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

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

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

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

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

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