Endings only really lead to new beginnings

This one is hard to write, I have been back in California for a little over a week now and I am still trying to get used to it all. It seems so dark outside and it is cold, things are open past 7:00pm and I haven't seen a sheep in over a week! I am still trying to get my legs under me, trying to put words to the experience, and so when people ask, "how was it"? I can't make the words come out. I feel as though I need a new set of vocabulary to describe it. I will move on before my brain explodes.

The week before I came back I got to travel around the South Island, It was incredible. I got to take a train through the southern alps and hike up to Tazman Glacier next to Mt. Cook. There were lakes that were incredible shades of blue. I saw Blue Penguins, Yellow Eyes Penguins and Royal Albatross, Unbelievable, I stayed with random people like the world champion gold panner, and the bicycle preacher who had been traveling for the past six years. I was taught how to properly hang cloathes on a line by a hostel owner in Omauru... This is how my brain works right now, when I start talking about one thing it just leads to everything else...

It was hard to pack up and head home, I really do miss all the great friends I made in NZ. As for what is next I am waiting to hear on some things, so who knows, anybody know of a camp in another country that wants to fly me there for a while?

Happy Mo-vember

Wow so this past month has been packed full of adventures. Going to markets, snorkeling, running around islands, teaching Kiwis how to play American football... and of course Movember...

What is Movember you may be asking. It is the month where Kiwis all over New Zealand raise awareness for mens health issues. And how do they do this??? by growing Mo's aka mustaches, and so I, wanting to experience all Kiwi Life has to offer shaved my goatee in to a fu-man-chu. Hideous... why yes, yes it is, but anything for mens health. How wide spread is this phenomenon? Well while I was walking through Auckland today I saw 8 or 9 of them in one block.

Just about two weeks left, I have a ticket to the South Island on Saturday for a week so of course there will be many an update.

Thanksgiving and other happenings

So thanksgiving gets confusing when you are living in New Zealand, for instance; how do you celebrate a holiday that a country does not recognize? Moreover if you choose to observe it on Thursday, it is still Wednesday in the US, but if you wait till Friday then that’s not right either… Needless to say it is a confusing time.

This was my first Thanksgiving apart from my family in my twenty-five years, and as such I felt the need to at least eat something that resembled a turkey, and how hard could that be, right? Well after two different stores we could not find a single piece of turkey, however we did find mussels, lamb, fresh chicken livers and many cuts of pork I never knew existed. So we were left with chicken, an acceptable substitute for the real thing. It was nice having thanksgiving with my friends Stacie and Mike, Mike being a Kiwi did not fully understand all of what we were trying to pull off, yet he sat patiently observing the day.

While the actual day was a bit underwhelming we were invited to dine on Saturday with our friends at CCSP. There we played American Football, another first for Mike, and had an amazing assortment of food, three turkeys, ordered special and sent from Christchurch on the south island. It was fun spending the day with many others who were away from their families during this time as well, and it really does give you some perspective on what you do have to be thankful for.

My time here is coming to a close and really I have not been dwelling on that fact, I am enjoying what I have here for a little while longer. One more week of teaching kids how to kayak and climb, and then I have a ticket to the south island, what that will become I do not know yet but I am looking forward to it and I am sure you will all hear about it soon enough.

Nana

About a week ago I was informed that my grandmother had passed away. It is hard to really process all of this being some 8000 miles away from home. While I wish I could have been there for my family, the logistics just could not work out, so here I give you a brief remembrance of my Nana.

As I see it my Nana was the source from where my dad and his brothers humor, and by default my own, came. She was extremely proper in most circumstances but at the same time she was able to make a joke even during a moment of prayer. During the summer that I was a pirate for a camp I worked at and I had pierced my ears and eyebrow, many were concerned about her reaction. When I did see her at a formal event she just smiled and accepted me fully without a hint of disapproval. I could write many stories about how great she was but I will finish by simply saying that I will miss her Christmas gifts. She would send them to us each painstakingly wrapped, and always packed in a Gotchock’s box, and while much of what she sent did not fit or was not in a style we loved, but we loved knowing that she had picked them out for each of us.

After I graduated from college she told me that while she could not make the ceremony one of her bridge friends had. She said that her friend asked if she knew this Joseph Sell that had been called to cross the stage. My grandmother proudly said, “yes, yes I do”… That is how I choose to remember my Nana…

So many adventures...

So if you wait long enough for the slide show you will see a few of my past adventures. First a few weeks ago my friend Mike and I went out to Whatapu to go caving... I knew there would be a bit of crawling under rocks and what not but man, all I can say is Winnie the Pooh. Then later in the week was Guy Faulks day, why New Zealand celebrates a british dude who failed attempting to blow up parliament I don't know but hey fire works!!!

Then this past weekend Mike took me down to Rotarua. It was a blast we stayed with his family and his nephew Jordan asked me if we have Star Wars in America, "yes" I said "do you want to watch them?". After politely declining Jordan showed me how to play cricket and he proudly displayed the rat he and his friend had killed... What is it with Kiwi kids and dead animals? Rotarua is crazy it is geothermic like Yellowstone and there are trout that were brought here from the Russian River and there is a redwood grove that was planted in the early 1900's. So crazy... While in Rotarua I got to pet a Lion and go Zorbing... really weird/fun

Just about one month left, and I still plan on going to the south island, so if any of you have a suggestion of what I should do let me know.