Two Week Tick Tock
I finally overcame the Northlands suction, doing so with a sudden surge of over-rested restlessness. Two weeks, I realized. Two weeks before I get to be a time-traveler: going back one day but ahead four hours, forward two seasons, back 9 months, all to return to Alaska once again. I am slated to work for the summer in Sitka, familiar yet not. As soon as the contract was signed, I got a predictable surprise: a job interview scheduled in Hamilton and an email from the New Zealand OT Board informing me I’ll likely be able to work here within 15 days. A sigh and a grin.
I guess that paragraph of confusing contrasts is just a result of this day, tossing me between two thoroughly different Kiwi worlds. The last two nights I stayed in Helensville, outside Auckland, never accompanied by more than 3 other guests. The painfully cheerful couple who owns Malolo Lodge have decorated with country cutisms, from framed milk posters to fake flowers. I tiptoed the halls and stared at “DO NOT…” signs lining the walls around the hot tub. Now, I’ve just arrived in Raglan after a purposely indirect route to discover what those little white lines on the map are like (answer: gravel, curvy, sheep only other moving beings). Here, surfboards, wetsuits, and guitar cases fill the messy dormroom, beer cartons line the kitchen, and posters advertising tonight’s Reggae Festival dot the walls.
A couple highlights over the past couple days:
BONE-CARVING in Omapere. A day spent with a lovely Maori couple, feeding me tea and chicken and buzzing power tools over many hours. The design–my creation, meant to pull together everything I value, want, and need to remember. The instruction–basic as “Now use this tool. Call if you get stuck.” The result–truly a self-symbol I guess. Certainly unlike the others on the shelves or around tourists’ necks, a bit clumsy, full of good intentions and just as many flaws. I’ll treasure it, even if I don’t wear it.
THE KAURI FOREST–The trees standing are around 2000 years old; the ones they dig from the ground are 45,000 years old. They are beautiful with mosaic bark and muscled branches. Standing dwarfed next to them is the same awe-inspiring effect as looking at a dark star-filled sky.
Time to go listen to some live music and imagine that it’s First Tap in Anchorage. Kia Ora, my friends. 🙂
Tags: New Zealand, Raglan
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