Yank Abroad

Winter

2009-05-05T08:40:37Z

I'm a bad blogger. Bad bad bad.

Winter's coming to Wellington. We had a week solid of rain not long ago, and sometimes it gets frosty in the morning. But it's all right - I'm looking forward to lazy evenings by the fire, drinking ginger wine and catching up on my reading. I tend to be a lot more productive at home once the warm weather ends.

Anyway, I'll need to spend a lot of evenings in for a while, saving up my money, because I'm going to New York City in October! I'll be in Manhattan for two weeks, rambling around and doing research for my book. (It's set in New York, after all, and you can't write about New York if you've never been there.) And I've booked a ticket to attend a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, just for fun. It should be quite awesome.

Swimming weather

2009-01-26T23:16:14Z

As much as I love Wellington's windy grey weather (no, seriously, I do) there's a whole lot to be said for hot sunny days, and I wish we could get more of them. It makes it easy to cycle to work, first of all. When it's nice enough, I can go around the bays, an hour-long ride each way. Gorgeous when it's calm and sunny, impossible when a gale is blowing, so I'm cycling the bays as often as possible while the weather's good.

The ride also takes me past Princess Bay, a really pretty spot on the South Coast, just inside the Taputeranga Marine Reserve. If it's going to be a hot day, I toss a bikini and a towel into my cycling bag so I can stop by the beach on my way home from work.

Nothing drives the work day so completely out of your head like a swim in the sea on a hot day. The water's cold, but it feels marvelous once you get used to it. I had a fantastic swim yesterday, followed by sunbathing and reading on the beach. I'd forgotten how nice that is.

Today, of course, it's raining. Everybody I know keeps sighing about last summer, when the hot weather arrived before Christmas and stretched lazily into March.

Big Day

2009-01-22T22:23:40Z

Thanks to the time difference out here in Kiwiland, President Obama's inauguration took place on Wednesday, 21 January, at six in the morning. I went to bed late the night before and I had two solid days of staff meeting to look forward to, but all the same I dragged myself out of bed and went to curl up on the couch in front of the television.

New Zealand news anchors don't even try to be diplomatic about former President Bush, by the way. They were like, "And now here's President Bush, the worst president ever. Joining us now are two Americans who moved to New Zealand because he sucks so much."

That wasn't exactly why I moved to New Zealand, but I have to admit that it's a relief to be able to tell people I'm an American without having to make fun of myself.

I could say something really sentimental about watching Obama take the oath just as the sun was coming up. But I think it's funnier to mention that right after Obama's acceptance speech, Wellington had a city-wide power outage.

Woman is....

2009-01-19T06:34:26Z

You know, John & Yoko lover that I am, I never expected to enjoy this song. Much less when it's sung by that chirpy Australian guy who sings "Catch My Disease". Surprisingly fantastic.

Summertime

2009-01-19T06:20:58Z

pohutukawa
Originally uploaded by christinelinnell

I've finally replaced my laptop computer, so I don't need to sneak in personal work to the office anymore. Which means I can blog again! Thank heavens. My Facebook friends must think I'm dead by now.

I spent my first Christmas and New Year's in New Zealand, which was a cool experience. Christmas was particularly remarkable because I celebrated with my flatmate Starrlite (seriously, that's her name) and her family. They're all Maori or part-Maori, so their idea of a family holiday is to hold a hangi in the backyard. It was a warm breezy day, and I walked around barefoot in a summer dress and ended up with sandfly bites all over my legs.

And now it's 2009, the sun is shining, and I'm struggling against the urge to buy fish & chips for dinner - a struggle I think I'm going to lose.

Politics

2008-09-29T22:01:38Z

Dear Sarah Palin, Vice-Presidential nominee,

Regarding this exchange here:

Katie Couric: "... A lot of our viewers and Internet users wanted to know why you did not get a passport until last year. And they wondered if that indicated a lack of interest and curiosity in the world."

Palin: "I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world. Nooo, I've worked all my life."

Yeah, totally! I've worked all my life too. Like when I was in college, and I had this crappy job as a waitress, and I saved up for months so I could take my first trip to England over Spring Break. Applied for the passport all by myself, too - though I think my dad drove me to the post office.

Or like that time when I sent dozens of copies of my resume to English software companies until I landed a six-month internship in Portsmouth, and saved up more tip money for a plane ticket and a BUNAC student work visa. By myself.

Or like when I kept a dull office job for eighteen months so I could pay off my student loans and save up money to travel to New Zealand on a work visa. As in, to get a job. By myself.

Isn't work great?

Love and kisses,
Yank Abroad

P.S. I like your shoes.

Spring

2008-09-10T04:37:27Z

Spring has definitely come to Wellington - I can feel it as I take walks by the harbour during my lunch hour. It's a kind of warmth and softness that wasn't there a month ago. A certain smell, too, a mix of the sea and rain and flowers. One of the pohutukawa trees on the waterfront is already blooming (they usually don't bloom until Christmas), and it's like when trees start turning colours in the autumn back in America - it really cheers me up for some irrational reason. Summer is on its way.

I must keep in mind that the October northerlies are going to smack us silly first.

On a lark, I've signed up to write book reviews for The Lumière Reader. It's not a paying gig, but it'll be good practice. Time to start haunting the library again.

All Grown Up

2008-09-08T23:02:16Z

So I've been living in Wellington for just about a year and a half, and for the time being, at least, my waitress/barista days are over. I work in an office now, joining the throngs of professionals marching down Lambton Quay every morning. The job itself is pretty cool - I write promotional and educational material for students about why it's important to study maths and science. Most importantly, I'm actually writing for a living instead of developing software, which makes me very happy. But all the same, returning to office life is kind of weird.

Among the oddly grown-up habits I am developing since taking this job are 1) drinking too much coffee, 2) wearing lots of black and grey and pinning up my hair, 3) reading library books on the bus, 4) grabbing the World section of the newspaper during morning tea, and 5) getting caught up in politics. All of which are perfectly fine, but 18-year-old Me would make fun of 28-year-old Me for being old and stodgy.

Of course, I also 1) live on a marae with a bunch of pot-smoking hippies, 2) ride a bike instead of driving a car, 3) go out dancing all the time, 4) get caught up in liberal politics, and 5) have plans to travel to new places, New York City and Tokyo being near the top of the list.

18-year-old Me can piss off.

I happened across an article called "The Progressive Politics of the Millennial Generation" while I was messing around at work (yes, this is how I mess around at work these days, because I am stodgy), and it kind of appeals to me.

"The Millennials are an unusual generation, not like young people we have seen for a long time ... they are not individualistic risk-takers like the Boomers or cynical and disengaged like Generation Xers. Signs indicate that Millennials are civic-minded, politically engaged, and hold values long associated with progressives, such as concern about economic inequalities, desire for a more multilateral foreign policy, and a strong belief in government."

I honestly hadn't thought of that. It's encouraging.

Uh, hi

2008-09-04T05:03:48Z

Gosh. It's been over a year since I last posted. Crazy!

Very briefly, I am:

- still alive and well
- 28 years old today (wooo)
- waiting for summer
- currently living near Wellington's South Coast, next to the Tapu Te Ranga Marae, and
- loving it
- taking salsa dancing lessons (linear style this time, instead of Cuban)
- baking my own bread
- working as a writer/researcher to promote maths & science in schools
- becoming a regular customer at Unity Books
- voting for Obama

Have I missed anything? Probably....

Let's See, My Last Update Was....

2007-08-21T10:47:42Z

Yeah, it's been a while.

I've been living in the little Wellington suburb of Kilbirnie for about four months. For much of that time, I've thought of my living arrangements as "good enough" - a bit shabby, and not as close to the attractive downtown area as I'd like, but reasonably comfortable and very cheap, which was the important thing.

Then one day, I hopped on my bike and rode along the coast, and discovered the gorgeous wild hills and secluded little beaches that unfold past Lyall Bay, ten minutes away from my house. Now I ride out there almost every day, and I'm starting to think that I wouldn't live anywhere else. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and it's all in my back yard. On clear days, I can even see the mountains of the South Island. While I understand that views of the South Island are pretty commonplace for most Wellingtonians, I can't stop going all little-girl gleeful every time I see it. I'm from Nebraska. Mountains are astonishing to me, and the ocean is beyond wonderful, so mountains AND ocean at the same time - well, it gets me a bit drunk.

Wellington is marvelous. I ride my bike all over town, I take ferry rides across the harbour on weekends, and I go to the occasional party with my friends, most of whom are from Chile, of all places. (I met these friends when the B.E. Esmeralda docked at Queen's Wharf for five crazy days in June, more on that later.) I'm getting pretty good at my job at the French cafe, but it's getting too stressful, and I've had a job offer at an adorable little seaside restaurant in Island Bay - we'll see how that goes.

I'm still taking guitar lessons on Cuba Street every two weeks. How it works is, I find a song I want to work up, I slack off practicing it, I finally mess around on the guitar for a day or two, and then I show up at the guitar shop on a Tuesday afternoon and spend most of the hour laughing at instructor Matthew's crazy philosophy discussions. I'm not as good at playing the guitar as I should be by now - my barre chords are feeble at best - but it's fun.

My writing project is still moving forward, if rather slowly. I'm reading a lot, taking notes, putting together historical timelines and chapter synopses. Really, I'm studying almost as much as when I was in school, and it's all very interesting stuff - Japanese and Japanese-American culture, the counter-cultures of San Francisco and New York City, WWII and the atom bomb, the Cold War, liberal politics, feminism, literature and poetry. But with the actual writing of the novel, I'm a bit stuck. I know who my characters are and what happens to them, but now I don't know how to tell the story. I think my problem is that I'm trying too hard to be clever and non-linear with the chapters before I have the plot fleshed out properly. I need to get it all out in boring chronological order from beginning to end, and then pull it all apart and rewrite it. This could take some time.

Update

2007-05-18T05:10:14Z

So, this is interesting.

"Let me 'splain ... no, there is too much. Let me sum up." I got the job at the French cafe. If you're ever in Wellington and fancy a nice lunch on Cuba Street, you might consider swinging by the Simply Paris Tea and Coffeehouse, where I'd be happy to serve you a nice croque monsieur, a latte, and perhaps a tarte citron for dessert. The people I work with are nice, though most of them are in fact French and can seem prickly sometimes. As usual, they're friendly, even fun, when you get to know them better.

I also found a place to live. I've rented a cheap room in a house in Kilbirnie, which is close to Wellington Airport. I can look out my window and see the end of the runway. It's also close to Lyall Bay, where I take my runs in the evenings. I have four housemates, who are pretty cool. Sometimes while we're cooking our individual dinners, we hang out in the kitchen and chat for a while. It's a comfortable place.

I have bought a good new bicycle, and ride to and from work every day. So far, the infamous wind hasn't prevented me from cycling, though it's come close. I may be forced to take the bus a few times this winter, from what I'm told.

I've been living quietly so far, which is nice after all the moving around of the last two months. Sometimes after work I'll cross the street to one of Cuba Street's bohemian coffeeshops, and relax with a book for a while. I'm still greatly enjoying the library, and doing a lot of reading. At the moment, I'm doing my best to get through a 1000+ page book of Walt Whitman's poetry and prose.

My main goal for this year is to complete the first draft of a novel I'm trying to put together. I've been a software developer for years, but I've always wanted to try taking time off and writing a book, so here's my chance. The novel is slow going, though, more of a collection of notes than a draft at the moment.

Also, I bought a new guitar from a music shop near the cafe, and I've signed up for lessons every Tuesday afternoon. The instructor is a funny, slightly weird guy from Portland, Oregon. Should be interesting.

Hmm, what other news? Oh yeah - I recently added highlights to my hair. Magenta highlights. Funky!

Cuba Street

2007-04-23T04:37:30Z

I've been in Wellington for a week now, and I'm beginning to get settled. True, the most concrete step I've taken so far is to get a library card, but that's something! Ah, beloved books, how I've missed you.

I'm looking for work at the moment - hopefully waitress work for the time being. I had a couple of interviews and even a two-hour trial run, but they didn't come to anything. I have another trial run on Friday, at this adorable gourmet French cafe and bakery, right on Cuba Street. I really hope I get it, the location is ideal and it's just the sort of place I like hanging out in. You should see the desserts and pastries in the display window, they're gorgeous.

Cuba Street will probably be my favorite part of town, with its funky coffeeshops and bookstores and boutiques full of eccentric clothes and such. There's a place that looks good for guitar lessons later on, and a shop that will come in handy for decorating my room, as soon as I get a room.

Back to Wellington

2007-04-14T06:07:31Z

Today was my last day of apple picking. I can't tell you how nice that is. Don't get me wrong, it was a great experience. I'm glad I did it, but I'm even gladder it's over. Particularly since the apples were bad quality today and it took forever to find the red ones.

The funny thing is, now every time I see a bin of apples at the supermarket, especially if they're Braeburn or Fuji or Pacific Queen apples, I automatically check them for coloration and size; and if I notice that they're bruised, or that the spurs haven't been properly removed from the stems, I get annoyed with the unknown far-away person who picked them.

I'll miss some things about life here. This morning was the last time I'll see the sun come up over the ocean for a while - that was always really cool. And I'll miss the countryside, and the sunny weather, and playing with Flinn at the orchard during my breaks. But I'm going back to Wellington tomorrow, and I'm really excited about it. I'm already pretty fond of that city, it feels like home to me. It'll be so nice to have my books again, and the big library, and the museums. And, y'know, no more apples, for, like, a long long long long time. You know the first thing I'm going to buy when I get to Wellington? BANANAS.

I wonder what kind of job I'll get?

Stuff I Don't Complain About

2007-03-24T04:08:26Z

There are some rather nice things about living in Napier. It would be more convenient for me if I was staying in Hastings, but Napier is definitely the nicer town. It's on the coast of Hawkes Bay; the beach is about two blocks from the backpacker hostel. The sea is lovely and it's nice to have it so close. I often go for walks along the shore to relax after work, and lately I've been getting up half an hour earlier to see the sun come up over the Pacific Ocean.

The hostel is a cozy place. A lot of fruit pickers live here, and they're from all over the place - Chile, Japan, Czech Republic, Germany. In the evenings we sometimes watch movies or play cards together. There's also a cat named Quizzer, who gets petted quite frequently. He pretends not to care, of course.

The owner of the hostel, Kathryn, owns a farm not far from Napier, and you can work there in exchange for accomodation. I went out there last weekend and cleaned the house for her, while a couple of German girls did some painting on the roof. We met her neighbor, an interesting elderly man named Buster, who built most of his house by himself at age 85. He made us lunch - pancakes with jam and cream. And when we were done with our work, Kathryn let us take the horses out for a short walk.

My boss's name is Dave, and Dave has a lean brown dog named Flinn, who comes with him to the orchard. Flinn likes me and comes over to say hi sometimes, but usually he's busy with other stuff. He runs around the orchard all day, and takes naps in the shade. He also hunts rabbits. A few days ago, he caught and ate three. I was very impressed.

Working in Napier

2007-03-23T04:11:31Z

I'm home early from the orchard today, so I have time to post really quick. I've been in Napier for about two weeks now. I have a job as an apple picker - a completely new working experience for me. It's certainly a change from office work.

It's funny, because I've read about field work in books before - like in The Grapes of Wrath when they're working in a peach orchard, or in On the Road when Sal Paradise is picking cotton. And they always manage to make it sound kind of romantic. You know, an honest day's work, tilling the earth, out in the wind and the sun and everything. But those books never seem to convey exactly how tired you get by the end of the day. I know that I might have guessed it earlier, but apple picking is really really hard work. I needed to experience it for myself before I would believe it.

The orchards are rather pretty, especially in the morning. There's one place that we go to a couple times a week, that has a little river winding through it, and tall poplar trees bordering the orchard blocks, and even a resident flock of peacocks (they're good for eating bugs, apparently). We were there today, and it looked as nice as ever, but the picking wasn't very good - almost all the good apples way up at the top, requiring going up and down ladders all day, and for all that we'd only get half a bucket per tree.

There is a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day, I have to admit. And dinner always tastes fantastic no matter what it is, and I'm certainly sleeping really well these days. It's a good experience and I'm glad I'm doing it. But I will be happy when I'm finished.

Catching Up

2007-03-16T05:48:54Z

I am so far behind, and my notebook containing all the details of the Flying Kiwi bus tour is in storage. I'll have to do a quick summary of how the rest of the tour went. It's just so hard to remember all the different things we did, and in what order.

So let me see - we went through Dunedin, which is a university town and very colorful, great student culture and cafe scene. It is also home to Baldwin Street, which at a 33 degree slant is the world's steepest road. We climbed up, it was hard work, we climbed back down. As you can see, things can get pretty crazy in New Zealand.

I'm sure we must have done tons of stuff between Dunedin and Te Anau, but the next thing I can remember is driving down the Milford Road through Fjordland National Park, which is probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen. The road goes along a big glacier valley with mountain ridges on either side, and the views are absolutely stunning. The air sparkles in that place - you have to see it to know what I mean.

That night we camped in a place called Hollyford Valley, which is also quite beautiful, with the mountains and a river. But it was there that we had our first real encounter with sandflies, and there were thousands of them, and what little bastards they are. Mosquitoes back home are nothing in comparison. The Maori legend says that people living near Milford Sound and along the West Coast got lazy and complacent because they were so entranced by the beauty around them; so the gods created sandflies to get everybody moving again. Rather effective, I would say. The scenery is worth dealing with sandflies, but I hate them so so much. On the bus, I amused myself by slaughtering any that I found skittering around on the windows.

We went to Milford Sound the next day and took the cruise, which is the only way to see it. Everyone who knows of New Zealand has seen pictures of Milford Sound - it's the classic guidebook cover photograph. But pictures don't give you any sense of the grandeur of the place. I wasn't expecting Mitre Peak to be so enormous. It's actually kind of spooky. The cruise was basically an hour of everyone staring and saying "holy crap" every few minutes.

After that, some of us (including me) set off to hike the Routeburn Track, a three-day journey through the mountains. The huts we were assigned to determined our walking schedule; mine ended up being a moderate two hours on the first day and an easy two hours on the third. Leaving all of the hardest part on the second day, which was the day it rained. And we missed all of the classic views of the mountains because we were up in the clouds for much of it. Still, it was a great hike, very beautiful. We were very proud of ourselves when we finished.

Next was Queenstown, where all the extreme sports are. I'd been kind of dreading it for the whole trip, because I was determined to go bungy-jumping but I was afraid of it. But I did it, in the end - off the Kawarau Bridge, the world's first commercial bungy-jumping site. Making myself jump was the worst part; the actual fall was over so fast, I couldn't really tell you what it was like. But it was a great-looking jump, a perfect swan dive. I have some pictures, I'll post them eventually.

So I'm awfully proud of myself - I now belong to that elite group of people who have bungy-jumped. The problem is, once you're in that group, you find out that Kawarau is considered an easy jump, at a meager 43 meters high from some old bridge. Real bungy-jumpers go for the Nevis Highwire, a specially-designed platform suspended 132 meters over a rocky canyon. Eight seconds of freefall, they say.

We cruised up the West Coast from Queenstown - one gorgeous beach after another - and ended up in Abel Tasman National Park. My only major activity was horseback riding in Punakaiki, which was great fun. My horse was obstinate, but I'm bossy, so we got along great. We rode along a bush trail, we forded a river, we saw a family of wild goats, we held the baby goats when our delightfully crazy guide rode after them and caught them for us, and then we had tea. Fantastic. My only regret was that I wasn't a good enough rider to take the mad gallop down the beach at the end. I have to learn how and go back and do it, it looked amazing.

The tour ended for me in Wellington. Most of our group was breaking up then, as people went their seperate ways. Once I got back to the North Island, I would have boarded a new bus with different guides and all new people, with only two days to go back to Auckland. I decided to stay in the city for a few days instead, and get to know it better. I rambled around, I found Cuba Street and visited Te Papa Museum several times, I walked up Mount Victoria for the view and stumbled across a Lord of the Rings filming site. It's a lovely city, really. I've more or less decided that I'm going to live there eventually.

For now, I have come to Napier in the Hawkes Bay region to work in the orchards for a while. More on that later.

Oamaru

2007-02-21T10:04:06Z

We're camping for the night in this little town called Oamaru, and I have no idea where that is. It's on the South Island, and on the coast, that's all I know. Find your own map and look it up, sheesh.

I have a lot to cover - ridiculously long entry to follow:

So, where to start? We went to Rotorua and saw the geothermal sites - hot springs, rock formations, boiling mud, things like that. The whole place constantly smells like sulphur, and it takes some getting used to. From there, we camped at a bush camp by Lake Tarawera, a beautiful if bug-filled area out in the countryside, surrounded by craggy hills. There are a lot of sheep near there. Heck, there are plenty of sheep everywhere.

After that, we visited Lake Taupo, which I'm constantly almost calling Lake Tahoe. Some of us went tandem skydiving there - I did not. I may try something crazy like bungee-jumping later, but skydiving is a bit too expensive for me at the moment. Actually, most of us agree that tandem skydiving is a bit easier than bungee-jumping; you're strapped onto someone who does all the work for you, rather than forcing yourself to jump off a bridge alone.

We completed the Tongariro Crossing a few days ago - a six-to-eight hour hike that winds around Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. For the most part it's a barren, volcanic landscape, full of astonishing rock formations. And there's this one part called the Devil's Staircase, which is a never-ending climb uphill through jagged boulders. My poor feet. At the end of the hike, some of the seams on my hiking boots had begun to come apart. All the same, we felt very accomplished when we finished it.

I saw Wellington briefly, as we passed through on the way to the South Island. From what I could see in a three-hour stopover, it's quite a nice city. I may end up living there, so I'm interested to see how it suits me.

The ferry crossing to Picton is beautiful, on a clear evening. Queen Charlotte Sound - I think that's the name - makes for some great scenery. It's an event in and of itself. Especially since there's absolutely nothing going on in Picton.

We went to Kaikoura, a coastal town which is famous for its whales. There was the option to go on a whale-watching tour or swim with the dolphins; I picked whale-watching. It ended up being a good choice, because the trip was quite successful. First we found a pair of orcas almost by accident; then, as we were hunting around for one of the resident sperm whales, our boat was overtaken by a big pod of dolphins, some of whom stayed behind to have a look at us. As we were exclaiming over them, the whale surfaced nearby.

It is exciting to see a whale up close, even if you can only see a small portion of their backs from this angle, and they look a bit like logs with blow-holes. This particular whale is called Noodle, named after two-minute noodles, because no matter how long they track him, he only gives them two minutes before he dives again. He was true to his name this time - particularly because the dolphins immediately started dipping and diving around his head, like pesky flies. He did arch his tail out of the water when he dived, so we got the classic whale money shot. Unfortunately, I didn't take the picture myself, I was too busy watching it.

There was one more sperm whale at the surface, but he was less interesting than Noodle, because he was taking a nap and wouldn't do tricks for us. But by far the best part of the trip was when we caught up to the dolphin pod and cruised along with them for a quarter-hour, while they played alongside the boat and showed off. They're such lovely, clever animals.

We just finished with Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook today. That's a gorgeous area, some of the most spectacular scenery we've seen yet. We swam in the lake and hiked up to the mountain - the best ways to appreciate them. I enjoyed every minute of it, aside from having a bad cold for a day or two. But you can't be sick for long in the alpine air, as a Kiwi guy told me. I'm pretty much back to normal by now.

Tomorrow, we move on to Dunedin.

Hello from Rotorua

2007-02-14T02:46:33Z

The bus tour has stopped in Rotorua for a couple of hours, and there are Internet cafes. I've been away from a computer for days and days - this is my first chance to post an update on the trip, and we're five days in.

There's so much to mention, I barely know where to start. Let's see - I'm touring with fifteen to twenty people (the number changes as passengers get on and off at different points). They're from all over the world. Currently, there are five people from Britain, one guy from Ireland, a girl from Belgium, a girl from Holland, three French people, two girls from Germany, two girls from Austria, and one other woman from America. The tour guides are both Americans, though one has lived here long enough to have a Kiwi accent. It's a pretty fun group.

We've been staying at holiday parks and campgrounds. We sleep in tents, and take turns cooking meals out of the converted trailer behind the bus. I've rented a bike, so I cycle when I can; it's a great way to see the countryside.

We left Auckland and went north, to the Northlands. It's pretty rural up there; it reminds me a bit of southern England, but rougher and wilder. The trees are more tangled and there are ferns everywhere. But the sky is very blue and the grass is very green, and gorgeous beaches keep appearing out of nowhere.

We've been so busy. We stop by the ocean often, for lunch or just to relax. We visited the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and attended a traditional Maori concert, which was just amazing. I went sailing on the Bay of Islands on a windy day, and I got very wet and very sunburned, but it was great anyway. We went sandboarding in Oponini - sledding on sand dunes, basically. I had some good runs but never got all the way into the water the way some guys were. On the way back down the coast, we stopped in a kauri forest to see Tane Mahuta, the biggest tree in New Zealand and one of the biggest in the world. He was splendid - a giant pillar separating Father Sky from Mother Earth, as the Maori say.

In the Coromandel Penninsula, several of us took a long bike ride into camp. We went up a mountain for five kilometers, which was agonizing, but the fast glide down the other side was worth it. We made a stop at Cathedral Cove, which is a gorgeous spot - a secluded beach hemmed in by trees and rock cliffs, with a vaulted tunnel opening onto the ocean.

We'll be visiting the geo-thermal pools of Rotorua sometime tomorrow; this evening, we're camping out in the bush with no running water or electricity. I'm having a lot of fun, despite getting sunburned and constantly having sand in my shoes. The activities are great, but I'd almost say that what I enjoy most is driving through the country, looking out at the scenery. New Zealand is a beautiful place.

Oh, and happy Valentine's Day, everybody.

Greetings from Auckland

2007-02-09T04:05:36Z

Well, I'm here. The flight was long, but not too bad - Air New Zealand seems to be a pretty nice airline. Good movies, decent food, comfortable chairs. I may have even fallen asleep for a while (sleeping pills helped).

This is my last evening in Auckland - the bus tour begins tomorrow morning. In the end, I like this city all right, but it was kind of overwhelming at first. The backpacker hostel where I'm staying is right downtown; the Sky Tower is practically just down the street. There are always buses and trucks going by outside, so it's often noisy; and the city centre is crowded and a little gaudy. I've been dreaming of pristine countryside for months, so the commotion came as a bit of a shock.

But after a little exploration, I found the library and the museums and the parks, and I got some nice views of the harbor. Auckland probably won't be my favorite place, and I get the impression that Wellington or Christchurch will suit me better; but in the end, it's not too bad. The weather has been rather nice, anyway - it is summer, after all! I haven't sunburned yet, but there's plenty of time for that.

The hostel is an interesting place. There's a big communal kitchen, and every morning and evening a bunch of people come downstairs to fix meals, mostly from scratch. There are some surprisingly good cooks among them, too. I feel a bit of pressure to keep up. I heated up a can of soup one evening, and then felt silly when I saw the elderly British guy next to me making sauteed chicken and steamed vegetables, and a Malaysian woman fixing an elaborate stir-fry dish.

Oops - Internet time is running out. I have pictures, but no way to upload them. I'll have to post them later.

San Francisco

2007-02-04T18:36:36Z

I leave for New Zealand this evening, and that's just nuts, but I couldn't go without declaring that I love San Francisco to pieces, particularly North Beach, where our adorable 1930's hotel is located. I've never seen so many charming coffeehouses and wine bars in one place before. It's bohemian heaven. I'm definitely coming back.

The best story I can think of happened two days ago, when Patti and I went to the Caffe Trieste on Grant Street for breakfast. Caffe Trieste is a famous hangout for writers and poets of the San Francisco Rennaisance, and attracts all kinds of interesting people.

So, sure enough, there was a crazy poet guy who came up to us while we were reading, and offered to sell us a book of his poetry. I bought one, because I was in a good mood, and he signed it "Don't read Jack Hirschman anywhere -- Mark Schwartz. (Alright, maybe in Italy.)" I had no idea what that meant. Later, he came back to our table several times to say random things like "It's Groundhog's Day! Do you think we'll get six more months of President Bush?" or "Do you think it should be illegal to sleep with your employees?" or "Hey, should I sleep with a guy today? Do you know someone you can recommend?" So when he pointed at a tall, lean old man with a bristly moustache and said "Look, it's the poet laureate!" and the guy snapped "Shut up! Shut up!" I didn't really think much of it.

"Why doesn't that guy like you?" Patti asked him.

"Oh, it's just because I love his wife more than he does - don't I?" Mark Schwartz said.

"I'm serious, Mark," the man growled from across the room, "don't you try to talk to me. Don't talk to me, Mark."

It was only when we left the cafe and went to City Lights Bookstore to browse through the poetry books that we found out that the angry old man was Jack Hirschman and he really is the poet laureate of San Francisco. We laughed about it all day long.

My obscenely expensive Internet connection is timing out - gotta go. Next, I'll write from Auckland!

Night Before

2007-01-31T05:21:46Z

I depart for San Francisco in about twelve hours. My duffel bag and backpack are ready to go, I have my passport, I have my journals and books and a fully-charged iPod, I have my flight itinerary. I'm going to obsessively check Air New Zealand's website a couple more times, and then I think I'm done.

I'll get excited about this. It'll come later, when I'm on the plane. At the moment, I'm concentrating on not panicking.

Really, I'm all right. It's just that I have no mental pictures to apply to my future right now. Looking at photographs doesn't work - you have to experience a place in person before you can have an idea of what to expect. Once I'm there, I'll be doing great.

holy crap.

Waiting

2007-01-28T19:05:19Z

Well, I've moved out and turned in my keys. I am apartment-less. I gave away most of my furniture, including my lovely old couch - but a good friend of mine took it, so at least I know it's in good hands. Quality second-hand couches should be shared among friends, really. It builds up good karma.

I have a few days to spend at my parents' house. It's kind of strange. My parents are sad, and often tell me how much they'll miss me. It's nice to hear, but it makes me feel guilty, and that brings on late-night "am I doing the right thing" sessions. I think, in the end, we'll be all right. I'm just in suspense right now.

One thing I'm sure of - the summer weather in New Zealand will be quite welcome. It's bloody freezing in Nebraska these days.

Preparations

2007-01-24T22:44:15Z

I only have two full days left in my apartment - and it's hard to believe, because even though a lot of stuff is boxed up, most of my furniture is still in place. But tomorrow evening I'm giving a carload of kitchen utensils to my mother; on Friday, a friend will swing by to take the couch, the dresser, and the kitchen table; and on Saturday, another friend will take my bike, and my father will arrive with a borrowed truck to take everything else. Then I'll turn in my keys and collect my deposit. It'll all be over.

I'll miss this place. I've been content here, and my next place of residence probably won't be as comfortable. I pause sometimes, and stare at some soon-to-be-lost detail - like the potted plant hanging from the ceiling by the big living room window - and I think, "Why am I taking all this apart? This is crazy."

I am excited and eager about New Zealand - but it's just weird.

Giving up your job and preparing to give up your home has some strange effects, I'm discovering. For one thing, I'm reluctant to put on actual clothing, unless I absolutely have to go outside for some reason. (I mean, I've got this perfectly serviceable bathrobe and it's so comfy....) Also, I'm prone to taking naps, or lying on the bed or the couch for hours reading a book. And I get random food cravings, and can find no good reason to resist them. Case in point: yesterday's dinner was raspberries, dark chocolate, whipped cream, and red wine. Yum - and yet, huh? Where did that come from?

Oh, Lord, I depart for San Francisco a week from today....

Unemployed

2007-01-14T22:26:32Z

I quit my software development job on Friday. I packed up my notebooks and gave away my office supplies, and at 5 PM I said goodbye to everyone and marched out of that building, and I'm never going back.

So today, what am I doing with my newfound freedom? Why, sitting on my ass in front of the computer, of course.

However:
1) I'm in my pajamas.
2) I'm drinking wine.
3) I'm being forthright about - in fact, embracing - wasting time on the Internet, instead of pretending like I'm working.

It's glorious.

It's snowing at the moment. I did get bundled up and go outside for a five-mile walk this morning; I've always loved seeing my neighborhood in the snow. And I was in the perfect mood for tomato soup and cheese crackers afterward. Next on the schedule: bubble bath.

Some of my friends are throwing a going-away party for me tonight. It's so sweet of them, but it's going to be weird. My mind hasn't accepted the fact that I'm leaving yet. I'm pretty sure it will kick in when I start getting rid of my furniture - which had better start happening pretty soon. Yikes.

Foxton Beach

2007-01-11T22:08:03Z

This picture has been the desktop wallpaper on my computer at work for months. It is a photograph of Foxton Beach, in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It's the first thing I see when I boot up the computer in the morning, and the last thing I see when I shut down as I get ready to go home. I look at it from time to time throughout the day, to keep my computer-muddled head on straight.

The idea that I'll soon be able to stand on that beach just blows my mind.