Better Keep Moving

Friday, December 18, 2015

The Longest Day of My Life

While a "long day" typically implies something negative, I actually mean it in the best way possible. Thursday, December 17th, was both the longest day I've ever had and one of the coolest days I've ever had.

My first flight (to Sydney) was met with good news: I got a free $10 snack voucher! Wine, cheese, and crackers it is. I was nicely relaxed about my short Sydney layover after that. Not that I needed to be -- we landed 30 mins early! To top it off, the middle seat between me and a nice Australian woman was left empty. In long journeys, these little details can make your day.

On the 9.5-hour flight from Sydney to Honolulu, I had a fright: I was expecting a complimentary meal, as always used to be a given with long flights, but I soon realized that only people who had pre-ordered meals would be getting them. My heart sunk as I stared at my potential dinner: gummies and granola bars. But then a steaming dinner was plopped in front of me, along with a "comfort pack" (with lotion, an eye mask, socks, etc) and cozy blanket. Somehow the ticket package I'd bought pulled through for me. I guiltily looked at the food-less people around me and scarfed down my dinner.

So here's why it's my longest day ever: I started flying at 3:15pm in Christchurch, and eventually landed at 6:45am in Honolulu the same day! That's the cool thing about coming from Oceana -- you magically go back in time en route, due to the fact that we cross over the international date line. My December 17th was going to continue -- and was also going to keep getting better, because now I had 12 hours to spend in Honolulu.

Better yet, Brooke (my roommate in Göttingen, Germany during my month off study there) was coincidentally in Honolulu already. Thanks to an Instagram comment by my uncle Don that mentioned my layover, Brooke made the connection and got in touch. I owe you one, Don. So Brooke were going to have an unexpected reunion, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I hadn't seen Brooke since she visited me in Düsseldorf just over a year ago.

We met up at Pearl Harbor and did the tour there. Because of my time limit, we didn't do everything there, but the USS Arizona memorial tour was the perfect glimpse into the tragedy and politics behind what happened at Pearl Harbor.

The Arizona Memorial, which is floating over the actual Arizona wreck.

Part of the topmost bit of the USS Arizona. There are around 900 men still entombed in the wreck.

The list of those who died in the attacks.

The water above the wreck.

Onboard the memorial.

After that we had lunch with Brooke's boyfriend and friend (they're all there for a chemistry conference), then she and I went to Waikiki to enjoy some time on the beach. I got to swim in the warm waters of the Pacific and get some vitamin D before spending a month in the desolate, sunless cold of Minnesota.

A bit different from a Minnesota December.

"Smile, Brooke!"

So grateful for the reunion!

The day was all too short, of course, but considering the circumstances it was absolutely perfect. Better than perfect, since I was able to hang out with Brooke. Life is crazy and fabulous sometimes! Oh, and an added bonus was that Brooke letting me shower at her place; if you've ever flown long distances with multiple layovers, you know how big a difference an extra shower can make.

Happy, exhausted, and squeaky clean, I finally ended my day by sleeping through the 7-hour flight to Dallas (where I am now). Despite the journey being days long, I really can't complain too much about it.

Next stop: home!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Circle of Life (in New Zealand)

After our two weeks in Punakaiki we made our way down to Queenstown, with overnights in Franz Josef (staying at the Rainforest Retreat as a guest this time, which was surreal) and beautiful Wanaka. We arrived in Queenstown on December 3rd, and remained there since then.

Once we'd reached Queenstown, we went straight to Addstaff, the temp agency Mariah and I had worked for back in February. They got us both shifts for the following day, and since then we've been working various event staff and cleaning shifts, managing to break even in a town notorious for making your money disappear with dizzying speed.

It was awesome to be back -- especially since we were sleeping in a quiet van this time rather than a noisy 6-person dorm room. Being in Queenstown again reminded me that it really is my favorite place in New Zealand in terms of natural beauty. The weather was fantastic, although it is extremely odd to see Christmas decorations in the early summer.

After a 7-hour bus ride, I am now in Christchurch (thus completing my full NZ circle), and I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for my first flight. As luck would have it, Kate (the other American wwoofer at Te Nikau) is also staying in Christchurch -- even more coincidentally, we're staying at the same hostel! So it's turned out to be a great first day of traveling home.

By the way, the scenery during the bus ride wasn't bad either:

I would say this is my last post for a while, but I happen to have a very exciting layover coming up that I am certain I'll be writing about.

Until then, it's all up in the air!

Thanksgiving in the Rainforest

We arrived in the little settlement of Punakaiki and were immediately amazed by the change in scenery. I've mentioned this before, but the diversity of the New Zealand landscape never ceases to surprise me. Coming from the dry, rolling hills of Murchison, the vivid green slopes of the West were about as shocking as it gets. We had officially entered the rainforest.

Our wwoofing placement was at a place called Te Nikau Retreat. It's a series of secluded lodges, all separated enough from each other that they felt truly isolated within the rainforest. Being a guest there would be fabulous.

This retreat somehow functions while completely depending upon unpaid work. The team of housekeepers is made up of only wwoofers, with only four paid staff members keeping things running. In other words, us wwoofers had loads of work to do every day -- always 4-5 hours of housekeeping work, not to mention the two extra hours of baking some mornings as well as cooking for up to ten people in the evenings. Te Nikau Retreat comes unpleasantly close to surpassing the 6-hour daily work limit wwoofers (or technically HelpX-ers, in this case) are supposed to have.

Luckily, our wwoofing team was awesome, and our disgruntled attitude at having been misled helped us all become fast friends. We managed to have a fun time joking about forming a "wwoofer's union" and sneaking tea breaks when the managers weren't looking. In other words, we turned a weird situation into something fun.

Another perk at Te Nikau Retreat was learning how to bake muffins and "German" bread (which, according to German wwoofer Shirley, is nothing like typical German bread). Cooking in the evenings was less fun and more burdensome, but once again we wwoofers came together to cook as a team every night, which defied the management's expectations of having one of us cook alone at a time. We were apparently "breaking all the rules," according to one manager.

I have to say, I did love the little community we'd formed in our cozy staff house, and the staff meals were a big part of that. Since two of us were American (the other one being Kate from Colorado, whom I bonded with early on when we assigned Harry Potter characters and places to the various people and locations of Te Nikau), our group decided to celebrate Thanksgiving altogether as a "family," something that I was indeed very grateful for. We even had pumpkin pie!

Kate and our glorious Thanksgiving meal.

By the end of our two weeks we had managed to do all sorts of cool things despite the frequent pouring rain. We left on a good note, vowing to see our friends Kate and Shirley again soon.