a bit lower.  It is just barely suspended above the hillsides.  Now the hills are in a sharper focus and are sharply silhouetted.  I think it’s about time to turn in for the night and hope that tomorrow’s sunset comes close to tonight’s!

An uneventful day turns eventful

December 6, 2010

I worked this morning until 1 PM and then I came home for lunch.  I was working on ordering some food for delivery while I sat at the kitchen table.  I got up to look at something in my bathroom.  As I was walking through the kitchen I suddenly saw that there was water all over the floor of the laundry and some on the kitchen floor.  I panicked!  I had never seen anything like this before and I had no idea what to do.  I just moved into this place last week!  I didn’t know if there was a mop or any extra towels to clean up the mess.

I went to my roommates’ doors to see if they were home and could help me, but it was just me.  I decided to go to the hotel and ask to borrow a mop.  I ran into Chris right away and he helped me find a mop.

Caroline said that probably the drain in the sink next to the washer had become clogged and then the water just overflowed since the washer drains into the sink.  Well, that’s exactly what happened.  I started to clean things up and then Josh came home and helped me.  When I started cleaning part of me was thinking, “Well at least this gives me something to do with my day!”

This really is the kind of place where you wish you had some other interest or talent like sewing or knitting or drawing or musical talent.  No wonder Elizabeth Bennett walked so much!  That’s what I did this afternoon.  I took a walk.  

I walked out to Lake Matheson in the rain.  The rain didn’t worry me too much.  I’m a tough Seattle girl.  I can handle it.  In fact the first part was wonderful, but I soon found out what a city girl I am!  

Just after I took the turnoff of Cook Flat Road to Lake Matheson I passed some cows.  Now these weren’t the first cows I’ve ever passed in my life, but these ones kind of freaked me out.  I don’t think cows here are used to people.  I was about half way past them when they just started running my way.  I could hear them!  Their heavy feet pounded the ground in my direction.  My heart started pounding too.  I was sure they were going to somehow plow through their fence and stampede me.  Well, I started picking up the pace a bit and praying under my breath.  Next thing I know I hear some sort of squawk from a bird and the cows start running the other way.  

Needless to say I was not eager to walk past the cows again, but if I ever wanted to get home I’d have to.  Fortunately on the way back a car passed the cows almost at the same time I did so there was no stampede.  I have to say I like sheep better.  If they notice me they run the other way!

On my walk I passed several of the B & Bs and hotels.  There are a lot in this town!  I’ve walked this way a few times already and I always notice the hotel that advertises the alpine views from every room.  I have often looked around and gone, “Well, duh!”  Everywhere you look there are mountains!  You could stay in any place here in Fox and have a view of the mountains.  Well, that is until today.

Today we have been covered in a thick fog-mist since about 9 AM.  There are no views of the mountains anywhere.  So I chuckled to myself again over the “alpine views from every room” sign only for a different reason.  Then I noticed the hotel next door that is perhaps more aptly named “Misty Peaks”.  Today I kind of feel like Misty Peaks Motel is more honest about what they offer!

Well, this is about as eventful as my day got!  We’ll see what tomorrow is like.  I can tell you I won’t be going near any cows any time soon!

The beach

You can’t believe all the things I’ve done today.  I worked, did laundry, went out for coffee, walked for two hours, and went to the beach.  I was so tired last night too and I didn’t sleep all that well.  I did not want to go to work, but I knew it would only be for a short while.  They just wanted me to get the hang of checking out a group.  

I came home exhausted, but I put my laundry in right away because I wanted it to dry in the sunshine.  Then I sat down in the sun at the kitchen table to devour some breakfast/lunch and read an old OK! magazine laying about the house.

Caroline and Paul (a glacier guide who lives near us) invited me to go bike riding with them but I just couldn’t.  I didn’t want to move.  After their ride they came back and Josh (another roommie) joined us and we just chatted.  Living in a small town consists of just a lot of talking and saying the same things over and over again.  At least this is what I’ve learned in my first few days in a small town.  You basically look for anything to fill up your time with.

Caroline invited me out for coffee so we walked down in the sunshine to Cafe Neve.  We sat on the front porch and enjoyed the scenery and the people watching.  It was lovely and the coffee gave me the energy for the rest of the things I did today!

Caroline and Paul told me about the path that they biked on and said I should check it out.  It isn’t finished yet, but you can walk on it on the weekends when the workers aren’t there.  The walk was so beautiful and I look forward to doing it again.  It was just a good place to think and sing.  I only saw one other person on it.

I almost turned back after half an hour, but I think the coffee kicked in and I just wanted to see all that Caroline had described to me.  I eventually made it to the carpark for the view of the glacier.  It was another few minutes until I made it to the actual view.  First I had to cross a suspension bridge with a sign that said maximum 5 people on bridge! 

The view was really nice with the bright blue sky, the rainforest, and the glacier.  By the time I made it there I was truly tuckered.  A sweet tourist couple offered me a ride back to the township, but I declined.  I was kicking myself for that though.  They were also going to take me up to the area closer to the glacier if I had gone with them.  I decided I had said no too many times!  No to bike riding and no to this offer.  I decided I needed to start saying yes.

I was almost back home when someone called out to me from their porch.  It was a man I had met earlier when Caroline and I were having coffee.  He and I talked for a bit while I played fetch with his dog. His name is Chad (the man’s, the dog’s name is Sprocket) and he rents out his house and does roadwork.  Chad invited me to come to the beach later in the evening.

I’ve really wanted to see Gillespie’s beach but I have no way of getting there.  It’s a bit too far to get there on bike.  I would have said no, but because of earlier I decided I should say yes and go.  I just told him maybe.  Then I went to ask Caroline if she thought it would be OK.  Caroline encouraged me to go and since I really wanted to see the beach I decided to go.

When I got to Chad’s house later I played with Sprocket again and then Chad and one of his boarders, Christoph, and a friend of Chad’s piled into his vehicle and headed to the beach.  Christoph was a nice man from France.  He and his wife are on a nine month honeymoon!

The drive out to the beach was a bit wild because it isn’t paved and it has a lot of loops and turns through the forest.  But I actually felt really safe because Chad is the one who fixes the road so he knew it like the back of his hand.  I thought we’d just get to the beach, park, and walk around.  But Chad drove up onto the beach and stopped just to turn on his four wheel drive.  Then we went roaring onto the beach.

The only thing is the beach isn’t really sandy.  It’s not like driving on the beach at Long Beach.  The beach has large, perfect orb-like rocks on it.  We went tearing all about.  We almost got stuck and it was quite the adventure sitting in the car while he tried to move on the rocks.  

Eventually Chad parked and we just walked around and enjoyed the waves.  I love being near the water and this felt really good.  This beach has black sand with gold flecks in it.  I didn’t see any gold, but it was still beautiful.

The ride back was pretty uneventful.  I stayed and had tea with Chad and his friends.  They are kind of a wild bunch, but friendly.  They love to tell people about New Zealand.  They talk a lot about the birds, the sea life, and the plants.  The whole way back to town Chad’s friend told Christoph all about logging trees and sawing them up.  I kind of just sat in the front seat and wondered how I had gotten to this place where I’m roaring through the rainforest with a Kiwi in the back seat explaining the ins and outs of lumber to a honeymooning Frenchman!  This is what travel is all about I guess!

I wonder what adventures tomorrow will bring!

Settling Down

December 2, 2010

Today I started my job. It has been about a month almost to the day that I finished my job in Seattle.  I’ve really enjoyed traveling for such an extended period of time, but it is also great to be settled down.  I kind of felt strange going back to work as I prepared this morning.  It just felt weird and I found myself wishing that my time was my own.

But I didn’t need to worry about my time so much because I only worked for three hours in the morning and then another two or so in the evening.  The computer system they use here at Te Weheka Inn is quite different from what we used in Seattle.  It makes the Marriott system and the St. James Place system seem old and decrepit.  But it being so different also means that I have that much more to learn.  I think I can do it.  It’s just always awkward when you start a new job and have to figure everything out.  I don’t know how so many things work and I hate that.  You’d think I’d get used to it since I’ve had so many jobs!

Chris, my boss, says that Te Weheka Inn is the nicest and best accommodation in Fox Glacier.  This makes me feel really good that I’m working at a top notch place.  

In the middle of the day I read some of a book and ate a very unhealthy (but delicious) lunch.  I was so cold!  This morning was cold with low lying clouds so I couldn’t see the mountains very much.  It was depressing after such a beautiful day we had yesterday.  I even warmed up some hot water just to stay warm. 

I decided to take a nap and curled up in my bed which was wonderfully warm.  Eventually the sun came out and warmed up my room.  Ah, it was lovely.  I’ve always loved to sleep warm and it was really, really warm.  When I woke up I was shocked to see the clouds were pretty well dispersed and the sun was shinning.  

Unfortunately I had to go back to work and learn about the evening shift. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I started off with a cup of tea!  The hotel holds a reception with a free glass of wine for guests and I joined Chris in this.  It’s just a time to meet the guests, encourage them to eat in our restaurant, and tell them about the area.  I met a couple from New Jersey and the wife had lived in a small town in Washington state when she was a young girl. This was great!

After the reception I had dinner from our kitchen.  The chef here really goes by Cookie!  Cool, huh?  My dinner was great and then Chris taught me a little bit more on the computer and I went home.  Easy enough!

I took an evening walk.  It wasn’t as warm as last night, but just as beautiful!  I walked out toward Lake Matheson through the valley and the farms.  The views of the mountains out there is tremendous and in the setting sun there just isn’t anything like it!  I took my camera and I took a lot of pictures.  You just can’t help yourself.  Everything here is so poetic and photogenic!

I love this little house I’m staying in, especially my room and the dining area.  My room has two windows that overlook the valley and the mountains beyond.  I can watch the sunset from my room!  It’s just gorgeous.  A room with a view.  The dining area is lovely because it has three large windows in the corner of the room.  I’ve always loved corner windows.  It looks out to the street and the rainforest beyond.  I can sit there and eat and watch the occasional car or pedestrian go by. Or I can just sit and listen to the birds or the meowing cat or barking dog.  It is really nice.  I think I’m really going to like staying here in this house in Fox Glacier.

December 1, 2010

I came back to Fox Glacier today.  I slept a good deal on the bus.  I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.  The driver kept trying to point out interesting things to me like the trees with the fungus or where a landslide had occurred.  But I just kept sleeping and waking up.  I probably needed it.  

My stay with the Short family was tremendously wonderful.  I love them all so much.  Penny and Marc are amazing parents who truly care about their children.  Jeremy, Sophie, and Alice welcomed me into their home like true friends.  I hope I can stay with them again before my journey here in New Zealand ends.

When I got to Fox, much to my surprise, it was warm.  So warm that I had to change out of my jeans almost right away into my shorts.  I went for a jog/walk and reveled in the mountains, the clear blue sky, the snow on the mountain tops, and the sunshine.  I’ve never spent a December 1st quite like this one!  I fell in love with this place today.  It is just what I’m looking for.  There are mountains in almost a 360 view.  The only place there aren’t mountains spreads out to where the Tasman Sea is.  You can’t see the Tasman from here, but it is only 22 kilometers away.

The sunset tonight was beautiful.  The sun goes down very late.  So even now at 9:45 PM I can still see the pink tint out my window.  My bedroom window looks out on a beautiful view toward the mountains and the sunset.  I’m truly blessed.

Every now and then I just think to myself “I’m in New Zealand!”  I’m still not over the idea, and I find myself wanting to shout out, “I’m in New Zealand!”  If I had just gone with this fancy I would have been yelling out on the bus ride today!  Somehow I hold myself back, but just barely.

This is what it is like to have a dream come true.  You just want to shout with joy and exuberance because something that you wanted so badly, but could only just barely believe could happen, has happened!  I’m not quite sure I’ve ever felt exactly like this.  It is a wonderful feeling though and I want to hold onto it the entire time I’m here.  I don’t want to take New Zealand and this opportunity for granted.  Dreams really do come true.

Thanksgiving

November 28, 2010

On Thanksgiving Day I didn’t even think about it being Thanksgiving until late at night.  I woke up early so I could shower, pack up, and move over to the house from the hotel room.  I wasn’t sure what to do after that.  I felt at a loss.  Chris had pointed out a mountain bike in the garage that I could use.  Caroline was asleep and I didn’t want to wait around for her to wake up.  I didn’t want to seem like a weak, little person.  So I grabbed the bike and rode to town.  I got my bus ride from Fox Glacier to Nelson arranged and then I went to ride the bike down to Lake Matheson.

The bike kind of needed some air in the tires, but I was too nervous to stop by the gas station and get air.  So I rode this bike 6 km to the lake.  I felt really ridiculous but I didn’t want to walk all the way there and then walk around the lake too.

When I got to the lake there were two buildings.  One has a gift shop in it and the other has a beautiful cafe with a large deck.  They aren’t really on the lake just on the prairie.  I walked out to the lake and around it.  The lake isn’t very large and I would hardly call it a lake.  The thing is that at certain times of the day you can see the mountains perfectly reflected onto the lake.  It was a nice walk and very hot.  I hadn’t expected it to be so warm.  I wore a long sleeved shirt and I just broiled so I took it really slow walking back to the cafe.

I ordered some lunch at the cafe and then also had a coffee and a gluten-free brownie.  Wow! It was delicious.  There are a lot of gluten-free options here in New Zealand.  I saw several gluten-free stores in Auckland, but I had supposed that was just a city thing.  But even out here in Fox there are gluten-free options.

As I was finishing off my dessert and coffee, a couple ladies came and sat at the table next to me.  I pretty soon realized that one of them was Caroline from work.  I went over and she introduced me to her friend Kaylyn.  We just sat and talked for a while.  I really enjoyed their company because I had had no idea what I was going to do with my afternoon.

I rode my bike back to town and got the courage to put air in the tires.  I didn’t know what I was doing so I hope it worked out.  It looked like the tires fattened up, but I really don’t know!

Back at the house, I met up with Caroline again and I was introduced to the other housemates.  I met Jessica.  She is from Taiwan and is also on a working holiday.  She works in housekeeping.  She is fun and is known for making crazy concoctions with her food.  I also met Jason.  He is a Kiwi.  He works mostly in the kitchen at the hotel.  He’s a lot of fun.  He made us tea and Caroline, him, and I all chatted over tea.

I learned a lot from all of them about living in Fox.  They really made me feel a lot better about the whole thing.  We decided that after Jason came back from work that we would go to Cafe Neve for Thirsty Thursdays.  Until then I just sat at the kitchen table and talked with either Caroline or Jessica.  We munched on some leftover food from the restaurant for dinner.  There was even pumpkin pie because they had cooked a Thanksgiving meal for some American guests.

On Friday I woke up and quickly got ready and caught the bus.  I got the front seat so the trip was definitely fine.  I had no car sickness at all.  I did have a bit of a headache but it wasn’t that bad. The trip was beautiful!  My favorite part was the Tasman Sea and the Buller River.  Both are magnificent!  I only fell asleep during one section right after we left Greymouth.  I wanted to stay awake to see all the scenery.

The driver stopped at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki.  I thought that was great because I had been kicking myself for not going to see those while I was in Greymouth.  There isn’t that much to see, but I was still super thankful to get the chance to see them.  Basically they are rocks that look like stacks of pancakes.

When I got to Nelson, I texted Sophie, Penny’s daughter, and she walked over from her church to get me.  We went back to her church and I dropped my stuff there while they had their youth service.  I went next door to an Italian place.  I ordered some pasta, but it wasn’t very good.  And there wasn’t much pasta either.  Either American portions are just oversized or this place makes small dishes!  I tend to think it is the former, but I don’t want to admit it.  I want a lot of pasta!

I went back to the church just as they were all ready to go out and play the “laying down game”.  I’d never heard of this game but apparently it is an universal game.  The gist of it is that you have to lie face down on the ground (or anything really) and put your arms by your side and flex your feet.  This way it looks like you are standing up but on the ground.  I went with one of the groups and they tried to find as many random places to lie down.  This was my introduction to Nelson: running around watching young people lie down in odd places on the ground.  Well it was unique to say the least!

After youth group, Penny came to pick us up.  She is such a sweet woman.  She has been so kind to me and really uplifted me.  We also picked up her other daughter Alice from her youth group.  I met Mark, Penny’s husband, and Jeremy, her son, when we got to her house.

Penny’s house is amazing.  It feels like a California type house.  It’s on a large hillside overlooking the mountains and the sea.  The sea is a perfect turquoise blue.  You walk into the house from the top floor where the master bedroom is.  Down the stairs in the middle is the kitchen, sitting area, dining room, lounge, and the guest suite.  Down the next set of stairs are all the other bedrooms and the craft room.  

Saturday morning was pretty chill.  I just had some breakfast and watched the taped finale of X-Factor with Penny.  We went grocery shopping for our Thanksgiving feast.  I bought some groceries to take back to Fox with me.  Once back at the house we just started in cooking.  Penny had never made stuffing or pumpkin pie before.  I’ve discovered that this isn’t because she’s a Kiwi, but just because she hasn’t.  Other people here have made them before.  But in general I do think that pumpkin pie is a novelty here.

Cooking with Penny gave me a chance to really get to know her.  We had such a good time.  I can tell that Penny likes to host and have people over.  She spent a good deal of time decorating the table.  She has one of those huge tables that you can just keep pulling out and extending.  Everything came together really well.  For dinner there was Penny, Mark, Alice, Alice’s friend Thalia, a Dutch-Canadian couple, and the neighbors from across the street.  We had such a good time.  It really felt like Thanksgiving to me.  We didn’t have turkey because no one in Penny’s family likes it and I don’t either.  So we had lamb and chicken.

The dessert was also great!  It was a bit of a mix between Kiwi traditions and American and Dutch traditions.  We had pumpkin pie, Dutch apple pie, and a pavlova roll.  Pavlova is the traditional New Zealand dessert.  It’s so so good.  I tried all three.  For never having made pumpkin pie before Penny did a great job.  I was a bit worried because it was made with real pumpkin and at home we usually use canned.  But Penny’s pie was delicious!

I can tell you I went to bed exhausted.

We went back to Sophie’s church on Sunday morning.  Sophie led worship and I loved being back in a church service with other believers.  I haven’t been to church since I left Hawaii!  It was almost enough for me to chuck the job in Fox and stay in Nelson just to go to this church!  The pastor actually spoke on thanksgiving just like any pastor at home would have done!  I loved it.

Later Penny, Mark, and Mac (their dog) and I went for a walk on the beach.  Mac just ran loose on the beach and in the water while Penny, Mark, and I enjoyed a stroll in the sand.  I’ve been to so many beaches lately that I feel spoiled.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep them all separate in my head!  We had lunch with a lot of leftover dessert.  Then I took a lovely nap.  It felt like being home.

I'm so thankful to be in New Zealand and for all the wonderful people I've met here!