womadness

I hopped on 3 or 4 buses and made it to New Plymouth after about 12 hours. I have to say that the bus rides here are actually quite pleasant. No funky odors or people yelling at each other across the aisle. At least not yet...it is all about "good day" "cheers" "kia ora" really it is a nice experience and the music that pumps over the sound system...very softly that is...is a mix of oldies, blues, country and some soul. So I can not complain about my numerous bus trips. Anyway I went to a cute hostel that was supposedly near by the concert area..but really it was crazy far for my broken down ass to walk so I was a little disappointed but knew that that wouldn't last and really that is how i meet people and find some sweet moments...lemonade out of lemons :) and some sweet ass lemonade. So I go to the concert grounds and am amazed at the beauty of the park...and at the hugeness of it...wow, so I am taking a rest on a bench swatting at mozzies and I ask a young woman in a Womad shirt where I need to be to get my ticket. She asks me if I am staying at the Marae (they set up marae style accomodations in the park where the concert is, I was going to pay for them but decided on a hostel because the marae did not have a secure place to put my bag -all I own for about 8 months). Anyway she says "I have two mattresses if you want to crash on one" I say "sure" and there we have it. While following her to the ticket area she chats me up and turns out she is a nature guide on walks to learn about the plants that Maori use for various things. She is also related to deceased minister of the Torere marae (where the wedding was) small world. So she is really chill and while I am hanging out with her I run into Anja, a young woman from Germany that was at the beach hostel with me, who I told about Womad. So we all hang out the whole time and really have a great weekend. We saw amazing performers that I will try to upload video clips of...cross those fingers. And what is even stranger about running into people at Womad was that yes I ran into the first farm couple I worked with, Keith and Beth. And I was also recognized from the photo on my letter of introduction (Servas application letter that I email to prospective hosts) by a future host. I was in line for the 16 mini-donuts in a bag(great deal) and he was also in line and saw me and asked "are you in Servas?" I being the city girl I am, looked likely a bit freaked and said "what... how do you know that?" then it hit me, he must be someone I emailed. So it was great running into him and his wife...you will read about them later, they are the family that lives and works on the dairy farm. Anyway hope these Womad clips load.

dolphinluv

wedding

the beach hostel before the wedding, my dream hostel

So before the wedding I stayed at the most chill beach side hostel, my dream hostel since I was 16. Really sweet!!! The man there Steven built onto a batch (a one room cottage on the beach) that he bought for about 50k years ago. He did an amazing job, it was the chillest most relaxing, if it wasn't for that random allergy attack I had that one night :) Anyway the first morning I took a boogie board out into the crazy ass waves, I don't know what I was thinking but all was well, it felt great but I got out as soon as I received a subtle sign from the ocean. Then I took a mile walk down the beach in high winds to the part where the ocean meets the river. Really beautiful and if it wasn't for the windy ass weather I would have gone swimming for longer but the sand kept pelting me in the forehead, and you all have seen my forehead. Anyway amazing time spent there, even with the rain and no internet and no TV...which was a nice break.

So then after the wedding I went back to the other hostel in Opotiki, the one with the lil dog Max, this is also a hostel in which the owners live with there families. These are the best kinds I think because there are really well cared for hostels with lots of love and coziness. Anyway like at the beach hostel most of the guests are German...as some Germans will say here that they outnumber the kiwis. So it was a nice surprise to room with 2 American girls for a night. They are the first Americans I have seen in almost 2 months. It was great just to chat about bs and our thoughts on NZ and various issues here, and then chat about the US and issues there. They were really sweet and I hope to meet up with them again. Funny I didn't even realize how much I was missing that familiar type of chatting, where all those US references are understood. It made me think of all my friends and so I gave ole Sunger a call via skype last night and it was good to hear her bloddy mary (or was it Margarita) induced voice, have one on me girl. I miss ya'all :)

So here I am still in this lil town called Opotiki and I really dig it but will leave tomorrow to head out to that concert. My time here has been eventful. Well I went to Nancy's little farm house and hung out with her animals while she is out of town, (Cows are just beautiful!!! actually her cow is really a Jersey bull that had its balls cut off, apparently Jersey bulls are really crazy while there counter parts are really docile...hummm interesting, now I am wondering about what we should do with Jersey boys?:) then I swam in the fast moving river nearby and relied on the teenage girls swimming near me to same my life or alert the hospital if I happened to go flying past them in the current...but alas I lived. But I did manage to get a mysterious bite on my leg that swelled up to the size of a baby possum. I noticed it the next day when I went to help out at a local cafe with serving and dishes...yep dishes:) but it was a really cute cafe with awesome muffins! Anyway on my break I went to get some cream at the pharmacy and the women there looked at my bite with the widest eyes and pointed me in the direction of the nearest doctor. I went there and they pointed me in the direction of the only actual in office doctor, so I went there and they looked at the huge ass bite drew dots around it and said come back if it gets any bigger. But they gave me a prescription and the whole visit including the medication cost the equivalent of $26 bucks...AMAZING!!! So glad to let you all know that the swelling is down...but I think it was a centipede bite because there were 2 puncture wounds. ....So all is well

In this small town the only theatre played Waltz With Bashir, an animated documentary that is great!!! seriously stunning and impactful, so if you have the chance to see it, please do.

the wedding

So I am back in Opotiki, on Sat I went to a Maori Wedding on the Torere Marae near the coast, it was beautiful...oh I wish I would trip over a pile of money because the cost of land here is cheap and it is such a beautiful amazing country...but I digress. So my friend Nancy took me to a sweet wedding, it was very casual but I was glad that i had my one party skirt on (it can change into about 100 dresses too--but I can only really figure the skirt thang out so far) Anyway there were tons of people especially kids, the couple that was marrying have been together for years and I think they have about 5 kids already so some of them were in the wedding, I took a short video but I doubt it will upload, so maybe I will have a link to it in my photobucket account. Anyway the most amazing thing about the wedding was the singing truly gave me goose bumps kinda like how gospel will do. Anyway there was a woman in the crowd with a guitar and she begins to play then the crowd around me starts belting out this beautiful melody as the bride walks down the aisle. The bride wore a white gown but over it had the traditional Maori feather cloak as did her bridemaids. The men wore a suit or a tux, the groom wore a tux with the traditional Maori hairpin in the back holing up his hair. It was a really nice event and especially because it was crazy casual and you know me, heels just ain't my thing so I am down for casual. And even with it being casual it was full of respect and love; Nancy brought me around to all the elders in the beginning and I greeted them with kisses. I met tons of folks that seemed very surprised by my accent. Oh and after the vows the couple got their rings tattooed on and we could watch, but I hung outside with Nancy. Then about 3 hours later we went in to the dining hall for the kai (food) which I should have taken pic of because it was laid out on these long tables, tons of food on plates and in little bowls. Carbo delight!!! Anyway I ate the famous rotten corn pudding that smells like old feet, but once you take the first bite the smell goes away and I really enjoy it, the first time I had it was at the Vercoes's house (Waaka's) ; you just mix it with some cream and yum...oh and let me tell you, I felt like a petite little flower at the wedding, it was really nice for a change :)

the root of my camper van dreams

Ok so I have always had a thing for camper vans!!! seriously they are just amazing things, like turtles in a way (one of my favorite animals) Anyway when i saw the toy (from the 70s) that the farm family had I was taken back to childhood. It was my favorite toy, and Roy did we even own it or was it cousins Kamal and Kwesi's toy and we just played with it a lot? Anyway I love this toy!!! Aside from my lovely cousin Tara revealing to me the gypsy life, this fisher price toy had a share of the responsibility in my "born along the road" ways. Oh and who could resist those limbless dolls...I think we had the Black dolls...or is that just the dream I had...or hey Mom or Auntie Linda, did you color them in brown, I know how you liked to do that with the hallmark cards back in the day...before they got all diverse:)

what a week :)

home hostel in Opotiki

So I finally moved my behind and headed to a sleepy little town near the coast called Opotiki. I stayed a night in a really sweet small hostel that is also the owners home. Now some of you may know this about me; but that is one of my dreams since I was a teenager!!! to have a home hostel, it was so cozy and cute with relaxing beats softly playing throughout the day, there was even a resident dog. Anyway my cute doll Bippy and I lived it up in our own room in a full sized bed!!! I met another woman traveling alone, a German lady and we chatted and walked around town, she made the best fish for dinner and showed me a really cool knife she made. I may try to make a knife when I visit the South Island, she made it there in a village with an old lady. Anyway everyone at the hostel was German except for one guy that I just saw again today at the bus stop, he has been the only native kiwi I have met at a hostel. Anyway I only stayed one night and while I was waiting to get picked up by the family that I am wwoofing (willing worker on organic farm) with I saw the biggest bug ever!!!! I don't know if it was a Weta or a huge ass cricket. I pointed it out to this other guy and started telling him how I have bug issues and he said "Wetas can't hurt you" And I was like "They still freak me out, something about those spiney legs and unpredictable movements." He laughed and said, "well at least we're not in Australia, where, if it moves it'll kill ya"....though I know he was kidding I made a mental note, no Australia in my near future.

Farming family life
So I spent 5 days with a really nice family on there plot of land. The kids and the parents were really great and pretty laid back about the running of the farm. Though I did weeding, they were not really that paranoid about the weeds (some folks really get crazy with the weeding I hear) and I learned a lot about the environment and recycling...and the evils of plastic!!! Both parents teach at the high school and the wife teaches a course on the environment. She is really passionate about being sustainable and is presently attempting to only rely on her garden (at least about 90%) for food. We ate sooo well, such healthy good food!!! OH and Spaghetti Squash Rocks! And I am really into the breadmaker and the yogurt maker, two of my favorite foods home made, I really loved it. Anyway we shared many stories about history, politics, and other issues. I had a great time and seriously all this farming type work really illuminates how much waste I create and have created with just buying food in the store, simple things like buying yogurt even...

Plastic pains
I donno I thought I was somewhat aware before but really this experience has inspired me to make more of a effort to buy as little plastic as I can. I mean at this farm they didn't even have a trash, it was just a compost and a bag for burnables. I was even shown the potato starch "paper" plates (amazing, completely breaks down in the compost) and corn ware "plastic" cups (which I had seen at Burningman and was really excited about that....now why don't we use these products everywhere?....I know I know...the costs?....yeah yeah, anyway either its the money leaving the big plastic companies or the money it would take to convert them to producing these items...yeah yeah, anywho, I think about marketing and just getting some kick ass ads with celebs using the products...marketing responsibility can lead a freaking revolution) So I digress, the main point is I had some really valuable exchanges and am trying to change my lifestyle some so I will not create as much waste as I have been. So thanks Farm Family!!! oh and on another tip, check out (google images) the carton of rubber ducks that fell of a boat 15 years ago and is still traveling around in the oceans, not breaking down or biodegrading ever...crazy, or check out the big sewage whirl pool pit in the ocean with tons upon tons of plastic bits...crazy, anyway I just had to rant for a bit.

Sweating
So yep my time on the farm was great and tons of work (ok not tons but enough:), I mowed lawns with a manual mower (no engine!!) what a workout, I picked veggies, did the compost thang, hung out with chickens, a baby (that loved picking figs...and anything he could eat), used a weed eater, covered my eyes when attempting to sleep (so i wouldnt see the random roach that lived behind the mirror) , dug up potatoes....oh the list goes on...so anyway last night I took a lovely walk with a woman (ironically I had met her through Waaka and she lived up the street from the farm in Opotiki) and was invited to a wedding on a Marae. So I will be heading back to Opotiki later, staying at a beach hostel then going to the wedding and staying with her for a night...then I am off to a World Music concert next week that I am so excited about!!!:) After that I will likely head to the South island to stay on a farm or two and then meet up with some Servas folk.

Random thought:
why do people feed birds....do birds ever look hungry....I have seen so many people feeding ducks, seagulls etc...and i am reminded about the seagulls that tried to attack me for my Churro on Santa Monica Beach on my 30 Bday for my doughnut....random I know, but just a thought.