Mainland tourist

They say travel broadens the mind, and I'm not sure if thats true. It could be true, but you could return home just as narrow minded as you started out. Travelling in your own country, now theres a great opportunity.

One of my many rash new years declarations that i made this year was to travel all around the country and visit all the city sized places i have not yet been to. Since I had leave accrued I thought I would head down south. It turns out May is really not the best time to travel. Theres currently a lot of storms and wet weather going on down there. I've been keeping an eye on the 7 day forecast and it doesn't look too promising.

On the news they were talking about all the stranded trampers on the Milford track, one of NZ's "great walks" and saying how stupid they all were to get caught out in the wet weather like that. I've never been on the Milford track, but it is something I intend to do at least once in my lifetime, and I know its sort of like a constantly moving conveyor belt of people, especially in summer. You can't stay more than one night in each hut because theres always more people starting as people finish at the other end. And its usually booked out well in advance.

So most of the poor stranded trampers were already partway into the track before the deluge hit and they all got stuck because some bridge at the beginning of the track got washed out apparently.

One of the things I planned to do on my trip next week is to take a day trip from Queenstown through Te Anau to Milford sound (boat cruise) and back. However I see that that road might be closed due to the whitestone bridge being washed out somewhere near Te Anau. Since i was intending for that to be one of the highlights of my trip, I hope they can find an alternate route or fix the road sometime in the next 5 days. Quite selfish of me, but we'll see what happens.

I shouldn't really have such a she'll be right attitude, especially as i haven't booked any kind of travel insurance but I bought some thermals and a raincoat this morning, as a kind of preemptive I hope I don't need it but at least if i do then i'm prepared.

I'm so looking forward to my trip. I love sightseeing. I hope my camera doesn't break down like it did last time.

Possible Upheavals

I applied for a job back in my home town last week, not that I'm sick of Auckland yet, but the opportunity presented itself to me, and the opportunity looked good. If i dont get the job then everything will remain the same.

If i do get the job i'll have a couple of weeks to pack up my whole life again and traipse back down to the place I grew up. I'm not sure whether to be more excited or more uneasy.

In any case, i'm not thinking too much about it, this time next week i'll be in the south island. I love holidays. I love thinking about holidays and deciding what i'm going to do. Christchurch, Queenstown, Wanaka, Kaikoura and Nelson. Two of those places i've never been to and one i've just gone past on a bus at night. This will be my last holiday for a while, I don't really like travelling too much during winter.

My interview today was slightly uncomfortable. I've never had a phone interview before. It was a bit off putting, and made it hard to think.

My favourite poem #5

My sister and I picked up this poem in drama class in high school and got hooked on it. We repeated it over and over again to each other and to my brother. It drove him insane. Honestly, sometimes we just said it to him to aggravate him, not a very nice thing to do to a little brother, now that i think about it. But his reaction was always just so amusing.

A Blade of Grass, Brian Patten

You ask for a poem.

I offer you a blade of grass.

You say it is not good enough.

You ask for a poem.

I say this blade of grass will do.

It has dressed itself in frost,

It is more immediate

Than any image of my making.

You say it is not a poem,

It is a blade of grass and grass

Is not quite good enough.

I offer you a blade of grass.

You are indignant.

You say it is too easy to offer grass.

It is absurd.

Anyone can offer a blade of grass.

You ask for a poem.

And so I write you a tragedy about

How a blade of grass

Becomes more and more difficult to offer,

And about how as you grow older

A blade of grass

Becomes more difficult to accept.

My favourite poem #4

My nana always really liked this poem. She used to quote it to me when i was younger, and she wrote it out for me on a Christmas card one year, I think while i was on my mission.

"Master, where shall I work today?"
and my love flowed warm and free;
and He pointed out a tiny place,
and said, "Tend that for Me."

But I answered quickly, "O No, not there,
For no one would ever see -
No matter how well my task was done -
Not that little place for me."

"Disciple, search that heart of thine,
Are you working for them or for Me?
Nazareth was just a little place,
And so was Galilee."

Awesome things

So a couple of years ago a guy called Neil Pasricha decided to start documenting positive things and create a blog about 1000 of them, one per day. A couple of years later he is just publishing a book including some of them, he has received two "Webby" awards (apparently the equivalent of online Oscars)and has thousands of followers on his website. It seems that with the recession, grim news, skyrocketing crime rates and societal breakdowns everywhere, people really are looking for a bit of "Pollyanna-ness" to lift them out of the doldrums of life.

So my awesome thing for today: Starting up conversations with random strangers.

Sometimes you overhear a couple of people having a really interesting conversation, and you might think about joining in, but that could turn really bad. They might not like to be disturbed by someone they don't know.

I was on the bus going home tonight, and i overheard this couple next to me talking about needing 6 months validity on a passport to go overseas. I figured they must be going to one of the islands, and i didn't want to interrupt, but i felt uniquely positioned to provide information, since i took some time at work recently looking at passport, visa and documentation requirements for kiwis going to most of the countries around the pacific, asia and america.

So I thought about it for a bit, then there was a lull in their discussion, so I jumped in, "Excuse me, but where are you going?"
"Oh just to australia."
"Oh, well then you don't need 6 months on your passport, it just needs to be valid the day you travel."

Then that led to a further discussion about their planned family trip in June, 8 of them, all trying to sort out tickets and passports so that everything goes smoothly on the day. By the time they got off the bus a few minutes later, all of us smiling amiably at each other, wishing each other well. I had connected with 2 complete strangers and we had temporarily entered into each others spheres of existence, if only for a few minutes. It was a good feeling.

Little people

I really like my nephew. He is so cheeky and charming. He's only 2 but he seems to have had pretty much the same personality since he was born. He loves the outdoors and hates being cooped up inside. Hes fearless (much to the chagrin and occasionally horror of his mother) and inquisitive. Hes a happy little boy, except when he's tired, then he sulks and is grouchy. He likes checking out everything and everyone and is very sociable. Its been so interesting watching his development up til now. I like how children display their emotions so freely, which is something adults learn to avoid doing as they get older.

Today i rung up to talk to his mother who was trying (unsuccessfully) to get him to go to sleep. He kept getting back up so she put him on the phone to me. And he started telling me (in cute broken baby english) 'wot wot today' (He apparently went to a mall today to see the Wot Wots kids tv show characters). My name is "a ree" he can't really say aunty yet, but at least he is trying. Sometimes he calls me 'mum' but i don't think he knows what he's saying.

My favourite poem #3

I had a magic moment just before my mission started several years ago. I was staying with a family in Bountiful, Utah who an old teacher linked me up with, and the Mum & I had just done a temple session in the Salt Lake temple. Then her dad, who was also with us took me on a mini tour through a few of the rooms and introduced me to one of his friends, all i can remember is that he was an elderly man. When he found out i was a kiwi going to Switzerland he started reciting a poem. It felt like i was in a dream, i was so caught up in the words. Several months later my mother sent me a poem that a recently returned missionary in our ward had quoted - and lo and behold, it was the same poem.

To some there comes a call to love a people
A nation, land or race thats not their own
The pages of two calenders will measure, the lives they've touched
and if they've really grown

And more than one has come and gone unnoticed
They find it hard to love a strangers land
They somehow lost the vision they arrived with,
when others built on rock they built on sand

But those who learned to give then keep on giving
And take their worsts and turn it into bests
are those who've learnt that lifes most sacred treasures
Are won by those who've learnt to serve the rest

If you've been called, you'd better know the reason
Without that knowledge, your time is useless there
The Master knows the answers and the questions
He'll help you, but the cross is yours to bear

To some there comes a call to love a people
A nation, land or race thats not their own
and when its done with eyes of tears they'll tell you
This nations mine, this lands become my home

My favourite poem #2

When I was in intermediate school one of my friends memorized the whole of the poem "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. She would just quote it off the top of her head. My response to that was a much more pitiful attempt to memorize "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. I don't think i ever got to the end. But i liked the way the first few verses felt in my mouth. And i doubt i'll remember it after so long and probably butcher it but heres what I remember of it:

Once upon a midnight dreary while I wandered weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While i nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door
Tis some visitor i muttered tapping at my chamber door
This it is and nothing more

Ah distinctly i remember as it was in bleak december and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor
Eagerly i wished the morrow vainly i had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow sorrow for the lost lenore
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named lenore
Nameless here forevermore

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before
So that now to still the beating of my heart i stood entreating
Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door
This it is and nothing more

Well thats all I remember. Not much, but not bad for 16yrs ago.

My favourite poem #1

I came across this little poem in an old church youth magazine, I think from the 70s or 80s. It had been thrown out by my aunty and I somehow inherited it. My favourite ones were the big creativity competition they had every year with poetry, essays, songs and hymns.

Nights black canvas A backdrop of stars
Silently whispers to us of a heritage that is ours
One hand made these stars and scatters them abroad
I feel it with a kinship, I too was made by God