it ain't all good.... but most is :)

So I have gotten a bout of negativity within all my glorious traveling and this time it came in the form of 5 teenage boys while soaking in a natural hot spring with my new friend Mina. I will just paint the scene for ya'all: After our hot and festive day at the Matatini, we ventured to Mina's lovely lakeside house; Mina asked Jack (her boyfriend) Zandra and I if we wanted to go for a soak in the nearby hot spring. Now I was so excited about this because one of my main explorations on this voyage is to look at healing waters. So I jumped at the chance while the others declined (they are used to soaking in hot springs I guess...did I mention that the exchange rate here is great and lakesides houses are affordable... relatively :) Anyway Mina and I drove the 2 minutes to the natural hot pool, which ain't much to look at but whatever. So we pull up alongside a group of young men about 18 years old, we get out and go in for a soak, they do the same, their group and Mina and I are in there for almost an hour. And we are both having our own conversations, not once did they speak to us but we were about a meter or 2 from them. For a second I looked up at them and thought "I wonder if they are gay and if the environment here is accepting and open to gay lifestyles" yep these are the thoughts that go through my mind. Anyway I was thinking that from what I see, most of the people I have encountered seem so relaxed and progressive that that would be great if it generally is an open and accepting community in that way also. So this random thought floats through my brain for a second; then Mina and I continue on talking about ethnicity, communities, racism, history blah blah blah, well the boys get up and leave the pool, they are all in the car and about to drive away when one screams from the window some hate filled comments about gays. I couldn't make out what they were but the intent behind them was something familiar in other words they were full of rage, the only words I could make out were "Gay Locals!!!!" Now at first I thought, oh that really sucks that someone is yelling at those boys like that (I couldn't tell yet that the one yelling was one of them), now you know my ass, I was about to yell back for them to leave the boys alone, when I realized that the boys were yelling at us. I looked at Mina and she looked really worried; but really I was so shocked realizing the irony that I began to laugh. I mean really laugh. Mainly at the fact that I thought they were being yelled at and that these fools sat next to us the entire time and didn't say shit till they (all 5 of them) were driving away in a car. Crazy, anyway I shared with Mina that situations like that have happened to me in the good ole US of A too many times to count, if a bunch of ignorant scared fools aren't screaming about race then its sexuality. Anyway, we stayed there for a couple seconds, realizing that we were alone in the woods, (I had ancestral flashbacks to Mississippi so figured we should haul ass out...though I do tend to feel that it is more of a passive aggressive vibe...but why take chances, Mina likely had some flashbacks of her own) and then we thought it best to leave. We chatted about prejudice and then drove up the road and ended the night with a much needed swim in the lake under a sky full of stars. After we swam in the cleanest lake I have ever see we went back to Mina's house. We shared our tales with Jack and Zandra who were both really surprised. We then watched Matchpoint, which is a good movie but wow what an ending huh; anyway just thought I would share :) Oh and on another note, I made it into the local paper, isn't that a hoot it was for volunteering at the Hui. And I was also happy to assist Zandra with making the sign for her Hapai Te Teko project. It's great to meet so many people, funny, many assume I am a relative visiting or part of a different marae until I open my big American mouth. A kid asked me for the time yesterday and when i spoke he looked at me with such wonder.