I came to the realization today that a LOT has happened in 2014 and I should probably document it some way or another. So here we go, a brief summary in numbers of what this year was like:
Flights taken- 14
Boats sailed- 5
Buses taken-6
Jobs- 7
Jobs Quit before intended- 3
Long-term homes- 5
Countries Visited- 6 (Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand)
Temporary Pets (places i lived had animals--i pretended they were mine)- 16
Tattoos designed- 1
Notebooks Used up-3
British/Aussie-isms Acquired- 8
Gotten Sick- 2
Cars owned- 1
Cars destroyed (sort of)- 1
Festivals/Holidays - 5
Volleyballs Owned-3
Major Cities visited-11
Movies Seen-8
But regardless of all the insanely fun/crazy/awesome/scary/overwhelming things I have done this year, the one I think is the craziest is that I have officially spent an entire calendar year away from my friends and family back home. Not having them around me for support when things got tough has been one of the most challenging things I've ever experienced. Yes, of course I can skype/call people when I need to talk. But sometimes....you just need a hug from your best friends or dinner made by your mom. So I have grown. I've got on, met new people, had incredible experiences and enjoyed (almost) every minute of this year. And yet, I continue to look forward to the day I head back. Not permanently (let's be honest, I'm not good at permanent) but at least for a while to be again with people who know me inside and out and can call me out on things I can hardly see myself. Back to not really the house or the country---but to the home. To the home created by loving family and friends who make every little thing seem important. Miss you all dearly. Thinking of you today as the clocks begin to change around the world.
May God bless and keep you this coming year. May you learn something new. May you go on an adventure. May you rise to a challenge. And may you love. May you love joyfully. May you love abundantly. May you love unexpectedly.
CHEERS! And a HAPPPY NEW YEAR!
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
To be honest, I didn't love Auckland. It was one of those cities that really could have been anywhere. It was a good base it seems, to get elsewhere but didn't have that much to separate it from any other city. Having said that, it was rainy when I was in Auckland, I was primarily job searching and while I DID get to go see Interstellar (which was FASCINATING) I didn't get to do much else. So, I should probably head back at some point and see it properly.
WELLINGTON
This was a fun city. A small and incredibly windy city, but a fun city. In the short time I was there, I wandered through the botanical gardens, saw the city from atop Mt. Victoria, learned how films are made at Weta Workshop, stayed with locals through AirBnB, danced at an 80s night, attempted to find hobbit holes, saw where they shot portions of Lord of the Rings, caught up with a friend and continued the neverending job search.
^^Shots from the botanical gardens ^^
Views of Wellington from on top of Mt. Victoria ---I attempted to find where they shot a few scenes from The Fellowship here, but unfrotunately followed the wrong path up the mountain....
An important Dislay at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington about Shrek, the sheep that escaped shearing for YEARS. ^^
A combination of my Lord of The Rings Tour and WETA workshop tour. Both Incredible. The WETA tour was led by a South African guy who worked in the paint department and had worked on both District 9 and the Hobbit. On top of that..a bunch of guys who worked for WETA joined our tour, simply because they'd never done it before and wanted to see how people were shown their work. They were lovely and had all worked on LOTR and the Hobbit as digital designer people.
Took a random daytrip to Waikanae beach. Cold, rainy day but still pretty cool.
PICTON
After Wellington I took a 3-hour ferry ride from the North Island to the South Island where we landed in Picton, a small town along the Queen Charlotte Sounds Track. I stayed there for 2 nights, giving myself enough time to do a day-hike of the Queen Charlotte Track. This area alone has 20% of NZ's coastline due to the miles of mountains along the water. It is stunningly beautiful and the wildlife includes penguins, seals, dolphins and a multitude of birds! Fun Fact: No land mammals are native to NZ. Only birds and fishy creatures.
A penguin on eggs!
CHRISTCHURCH
It was interesting to be in Christchuch because honestly, I didn't know what to expect. Other than the fact that they had been devestated by earthquakes a few years back I really had no information on the place. You could tell wakling around that it had once been and would one day again bee a happening, cute little city. But, the earthquakes truly took their toll, and while the people of Christchurch have truly taken it in stride, it's hard to oenjoy the city when so much of it is under construction.
RE:Start Shops---a mall made out of containers.
Once the center of Christchurch, the Cathedral is now almost completely destroyed
HANMER SPRINGS
Due to my taxi being super late I ALMOST missed my bus for Hanmer! And by that I mean to say I DID miss my bus to Hanmer. Luckily the bus company felt so bad for me when I called (because it was FEREZING outside and i'd been standing in it for 45 minutes) that they came to pick me up and drove me to meet the bus. Since then I have settled into my new home. I have my own room at a small hostel where I work as an assistant manager. It is a small town of 650 people with two tiny churches, a small and expensive grocery store, lots of hiking and famous hot springs. God has been good thus far. One of my first days here I went around town just to see what there was and ended up chatting with this shop owner for a while. She was lovely and just kept saying how I needed to meet her daughter, as she was very adventurous and could tell me all the best hikes to go on in the area. WELL. The next Sunday I was at church chatting with the gentleman next to me only to discover that it was this woman's husband! He is the head of the contemporary evening service here in Hanmer and they are a lovely family. Joanne even stopped by to coem see me the other day! God is good.
These are a few photos from a hike I went on about ten minutes away from where I live in Hanmer Springs. It's a stunning Alpine village and the scenery seriously cannot be beat. The job is easy and the people are kind. I've just gotten another job, which I start today, at a local restaurant. And 2 nights ago I got to go see the final Hobbit movie with some friends at a midnight premier! Fun Fact: I watched the first Hobbit in the US, the second Hobbit in Australia, and the third Hobbit in NZ! Overall life is wonderful here and i'm excited to see what the next few months hold!
Wherre did we leave off....ahhh yes. The overnight train to Chiang Mai. Minus the fact that they left the lights on all night aand I had a snoring Russian man above me, it was a pretty easy ride. I even met a woman from Silver Spring, MD! The world is small. It did get hard, however, when I got to Chiang Mai and immediately hopped from the train onto a bus to the tiny, beautiful mountain-town of Pai.
I had been warned of the dangerously windy road that turns the 100k trip into a 3-hour journey, but I was sure I could handle it. I mean, it normally takes a LOT to get me motion sick (as we saw in Indonesia) HAHAHA. Yeah, i'm going to blame it on getting older and the fact that I was sitting in the very back of the bus, but I made it ALMOST to Pai before that terrible feeling hit me. The sweet little Thai woman next to me had a bag on her and I started geturing like crazy to ask for it. She immediately knew what was up and went into mother-mode to give me the bag and some water and asked if i needed medicine. Such a wonderful woman. I am legitimately sorry she had to deal with sitting next to me and the smell of sick in a bag for the next 30 minutes. Horrifying. But, I did make it to Pai and could not be more glad that I did.
Upon making it into Pai I set up at my hostel and spent the first few days wandering around with some friends I'd met on the bus up. Then, after they left to head back to Chiang Mai, I finally took some time to get to know the people hanging at the hostel. Including two awesome Dutch girls who ended up being good friends during my time there.
The two lovely Dutch girls and I took a day and drove around Pai to see a waterfall you were able to slide down and this Chiense village place. Both were underwhelming...but nice views...and heyo motorbikes!
Sucky waterfall...okay it's not THAT terrible. But it also wasn't super exciting. The views at the China town place were beautiful, but that's about what it had going for it. It was strange.
Also, (since i'm sure my mother is wondering by now) riding a scooter actually wasn't nearly as ridiculously deadly as i thought it might be, though ther WAS an incident with a wall and a flower garden. But I did a pretty magnificent recovery and saved it from being a hilariously awkward pause in our journey.
The girls and I did a cooking class at Red Orchid the next day and it was BRILLIANT. But, unfortunately the woman in charge was a bit rushed dut to a doctor's appointment in Chiang Mai, leaving us to do ALL this cooking in only 3 hours. But, 15 dishes later.....can't say we were sad about it. Although our stomachs were NOT about to try and finish all that.
Every night in Pai there is a market with delicious food, cute little shops and an over the top amount of scooters trying to make their way through town. But, it's always worth the venture, and really, why would you go anywhere else for dinner?
A few of the gents at the hostel were super talented and had a few gigs at a local bar. Let the musical fun ensue....
A few guys and I headed up to this giant Buddha at the top of the hill on my last day in Pai. The pictures don't do it justice, but honestly, in the mist it was stunning. From afar it blended in perfectly with the clouds to the point that (given that we didn't take directions) we found it a little difficult to find it at first.
At the beginning of my time in Thailand I was planning to be in Pai about 3 days. Instead, I was there for a week. And it would have been more if I hadn't promised to see the Lantern Festival. This place and these people just completely envelop you in the best way possible. That is to say, I bought a bus ticket that I ended up not using because I got convinced to stay longer an hour before I left. (Not that it took all that much). It's cool. I eventually got to Chiang Mai.=]
Overall, Pai was briliant. But the main reason for that are the insanely wonderful people at our hostel, Common Grounds. Such a relaxed place, it legitimately felt like a family with people getting up grbbing breakfast, playing cards and generally having a routine to the days. If it weren't for these crazy people I can't honestly say i'd have stayed as long as I did.
Having said all of that...I have only one regret from my time in Pai. I was never fully myself. From the moment I walked in---for one reason or another I chose to be quiet. I didn't go on all the adventures I normally would have, I didn't dance every time I wanted to, and I didn't sing to every friggin song that people played. The problem with making that choice is that when you start out prideful and thinking (or pretending) you know everything, it's hard to stop. In the end it took being called out on it (cheers to you my friend) to realize that I was pretending to be someone I wasn't. But, as much as it sucked, I needed it. Desperately. The reality is, I'm loud. I can talk way too much. I tell inappropriate jokes. I dance every chance I get and I will try almost anything once. Too bad pride got the better of me. I regret not allowing the amazing people in Pai to see that side since in doing so I didn't let them in as much either. But, I'll be back and next time will be different. Next time I'll be me. =]
Chiang Mai
Loy Krathong: Lantern Festival
Alright, so I have to tell you a story about te first time I lit a lantern for Loy Krathong. We were standing on a bridge amongst hundreds of other people attempting to sneed off their lanterns. No one was sure where to stand in order to have enough space to let it off. And then, out of nowhere a spot opened up! We jumped at the chance and ran across to the other side of the bridge and immediately began the process of lighting and sending off our lantern. A crowd gathered as we waited for the center to burn enough to sustain the lantern to the air. When it finally was ready we let it go with enthusiasm and smiles went all around. Just one problem. We didn't pay attention to where the wind was heading. And amidst gasps and laughter from the crowd (and ourselves) we watched our poor lantern struggle to make its way around the wrought iron bars of the bridge to the others side. With each piece of freedom it gained it would get caught anew until I was sure it wouldn't mke it all the way. Luckily, at the last moment the little (actually rather large) lantern made it to the glowing sky above and laughter and cheers erupted from our littel crowd. The moral of the story is pay attention. there might be a REASON no one is letting off lanterns on that side of the bridge.
For an epic video of the lantern festival check out my friend Sam's vid: (and hey if you love it check out his website at www.stellarphoto.org)
Tiger Kingdom is exactly what it sounds like. A place where there are loads of tigers to go see. And so Me, this Austrian guy and another American girl all headed into our chosen cages (small and big) and enjoyed! Side note. The videos below....these are of the SMALL tigers. Yeah. Our thoughts exactly.
we didn't pay to play with the babies...but LOOK AT THEM! AHHHH!=]
That evening the crew all went for a wander to a night market to grab some food and hangout before heading our separate ways. And look! I found more lanterns!=] Plus i rode in a Tuk-Tuk (basically a motorbike with a backseat attached) on my way to the airport cause.....why not?
Chiang Mai was an awesome place and I feel like I haven't even scratced the surface of it yet. Can't wait to go back again! But as I write this I'm sitting in the airport waiting to check in for my flight. In about 22 hours i'll be in Middle Earth. Can't WAIT to see what adventures Gandalf....I mean God has in store.
