i am a bad monkey because i have not written a blog post in a long time. bad, bad monkey. oh well.
christmas is here in new zealand, except not in a way that i really understand at all. it's sunny. it's warm. they keep trying to convince me that it's "normal" and "fun" to have outdoor barbeques on christmas day. what they don't understand is that christmas is really about a month of the year when one gets fat because one is stuck inside while trying to avoid parricide. that being said, it's been lovely being in the garden wearing sunscreen while i hum christmas carols to myself.
after only a two week interim from carolyn's house which was filled with a week at the speedy family vineyards and a few days of camping on the breathtakingly beautiful abel tasman coastal national park, robin and i came back to carolyn's family in nelson a week and a half ago. what is nice is that since this is our third trip to carolyn's, it feels so natural and so much like home. we have in some ways been neglecting our wwoofing duties to tend to the christmas fattening up. we have made christmas mince pies which sound BBbbisgusting but are delicious and are something akin to a glorified fig newton. we are making shortbread today and hanging up christmas lights on the porch. last sunday we decorated the christmas tree and tomorrow night i am chopping a hole in carolyn's ceiling big enough for santa to get through. it is christmas, for sure, but in a bizarre way.
bugs have been all over the place as have god jokes. bugs: a few mornings ago i woke up to a dead moth trapped in my hair. awesome. two nights ago robin and i had a midnight scream fest as we were almost feasted on by a bug the size of my palm. bug central. god jokes: two of the people we met on the abel tasman track were a french girl named audrey and a guy from alaska named chris. the fun thing about the abel tasman track was that we got to know people hiking it fairly well because we would all end up at the same campsites together in the evening. anyway, we left audrey and chris after finishing the track thinking we would never see them again. only to find them standing on the side of the road three hours away from where we had last seen them looking for a hitchhike ride. naturally, we picked them up and took them to their next destination. god joke, right?
fun that i've had my first "pick up a hitchhiker" experience now. well, not my first, as one time during high school it started raining really hard in the middle of the day and i offered a ride to a woman who had been walking her puppy. she didn't seem like a killer, as she was carrying the puppy wrapped up under her shirt.
robin and i got a fantastic(thankyouthankyou!!!) package from mom and dad filled with christmas goodies and many, many contraband items from home. in september at customs in auckland, we were forced to give up all of our unpackaged, homemade goodies to the near nazi new zealand gaurds. and here it is, three months later when mom and dad send through the mail homemade cookies and crunchies and the drumroll item . . . natural cotton! carolyn's family really loved all of the prizes, especially seeing and touching the cotton, but to be safe in that we don't infect the new zealand countryside with the cotton weevil, we put the cotton in a plastic bag and sprayed it with bug spray. ha! bite me, customs!
it is amazing and incredibly lucky how much we have been able to find homes in new zealand. we were extended christmas invitations by both gilly and greg and carolyn's family. since we are on the south island, we are going to stay with carolyn's family over christmas and be thinking fondly of our other new zealand family in auckland and even more fondly of our first families back in the US. what a life where i get to love so many people all over the world. i can't help but think of my ghanaian family and camp family and carolina family and wishing them all so much love. hallelujah.
love,
maggie
i don't know how to make this picture not so big
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
last evening after a day spent thining grape vines and bud rubbing in the speedy's vineyard . . .
(to catch up: after the crazy lady's house, robin and i went back to carolyn's for a week where we spent thanksgiving and hung out with her family and hugged because we were safe again and made fun of each other because that's sometimes what you do when you really like a group of people. we forced ourselves to leave carolyn's to come to the speedy family in marlborough on the north tip of the south island. nice family. pam, the mother, rules hard. pam and david have a vineyard of sauvignon blanc grapes that they sell to winemakers.)
david took us on a truck drive throughout the 70 acres of their property. at one point during the drive at the peak of one of their hill-tains as david was driving over uncharted bush with plants growing taller than me said, "i should get in here and trim things up a bit." i couldn't help but think while you're at it, maybe make a road or something. cars here really work. new zealand may be the only place i have been where it makes sense to have an SUV. and they actually use them as utility vehicles. as i think back to week one of ownership of our 1988 toyota corona when it got stuck in the mowed grass on flat land, i can't help but wonder if we should have gotten an SUV.
at three different points of our driving expedition we came across fallen pine trees that blocked our path. never were these trees huge, 18 inches diameter at the max, but still, they were ENTIRE TREES. at each impass, robin and david would dexterously grab a branch and with what seemed to be little effort remove the trees and roll them down the hill-tain. during each of these moments i flitted around running from side to side trying to find a way to help. by the third tree, i recognized that my role was most helpfully filled when i stayed away, so i simply walked behind the two capable people dragging a tree. i even stepped in (dried, thank god) sheep poo. i don't think i have ever felt more useless.
as if life could get much more perfect, the speedy's have an outdoor bath that connects to the hot water supply. without meaning to, be it a midnight bathroom run or waking up to turn over, i have seen the milky way more times in new zealand than i have seen it combined before. there is so little light at the places we are staying that the stars are most incredible. well done, stars.
with the christmas season quickly approaching, robin and i have been gearing up for what we are referring to as "christmas in the car '09." we bought maybe the ugliest felt wreath with a whorish looking gold plastic angel on it for our rearview mirror and a 10 inch white plastic christmas tree. does santa come to cars? merry christmas, everyone!
outside for more bud rubbing (bow chicka bow wow) and singling the grape vines! and to think, i now know what that means!
love,
maggie
(to catch up: after the crazy lady's house, robin and i went back to carolyn's for a week where we spent thanksgiving and hung out with her family and hugged because we were safe again and made fun of each other because that's sometimes what you do when you really like a group of people. we forced ourselves to leave carolyn's to come to the speedy family in marlborough on the north tip of the south island. nice family. pam, the mother, rules hard. pam and david have a vineyard of sauvignon blanc grapes that they sell to winemakers.)
david took us on a truck drive throughout the 70 acres of their property. at one point during the drive at the peak of one of their hill-tains as david was driving over uncharted bush with plants growing taller than me said, "i should get in here and trim things up a bit." i couldn't help but think while you're at it, maybe make a road or something. cars here really work. new zealand may be the only place i have been where it makes sense to have an SUV. and they actually use them as utility vehicles. as i think back to week one of ownership of our 1988 toyota corona when it got stuck in the mowed grass on flat land, i can't help but wonder if we should have gotten an SUV.
at three different points of our driving expedition we came across fallen pine trees that blocked our path. never were these trees huge, 18 inches diameter at the max, but still, they were ENTIRE TREES. at each impass, robin and david would dexterously grab a branch and with what seemed to be little effort remove the trees and roll them down the hill-tain. during each of these moments i flitted around running from side to side trying to find a way to help. by the third tree, i recognized that my role was most helpfully filled when i stayed away, so i simply walked behind the two capable people dragging a tree. i even stepped in (dried, thank god) sheep poo. i don't think i have ever felt more useless.
as if life could get much more perfect, the speedy's have an outdoor bath that connects to the hot water supply. without meaning to, be it a midnight bathroom run or waking up to turn over, i have seen the milky way more times in new zealand than i have seen it combined before. there is so little light at the places we are staying that the stars are most incredible. well done, stars.
with the christmas season quickly approaching, robin and i have been gearing up for what we are referring to as "christmas in the car '09." we bought maybe the ugliest felt wreath with a whorish looking gold plastic angel on it for our rearview mirror and a 10 inch white plastic christmas tree. does santa come to cars? merry christmas, everyone!
outside for more bud rubbing (bow chicka bow wow) and singling the grape vines! and to think, i now know what that means!
love,
maggie
Friday, November 20, 2009
GOOD NEWS BEARS! katherine is coming for christmas! the same katherine who two months ago had no job. money should be an issue for none of you. be a star player and come to new zealand!
also, katherine's arrival will really tip the lentz v. thompson/fail representation in new zealand dramatically. pick it up, lentzes.
HURRY, KATHERINE, HURRY!
love,
maggie
also, katherine's arrival will really tip the lentz v. thompson/fail representation in new zealand dramatically. pick it up, lentzes.
HURRY, KATHERINE, HURRY!
love,
maggie
Thursday, November 12, 2009
last thursday robin and i went with our wwoof host, we'll call her ms. nutty, to a gravel shop of sorts. the gravel shop was probably my favorite thing about our week at ms. nutty's because it was a football sized parking lot filled with 30 bus sized mounds of differnet kinds of gravel. pebble gravel, sandy gravel, huge gravel, small gravel. it was all nice. i love the sound of wakling on gravel so my ears got a chance to dance to the music!
why was gravel the best part about a week at our last host's house? because she was a bit mean and a bit crazy. good riddance. on thursday afternoon, after completing a whole day of work for her on her soon to be commune, she suggested that robin and i go ahead and leave to go camping. although we wanted to leave SO BADLY we stood our ground and stayed the night because whoa, lady, we earned a place to sleep.
we did learn a few things from our time at her house, though. things like it's important to wake up at 6am and stir ground up crystal powder into the water for your plants and then throw it up into the air so that the morning rising sun will catch the crystals and help your plants grow. you know, useful things like that. if you want a good laugh, read about biodynamic and cosmological farming. it's a hoot.
what was interesting about staying at ms. nutty's house was that she clearly didn't like us or want us there and although she was as organic as one can be in her farming, she wasn't a good hostess. it was an enlightening experience and one that taught me that just because someone is good to this planet doesn't necessarily mean that he or she is good to other people.
but friday was a glorious day for many reasons! 1. it was our escape. 2. we went to abel tasman national park to camp for the night where we spent the afternoon on what turned out to be our private beach and private campsite. and then! as some message from god signaling that all was safe and well now that we had left Whackoline's house, we saw a double rainbow (prouduced magically from no rain!) from start to finish over our campsite as we drank our evening tea. what glory.
sunday we arrived back into the safe harbour of caryolyn's house! what a wonderful feeling it is to be arriving at a place you know you love and one that is fun and welcoming. we and the family sat around like old friends on sunday night eating fish and chips take out laughing and making fun of each other. it felt just like a home. that is one part about wwoofing that i so enjoy: we really become parts of these people's lives. the near saintly nature and incredible generosity of most of our hosts is lovely to witness and encourages me to welcome people as they do in my future life. today for example, we are going to run errands as carolyn is out for the day and pick up her son from his exam.
two nights ago when i woke up to use the restroom i was once again astounded by the brightness of the moon here. the tiny sliver that remained was so bright that i again couldn't look directly at it and so bright that it had washed out the millions of stars that robin and i camped under the night prior. that's the wonderful thing about the night sky. when there is no light pollution, i show up expecting to only enjoy the star show, but then am always blown away by the encore presentation of the moon. that nature, always wowing me. we see so many breath-taking vistas on even the most mundane walks or drives that i have developed a pavlovian response to every visual in NZ. nature provides something beautiful and i, as a trained appreciator, reply with the appropriate "oh my god," "look!," or "whoa." i am learning to embrace the silence i must learn to answer nature, as language always fails me in such stunning settings. for the sake of robin and for this year and to not belittle every mountain or ocean, i will learn to measure my applause through silence.
last night on our walk (read: vertical hike) to our cottage after dinner, robin and i were stopped in our path by an angry mother cow. after realizing she was angry only to protect her newborn calf, we thought we could outsmart/outrun her by hiking straight up the mountain and then backing over the hill down to our cottage. the cow won big time. once robin and i cleared through a bit of forest we met her gaze again as she had predicted our route and was still blocking the path to our cottage. at one point of extreme frustration after we had fallen to our bottoms amidst the prickly gorse i shouted out to the cow, to god, to anyone who would listen, "mama, we don't want your baby!" she didn't hear my plea and we had to back track down the mountain hanging our heads in shame to carolyn's and thomas' laughter. the good news was that carolyn, feeling our legitimate fright and frustration, drove us up to our cottage. what a successful mother, that cow. well done.
thomas' hunting dogs just let out all the chickens. i can hear robin trying to catch them. i have to go help. it's pathetic.
just went to help. we couldn't get the last two. i just chased them around trying to catch them in a towel or undulay, undulay (sp?) them into their house. we are two universtiy educated women. what is this life?
cows and chickens and hunting dogs, oh my!
love,
maggie
why was gravel the best part about a week at our last host's house? because she was a bit mean and a bit crazy. good riddance. on thursday afternoon, after completing a whole day of work for her on her soon to be commune, she suggested that robin and i go ahead and leave to go camping. although we wanted to leave SO BADLY we stood our ground and stayed the night because whoa, lady, we earned a place to sleep.
we did learn a few things from our time at her house, though. things like it's important to wake up at 6am and stir ground up crystal powder into the water for your plants and then throw it up into the air so that the morning rising sun will catch the crystals and help your plants grow. you know, useful things like that. if you want a good laugh, read about biodynamic and cosmological farming. it's a hoot.
what was interesting about staying at ms. nutty's house was that she clearly didn't like us or want us there and although she was as organic as one can be in her farming, she wasn't a good hostess. it was an enlightening experience and one that taught me that just because someone is good to this planet doesn't necessarily mean that he or she is good to other people.
but friday was a glorious day for many reasons! 1. it was our escape. 2. we went to abel tasman national park to camp for the night where we spent the afternoon on what turned out to be our private beach and private campsite. and then! as some message from god signaling that all was safe and well now that we had left Whackoline's house, we saw a double rainbow (prouduced magically from no rain!) from start to finish over our campsite as we drank our evening tea. what glory.
sunday we arrived back into the safe harbour of caryolyn's house! what a wonderful feeling it is to be arriving at a place you know you love and one that is fun and welcoming. we and the family sat around like old friends on sunday night eating fish and chips take out laughing and making fun of each other. it felt just like a home. that is one part about wwoofing that i so enjoy: we really become parts of these people's lives. the near saintly nature and incredible generosity of most of our hosts is lovely to witness and encourages me to welcome people as they do in my future life. today for example, we are going to run errands as carolyn is out for the day and pick up her son from his exam.
two nights ago when i woke up to use the restroom i was once again astounded by the brightness of the moon here. the tiny sliver that remained was so bright that i again couldn't look directly at it and so bright that it had washed out the millions of stars that robin and i camped under the night prior. that's the wonderful thing about the night sky. when there is no light pollution, i show up expecting to only enjoy the star show, but then am always blown away by the encore presentation of the moon. that nature, always wowing me. we see so many breath-taking vistas on even the most mundane walks or drives that i have developed a pavlovian response to every visual in NZ. nature provides something beautiful and i, as a trained appreciator, reply with the appropriate "oh my god," "look!," or "whoa." i am learning to embrace the silence i must learn to answer nature, as language always fails me in such stunning settings. for the sake of robin and for this year and to not belittle every mountain or ocean, i will learn to measure my applause through silence.
last night on our walk (read: vertical hike) to our cottage after dinner, robin and i were stopped in our path by an angry mother cow. after realizing she was angry only to protect her newborn calf, we thought we could outsmart/outrun her by hiking straight up the mountain and then backing over the hill down to our cottage. the cow won big time. once robin and i cleared through a bit of forest we met her gaze again as she had predicted our route and was still blocking the path to our cottage. at one point of extreme frustration after we had fallen to our bottoms amidst the prickly gorse i shouted out to the cow, to god, to anyone who would listen, "mama, we don't want your baby!" she didn't hear my plea and we had to back track down the mountain hanging our heads in shame to carolyn's and thomas' laughter. the good news was that carolyn, feeling our legitimate fright and frustration, drove us up to our cottage. what a successful mother, that cow. well done.
thomas' hunting dogs just let out all the chickens. i can hear robin trying to catch them. i have to go help. it's pathetic.
just went to help. we couldn't get the last two. i just chased them around trying to catch them in a towel or undulay, undulay (sp?) them into their house. we are two universtiy educated women. what is this life?
cows and chickens and hunting dogs, oh my!
love,
maggie
Thursday, November 5, 2009
after just having dinner, i have come back to the computer to finish an email and now to explain what i mean about carolyn's kids being cool. tonight's dinner was a simple pasta and tomato sauce because carolyn and her husband are at her daughter's graduation. she forgot to invite the 16 year old, thomas, so he was left here with me and robin. one particularly good dinner conversation included the idea of robin making mugs and then thomas coming up with what to write on them. his idea was to write this on the mug: "hey, look behind you. i'm standing here all creepy. don't think this is stupid just because i am a cup. this is real shit (his words, not mine). yeah." see how that's funny? oh god, i hope this translates in writing.
also, i know i just suggested that you all get on a plane and come visit, but instead could you wire me the money you would spend on a ticket? a few days ago, i made a bet with robin that didn't turn out in my favor, and now i owe her $5000. whoops.
love,
maggie
also, i know i just suggested that you all get on a plane and come visit, but instead could you wire me the money you would spend on a ticket? a few days ago, i made a bet with robin that didn't turn out in my favor, and now i owe her $5000. whoops.
love,
maggie
whoa, whoa, whoa, everything.
i just killed a sandfly on the computer screen. they are the only bad thing i have discovered about the south island thus far. stike one, new zealand.
due to the scattered nature of my brain, the incongruencies of my thoughts, and the rapid rate at which i am experiencing newzea life, i am going to number the rest of this post.
1. the bit about the sandflies probably should be copied and pasted into the numbered section.
2. i hope you didn't read #1.
3. we are so happy to be at carolyn's and spending time with her lovely family. i had forgotten that high school aged teenagers can be exceptionally cool. carolyn's kids are reminding me of this. we have a board and rope swing that hangs from the tree beside our cottage at the top of a mountain. that part rules in itself. but the real beauty of it is that when we swing out, we can see the crazy clear river 300 feet below us.
4. i just realized that i have been on three different swings the eight weeks i have been here. i am averaging more than a swing ride every three weeks. (incredible math, huh?) i think this means that my life right now is a dream.
5. on our nine hour drive from outside of auckland to wellington to catch our ferry to the south island, robin and i did lots and lots of singing. at one point as we were driving around the stunning lake taupo with the sun reflecting in our glasses singing obediah parker's cover of "hey ya" at the top of our lungs (not nearly as well as cc does, but hey - we try), i looked over at robin and could not believe our incredible fortune. that moment was EXACTLY what i had imagined our life would be and then, poof! it is.
6. a few hours later in the drive to wellington our tape deck converter was having a bout of PMS and stopped working. we started singing to each other instead. the only song that got sung twice? UNC(go heels, go)'s alma mater. goodgodfest, college was heaps of fun.
it's time for dinner. more later. i am happy. i wish you were all here. you can be. just get on a plane!
love,
maggie
i just killed a sandfly on the computer screen. they are the only bad thing i have discovered about the south island thus far. stike one, new zealand.
due to the scattered nature of my brain, the incongruencies of my thoughts, and the rapid rate at which i am experiencing newzea life, i am going to number the rest of this post.
1. the bit about the sandflies probably should be copied and pasted into the numbered section.
2. i hope you didn't read #1.
3. we are so happy to be at carolyn's and spending time with her lovely family. i had forgotten that high school aged teenagers can be exceptionally cool. carolyn's kids are reminding me of this. we have a board and rope swing that hangs from the tree beside our cottage at the top of a mountain. that part rules in itself. but the real beauty of it is that when we swing out, we can see the crazy clear river 300 feet below us.
4. i just realized that i have been on three different swings the eight weeks i have been here. i am averaging more than a swing ride every three weeks. (incredible math, huh?) i think this means that my life right now is a dream.
5. on our nine hour drive from outside of auckland to wellington to catch our ferry to the south island, robin and i did lots and lots of singing. at one point as we were driving around the stunning lake taupo with the sun reflecting in our glasses singing obediah parker's cover of "hey ya" at the top of our lungs (not nearly as well as cc does, but hey - we try), i looked over at robin and could not believe our incredible fortune. that moment was EXACTLY what i had imagined our life would be and then, poof! it is.
6. a few hours later in the drive to wellington our tape deck converter was having a bout of PMS and stopped working. we started singing to each other instead. the only song that got sung twice? UNC(go heels, go)'s alma mater. goodgodfest, college was heaps of fun.
it's time for dinner. more later. i am happy. i wish you were all here. you can be. just get on a plane!
love,
maggie
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
i can't believe that tomorrow, after six weeks of living here(!), is our last full day at gilly and greg's. robin and i leave for our next farm, carolyn's, on the south island on friday. we plan to spend two nights on the road (halloween in wellington?!) and then catch the ferry to the south island on sunday, november 1st! we are excited to get to the south island but are so bummed to be leaving our picturesque life here. today we transplanted seedlings, made a new bed for the garden, fed the baby calves, and said many thank yous for our incredible fortune in finding the amazing shine family.
we have found such a routine of life here that it will be hard to break. saying goodbye will be almost like leaving home for yet another time. in the morning i wake up to come downstairs to everyone reading and drinking tea. lindsay out of the spider web mug, malcolm out of the kitty cat mug, my maori symbol mug is waiting out for me, and robin is sweet and uses whatever mug is available. we know these people, we have this life, it is filling and beautiful and right now i am sad to think of leaving it. pish posh, but what awaits us at carolyn's?
i am half excited/half scared of our drive to the south island. we hear the terrain is much more rugged and by some incredible new standard of beauty, much more stunning. the problem is is that our driving skills are fairly good for being on the different side of the road, but new zealand likes to provide each driving experience with a death-trap obstacle course. today, for example, going to get groceries, we dodged kids coming out of school. had today been rainy or had it been dark, i am afraid some of those near-toddlers (WHAT WERE THEY DOING WALKING ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD?) would not have made it. gruesome, but true. tsk, tsk, i will get better. come visit! get in a car with me!
like all periods of my life that are extraordinarily peaceful and fun, time means nothing to us here. i know it is time to wake up when i am no longer sleepy. i know it is time for lunch when i am hungry. i know it is time to go to bed when i can hear the tui birds' crazy electronic song. a few weeks ago lindsay openly asked what day it was. robin, malcolm and i each responded with a different day of the week. we had no clue. not knowing the date or the time signifies vacation, or three-day weekends, or ghana, or camp, or farm life. and for this i am grateful.
today as we were giving the baby calves their milk bottle dinner the youngest one kept sucking on anything that protruded even a bit. including my finger, which i am worried will develop a baby-cow hickey and also including another (male) baby cow's downstairs bits. not an udder, my friend, not an udder.
baby everythings everywhere. cows, chicks, plants. i can't wait to come back to gilly and greg's sometime in 2010 and see everything all grown up. i will follow in typical old person fashion and reminisce about the past and question where the time has gone.
robin has put up pictures again! one i would like to draw particular attention to is a drawing of scout finch's costume of a ham with legs. this rendition of scout was composed by miss robin fail, who while drawing it on my cheek said "whoa, this looks kind of good." ask yourselves, at what point did she think it looked good?
love,
maggie
we have found such a routine of life here that it will be hard to break. saying goodbye will be almost like leaving home for yet another time. in the morning i wake up to come downstairs to everyone reading and drinking tea. lindsay out of the spider web mug, malcolm out of the kitty cat mug, my maori symbol mug is waiting out for me, and robin is sweet and uses whatever mug is available. we know these people, we have this life, it is filling and beautiful and right now i am sad to think of leaving it. pish posh, but what awaits us at carolyn's?
i am half excited/half scared of our drive to the south island. we hear the terrain is much more rugged and by some incredible new standard of beauty, much more stunning. the problem is is that our driving skills are fairly good for being on the different side of the road, but new zealand likes to provide each driving experience with a death-trap obstacle course. today, for example, going to get groceries, we dodged kids coming out of school. had today been rainy or had it been dark, i am afraid some of those near-toddlers (WHAT WERE THEY DOING WALKING ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD?) would not have made it. gruesome, but true. tsk, tsk, i will get better. come visit! get in a car with me!
like all periods of my life that are extraordinarily peaceful and fun, time means nothing to us here. i know it is time to wake up when i am no longer sleepy. i know it is time for lunch when i am hungry. i know it is time to go to bed when i can hear the tui birds' crazy electronic song. a few weeks ago lindsay openly asked what day it was. robin, malcolm and i each responded with a different day of the week. we had no clue. not knowing the date or the time signifies vacation, or three-day weekends, or ghana, or camp, or farm life. and for this i am grateful.
today as we were giving the baby calves their milk bottle dinner the youngest one kept sucking on anything that protruded even a bit. including my finger, which i am worried will develop a baby-cow hickey and also including another (male) baby cow's downstairs bits. not an udder, my friend, not an udder.
baby everythings everywhere. cows, chicks, plants. i can't wait to come back to gilly and greg's sometime in 2010 and see everything all grown up. i will follow in typical old person fashion and reminisce about the past and question where the time has gone.
robin has put up pictures again! one i would like to draw particular attention to is a drawing of scout finch's costume of a ham with legs. this rendition of scout was composed by miss robin fail, who while drawing it on my cheek said "whoa, this looks kind of good." ask yourselves, at what point did she think it looked good?
love,
maggie
Thursday, October 22, 2009
help me rhonda, in a big way, you know? how in sinead o'connor's name am i supposed to write a blog about all that has been happening? well, i don't have to. you can read robin's! that was a joke. i have been pretty bad at jokes recently, so that may not have gone over too well. let me know.
first things first: i am entirely 100% squiggly happy here. it's such a nice feeling. what's so wonderful about NZ is that i don't feel like i have to choose anything. i can live in a big city and still have hikes, volcanoes, white and black sand beaches 20 minutes away. i can live a world away and still talk on clear phone lines. i don't have to decide between wanting to live near the mountains or near the ocean. i can have a modern, practical life that still respects this planet without having to live in africa. i am so grateful to feel like i don't have to make any decisions for a while on what i want the most because it is all available. i get to have all the options - a life buffet, really - and NZ is encouraging me, shouting good things always in the affirmative.
there has been a cute overload at gilly and greg's. ms. banty, the least naughty of the chickens, just had five baby chicks! there are three black ones and two cream colored ones! one of the babies died. rip, miss you everyday. on top of that, tomorrow we get four new baby calves! and we get to bottle feed them! and look at their inch long eyelashes! i am excited.
i didn't really see this coming, but i have truly enjoyed being around the animals on this farm (minus the chickens. NEVER the chickens). with different kinds of animals being in such close proximity, i have been able to watch them in a way i never have. i am discovering the entire world of beauty that is wrapped up in an animal's eye. the golf ball size amber looking eyes of the horses, the universe dense black of the sheep's bulbous eyes, the almost too-human eyelids covering the chicken's flat eyes. as not a particularly animal-loving girl,
***HAPPY NEW DAY IN MY TIME ZONE!*****
i had always classified animals as an entirely different category of life, but once i started studying their eyes, they have begun to look so human to me. how can i not have empathy for a creature who can look me in the eyes?
another animal i have been in close contact with recently: dolphin! this sounds almost too beautiful to be true, but yesterday (could it have been only yesterday?!) robin and i were traveling on the northeastern shore beach hopping when we came to a beach reserve called something that phonetically sounds like "taffranooey," but includes a "whp" combination in the spelling, so who knows. on this near deserted beach full of giant rocks and carved out caves and tiny bays and the kind of blue water that crayola realized was "cerulean," but better than anything else on this beach were the three wild dolphins that were swimming around in a calm bay! after we stood on the shore taking pictures of these three performatory dolphins for a few minutes, we realized we would be dummy monsters to not get into the freezing cold water to swim with the dolphins. i have never witnessed such incredible power and incredible restraint in an animal. we were standing waist-deep in our clothes with dolphins swimming so close to us we could literally put out our hands and touch them. it was such unusual magic. what creativity nature possesses in its ability to wow me at every moment of every day. standing with numb legs and an exploding smile watching dolphins felt like a sigur ros song.
this one, in fact:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_DQKCDgeM
i can't get over this life right now. all it needs is much loved and adored visitors to enjoy it with me.
love,
maggie
first things first: i am entirely 100% squiggly happy here. it's such a nice feeling. what's so wonderful about NZ is that i don't feel like i have to choose anything. i can live in a big city and still have hikes, volcanoes, white and black sand beaches 20 minutes away. i can live a world away and still talk on clear phone lines. i don't have to decide between wanting to live near the mountains or near the ocean. i can have a modern, practical life that still respects this planet without having to live in africa. i am so grateful to feel like i don't have to make any decisions for a while on what i want the most because it is all available. i get to have all the options - a life buffet, really - and NZ is encouraging me, shouting good things always in the affirmative.
there has been a cute overload at gilly and greg's. ms. banty, the least naughty of the chickens, just had five baby chicks! there are three black ones and two cream colored ones! one of the babies died. rip, miss you everyday. on top of that, tomorrow we get four new baby calves! and we get to bottle feed them! and look at their inch long eyelashes! i am excited.
i didn't really see this coming, but i have truly enjoyed being around the animals on this farm (minus the chickens. NEVER the chickens). with different kinds of animals being in such close proximity, i have been able to watch them in a way i never have. i am discovering the entire world of beauty that is wrapped up in an animal's eye. the golf ball size amber looking eyes of the horses, the universe dense black of the sheep's bulbous eyes, the almost too-human eyelids covering the chicken's flat eyes. as not a particularly animal-loving girl,
***HAPPY NEW DAY IN MY TIME ZONE!*****
i had always classified animals as an entirely different category of life, but once i started studying their eyes, they have begun to look so human to me. how can i not have empathy for a creature who can look me in the eyes?
another animal i have been in close contact with recently: dolphin! this sounds almost too beautiful to be true, but yesterday (could it have been only yesterday?!) robin and i were traveling on the northeastern shore beach hopping when we came to a beach reserve called something that phonetically sounds like "taffranooey," but includes a "whp" combination in the spelling, so who knows. on this near deserted beach full of giant rocks and carved out caves and tiny bays and the kind of blue water that crayola realized was "cerulean," but better than anything else on this beach were the three wild dolphins that were swimming around in a calm bay! after we stood on the shore taking pictures of these three performatory dolphins for a few minutes, we realized we would be dummy monsters to not get into the freezing cold water to swim with the dolphins. i have never witnessed such incredible power and incredible restraint in an animal. we were standing waist-deep in our clothes with dolphins swimming so close to us we could literally put out our hands and touch them. it was such unusual magic. what creativity nature possesses in its ability to wow me at every moment of every day. standing with numb legs and an exploding smile watching dolphins felt like a sigur ros song.
this one, in fact:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_DQKCDgeM
i can't get over this life right now. all it needs is much loved and adored visitors to enjoy it with me.
love,
maggie
Friday, October 16, 2009
i'm at the restaurant right now, sitting in the office wearing all black waiting for malcolm who is washing dishes to finish so we can go back home to gilly and greg's. funny how easy all of this feels. yikes. sometimes life is very, very convenient.
here's something that i have given up: ambidexterity. i thought this year abroad in new zealand could be the year that i learn to be ambidextrous when i am doing farm work. i really want to be ambidextrous, and i think with enough training i can be. it was just that yesterday as i was using a handsaw to cut fence posts i realized, "hey mags, saws and hammers are not the tools on which to be learning how to use your left hand. keep using your right hand so that you keep both intact and then someday learn to use your left."
i hear malcolm finishing up. i think it's time to go back to the house! and some money direct deposited into my bank account! at $12.50/hour minimum wage, thank you very much!
love,
maggie
here's something that i have given up: ambidexterity. i thought this year abroad in new zealand could be the year that i learn to be ambidextrous when i am doing farm work. i really want to be ambidextrous, and i think with enough training i can be. it was just that yesterday as i was using a handsaw to cut fence posts i realized, "hey mags, saws and hammers are not the tools on which to be learning how to use your left hand. keep using your right hand so that you keep both intact and then someday learn to use your left."
i hear malcolm finishing up. i think it's time to go back to the house! and some money direct deposited into my bank account! at $12.50/hour minimum wage, thank you very much!
love,
maggie
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
so, so, so! there has been so much that is wonderful in the past few days that it is difficult to frame this life in words. i will try.
since neither gilly nor greg worked on sunday (and it was the first beautiful and sunny day in quite a while!) they took the four of us wwoofers, four of their horses, and (for continuity's sake "four," but really many more) four family friends to a friend's farm on bethell's beach. as if a black sand beach with rugged undeveloped mountains, baby green - tropical almost - foliage lining them could be any more perfect, it was. some of us rode horses and some of us walked up to the tippy top of one of the mountains that lines the beach to see the perfection that is nature when water meets land. robin touched an electric fence on the top of the hill, looking down hundreds of feet to the water, and it was so beautiful, she didn't even mind. if you had to be a bouncing, dead human ball falling down the cliff to your death it would still be breath-taking.
many cute things have become a part of our days. so many cute things, in fact, that i have developed a bracket of sorts. round 1: two year old Zoe explaining why the chariot in her barn was dirty (it was used on the set of Xena, which was filmed at her farm. duh.) v. toothless baby calf sucking on my hand thinking it was a bottle. baby calf moves on to the second round. round 2: same baby calf a day later at the black sand beach farm foolishly eating a piece of trash v. twelve ducklings so tiny and so baby that they were still in obvious egg shape. dozen barely-not-eggs win. i can't imagine what could beat the ducklings.
robin and i are still loving, LOVING gilly and greg's! we can't believe that we have already been here for three weeks. if it is any testament to this farm and our amazingly generous hosts, we are staying until the end of october after which we are headed to a new farm on the south island. we are committed to not staying in one place for too long, but we are learning so much at gilly and greg's! we are learning how to build fences and make compost and till gardens and distract chickens from eating our newly planted seeds. every day i go to sleep with a supreme sense of accomplishment that until this period of life i have not yet understood. working the land while working your body is an unexpected euphoria.
here's something: another reason we are staying here for a few more weeks is that we accidentally got jobs. the manager at gilly's restaurant hired robin and me to pick up shifts for the next few weeks. today i drove our car to drop off paperwork for direct deposit into my new zealand bank account before returning a movie to blockbuster and getting a new book from the local library! see how much of a life we have here?
i worked at the restaurant as a waitress (with no training, yikes!) for the evening shift this past saturday. some interesting differences between dining in america and new zealand: "entree" means main course in america; appetizer, in new zealand. refills (and cavities) are not free. everyone orders dessert. no one speaks spanish in the kitchen. some similarities i found: wait staff once again appear to be enjoying a perpetual funeral, as we still have to wear solid black. restaurant "culture" is much the same with everyone smoking and cursing in the back of the kitchen. people pay for their food.
look at all of the homes i am collecting. hickory, chapel hill, ghana, and now new zealand. what a pleasure it has been in all of them.
love,
maggie
since neither gilly nor greg worked on sunday (and it was the first beautiful and sunny day in quite a while!) they took the four of us wwoofers, four of their horses, and (for continuity's sake "four," but really many more) four family friends to a friend's farm on bethell's beach. as if a black sand beach with rugged undeveloped mountains, baby green - tropical almost - foliage lining them could be any more perfect, it was. some of us rode horses and some of us walked up to the tippy top of one of the mountains that lines the beach to see the perfection that is nature when water meets land. robin touched an electric fence on the top of the hill, looking down hundreds of feet to the water, and it was so beautiful, she didn't even mind. if you had to be a bouncing, dead human ball falling down the cliff to your death it would still be breath-taking.
many cute things have become a part of our days. so many cute things, in fact, that i have developed a bracket of sorts. round 1: two year old Zoe explaining why the chariot in her barn was dirty (it was used on the set of Xena, which was filmed at her farm. duh.) v. toothless baby calf sucking on my hand thinking it was a bottle. baby calf moves on to the second round. round 2: same baby calf a day later at the black sand beach farm foolishly eating a piece of trash v. twelve ducklings so tiny and so baby that they were still in obvious egg shape. dozen barely-not-eggs win. i can't imagine what could beat the ducklings.
robin and i are still loving, LOVING gilly and greg's! we can't believe that we have already been here for three weeks. if it is any testament to this farm and our amazingly generous hosts, we are staying until the end of october after which we are headed to a new farm on the south island. we are committed to not staying in one place for too long, but we are learning so much at gilly and greg's! we are learning how to build fences and make compost and till gardens and distract chickens from eating our newly planted seeds. every day i go to sleep with a supreme sense of accomplishment that until this period of life i have not yet understood. working the land while working your body is an unexpected euphoria.
here's something: another reason we are staying here for a few more weeks is that we accidentally got jobs. the manager at gilly's restaurant hired robin and me to pick up shifts for the next few weeks. today i drove our car to drop off paperwork for direct deposit into my new zealand bank account before returning a movie to blockbuster and getting a new book from the local library! see how much of a life we have here?
i worked at the restaurant as a waitress (with no training, yikes!) for the evening shift this past saturday. some interesting differences between dining in america and new zealand: "entree" means main course in america; appetizer, in new zealand. refills (and cavities) are not free. everyone orders dessert. no one speaks spanish in the kitchen. some similarities i found: wait staff once again appear to be enjoying a perpetual funeral, as we still have to wear solid black. restaurant "culture" is much the same with everyone smoking and cursing in the back of the kitchen. people pay for their food.
look at all of the homes i am collecting. hickory, chapel hill, ghana, and now new zealand. what a pleasure it has been in all of them.
love,
maggie
Thursday, October 8, 2009
i can't remember who couldn't believe how big the calla lilies are in new zealand, but here is a picture of one that is the size of my head. and i have been told i have a big head (thank you boocifer, kevin, ross, et cetera).
this calla lily was a weed. a weed, for crying out loud. see how new zealand is often too good to be true? robin and i are lucky little birds. robin is actually a bird.
also, you should visit robin's picasa album because she is a good girl and actually uploads pictures. just trust that everything she has taken a picture of, i have it too, just a much poorer shot and on a terrible quality chinese purchased camera.
http://picasaweb.google.com/RobinEFail
yesterday there was a moment when i got to say, "in one arm i've got a hugcrow, and in the other i've got some worm tea."
let me explain.
"hugcrow" is the term we have developed for robin when she is being the sweetest lady waiting for a hug. yesterday she was standing by the pumpkin patch while i watered it in a very scarecrow position. when i asked her if she was a scarecrow, she responded that she was a hugcrow. hugcrows get hugs. check.
on to the worm tea. worm tea is created in a giant keg looking thing where worms swim around in mulch and rich dirt and water and then poop out all of the yummy nutrients for the garden. all you have to do is tap that thing, fill up your watering can with worm tea, and you are bound to have a beautiful garden. see how easy life can be with worm tea?
love,
maggie
Monday, October 5, 2009
last night around 4:20 (eyemuffs, mom and dad. everyone else: 4/20 Y'ALL. jokes, jokes.) i was woken up by two different calls of nature. the more pressing one was self inflicted, as i always tend to drink too much water right before going to bed. the second one was an untimely rooster. the good news about the REM cycle interruption was that I SAW THE BEST MOON SKY OF MY LIFE. when i woke up to go downstairs to use the restroom, i poked my head in robin's room to wake her so she could see the moon as well. but she looked so sweet and seriously sleeping. i left her alone. but what she missed was the brightest full moon i have ever encountered. so bright that my flashlight to get downstairs was completely unnecessary and any kind of nightlight from the computer screen seemed superfluous. the clouds were doing that silver ghost thing that they often do when crowded in the night sky by something as mind-blowing as a full moon. AND! i thought that i could see orion to the right of the moon being all orion-y, but it seems wrong that i could see him on the southern hemisphere. which of you fools took astronomy for your science lab? let me know if it was possible to spot him.
in other news, we built a fence around the new herb garden today! once more, i am still having to will my muscles to be of any use, but they are learning to comply without such resistance as they once did. my recent favorite mantra to get them to do anything is simply commanding of them, "muscles, ignite!" they rarely do.
farm life is still totes the good life. today i realized that i have been wielding a shovel for various tasks that stands as tall as my eyebrows. i am learning all sorts of new things. it is so satisfying to see how cyclical farm life is and how patient this earth and these farmers tend to be. it is a long process to scoop horse manure into a heap, mix it with the food scum that should never see the light of day, wait for it to decompose, till the land, add the compost, plant the seeds, wait, wait, wait, and then you get to munch on your beautiful and hard work. nature likes circles, wouldn't you say? except when we drive cars too much and waste, waste, waste and then this planet says "BITE ME, I AM GOING TO RUIN YOU ALL!" sorry, planet.
malcolm just got back from working today with gilly at her restaurant, leaving robin, lindsay, and me to work outside today. it is nice when the four of us get back together even just after a few hours apart. i really adore malcolm and lindsay and are so glad that they are just a small example of the people patiently waiting in my future life for me to meet and enjoy.
here's a question: where are all the newzea rainbows? although today is sunny and crisp, the past week has been rain central with the sun only making sporadic unannounced appearances. i figured that with all the moisture in the air, we would get many a rainbow, but i have yet to see one! in which corner of the world are all the rainbows hiding? because i love each of you, i hope they have found their way into your days.
love,
maggie
in other news, we built a fence around the new herb garden today! once more, i am still having to will my muscles to be of any use, but they are learning to comply without such resistance as they once did. my recent favorite mantra to get them to do anything is simply commanding of them, "muscles, ignite!" they rarely do.
farm life is still totes the good life. today i realized that i have been wielding a shovel for various tasks that stands as tall as my eyebrows. i am learning all sorts of new things. it is so satisfying to see how cyclical farm life is and how patient this earth and these farmers tend to be. it is a long process to scoop horse manure into a heap, mix it with the food scum that should never see the light of day, wait for it to decompose, till the land, add the compost, plant the seeds, wait, wait, wait, and then you get to munch on your beautiful and hard work. nature likes circles, wouldn't you say? except when we drive cars too much and waste, waste, waste and then this planet says "BITE ME, I AM GOING TO RUIN YOU ALL!" sorry, planet.
malcolm just got back from working today with gilly at her restaurant, leaving robin, lindsay, and me to work outside today. it is nice when the four of us get back together even just after a few hours apart. i really adore malcolm and lindsay and are so glad that they are just a small example of the people patiently waiting in my future life for me to meet and enjoy.
here's a question: where are all the newzea rainbows? although today is sunny and crisp, the past week has been rain central with the sun only making sporadic unannounced appearances. i figured that with all the moisture in the air, we would get many a rainbow, but i have yet to see one! in which corner of the world are all the rainbows hiding? because i love each of you, i hope they have found their way into your days.
love,
maggie
Sunday, October 4, 2009
robin and i bought a car! so now you can all come visit and we can pick you up! and you can have a history lesson while you are at it by sitting in a 1988 toyota corona and playing music on a tape deck. AND you can have an automotive death threat while we learn to drive on the left hand side of the road! doesn't that sound like a lot of half way scary fun?
so far here is what we know about driving cars in NZ:
1. whoa - where are the road signs? it is easy to get confused on the motorways.
2. in a similar fashion to american vehicles, these cars also require a monetary exchange for petrol. bummer.
3. when three out of the four windows in your car work, it's better than kincaid's.
i am still so happy. i can't believe that this gets to be my life right now. gilly and greg are still wonderful and so generous. EXUBERANCE AND LIFE are all balled up into everything i understand new zealand to be. even when west auckland is terribly foggy (which it has been for the past few days), it is still unusually beautiful, as it simply looks as if the world has caught on green grass fire and the smoke is hovering about the trees.
love,
maggie
so far here is what we know about driving cars in NZ:
1. whoa - where are the road signs? it is easy to get confused on the motorways.
2. in a similar fashion to american vehicles, these cars also require a monetary exchange for petrol. bummer.
3. when three out of the four windows in your car work, it's better than kincaid's.
i am still so happy. i can't believe that this gets to be my life right now. gilly and greg are still wonderful and so generous. EXUBERANCE AND LIFE are all balled up into everything i understand new zealand to be. even when west auckland is terribly foggy (which it has been for the past few days), it is still unusually beautiful, as it simply looks as if the world has caught on green grass fire and the smoke is hovering about the trees.
love,
maggie
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
today i was thinking about the long and strange journey my tiny travel size vaseline has endured. although i peeled off the labels a year ago, i assume that it was made in china or somewhere else in asia. from there it must have flown or swam across this world to land in a morganton walmart where josh's mom bought it for him. that little vaseline then moved to 112a ashley forest during junior year of college and during the ransacking of josh's things that ensued the moment he left for study abroad, the vaseline came to be in my care. i took the vaseline to ghana for five months and then moved it to another home at 503b in carrboro. in august once our lease was up, the vaseline had a reuniting trip to my parent's house and then was packed to move to new zealand. the vaseline likes new zealand, perhaps because it has returned to the eastern hemisphere. what a huge and somehow so small and wonderful world we live in for my vaseline to have so much international travel.
a few days ago, malcolm, lindsay, robin and i were at the gym (the gym?!) and i bumped into a friend we had met a few nights previous named jared. in that instant, it hit me that whoa - i am starting to have a life in new zealand. friends, a (temporary) gym membership, soon a car, pets, chores, and people that i run into. it's such a safe feeling the moment that it begins to feel like i am living in a place. because then it is home and home doesn't know how to be scary.
since new zealand is familiar in many ways (we rented two julia roberts movies from blockbuster a few days ago) but also has new joys to show me, it feels very much like an unexplored home and one that i will continue to enjoy experiencing. it has yet to be scary or so unfamiliar that it jarring, which is certainly a nice break from my past few abroad experiences. luckily, new zealand has so much to offer, as does every place, that i can't imagine it ever becoming my fully explored home. there is always more to learn.
yesterday we WWOOFers helped ron, an 82 year old on the farm, build a fence on the top hill of gilly and greg's farm. the outskirts of auckland are built out of sprouting hill on top of hill, so that when we are driving even a mile away my ears often pop! what was so amazing being on the tippy top of gilly and greg's part of this world was what music i could hear from the top! there was the gameboy-laser sounds of 100 meters of stretched out fence wire and the air whipping so hard that my earlobes kept to the beat of the wind and the intermittent lawn mower of a near-by farm that was only part of the symphony when the wind allowed it. i felt alone in my hilltop music, but was surrounded by friends and animals. i think this was the first time that i heard hilltop music. i remember being on a beach in ghana and realizing that diving through waves sounds like 100 people bowling at once and i remember hearing my chinese students argue sounds like drunk, violent parrots. new sounds are always something that i don't pay enough attention to, but my friend mike from ghana was the one who taught me to listen to the everyday outside music. now i try to hear it always.
per usual, day five of gilly and greg's house is just phenomenal. every night i sleep so well and every day i live so well. it is the epitome of the life i want to have right now. i could not be more thankful than i am at every moment of this life. so far, new zealand has given me no reason to believe that anything will go wrong. i am sure that at some point it will, but why not take a page from mr. obama's book and let hope be the force that is running out ahead of my life paving the way for my days to follow? it seems like a pleasant way to think.
jack nickleson (sp?) is being a freakball in One Flew Over the Coocoo's (again, sp?) Nest, and i like watching freakballs from the outside of a television screen, so i am going to go watch. let's all be happy until something tells us not to be, don't you think?
love,
maggie
a few days ago, malcolm, lindsay, robin and i were at the gym (the gym?!) and i bumped into a friend we had met a few nights previous named jared. in that instant, it hit me that whoa - i am starting to have a life in new zealand. friends, a (temporary) gym membership, soon a car, pets, chores, and people that i run into. it's such a safe feeling the moment that it begins to feel like i am living in a place. because then it is home and home doesn't know how to be scary.
since new zealand is familiar in many ways (we rented two julia roberts movies from blockbuster a few days ago) but also has new joys to show me, it feels very much like an unexplored home and one that i will continue to enjoy experiencing. it has yet to be scary or so unfamiliar that it jarring, which is certainly a nice break from my past few abroad experiences. luckily, new zealand has so much to offer, as does every place, that i can't imagine it ever becoming my fully explored home. there is always more to learn.
yesterday we WWOOFers helped ron, an 82 year old on the farm, build a fence on the top hill of gilly and greg's farm. the outskirts of auckland are built out of sprouting hill on top of hill, so that when we are driving even a mile away my ears often pop! what was so amazing being on the tippy top of gilly and greg's part of this world was what music i could hear from the top! there was the gameboy-laser sounds of 100 meters of stretched out fence wire and the air whipping so hard that my earlobes kept to the beat of the wind and the intermittent lawn mower of a near-by farm that was only part of the symphony when the wind allowed it. i felt alone in my hilltop music, but was surrounded by friends and animals. i think this was the first time that i heard hilltop music. i remember being on a beach in ghana and realizing that diving through waves sounds like 100 people bowling at once and i remember hearing my chinese students argue sounds like drunk, violent parrots. new sounds are always something that i don't pay enough attention to, but my friend mike from ghana was the one who taught me to listen to the everyday outside music. now i try to hear it always.
per usual, day five of gilly and greg's house is just phenomenal. every night i sleep so well and every day i live so well. it is the epitome of the life i want to have right now. i could not be more thankful than i am at every moment of this life. so far, new zealand has given me no reason to believe that anything will go wrong. i am sure that at some point it will, but why not take a page from mr. obama's book and let hope be the force that is running out ahead of my life paving the way for my days to follow? it seems like a pleasant way to think.
jack nickleson (sp?) is being a freakball in One Flew Over the Coocoo's (again, sp?) Nest, and i like watching freakballs from the outside of a television screen, so i am going to go watch. let's all be happy until something tells us not to be, don't you think?
love,
maggie
Sunday, September 27, 2009
i can't believe that i have already been at gilly and greg's house for three days and i have only just now made the time to post a blog. let me summarize my days at this farm in one word: storybook. everything here is simply fantastic from the handmade bread every morning to the home brewed beer to the gorgeous dinners every night to feeding the chickens to weeding the garden to (trying) to ride one of the horses. gilly and greg are both so wonderful and incredibly generous and i fear that they will spoil me into thinking that this is how all the WWOOF farms operate. i can't believe that this is my life right now. i could not be more grateful.
robin and i got to gilly and greg's farm late on thursday evening where we were greeted by the shine family and malcom and lindsay, two recent graduates from virginia, and cups of tea and homemade wine. i fell into bed only to be woken the next morning to a snuggly warm robin in a room full of open windows to allow for the gentle symphony of rain and a black cat hiking the hills of my sleeping legs, who was purring for no apparent reason. perhaps the cat was happy to be in new zealand and on a farm. so am i.
one of the ever growing list of spectacular things about new zealand spring is that everything is the breathtaking green that screams out to the world of rebirth and growth! the hills here are so green and vibrant they almost can't be classified as just hills anymore, that they must certainly be alive, something more than just plant life, something to be used for a greater purpose than golf courses or a cow's lunch.
new zealand spring has felt so much like north carolina fall that it is almost startling in their similarity. the clear light that penetrates each inch of the world is out and about here. i always think that everyone and everything tend to look clean and pretty in this light.
our first full day here, robin and i cleaned out the horses stalls in the barn so that new batches of sawdust could be put down. i noticed throughout the course of the project that i was not using my muscles to perform this task, but rather was using by body as a lever or sorts to get the job done. unfortunately when you don't yet have the muscles capable of stall mucking, you use your body as a lever and then you get sore. muscles will come. all in good time. it was funny to me to step outside of my inner dialogue and listen to my brain try and command my arms to lift something. muscles didn't listen. i am loving going to sleep after feeling like i accomplished something!
yesterday gilly and greg took me, robin, lindsay, malcom, and two dogs to a beach nearby called bethels. we hiked through the new zealand hills to get to this stunning black sand beach that was crowded with bushy islands and caves and pristine nature. seeing bethels beach is one of those sights that poke fun at language. so often i find myself betrayed by our language, unable to truly express how much my insides feel light and happiness at certain moments, and going to the beach yesterday was another similar situation. i get so frustrated when i can't have enough shouts and stomps and squeals and hugs to say enough "thank you"s to this fantastic planet. where will i find those words?
remember god jokes? here is another CRAZY one. on thursday evening waiting to take a train out to gilly and greg's house, robin and i were reading in the waiting area where one tv was playing a golf tournament. without spending much time watching it, i noticed that none of the players were big names (which i know thanks to marc). at a commercial break, the sports announcer noted that this was the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn Country Club. the SAME rock barn country club where i got friday night pre-SAT massages in high school. the SAME rock barn country club that is off of exit 130 when my house if off of exit 123. see what i mean? god joke central in new zealand.
not only have i found my second favorite tree in new zealand, but also my second favorite dog who lives at this house. her name is Tanzie, and she is a bit crazy. on our first night here, greg warned us that "tanzie worships stones." she truly does. in the way that most dogs fetch a ball or stick, tanzie fetches rocks that are half the size of her small head. i adore her. she's a whack-job, though.
i want to stop writing this because everyone is watching Pirates of the Caribbean and i want to do the same. a quick summary of all the other things i was going to type out: I AM LOVING EVERYTHING AND WANT YOU ALL TO COME VISIT SO I DON'T HAVE TO WRITE A BLOG ABOUT HAPPINESS. more later. apologies!
love,
maggie
robin and i got to gilly and greg's farm late on thursday evening where we were greeted by the shine family and malcom and lindsay, two recent graduates from virginia, and cups of tea and homemade wine. i fell into bed only to be woken the next morning to a snuggly warm robin in a room full of open windows to allow for the gentle symphony of rain and a black cat hiking the hills of my sleeping legs, who was purring for no apparent reason. perhaps the cat was happy to be in new zealand and on a farm. so am i.
one of the ever growing list of spectacular things about new zealand spring is that everything is the breathtaking green that screams out to the world of rebirth and growth! the hills here are so green and vibrant they almost can't be classified as just hills anymore, that they must certainly be alive, something more than just plant life, something to be used for a greater purpose than golf courses or a cow's lunch.
new zealand spring has felt so much like north carolina fall that it is almost startling in their similarity. the clear light that penetrates each inch of the world is out and about here. i always think that everyone and everything tend to look clean and pretty in this light.
our first full day here, robin and i cleaned out the horses stalls in the barn so that new batches of sawdust could be put down. i noticed throughout the course of the project that i was not using my muscles to perform this task, but rather was using by body as a lever or sorts to get the job done. unfortunately when you don't yet have the muscles capable of stall mucking, you use your body as a lever and then you get sore. muscles will come. all in good time. it was funny to me to step outside of my inner dialogue and listen to my brain try and command my arms to lift something. muscles didn't listen. i am loving going to sleep after feeling like i accomplished something!
yesterday gilly and greg took me, robin, lindsay, malcom, and two dogs to a beach nearby called bethels. we hiked through the new zealand hills to get to this stunning black sand beach that was crowded with bushy islands and caves and pristine nature. seeing bethels beach is one of those sights that poke fun at language. so often i find myself betrayed by our language, unable to truly express how much my insides feel light and happiness at certain moments, and going to the beach yesterday was another similar situation. i get so frustrated when i can't have enough shouts and stomps and squeals and hugs to say enough "thank you"s to this fantastic planet. where will i find those words?
remember god jokes? here is another CRAZY one. on thursday evening waiting to take a train out to gilly and greg's house, robin and i were reading in the waiting area where one tv was playing a golf tournament. without spending much time watching it, i noticed that none of the players were big names (which i know thanks to marc). at a commercial break, the sports announcer noted that this was the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn Country Club. the SAME rock barn country club where i got friday night pre-SAT massages in high school. the SAME rock barn country club that is off of exit 130 when my house if off of exit 123. see what i mean? god joke central in new zealand.
not only have i found my second favorite tree in new zealand, but also my second favorite dog who lives at this house. her name is Tanzie, and she is a bit crazy. on our first night here, greg warned us that "tanzie worships stones." she truly does. in the way that most dogs fetch a ball or stick, tanzie fetches rocks that are half the size of her small head. i adore her. she's a whack-job, though.
i want to stop writing this because everyone is watching Pirates of the Caribbean and i want to do the same. a quick summary of all the other things i was going to type out: I AM LOVING EVERYTHING AND WANT YOU ALL TO COME VISIT SO I DON'T HAVE TO WRITE A BLOG ABOUT HAPPINESS. more later. apologies!
love,
maggie
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
god joke central in new zealand. for those of you that are unfamiliar with the term, a "god joke" is a term that was developed in my life and in others' to describe the seemingly impossible little bizarre bits of our days. some examples:
1) spring semester of last year i lost three sets of keys within 24 hours. my car keys, my house keys, and then the house key kincaid had lent me.
2) telling a friend that wouldn't it be delicious and lovely to have a restuarant serve peanut butter on waffles and then the next time that the two of you dine together you unknowingly go to a restaurant that does just that.
3) anne boylen complaining about how heavy her long hair could be right before her chubby hubby decapitated her.
here is the craziest one of all time!: two nights ago in our quaint hostel away from the city center of auckland robin and i were reading in the tv room where people were watching comedy central. without seeing the tv screen and only listening we heard the comic, in a hyperbolized southern drawl, say that he was from a small town in north carolina. that's strange, right? we were the only americans in our hostel and whoa, low and behold, we are from north carolina. AND THEN. he says "i'm from a small town called hickory." god joke supreme. do you see how only god could make that joke? what a hoot.
also, when we were in our first hostel in downtown auckland for two nights we shared it with six smelly boys. we were woken in the middle of the night to one of them falling off of the top bunk. it went something like this:
CLUMPBANG!
(three or four minutes passed by. everyone in the room was awake. no one seemed to care about our fallen friend.)
andy, an all-inclusive "boarder" (skate, surf, snow): dude, what just happened?
british drunk faller: looks like i fell out, doesn't it?
andy: you fell out?
british drunk falled: looks like.
andy: jesus, man.
love,
maggie
1) spring semester of last year i lost three sets of keys within 24 hours. my car keys, my house keys, and then the house key kincaid had lent me.
2) telling a friend that wouldn't it be delicious and lovely to have a restuarant serve peanut butter on waffles and then the next time that the two of you dine together you unknowingly go to a restaurant that does just that.
3) anne boylen complaining about how heavy her long hair could be right before her chubby hubby decapitated her.
here is the craziest one of all time!: two nights ago in our quaint hostel away from the city center of auckland robin and i were reading in the tv room where people were watching comedy central. without seeing the tv screen and only listening we heard the comic, in a hyperbolized southern drawl, say that he was from a small town in north carolina. that's strange, right? we were the only americans in our hostel and whoa, low and behold, we are from north carolina. AND THEN. he says "i'm from a small town called hickory." god joke supreme. do you see how only god could make that joke? what a hoot.
also, when we were in our first hostel in downtown auckland for two nights we shared it with six smelly boys. we were woken in the middle of the night to one of them falling off of the top bunk. it went something like this:
CLUMPBANG!
(three or four minutes passed by. everyone in the room was awake. no one seemed to care about our fallen friend.)
andy, an all-inclusive "boarder" (skate, surf, snow): dude, what just happened?
british drunk faller: looks like i fell out, doesn't it?
andy: you fell out?
british drunk falled: looks like.
andy: jesus, man.
love,
maggie
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
also, i should let you know that right after i finished that last post everyone in the computer lab flocked to the 10th floor windows to watch a parade of topless women wearing american flag underwear riding on motorcycles with american flags. it seems to be a government-okayed kind of nudity parade because there are police escorts walking with them down the main street in downtown auckland. even all of the traffic lights have paused to keep this naked behavior safe from oncoming traffic.
USA, go heels, go!
love,
maggie
USA, go heels, go!
love,
maggie
you know what's funny? that i already like this blog. i wonder how long that will remain true. but for the meantime, i will post when i am near a computer! tomorrow robin and i move to our first farm! it is owned by a couple named gilly and greg. already i am very fond of them. mostly, due to our email correspondence with gilly. i'll copy and paste emails that will make you understand why.
“Hi Maggise and Robyn that sounds like yu would fit into our lifestyle and times, We are happy to have you come and stay and have a lovely spot just out of Waitakere, we have my 84 year old living next door and my 62 year old Mum and 81 year old Uncle don't be fooled however both my mother and uncle are fitter than many 25 year olds and love to work in the garen and with the horses. My husband Greg is an Aluminium boat designer and builder and I am a chef at the local restaurant, We have 16 acres here in the Waitaks where we have lived for 26 years in October our children have all grown up here and as such we now have thre spare bedrooms. Greg has a son Yani who is 30 and lives in a small cottage on the land our eldest daughter Holly is a Dr and lives about 10 minutes away she is 25, Becky our next daughter is at Aucklands medical school and her big huge 5th year exams coming up she is 22 like you guys and loves being outside although of course she is studying very hard, she lives with her boyfriend just p the road as well and our youngest Emily is 19 and away at the University of Dunedin studying and trying to get into med school as well.
We have two dogs, two cats, 7 horses that live here and lots of naughty chickens, we have big gardens that we are just planting but not yet harvesting to much as we have just turned them all over ready for planting.
If this sounds like you please call us when you are ready and in Auckland 8109076”
naughty chickens? yes, i suppose that chickens can be a bit naughty. what with the pecking and hatching and being made into sandwiches and such.
“Hi Maggie and Robin,
We look forward to meeting you and wold like to welcome you whenever you wish to arrive we are actually only 20 minu8tes by car from the very centre of the city so if you wish to come a little earlier you will be able to organise yourselves from here if you wish. We have a woofer car available and a nice quiet space to explore from.
We currently have two new woofers from Virginia who are young graduates travelling as well. Our french couple leave todat after three weeks playing in the garden and with the animals.
Any way welcome to our beautiful country and have a lovely lovely day. If you wish to call our number is 098109076 the train does come today but does not work on a Sunday we are the last stop on the Auckland West line Waitakere Township...
Kind Regards”
AND FINALLY THE BEST ONE OF ALL!! THE EMAIL THAT MADE ME LOVE THIS FAMILY ALREADY:
“Thursday sounds wonderful and perhaps Greg can give you a hand on car buying. We look forward to meeting you as well. Do you want to share a room or would you like two separate rooms I'm not sure wether you are two girls travelling together or a couple I know I feel silly asking its just that Robin can be both a male or female name in NZ. NAUGHTY CHICKENS AND DOGS! As for the ponies!"
what is nice here is that gilly wants to know:
a) if robin is a boy or girl
and
b) if we are lesbians.
sorry, gilly, just regular friends. and then! she gets so silly at the end of the email, you can hear her being nervous and excited about everything! you see why i like her already, yes? and why i think we will be just fine friends.
love,
maggie
“Hi Maggise and Robyn that sounds like yu would fit into our lifestyle and times, We are happy to have you come and stay and have a lovely spot just out of Waitakere, we have my 84 year old living next door and my 62 year old Mum and 81 year old Uncle don't be fooled however both my mother and uncle are fitter than many 25 year olds and love to work in the garen and with the horses. My husband Greg is an Aluminium boat designer and builder and I am a chef at the local restaurant, We have 16 acres here in the Waitaks where we have lived for 26 years in October our children have all grown up here and as such we now have thre spare bedrooms. Greg has a son Yani who is 30 and lives in a small cottage on the land our eldest daughter Holly is a Dr and lives about 10 minutes away she is 25, Becky our next daughter is at Aucklands medical school and her big huge 5th year exams coming up she is 22 like you guys and loves being outside although of course she is studying very hard, she lives with her boyfriend just p the road as well and our youngest Emily is 19 and away at the University of Dunedin studying and trying to get into med school as well.
We have two dogs, two cats, 7 horses that live here and lots of naughty chickens, we have big gardens that we are just planting but not yet harvesting to much as we have just turned them all over ready for planting.
If this sounds like you please call us when you are ready and in Auckland 8109076”
naughty chickens? yes, i suppose that chickens can be a bit naughty. what with the pecking and hatching and being made into sandwiches and such.
“Hi Maggie and Robin,
We look forward to meeting you and wold like to welcome you whenever you wish to arrive we are actually only 20 minu8tes by car from the very centre of the city so if you wish to come a little earlier you will be able to organise yourselves from here if you wish. We have a woofer car available and a nice quiet space to explore from.
We currently have two new woofers from Virginia who are young graduates travelling as well. Our french couple leave todat after three weeks playing in the garden and with the animals.
Any way welcome to our beautiful country and have a lovely lovely day. If you wish to call our number is 098109076 the train does come today but does not work on a Sunday we are the last stop on the Auckland West line Waitakere Township...
Kind Regards”
AND FINALLY THE BEST ONE OF ALL!! THE EMAIL THAT MADE ME LOVE THIS FAMILY ALREADY:
“Thursday sounds wonderful and perhaps Greg can give you a hand on car buying. We look forward to meeting you as well. Do you want to share a room or would you like two separate rooms I'm not sure wether you are two girls travelling together or a couple I know I feel silly asking its just that Robin can be both a male or female name in NZ. NAUGHTY CHICKENS AND DOGS! As for the ponies!"
what is nice here is that gilly wants to know:
a) if robin is a boy or girl
and
b) if we are lesbians.
sorry, gilly, just regular friends. and then! she gets so silly at the end of the email, you can hear her being nervous and excited about everything! you see why i like her already, yes? and why i think we will be just fine friends.
love,
maggie
Monday, September 21, 2009
my first, my last, my everything
friends and family! i didn't know that a blog was something i was going to create until now, just now. i have been going back and forth about it because in theory they are inexplicably worthy of judgment, but in reality, they seem to be the best way to tell you what i am doing.
here's what i am doing: i am successfully living in new zealand because i am not yet dead! whoopie! so far, so good. for those of you that aren't aware, i am here with the one of the world's loveliest ladies, my good friend robin, with whom i graduated from UNC. we have been here since friday, september 18th, and already it seems as if a small lifetime has passed. maybe a bee's lifetime, but it feels like we have been here forever, nonetheless. on thursday we are headed to our first organic farm where we will be doing work of some kind. we are hoping that it will be outside and easy and hard and pay us one million dollars per hour. we'll see.
i won't be usuing proper grammar most posts of this blog because i will usually be paying for internet, and despite my mom's greatest efforts, i sometimes still have to think about where those snarly little commas go. i also won't be capitalizing sentences or proper nouns because it is visually displeasing for me to see jagged words. watch this: Jumping versus jumping. do you see how the latter is infinitely more enjoyable?
i am thrilled to be here, and although i feel guilty admitting it, i am thrilled that this is not the developing world. this is not ghana or rural china. everyone here definitely speaks english, and i don't stick out as a white person. am i sounding like a republican? shoot me.
the one thing that i need to tell everyone about is my now second favorite tree i have ever seen. only one other beats it, and that tree is a baobab in the center of the university of ghana in accra, ghana. i miss that tree. but! on our first afternoon here, robin and i stumbled upon this unusual park that housed the most fantastic trees. they were huge in a way that was impressive but not scary and they had the air-duct thick branches that literally touched the ground begging you to be a part of them. and then! there was the perfect, actually perfect, tree whose trunk was at least twenty feet in diameter and it was hollow on the inside, but still thriving with bright new spring green leaves! what a strong, resistent, and complicated being, that tree. i got inside of it and was sitting in a teepee sized tree home. the grey roots looked like sleeping elephants and rhinos. my zoo tree. i can't wait to see it again tomorrow.
love,
maggie
here's what i am doing: i am successfully living in new zealand because i am not yet dead! whoopie! so far, so good. for those of you that aren't aware, i am here with the one of the world's loveliest ladies, my good friend robin, with whom i graduated from UNC. we have been here since friday, september 18th, and already it seems as if a small lifetime has passed. maybe a bee's lifetime, but it feels like we have been here forever, nonetheless. on thursday we are headed to our first organic farm where we will be doing work of some kind. we are hoping that it will be outside and easy and hard and pay us one million dollars per hour. we'll see.
i won't be usuing proper grammar most posts of this blog because i will usually be paying for internet, and despite my mom's greatest efforts, i sometimes still have to think about where those snarly little commas go. i also won't be capitalizing sentences or proper nouns because it is visually displeasing for me to see jagged words. watch this: Jumping versus jumping. do you see how the latter is infinitely more enjoyable?
i am thrilled to be here, and although i feel guilty admitting it, i am thrilled that this is not the developing world. this is not ghana or rural china. everyone here definitely speaks english, and i don't stick out as a white person. am i sounding like a republican? shoot me.
the one thing that i need to tell everyone about is my now second favorite tree i have ever seen. only one other beats it, and that tree is a baobab in the center of the university of ghana in accra, ghana. i miss that tree. but! on our first afternoon here, robin and i stumbled upon this unusual park that housed the most fantastic trees. they were huge in a way that was impressive but not scary and they had the air-duct thick branches that literally touched the ground begging you to be a part of them. and then! there was the perfect, actually perfect, tree whose trunk was at least twenty feet in diameter and it was hollow on the inside, but still thriving with bright new spring green leaves! what a strong, resistent, and complicated being, that tree. i got inside of it and was sitting in a teepee sized tree home. the grey roots looked like sleeping elephants and rhinos. my zoo tree. i can't wait to see it again tomorrow.
love,
maggie
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