Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I've paid for hostels 2 out of 10 weeks in NZ. Just a thought.

I do apologize for not having a consistent ability to update! I really should have bought a nice little laptop to bring with me, free wireless is fairly easy to come by in the south island. The smart travelers have the mini notebooks that weigh nothing. Oh well, next time i go to NZ I'll do that.

It's been very strange not sleeping under the same roof (or tent) as Jackie and Lisa. We broke off about a week ago when they found cleaning positions at a hostel in Nelson. There were only 2 available so Justin and I went to the International Rainbow Gathering 40km south of Murchison. That was really crazy. Stephen Bent, if you're reading this, you need to find a way to get to this some day, because it's right up your alley. At one point there was someone playing a banjo to my left and three jugglers to my right, with caves that people slept in front of me, and a tree house behind me. Music 24 hours a day, drum circles, guitars, flutes, violins, singing; fire dancing; general dancing. Communal meals at Food Circle 2x a day, where everyone holds hands and sings before eating. Beautiful walks to waterfalls. Very very nice people. A bonafide Hippie Gathering.

That was good, but there was lots of car trouble and shenanigans (ie leaving my guitar behind... goodbye Sunday for driving 3 hours each way...) and I've been staying at different hostels because the one J/L work out is super full all the time (curse you, Magic Bus!). Also dropped JLauf off in Christchurch, and had a very silly but fun time picking up hitch hikers for a few days. Not sure if I would want to go to Christchurch again, but there seem to be a LOT of cleaning jobs (work a few hours for accomodation, sometimes one meal a day) there, so I might be forced to settle there. Because now I'm thinking of settling somewhere. Dude, traveling is exhausting! I'm not as enthusiastic as I used to be about seeing things, I've really needed these past two days of basically doing nothing to recover, just so I can be my sunny self when I see my Germans :)

I've put in an application to work at a hostel in the Franz Joseph (glaaaaaaaaciers!), so if I go there I may be apart from the Oxy ladies for a long time. This job is asking for between 1 and 3 months commitment! Wouldn't that be so cool to be living near glaciers for, like, a quarter of a year? Since I'm also applying for the parks internship back in the US, it could be very useful. Especially if I can somehow weasel my way in as a park guide at the glaciers... mwahaha. I'm a little nervous about the internship, I don't know how they'll reach me, since I'm so far away and my phone is stupid. This is another good reason to settle somewhere, so there is a landline that they can contact me on...

These are all things I cannot fix by thinking about them. I've taken that first step and I just have to wait for a response. If I hear none, then I keep looking. So no big deal! I'm very excited for my concert, I hope to update this weekend or early next week to let you all know about it! Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying their New Year and January.

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