Up with which we shall not put!

Ok, something fun to share.... good friend James (aka jimbobb) was kind enough to help by pointing out some interesting errors in my last post, only proving my point about my own inability to use the English language correctly.

"Jennie, dear, love the blog... you should buy eats, shoots and leaves as a small reference book; it would help you avoid this sort of thing "A few of the things that have struck me thus far about New Zealand include: being the first country in the world to grant women’s suffrage, legalized (and regulated) prostitution and hermaphrodites in public office "...

(there is legalised prostitution in public office???????? semi-colons, dear, semi-colons!) looking forward to seeing you in march! x jimbobb"

Well, well, well...

FIRST of all: my mistake, it's actually a transexual in public office, not a hermaphrodite (AND she has recently moved on from that post). SECOND: and just to clear this up, THERE ARE NO PROSTITUTES IN PUBLIC OFFICE IN NZ... at least not to my knowledge. FINALLY: Sadly enough, dear jimbobb, I HAVE been reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" as bedtime reading for the past month, but apparently I fell asleep during the section on appropriate comma usage. How ironical.

Dear jimbobb: I suppose we are now equal for the night I spent in Thailand waiting up for you disasterizing about your stolen kidneys and corneas whilst you were asleep on the beach after the football match.

See you in March, Cambodia is it then? x J

Auckland, New Zealand: Peaches and Silverbeet

1/11/09

Tonight a full moon

Hung ripe over Cockle Bay

Orange as peach flesh

1/18/09

Silver beets outside

Bend down in the summer rain

As if bowed in prayer

I woke this Sunday morning to the sound of rain on the vegetable leaves in the garden outside my open window. It’s been two weeks now since I arrived in New Zealand and summer here is treating me well. It was an incredibly soft landing, thanks to my friend Rachel’s awesome family and their hospitality. I’m staying in their extra room and it’s nice to have people around when I finally get home from the city around 7 p.m.

Yes, dear friends, the Cambridge course for teaching English is totally kicking my butt. I leave for the bus at 7 a.m. and get home at 7 p.m. to shove some food in my face and create lesson plans for the next day, but I am learning quite a bit. For example, how much I managed NOT to learn in 20 years of schooling regarding tenses, parts of speech and the basic phonology and rules of the English language. All of which, I’m convinced, my beginner level students know more about than I… me… I. Crap. See.

And so my students. It’s great to have students again. And they are a hoot. All of them come to our school because we teacher/plebes give our lessons for free, which seems like a fabulous bargain, until you realize we only know about 50% of what we’re talking about. But I digress.

At last count in our class we had 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese, 2 Chinese, 1 Italian and… wait for it… a lady from Kazakhstan! Oh my holy wow. And she’s totally my favorite. The Chinese ladies are awesome as well, although one of them walked out last week when one of the teacher/plebes asked her to put her dictionary away. The Korean guys are awesome as well, a goofy countenance and willingness to make a mistake go a long way in the language classroom. My favorite is Jin. He told me he likes my classes a lot and I was pretty flattered, but attempted not to fan any unneeded flames with over-exaggerated relief (“They like me! They really like me!).  And the Italian guy is reliably hilarious as well, although I’m pretty sure he’s usually stoned.

All in all, I am thoroughly enjoying myself and have even found some time for rest. Today, however, I spent 8 hours making lesson plans for this week and I think I may have had a wild half-cocked grin and disheveled hair when the family finally came back from their afternoon walk. That crazy American… she’s always sitting in the corner, stroking her books and muttering to herself (yes, my precious….).

As for general impressions of New Zealand, well, if I thought I’d be floating up on the beach with my piano and waiting for Harvey Keitel and his tattooed friends to come and trudge me into the forest, that wasn’t what happened. Good news is, I still have all my fingers.

All kidding aside, New Zealand has been an unusually soft landing, with very little culture shock to speak of. A few of the things that have struck me thus far about New Zealand include: being the first country in the world to grant women’s suffrage, legalized (and regulated) prostitution and hermaphrodites in public office – pointed out by the father of my family here as something that will doubtless be a long time coming in the overly provincial United States (Sorry Mr. MILK, you don’t hold a candle).

I have been blown away as well with the sheer numbers of Asian folks living in the city. All the kimchi (Korean pickles), onigiri (Japanese rice balls) and sembei (Japanese crackers) are mine for the taking and readily available at every corner store. Super yum. I headed out for a Japanese food girls night out on Friday, complete with the threat of Japanese/Korean style karaoke at the end of the evening (the others being saved only by the fact that my latest bus was 11:30).

I even wandered into one of the alleys of shops in Auckland and encountered – Engrish! I’m so happy you happy! Rock time! An apple doctor way! Unfortunately, I could only fit my head, neck and half a boob through the head hole and into the shirt before sheepishly taking it off and saying, “it’s a little small” to the shop girls giggling behind the counter. “That’s biggest size.” Yes. Of course it is.

Also striking (and inspiring) is the firm belief in a God given right to at least 4 weeks paid vacation a year and a widespread belief that all retail stores should close promptly at 6 p.m. (with a gleeful shut down of all most-needed services 15 minutes prior). This weekend, there was an editorial in the newspaper decrying the fact that there are typically only 3 to 4 weeks off in December, and most of those are taken up with Christmas and New Years. And, when I told my family here that at one of my previous jobs I had only 5 days vacation per year there were audible gasps and they asked “But, how can they do that?” Yes, I see a future for myself working in a foreign company with such civilized policies. Yes, I most certainly do.

In other exciting news, I bought myself a hot pink phone, the likes of which I have secretly lusted after for years now. I almost bought myself one back in ’07 but resisted, deeming it frivolous. So imagine my joy when I found myself buying a new phone in New Zealand and the guy helping me in the shop said, “well, we have the black one, then there’s this one, I guess, or whatever.” At which point he pulled out the shiniest most awesomest hot pink miracle I’d ever seen. And, 10 minutes later, I walked out of the shop, my hot-pink-pre-paid-rider-bb-gun-cellie slung low in my back pocket. Eat that Alfie.

Which pretty much concludes my experiences thus far. Course concludes in 2 weeks, at which time I’m free! And heading to Australia for a few weeks, then back to NZ for a 4-week backpacking extravaganza. And I’m ready! Rootin’ tootin’ ready.

 

January 1st, 2009. Plane to Auckland, NZ. So, it begins...

I’m not sure exactly when I decided that I wanted to travel around the world. At the age of 28, many educated North American women are on the career track or marriage track or baby track. And yet, I found myself earlier in 2008 feeling a little off track. Corporate, well paying job with opportunity for advancement, check. Relationship opportunities with potential, check. 1,200 square foot fully decorated apartment in fun, eclectic part of town, check. Who was I to complain? What was this deep ennui I felt? Where did I learn this pretentious French word to express my discomfort?

 

I had the time and means to volunteer, go out to eat with friends, take weekend trips, buy a gym membership, decorate my apartment and go shopping weekly at T.J.Maxx… so again, I asked myself, who was I to blather on about finding “deeper meaning” or “spiritual enlightenment”?

 

Less than a decision and more than a whim, today, on January 1^st, 2009 I find myself sitting in a bustling L.A. airport nestled between my carry-on and laptop case and waiting for my flight to Auckland, New Zealand. The entirety of all my belongings now amount to two checked bags, one carry-on and a purse. Less than 100 pounds of crap to drag with me around the world. Thank goodness for airport regulations.

 

Over the last 12 months I moved out of my apartment, selling my belongings and precious Target furniture purchases one by one on Craigslist. I down-sized step by step until I was literally living on the floor of a friend’s closet for the last four months, and living on half of my salary (the other half went straight into an online savings account with limited access for emergencies such as shoes, facials, fancy dinners and dirty martinis).

 

So finally in December I quit my perfectly acceptable Instructional Design job with benefits, threw my valuables into plastic bins and begged basement corner space off of willing relatives. And here I am. It’s just me again.

 

I find myself in the same place I was five years ago when I finished my teaching contract in Japan, before I left my small town and prior to the beginning of the bike trip I did before coming back to the states (see article below).

 

Over the next year or so, my plan is to travel all the way around the world. Starting in New Zealand, I’ll complete the CELTA course for Teaching English as a Second Language (http://www.languages.ac.nz/teacher_training/celta_course.htm) in January and then travel around New Zealand and possibly Australia, working on organic farms (http://www.wwoof.co.nz/) and staying with friends and home stay families through Servas International (http://joomla.servas.org/).

 

In March, I’ll head back to Japan for a few weeks for a conference with the Applied Improvisational Network (http://appliedimprov.ning.com/) – a group that promotes the use of improvisational theater in business. While there, I plan to help my friend James ring in the big 3-0 and also celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day (this should be interesting, folks). 

 

Sometime after that I may be in Cambodia helping a friend with her non-profit organization. I may also be somewhere in Thailand or Turkey, depending on the opportunities that arise.

 

The trip is fluid by design, and my goal is to be open to things as they happen. It’s a first for me, and verily I tell you, far far outside my comfort zone.

 

In the end, the reason for this trip at its core is self shock therapy. By shocking myself into becoming engaged in my own life, I hope to change the trajectory of my existence for the better. A choose-your-own-adventure on a grander scale.

 

Will I make it? Am I a scrapper? Do I deserve the things I’ve been handed in my life? Do any of us? How scared am I, really? How far am I willing to go, in spite of my fear?

 

And, most importantly, how will my life impact those around me?

 

These last few weeks have forced me to realize how much impact I truly have on those around me. Parents, friends and strangers have reacted strongly to my plans. And I thought I was in this alone…

 

I never realized how much power exists in deciding to follow a dream, no matter how irrelevant it seems to anyone else’s life but one’s own. Grown-ass women and men have had tears in their eyes as I explained that I am scared, but I’m still going to do this. Friends, both new and old, have broken down and admitted that there is this one thing they’ve always wanted to do, but didn’t think they could. Those same people have come to me later and told me that they were ready to try.

 

We must realize how powerful we are, and the impact our actions and words can have on others. We are powerful beyond our imagination.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. To all my friends and family who have supported me in my journey and the process of steadying myself for the journey to come. I hope we can take it together.