December - “Welcome to reality” - something that stuck with me since my time at Danish university. Time, when I had to challenge myself to drag 2 meter and 20kg heavy box to the ferry that crossed shores. When rain was pouring down and made you soaked wet, yet, you still had 3km to go on a ragged road with the box on top of your back and rain drizzling on top of you… All for the sake of making back home to assemble together that darn bicycle you bought! All for crossing that bridge over the city at 15:00 when the full moon was out and the wind was blowing, like someone accidentally turned on the jet engine nearby. Just attach yourself to a piece of rope and you are gonna soar! Just repeating these words to yourself “Ahh, this is fine. Everything will be fine. Have a smile on your face and the sun will shine… After 150 days, it sure will!” All for those 20 Danish Krones you found when waiting for a bus, hidden among the sand, and waiting for the appropriate time, when you could spend it for a bag of chips or a bottle of beer - depending on mood one was in - either to prepare for a meeting with friends or have some late evening snack for those evenings, when the library dished out new DVD’s to watch!
Without challenge I feel weary, lost, alone. Like an ellipsis, I feel part of the context missing, hiding those superfluous words - only to be filled in by the reader, unbeknownst of what might happen in a few chapters! It’s been more than a year since I flew over to New Zealand. And almost six months after I wrote the blog post about my first 2 months. However, being back home, with time to spare, I thought it would be perfect to share my true impressions on this time, when I look back at it through my journal & videos. Time, when I still felt anxious of the journey ahead and not certain what my next plan of action could potentially be. As the Christmas market was approaching, lil’ ol’ me started to crank up the oven and prepare the yeast for the traditional Latvian sourdough bread! It was time to introduce the outside world of this magical food item. Bread, which converted Americans & Bulgarians into “breadlievers”. That there was something different in the traditional known pastry - something that could potentially conquer the world. Not by force, but by the sheer volume of garlic that was tossed on top it it, when cooked on pan after it was baked! And I knew, it would be the perfect to have on display when all the people congregate on the main street checking all the goodies! It’s a tough crowd, but after selling it to ex-gang members (whom, by the way, wanted me to become the “dough supplier” and even make a trade for it), regular farmers, Maori (indigineous inhabitants of New Zealand), and, believe it or not, even a pair of Latvian girls! What’s the chance? (By the way, if you know those Latvian girls who still were in New Zealand during December and met a Latvian guy, selling pastry products in Otorohonga, let me know - I want to know if they liked the bread or not!!) After the market was done, my host, at that time, received phone calls to make orders for more loafs… I only sold 13 loafs (that’s all I could make), but I got an order of whooping 20 loafs in one day! Some even asked, when I am gonna make my own bakery in town. Perhaps, in time I could really go for it. Make a franchise and spread the word about our country. However, I knew I didn’t want to settle down in one town immediately - I wanted to experience more, I wanted to see more of New Zealand. So during Christmas time, we went to a beach called Pukehina near Tauranga. A quaint area, which had mild weather and the comfort level was off the roof! Can spend a day like a Kiwi - sit on the balcony, have a beer, two, three, perhaps four, paint some railings and hit the beach later on. On the radio, you hear, just like anywhere else “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…”, oh boy. It felt so out of place. I didn’t imagine I would be listening to this piece, when the local Mexican neighbor cactus plants were budding, and I had to crank up my A/C cause that December was too hot for my Northern hemispher-ian lil’ me! But I must admit, the Christmas dinner, prepared by a genuine New Zealand lady, was one of the best! A homemade Pavlova cake - it just evaporated the instant you put it in your mouth, while the strawberries signaled, that it was delicately picked by the farm employee, who didn’t want to break off a single leaf off from the stem! That’s how much care was put into it! Vanilla pudding - you didn’t even had to use any utensils, it just slid down your throat, creating this explosion of vanilla bean and rum, and occasional raisin. And, of course, a game, where you tore apart a big candy wrapper, only to uncover it had a hidden toy. And it was a game you couldn’t just do right away - you had to wait for an appropriate time, when everyone least expected it and “fight” over the gift hidden inside. It was a Christmas unlike anything I had experienced before. And best of all - the evening was finished with a walk along the beach side, where, in total, we walked around 9km that evening. The night so bright, the sand so soft against your toes, that you don’t feel the occasional glass shard that might cut your leg once in a while, sand fleas, which feel like small grasshoppers jumping off from decomposed fish-heads, and latching onto your legs, and that green lighthouse… Oh boy. At one point, I felt like I jumped right out from the screen of Leonardo di Caprios’ movie “The Beach” or even “The Lord of The Rings” - how the skies split apart with each cluster of green that passed by. Felt like UFOs’ might come by and snatch us all up or even how each wave that came in, presented a small glimpse, how calm the ocean was. How the surface gleamed in colour of green, yet, it still had this mysterious, perhaps even ominous feel. How something could be hidden under the waves and you could never really tell, what could hide under… This presence of unknown - it didn’t leave your side, cause each time you encountered something new, you were pleasantly surprised or even shocked from disbelief. Just like New Year’s Eve. Couple hours after the celebration, I suggested to the hosts, that I wanted to take a stroll, so I would walk back home. “Bad idea” they said. I was flabbergasted: “Why?”, “Well, you see, down the road, there lives, what we like to call “Black Witch” - if she is gonna hear you walking down that road, she will tumble down the pathway, throw a fishing net on you, handcuff you, tie up your legs and bring you up to her shack”. “Ummm, ok…. what the f**k?” was my first response to such a bizarre occurrence. And let me tell you - this has happened already in the past! “Yeah, we ain’t lying, mate. Even the local postman are taking either a quick detour or dropping her packages in front of the road and fly off”. “There have been times when she drugged the captives, placed them in the hottub, tore off their clothes and raped them. She has been in jail before too, so I would definitely be wary of it, mate”. Ooookay - I definitely didn’t want to have that to happen to me. So, I had to choose the second option - driving back with the person who took me up the New Year’s party. And I was completely okay with that! But a New Year meant new opportunities, new experiences, new stories, new people and a whole lot of things to see. Couldn’t wait what 2020 had in store for me….. Yeah, right….. Milky Way, police house in a size of shed, “Last Christmas” at +28 degrees, eels during the low tide, complete lockdown, international family, Thai stir-fried ice cream, curious fantails, green flash dividing the nightly sky and free peanut butter!
- Congratulations, you have started reading a compressed post about the travel to New Zealand! Aoetearoa – Maori word for “New Zealand”. Now, once upon a time, Māui the demigod, crept into his brothers’ canoe and hid himself under the floorboards. Overhearing their discussion, that they didn’t want to take him with them, this was the only opportunity available to him. Only when the canoe was far out from the closest land and the brothers had filled the bottom of their canoe with fish that Māui took the chance and revealed himself. Using his magical fishhook, he threw it over the board and the hook went deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean… As he tugged, gently – Māui felt that the hook caught onto something – it was a giant fish! His brothers started to carve out pieces for themselves, before Māui had appeased Tangaroa, the god of the sea. The carved out pieces symbolize the lakes, the coastlines, mountains of the Northern part of New Zealand. The South island is the canoe on which Māui and his brothers were fishing from, while the tiny island on the bottom – Stewarts’ island, is the anchor stone. This is the story of New Zealand! It took me 6 months to finally get a grip and write this… I started to write it on a run-down boat in a middle of a river when the evenings were warm and pleasant, then at an apple orchard, where the yellow leaves symbolized the start of the autumn, and winter – when I sit near a fireplace and redo these lines and look how frost covers my car. Like a symphony, the text takes a shape in my mind, but everything becomes out of tune if I hit the wrong key. I need harmony… Perhaps, like Newton, I just needed an apple to fall on my head, but in my case, it would be an apple trees’ branch that hit me in the face. To understand why – I was on an apple orchard with a hefty Hercules deed – to gather 1,4 tones of apples per day I needed! And just recently, after 2 months – we are finished with it. And to think – that there was a day I managed to gather 3 tones of apples in a single day! The beginning, the beginning…. Beginning of what though? How this idea of going to New Zealand came to fruition? Why am I taking part in this journey/flock, which encompasses like-minded people from all sides of our world, gathering in New Zealand for the greatest migration of its kind? Curiosity, challenge & knowledge, definitely! Things that you start on a whim become the most important things of all! They shape you into the person you are supposed to be. So my New Zealand story began during my time at my university – when I met people who had been in New Zealand before and how they told me how they loved it. Fast-forward 1,5 years later on 4th of October – and there I was, waving goodbye with my backpack of 23kg for the next year and a half! Flying there was rather tiresome – considering the flight from Doha to Auckland takes 18 hours… So 5 movies, 7 glasses of white wine, a cup of peppermint tea, fidgeting sleep and immense amount of food & snacks later – I am in Auckland in the middle of the night. Goodbye Europe & hello Oceania. Greeted by an authentic Ozzie taxi driver with a thick outback accent, making you feel, like kangaroos will be present as well. But no, no kangaroos – just kiwi birds, kakapoa, long-fin eel etc. He took me to a hostel, just so I could adjust – and I felt like I had exponentially aged – I went to sleep at 18 o’clock for the next week just to wake up at 4 in the morning. I didn’t feel as I had left the comforts of Europe – I didn’t feel like I was too far away from home. Only when you look at the map – oh, 18,000 km, it’s just a tad bit away… Oh – and the fern trees, killer whales at the bay and the beautifully steamed Chinese buns were the giveaway that I sure wasn’t in Latvia anymore! October – 3 months. Starting from this point onwards, I met up with my first host, where I volunteered at for 3 months. I rode the bus to Otorohanga. My host had a few sheep, a flock of chickens (chooks), two cats, a pond of goldfish (and green treefrogs, which sound like a miniature chainsaw going off during the nighttime) and some possums during the night, who make pig-like shrieks – can get terrifying when you are out and about in the fields and hear this noise coming off from a tree nearby! Heard that they are even prone to climb up on you, if they feel threatened. Nonetheless, they are an invasive species the New Zealanders are trying to get rid off, as it destroys the native wildlife (including the kiwi birds). One thing that do characterize the New Zealanders (we are gonna call them Kiwis’ now, as they say), they do sure love their beer! 3 months straight – I had a beer every day! Good thing I was working on the fields grubbing thistles or helping out on the neighbor’s farms or swimming whenever I could! I got to know the local community pretty well – it was a rather small town, but there were 4 car dealers – they say people were starting to move a bit more inland, due to the rise of the accommodation prices and also due to the quiet lifestyle they lead. I could feel it – finally, you can go out with torn shorts, jandals (Japanese sandals), dirty hat and smudged all in dirt and nobody would bat an eye – the most surprising part? How every employee at the cash register initiates a conversation with you – when they really share a proper discussion and not just “how are you?”. One time you can be talking about the best ways to fertilize your tomato plants or the other – how the rugby game results affected the beer sales or even discussing about the whereabouts of a small Eastern European country and what’s your traditional cuisine like based on the kefir purchase. Every time and EVERYWHERE – even in the capital it is no problem. That’s how I also got a free piece of fish – by chatting up with the local and them throwing an extra piece in, just because they enjoyed the conversation. I felt… joy – people not being sour, but instead, showing smile wherever you go. Even on the sides of the roads you can find unattended small stalls with different products the family or farm might be selling. You deposit the required money into the box and take what you need. Neat system, which allows you to get certain things which would be hard to procure if the nearest grocery shop is 30km away or even the next gas station is after 180km. While riding the bus, I noticed all these small streets and villages which would be hard to access if you don’t have a vehicle of your own – as the busses run mostly between the big cities, stopping at the small cities/towns just seldomly. So, I set out a goal to procure for myself a vehicle – took some time, but got myself a sedan – Mitsubishi Lancer 1998. Great car – I didn’t need a space to sleep in necessarily, and it had more than enough room to put all of my things in. And it is not that challenging to drive on the other side – the rules stay the same but it’s just the opposite. Gave the car a second birthday too – changed everything that was needed to be changed there – either spark plugs, radiator hoses, all the liquids, oil change, cambelt, for the interior as well. I thought the car will stay with me till end of my trip… Sadly, it was not the case. It gave out on me in mid-February. November – nostalgia. Has it ever creeped up on you by moments, the environment or a smell you have not experienced before, but have read about it. Like nostalgia going into overdrive… You know you have it stored in your minds database, but feel completely baffled when you come across it. Walking into a cinema is an experience everyone is familiar with – the smell of popcorn, the cutouts, the advertisements, comfy seats – but what if, what IF the cinema transports you back into the time when people used to go to the cinemas in an evening dress or a tuxedo, the freshly popped popcorn or the curtains that roll up to present the screen! The billboards, the posters – just by opening its’ doors, from 2019 you go back into 1960s’. When movies were black & white, monsters were just animals enlarged for the camera or a man in a costume, or the Moon being as large as 1/3 of the whole sky, thinking “hey, if this would be real, imagine the natural disasters that would occur – you wouldn’t have the time to be sitting in a rose garden”. This experience happened right after I celebrated my 25th year into this world. How I pictured it? Sitting on top of a mountain with a bottle of wine and gazing upon the nightly stars. That’s how I wanted it – and that’s what I got – except, the mountain was changed to a hill + add a small bonfire to it as well. Feeling all warm & cozy as you sit – breathe in… breathe out – look above. What are all these constellations I haven’t seen before? What is this foggy part in the sky? Oh shoot – is it? I can see part of the Milky Way? What are these small insects biting you? Oh boy – and who would have thought, sandflies don’t even stop during the night! While the nights were still a bit chilly, the days were rather warm – warm enough to hit the beach, but not necessarily warm enough to swim in the ocean. Coromandel – an area in the North island, where many people go visit “hot water beaches”, yes, hot water. But Kawhia is the place that not many tourists frequent if you know when to go. And it sure was peaceful – just couple of other people. Nonetheless – getting to the point – you dig your own hole in the sand and you lie in it. Why? Because its like sleeping in a very warm bath. The only thing that provide a challenge getting there, an ordeal one could say – not the right pair of footwear. The beach is covered in black sand, so as you cross the dunes with either jandals or barefoot, just cause nobody informed of the black sand and the car is too far away now to change your shoes. In some cultures or followers or specific beliefs, can stand either on sharp glass or walk over hot coals. And as everything, it takes time to master. Here, you do not have the time. So what are your options? Just run… as quickly as your feet can carry you. Or, just bring a spare pair. It is especially true if you venture into caves or any humid places to see the famous glowworm caves! Waikato region is pretty famous for it - so, a glowworm is a carnivorous insect, which mainly inhabits humid and dark places and create this “spit string”, where other insects get stuck as they are drawn to the blue light that the glowworms emit much like anglerfish in the depths of the ocean. As the animal kingdom goes – New Zealand has heaps of them. And more surprisingly, it doesn’t have any dangerous animals its neighboring country Australia has. However, it has “Ozzie” immigrants – like the magpie, wasp, white-tail spider etc. The bird & insect life is just thriving. So much buzz & cheets around you as you perform your everyday tasks. And the nests – so many, ranging from common blackbird, friendly fantails (and I will reveal sometime, why they turned to be my most favorite birds of all time), peacocks or the colourful rosella, which, at first, makes you wonder if they escaped from a nearby aviary or are long-lost cousins of macaw. And so, my last entry – well, the last working week sure was something – without me knowing (but still having some hints) about the Halloween party (even though the Halloween happened at the end of week), but I still was surprised to see it all was organized for me – it left me speechless to see the KTV room was decorated with the baloons in a shape of my name. Well, they did give me a lot of surprises, which will always let me remember things – even a little photo album with all of them contributing by writing a small text.
Oh – they decorated the restaurant with lot of Halloween trinkets – in order to have that spooky feeling – even allowed the guests to participate, by having an game of bingo. I tried out Chinese massage too, oh heck, I felt really fresh after that – but I have no idea how the masseuse had the strength to do it for one hour straight, but it sure was a different from I have experienced before. I learned a lot of new things, gained new friends and have much clearer sight of my future. I enjoyed being there and experiencing the taste of Chinese hospitality and feeling as part of the family they had at my workplace. Now, I am already back home from my 30 hours long flights, but now that think about – it all seems like a dream I just had, and it seems I would meet all of my friends soon, but in reality, I will not be able to see them soon (perhaps when they open a direct flight in 2017 from Riga to Chengdu, then it might be very feasible?). As one of my friends told me – you can either love or hate China, there is no neutral part for it – it just all depends on how you really look at everything – if you keep an open-mind and understand that here is not the same as your country and you accept also these sudden changes a.k.a „culture shock”, then it would not provide you any problems. I tried my best to showcase the best things I could during these 3 past months, and maybe this post is not a long one – but sometimes, you can’t just convey all the feeling precisely to another, because for me they hold important value and it is hard to express how I felt, but I was at my emotional peak at the end of the week. I did not want it to end, because it might be that I will not see them in my life again – but somehow, just hoping for the best, that an application might save a small connection between us. So do remember, that one opportunity might lead to another – I joined an voluntary organization, where I learned from my friend about such a possibility, and I took the chance – because if not now, then when? Getting out from your comfort zone is where the true life starts and you start to reveal more about yourself – becoming the person you were always destined to be. But this sure wasn’t my last trip to China, because I did not go there for fun – I was checking for myself, if it worth going – and I never felt so great before – it opens your eyes, and meeting all the lovely people is just worth the journey. So this week still busy, very busy – 600 customers for the breakfast almost whole week, oh snap, that totally wore my legs off. But I will be adding some Japanese restaurant pictures from previous time – that wonderful taste those smoked salmon sushi left was incredible, I could have eaten more and more. Oh, and by the way, the wasabi here is the real deal – even back home I put almost tip of my pinky of wasabi, but here – bad idea, felt like I was out of air and couldn’t breath , that is how spicy it was. And, of course, a picture of a soup bowl – which included most major things you would expect – but mainly vegetables and tofu.
During the previous week, I managed to go to a sauna with my dear colleagues (and it was for free, as one of the previous colleague opened a sauna herself) – but it was something different – here I needed to put on clothes, which are quite tedious to remove afterwards, as they stick to your body from all the sweat. But the floor sure was scorching hot, couldn’t keep my feet on the ground for too long – imagine me almost walking on burning coal. This weekend I took a trip with one of my Chinese friends to Huonglonxi (an ancient town), which still has more structures from the past. But before we move forward, I wanna say – Danes, do you really think you like to drink? Well, so do the Chinese – so we went out (whole F&B department of my hotel) for a dinner (hot-pot, to be more specific). It all started out, by choosing the food you want to put into the pot, undoubtedly. Then it started with drinks – baiju, beer, some milk mixed in between to cool down from the spiciness – but I did not want to risk drinking too much, but always when someone proposed a toast (and it happened like 14 or more times), you either needed to go bottoms up (ganbei – included in Chinese drinking customs) or just „by yourself” and drink how much you want. And I couldn’t even finish my tofu, when someone else came by – luckily I was feeling okay, as I only drank beer. In the 1st picture, it also depicts a hot-pot, to which I was invited by my colleagues into their room – and you must agree, one piece of food looks like pinecone, right? It is not, but I can tell it is something from chicken – what specifically, I couldn’t tell.
So back to Huonglonxi trip – it took some time – around 3 hours to get there (with busses and metro included), but the town was HUGE – I could not even finish my sightseeing, as we needed to head back later on. 4th picture – kinda I was thinking – did I miss something from Chinese culture(??), I couldn’t really grasp what was that thing, until I noticed that a bit further was an amusement park and this was meant to be like a prop. 5th picture shows the Dragon (in Chinese it is pronounced as „Long”) river, which flows down through the town – passing down the vitality and wonderful aura, as described by information boxes. 6th picture – it is possible to go on a small boat tour on this river (and not by boat with engine, but a man who pushes the boat with a stick – almost as gondolier in Italy) and on the other side of the bridge, was the tail part of the „dragon”, where amateur artists (or even, who only had just begun their art programme in university) drew paintings – it is also where I saw llamas’ – you could feed them, but I was not convinced by the look on their faces (as we know, llamas’ tend also to spit). Walking around and seeing all kind of these interesting services (also ear cleaning – but that is one big no for me, as these metal instruments they had were like 20cm long, and I believe they would be more fitted on performing a surgery on me rather than cleaning), but it was the first time seeing them with these type of instruments, as they mostly had smaller ones, from my previous encounters. But moving along, near one small temple, was also an teahouse, which I really enjoy – the ambient atmosphere, as traditional Chinese music is played in the background and everything is so peaceful – it is understandable now, why Chengdu’ers are considered a bit lazy and relaxed – where is the rush? Nearby the temple was a tree, to which a lot of blessing had been hanged to – by couples mostly, as explained by my friend, a.k.a my tour guide – but I had heard that if you hang it very high – the love will be more lasting and will be much happier – and indeed, I saw one of these blessing almost at the top of the tree – and it was like 15 meters high. If you walk not on the main street, where all the shops are at, but go into the side streets, you will find the real ancient town, and it was not even crowded, unlike the shopping street, for which I was surprised. But better for me, could see more – saw even group of elderly people performing „martial arts” – and we need to understand, that even Kung Fu is not about fighting, but re-directing the flow of the energy in your body – and the moves they pulled off was quite amazing – quite a nice way to stay fit both physically and mentally. And one last thing I will mention, is the Dragon and Phoenix – of course these are part of Chinese culture, as even for the Emperors it served as a symbol of power, strength and good luck to anyone, who are worthy of it, and, of course, phoenix symbolizes grace and virtue and was more appropriate for Empress, as Dragon and Phoenix create Yang and Yin. |
AuthorOn a self-discovery in a country down under-ish! New Zealand! Archives
May 2020
|