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Caleb travels to New Zealand and hopefully updates this sometimes.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Paihia is a town with no movie theater, Mc Donalds, Burger King or any other food chain. In fact there are no chains here at all besides a few bank branches and a grocery store. Somehow, however, this town that can't support a Burger King supports 3 dance clubs all filled to the brim most nights with mainly European backpackers. Tours during the day, dance the night way. In this town I've taken to reading again. And thanks to Nate, and a package I recieved this week I've finally read the book Enders Game, which he's recommended to me for well over a year.
The cleaning crew in the hostel where I've been living has gone through a couple incarnations since I've joined. When I first got to the Saltwater Lodge we were half American half German. December was the all German crew of which I was the only non German citizen and after a week with 3 Swedes we had an Argentinian invasion in the cleaning crew and in Paihia. After not meeting a single Spanish speaking person thus far on my trip I find myself meeting a new group of Argentinians every time I go to the beach.
Caroline is the sister of Victoria, one of the Argentinian cleaners I work with. We were sitting on the beach one afternoon talking, when she pulled out a tea cup and thermos. The cup is for drinking mate, a strong Argentinian tea, but it looks like no cup 'o tea I've ever seen. The cup is silver and so is the straw that looks like it could easily double as a smoking instrument. Oh yeah, and the cup is filled to the brim with green herbs and stems. Apparently these tea cups have been known to raise flags at customs checkpoints. No Surprise there. The metal drinking straw that looks like a pipe is buried in the herbs and hot water is pured into the cup, which is then passed around among the group. Mate is a social tea. Everyone takes a few sips through the straw before passing. While we sat drinking this very strong very bitter/sour tea, other Argentinians separate from the group I was with, would come up, introduce themselves and take a sip. Argentinians can spot each other with a mate cup much the way North American's can spot each other with a naglene bottle. Naglene is a little harder to strike up a conversation around though.
After quickly getting used to German accents, UK accents and Dutch accents, I'm now in a loud Paihia dance club trying to get used to an Argentinian accent and, with the help of my Argentinian friend who looked at the people around us and decided she was feeling old and was wondering if I felt the same way, feeling old and annoyed that I hadn't started travelling sooner. Here i am in a club surrounded by people 6 years younger than me who are out on around the world trips and working holidays. Many of them grew up in Europe where they've already seen a variety of cultures.
Adam noticed the same thing a week later when we found out the girls we'd met from Canada were 18. At 18 a trip like this wasn't even on my radar, yet here they are working in New Zealand as I am when I had 8 years on them.
Frankly, I'm dead broke: I live off PB&J, spagetti and grilled cheese, I wait tables and for the past two months I've cleaned bathrooms 7 days a week to pay my rent, yet I'm having the time of my life. To live in a hostel is to meet an amazing variety of people from all ove the world who have been all over the world. The stories you hear and the people you meet make you want to see more, visit their country and learn another language - especially when they know four.
As much as I love it here - the place is incredibly beautiful and the people I've met have been awesome - it's time to move on. I'm faced with a boss who makes her dislike for me known to other employees and who makes working for her far more stress than I'd rather deal with when I'm earning as little as I do. I take on about 12 tables a night but I honestly find it difficult to care about waiting tables when you know you're not going to get a tip from the table you're waiting on (tipping isn't expected here). My two weeks notice have been given.
The choice I need to make in the next 2 weeks is between Wellington, where I know I'll have fun, make enough money to get to OZ and I still have friends, or the south island, where I'm not sure of anything. Right now, after being in a town where I haven't even been able to buy a new pair of sandels in my size for 2 months, I'm leaning toward the comfort of Wellington. Adam, having just come from Wellington, is leaning toward the South Island. A lot's still up in the air... more updates to come.
