as in the # of hits my site is getting each month. not bc my travels are oh so interesting (they are).  but because of bed bugs.

SO SCROLL DOWN TO THE MIDDLE OF THE PAGE TO SEE THE SCARY PICTURE OF WHEN BED BUGS ATTACKED ME.

and if you’re bored at home with no friends, working and feel like being a slacker, or simply love good writing and a decent story, read on friend.

One last entry.

I made it home. And being home is so very, very ordinary. I feel like I never left – like 5 whole months of my life didn’t take place. That kind of makes me sad. A lot actually.

Getting back into the swing of things is a little overwhelming. Getting a car, a job, life direction. Bleck.

But I’m trying to focus on the good; one thing I’ve learned is I have a strong tendency to think the grass is always greener on the other side… of the world. Sure, life in the US has a lot more responsibility and stress – but I also have all my friends and family, my church, the ability to get a job that doesn’t require one to pick fruit, scrub toilets, or carry coffee : )

I’m not quite sure if my decision to come back was emotional or God’s leading, irrational or logical, something I’ll regret or embrace.

Being home is giving me the opportunity to look into missions, and that excites me.

I’m so glad for the experiences I’ve had these past 5 months and the friends that I made.

I LOVED my time in New Zealand.

It was definitely a trip of a lifetime.

————————————————————————————
Over the bridge and through the woods, to the North Island I go.
Left my ice-cream pal behind in Picton and hopped on a bus to Nelson where I was greeted by an “I love Dana” sign and my favorite Scot (Louise).  Went to the outdoor market in Nelson, where I resolved that if I can’t eat it or read it, I’m not buying it.  So I bought a used book – The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, and ate a lot of sushi.  (Since there are so many Asians in NZ, there are so many sushi restaurants and stands.  MMMMMM.)  Got picked up by a cute German (Edgar) and made a stopover in Motueka for a few days to celebrate his 23rd birthday, and now after a few more bus rides and a ferry ride, I’ll arrive in the capital of NZ on the North Island.  A little city by the name of Wellington.

————————————————————————————

I used the “n” word in the presence of Germans.  No, not that one.  Nazi.  To be more specific, I actually called a German a Nazi.  Um, oops.  OK, so it was just a “food Nazi”, but still.  It slipped out.

Edgar had just picked me and Louis up in nelson so we could spend the weekend with him.  The van ride over he’s diving in the front and some duetch chick is riding shot gun.  A conversation about cooking ensues.  And then the slip up.  Silence.  Louis and I look at eachother like “oh crap.”  More silence.  But I mean, the guy lectured me on how to peel a carrot.  And “food Nazi” has a better flow then “anal retentative food fellow.”

————————————————————————————-

Ferry = ship of death – I was so sea sick I wanted to puke my guts out.  3 hours of nauseating bliss.  At least it was pitch black night when I went, so I could admire all the beautiful landscapes…
Louise and I bought some $2 speakers to plug into an i-plog.  That’s some quality sound, let me tell ya.  We could almost hear the music as we sat on a bench on the observation deck of the ship, watching the lights of Picton fade from site and eating some stale roles that we bought for 50 cents on the boat from hell.
I must admit, leaving the South Island tugged at my heart strings a bit.  It’s been my
home the past 5 months (holy crap – I’ve been gone 5 months!!!!!!).

————————————————————————————

Cities in NZ are shite (is it still cussing if it’s in another language?  OK, I know it is… but I think the word sounds cool.  so F’ it.  The cities (Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington) are pretty small with absolutely nothing extra special or interesting about them.  Architecture is nothing to write home about, museums are boring, shops are so-so, and there are a million cafes that all serve the exact same thing.  Same drinks, same cakes, same muffins.  It’s weird.
I was planning on looking for work in Wellington, but after 10 min of hard job searching, I decided I’d rather work in the NZ countryside.  Bay of Plenty – kiwi land, on the east coast of the North Island.  A place where kiwi picking and packing jobs are supposed to be a plenty.

The sad thing about my Wellington work plans going to shite (last time – I promise), is that I was supposed to meet up with Carolina next week to have one last hoorah and with Edgar in a month to take a road trip up to Auckland.  So I guess the last time I said goodbye to them was the last time I’ll ever say goodbye to them.  Tear :/

————————————————————————————

Ummm.  So I’ve been writing this last blog in bits and pieces over the course of a few days.

An interesting turn of events.
I got off the bus in Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty (seriously, who names their town after vomit?), looked around, and decided it wasn’t where I wanted to be.
So I bought a plane ticket home a few hours later, hopped on a bus to Auckland (I have logged so many hours on buses the past week it’s ridiculous) and I’ll be home Monday night.  Yeah.  Haha.

I think I get a thrill out of impulse decisions or something.

I did say a quick prayer and decided if the plane tickets weren’t insane, I’d take it as a sign.  After the ticket eats up the remaining funds in my bank account, I’m pretty much at a nice solid zero.  Which isn’t too awful bad for not working 5 months I suppose.  I really did plan on working, it just kinda never happened.

While the decision to come home was spontaneous as combustion, much thought has gone into where I want to be and what I want to accomplish throughout the length of the trip.  And part of me is torn.  But the rest of the world isn’t going anywhere.  I mean, who knows how long the Middle East will exist, but the rest of it should be golden.  I might still travel later.  I really do want to see South East Asia.  Maybe I’ll go on a mission trip or study abroad.  But for now, I want to be home for a bit.  No clue what I’ll do, or how long I’ll stay.  I do know that I love Ohio and also that I don’t have a car – so if anyone knows of a good deal or a car I can borrow for a few weeks – lmk : )

As for this amazing blog – I’m going to go back and edit and revise the crap out of it and see if I can make this jumbled mess into something publishable.  Here’s hoping.

And call me.  See me.  Shower me with your love and affection : )
My cell is still 933.9924 and I should have the line connected in a week or so.

Thanks for reading!  Super a lot.

I wasn’t even supposed to get Pete at first. I probably should have had a Bobby or a Mitchell. I paid for a Bobby or a Mitchell, never dreaming that I could have a Pete – way out of my league. But I was just real smiley with the dealer and crossed my fingers and then Pete rolled along. And I fell in love.

Ya know, I started this whole personification thing and now I can’t think of a smooth transition to let you know that Pete is a car. Guess what???? Pete is a car.

I’m a witty one, aren’t I? HA.

Carolina and I were planning a short road trip and made some cd’s that we could listen to (err, sing really loud to – pathetic girl songs like “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey and “No One” by Alicia Keys) as we drove.

Then the rental agency picks us up in a cheapo Toyota (aka Bobby), because that’s all we could afford. But Bobby didn’t have a cd player.

“Aww shucks Mr. Car Rental Guy, it’s a real shame that we made all these cd’s and won’t be able to listen to them.” (batting eyelashes, twirling hair)

Enter Pete. Subaru station-wagon, 4 wheel drive, 6 disc cd player, all the bells and whistles Pete. For the price of Bobby.

Nice.

So I hit the road with no cares or concerns – just a German, a football, and some chocolate bars as big as your head. What more could a girl ask for? Although, the chocolate bars made Carolina and I feel like self-indulgent fatsos, so we proceeded to do 25 jumping jacks anytime we had a pit stop.

We spent 2 days driving, stopping to play catch or go on short hikes, and taking in all the breathtaking scenery. It was a wicked good time and just to let you know – Carolina and I are now getting along swimmingly. Really well. Finish each other’s sentences, know what the other person is thinking from a look, laughing our heads off well.

And now we’re back in Picton. Which is nice. It’s kinda sad being here without the crazy German boys, who are back in Germany, but it feels a little like home nonetheless. I’m wofing at the Sequoia Lodge this week (where I wofed the first time I was here back in February).

Out of the 20 weeks I’ve been in NZ, I’ve spent 6 of them in Picton.

]]> http://gypsybliss.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/and-then-i-fell-in-love-with-pete-260508/feed/ 0 gypsybliss http://gypsybliss.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/3rd-times-a-charm-210508/ http://gypsybliss.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/3rd-times-a-charm-210508/#comments Wed, 21 May 2008 06:12:14 +0000 dana lauren http://gypsybliss.wordpress.com/?p=77 ]]>

Back in Christchurch.

OK, think back. Do you remember the couple of hitchhikers from California who I picked up and invited to go to the beach? And the girl and I got along really well because we had gone through the same crap life circumstances and I was able to share my faith with her? That was sometime around the end of January.

Carolina and I are staying with them in Christchurch. Isn’t that craziness? What a small country, what a small world, and what a neat experience. Adam and Amy (the hitchers) moved to Christchurch about 2 months ago and have an apartment, jobs, 2 cars, the whole 9 yards now.

We got in last night, and this is so cool, we went to a film contest at the cinema. It was a contest open to anyone from NZ and they were all given 48 hours to make a movie. Each group was given a different genre (mystery, musical, horror, comedy, etcetera), but all had to have a main character named Kerry who was a perfectionist, a brush as a prop, and include the line, “wait a minute.” And the movie couldn’t be a second over 7 minutes. The viewing was only supposed to be for those who participated in the competition, but Adam knew one of the groups and they snuck is in.
This was even better than me and Carolina’s normal Tuesday night movie ritual. Tuesday is cheap flick night – $9 instead of $14.

Today’s Wednesday. We plan on sticking around until Saturday morning.

The novelty has worn off.
Farmer Dave is a little weird, I’m tired of always being cold, and I’ve discovered that rustic = dirty.
Nonetheless, I’m here for 2 more days.

SUNDAY 18/5
7:20AM – my alarm goes off so I can open the shutters on the window to watch the sunrise from bed.
7:21 - turn off my alarm, turn over, and go back to bed.
9:20 – wake up, get up, get washed up, and eat breakfast, which is usually last night’s leftover dessert. (apple crumble, plum crumble, and today was carrot cake)
10:00 – read my bible a little.
10:20 – sit in the sun contemplating the purpose of life. No joke – it’s crazy how when you travel, you really do spend a lot of time thinking about such philosophical issues. I suppose it’s because you have so much time on your hands and you don’t have a lot of the things that one generally pours their time into, such as a job or a long “to do” list or many material belongings (not much fits in a suitcase). Even as a Christian, where you try to lead a life centered on loving God and loving others, it’s an interesting thing figuring out what this type of life looks like on a daily basis; how does one live with purpose 24/7?
11:00 – after figuring out the purpose of life, as well as a solution to end world hunger, poverty, and war, I take a walk around the farm with Carolina and 3 of the farm dogs.
12:00PM - sit-ups and a few other exercises, which serve as my lame attempt to stay in shape.
12:10 - eat some chocolate and an orange : )
12:30 – writing. Writing has become like breathing to me since I’ve been away. It’s essential. Since I’m not surrounded by my friends and family who I’d normally share the details of my life with- I need a way to express myself and process everything that I encounter and experience.
1:00 – lunch, which is leftover dinner. Today that means pizza.
1:30 - time to feed the cows. Carolina and I hop on the 4×4 and meet farmer Dave at the cow field. We herd the cows into the main field. All this really means is that we walk behind them and they mosey into the field. We then move the electric fence pegs allowing the cows 5 more feet of grazing space in the feeding field for the next day. Then Carolina drives the tractor while farmer Dave throws hay off the back and I trail along on the 4×4. I proceed to get stuck in a mud puddle and need the tractor to push me out. We all head back to the farm. The hardest part of the work day is avoiding all the heaps of cow crap.
2:00 – eat some more chocolate
2:10 - 25 more sit-ups
2:20 – reading again. I just finished Confessions of a Fallen Angel by Ronan O’Brian which was a very, very well written book; I highly recommend it. It’s about a boy who has a near death experience and then has premonitions when the people close to him are going to die. Today I’m starting A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. It seems pretty funny. It’s about 4 people who meet when they all try and commit suicide from a building on New Year’s Eve. And I just realized I seem to have a death theme going here. Huh.
3:15 – baking cookies while dancing around the kitchen with Carolina to Justin Timberlake and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
3:45 - reading, writing, thinking, and to be honest – being bored out of my mind. I’ve had enough of quiet farm life. In the right company, this could be amazing, because I guess it’s always the people you’re with that enrich your life with joy and bliss.
Anyway, from this time onward, Carolina and I play a little game called chase the sun. It’s freezing after the mid day warmth sneaks away, and you’ll find either of us sitting wherever a little sliver of sunshine manages to touch down. As darkness creeps in starving out all warmth, we resort to standing by the wood-burning chimney and clutching onto rubber sack things that you fill with boiling hot water. I’m holding one of the rubber sack things right now in fact.
5:00 – trying to get my laptop charger plug to charge my laptop. The things you take for granted, like the simple ability to pug in your laptop and charge the battery. For me, this is now an ordeal where I consider hurling my laptop out the window at least twice before I give up.
6:20 – cooking dinner. Polish perogies (noodles stuffed with apples)
7:00 – eating dinner
7:45 – hot shower, which helps revive my frozen body
8:30 – in bed. Farmers don’t go to sleep early because they have so much work to do in the morning, it’s because they are bored. Carolina and I snuggle under about 10 blankets, do 25 sit-ups together in bed under the blankets, and then talk and giggle like school girls until we both drift off to sleep.

BTW: things with my travel buddy are going much better. We’ve kind of found our groove so to speak, acclimating ourselves to one another. This is good because we’re going to be together for another 2 weeks. If we want to go back to my pathetic ice-cream metaphor, you could say the acclimation process is kind of like taking those pills that allow you to eat dairy… gas x? imodium? Anyway, we’re both drugged up on those.

Remember the traveling with friends / ice-cream metaphor? It seems that I’m lactose intolerant.
Translation: my traveling buddy is driving me nuts. Yesterday when I was riding on the back of a 4×4 with her, I just might have stuck my tongue out at the back of her head. Hahaha.
A know-it-all 19 year old is no day at the park. And the thing is, she probably isn’t even that bad; but when you travel with someone, you better like them a lot a lot a lot. And even then, they’ll still drive you up a wall at points. Which means that when you’re traveling with someone who you’re not too awful crazy keen on, you will spend a few of your waking hours wanting to poke them in the eye and kick them in the head. “What do you mean you want to spend a day and a bunch of money to see some big freaking birds? Birds???” But even more stupid than the bird thing is the way she always corrects me, and not cause I’m doing something wrong, I’m just not doing it her way. Yes, I know how to measure carrots for carrot cake, make grilled cheese, read a map, shift a 4×4, and tie my shoe you lunatic. If I kill her and end up in a NZ prison, know that I love and miss you all very much. And send me some cigarettes to trade for favors.
; )

I can’t believe I complained about losing my memory card. The next day my whole laptop broke. I mean, really, what the flipping heck? And as I was riding the bus from Dunedin to Timaru, where I am now, I was mentally constructing my next blog, sans the ability to type it out, while listening to my i-pod and wouldn’t you know it my i-pod froze. No worries though, because I have the code to unfreeze the son of a gun in my laptop…. err, wait. Well at least after the battery dies, it will usually work when I recharge it… on my laptop… huh…

Add on to this that the past few weeks I have had pretty much no opportunities to call home. Meaning it seems that God was maybe kind of trying to isolate me all alone on the other side of the world :/ (Don’t forget about me guys!!!)

OK, so obviously you are reading this article right now which means that 1. I bit the bullet and bought a new memory card, and 2. my laptop is fixed. The guy at the computer store said I might need a new mother board. HA. Try some tape. Yep, I have indeed taped my laptop together and presto, good as new… kinda.

So now the good stuff, because believe me, the past few days have been WICKED cool. I’m living in a sheep shearing shed! This is sooooooooooooooooo stinking amazing. It’s pretty much a big metal shed with a kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a room for shearing sheep. The doors and “windows” (cut out squares in the shed that you close at night with wooden shutters) are huge and open up to amazing views of the farm. I wake up as sunshine pours into my room through the window. I also pee in a makeshift toilet that you have to use a small hose to “flush”. You cannot get more rustic than this. I cooked meat in a pan over a wood burning chimney that keeps the shed warm on chilly nights.

The “WOFing” that I did at hostels before is honestly a lame excuse for WOFing (albeit a fabulous way to save money). To refresh your memory – WOF stands for working on farms. The practice is worldwide (yep, even in the states ladies and gentleman) and you work on a farm for 2-3 hours a day in exchange for food and accommodation. Carolina and I are staying on a small farm with some cows, sheep, and a farmer named David. David manages to work for a grueling 2 hours a day (sarcasm), so the 3 of us together tend to put in a solid 20 minutes of work each day. Work means that we feed the cows hay from the back of a tractor. And drive around the farm on a 4×4, which I’m told we’ll get to herd sheep from in a few days. This is AMESOME. I get giddy in bed when I wake up because this is just so cool. If farmer David was just a little hotter and little younger – I might just trade in my US residency for a low key life on the farm because this feels a bit like heaven.

Let’s see. What have I been up to…

Booked a tour to take a boat into Milford Sound and go into an underwater observatory. It was a 5 hour drive to the sound and a 5 hour drive back. It was OK. Beautiful mountains, beautiful waterfalls, beautiful sea, free lunch buffet : ). I probably wouldn’t have spent $160NZ it cost to see this crap if Carolina didn’t really want to go. It is one of the most famous destinations in NZid, so I suppose it’s good that I went.

Louise – the Scottish gal that is going to end up a crazy old lady all alone with her cats just like me and who I absolutely love – was in Queenstown and tracked me down. Seems some stupid Irish boy she met over here broke her heart. Actually, it seems that every girl I meet over here has had a fling and is now pining over some boy who is off gallivanting without a care in the world. I have learned that this is the way the world works: girls pine and boys gallivant. You know it’s true : ) Anyway, we consoled ourselves with $15 cheeseburgers, because if you’re going to be single forever, you might as well be fat too. Haha.
We made a plan for her to pick me up June 3rd and we’ll head off to Wellington, which is the capital. There we’ll get jobs, a flat…. and maybe a cat… or two ; )

I’m now in Dunedin, which is a pretty large city by New Zealand standards. Carolina worked in a café in Picton and 2 of her frequent customers have a house here which they so kindly opened up to us. Pretty crazy considering we are practically complete strangers. It’s a couple in their 60’s and I feel like I’m at an aunt and uncle’s house or something. They make us breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, tea /cookies AND they’ve washed and dried our laundry AND they let us use their internet and phone.
It’s nice to be in a home. It kind of makes me feel like I’m a part of the real word again.
So far in Dunedin we’ve been going tour crazy. Touring the architecture and historical buildings around the city, a chocolate factory, a beer brewery, an art museum, and a butterfly exhibit.

All in all, things are going well. I’m SUPER bummed that I lost my memory card. It’s how I write all my emails and all my blog articles… and they cost $60 flipping dollars over here and as you know, I’m poor as heck right now. UGH.

oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

That’s pretty much all I could say before I dove 134 meters from the 3rd highest bungee jump in the entire world. The jump is from a metal shack suspended by cables between 2 mountains and you have to take a gondola to get to it.
I almost didn’t do it. I wouldn’t let go of the instructor (who was freaking hot by the way.)
With my ankles bound, I wobbled out to the edge of the platform. Oh my gosh. And then they dropped the bungee cord down and I felt it tug at my ankles. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Looking out at this huge valley from such a great height, it hits you that you actually are jumping and falling. Falling a lot. And it’s not a ride where you just get strapped in and then you have no control. You actually jump. You physically throw yourself from solid ground into a free fall dooooooooooown into the depths of a valley. (Which I suppose is the definition of a bungee jump – jumping and falling – so this should not have come as surprise to me.) After 4 minutes of oh my goshing, with my stomach already in my throat, my heart beating a zillion times per second, and my whole body shaking, the hot instructor guy pried my hands from his wrist (he was standing behind me and I had both hands behind my back holding onto him) and spread my arms out as if they were wings – they weren’t. I was definitely going to be falling, not flying.
Hot Instructor Guy: are you OK?
Me: oh my gosh
Hot Instructor Guy: you need to find a focal point to look at straight ahead.
Me: oh my gosh
Hot Instructor Guy: just keep your eyes on your focal point.
Me: oh my gosh, oh my gosh
Hot Instructor Guy: I dare you to say oh my gosh again.
Me: …….
Hot Instructor Guy: alright, take a few deep breaths.
And I did.
And it was at that point that I knew I could do it. The key was just to not think about the fact that you were going to be jumping, ahem, plummeting at a speed of 80 miles per hour with an 8 second free fall from what felt like the top of the world toward the jagged rocks below.
He counted down. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
And I jumped.
(Oh my gosh.)
And I screamed.
And oddly enough, at one point I instinctively plugged my nose because any time I have ever jumped from anything remotely high, it has been into water. : )

This was undoubtedly the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. Ever.

Just wait till I get home and can show you the dvd.