I nearly shit a brick this morning when I realize that it is December 22nd. You would never in a million years guess that it is only 3 days until Christmas. Maybe it is because of my lack of access to television and radio, but the only Christmassy things I have come across have been a few strings of lights around a light pole, and a Christmas Tree made out of shopping carts at the Pack n Save in Hamilton. So me and a few of my mates decided to take it upon ourselves to bring some Christmas cheer into Raglan.
Sporting boardshorts and a Santa hat, me and English Ben took to our instruments, him on ukulele, me on guitar, and learned 4 Christmas songs. 1. Feliz Navidad. 2. Rudolph 3. Silent Night 4. White Christmas. And after about .5 hours of practicing in the common room at Solscape, we perched ourselves down town and loudly attempted to spread the Christmas cheer to cafe patrons and passerbys. And the town loved it. We got kettle corn thrown to us from passing cars, singalongs, and a bunch of smiles. We only had four songs that were being played on repeat, and by the time a half hour went by, I think I sang rudolph upwards of 10 times, and the cafe workers may or may not have been about to throw rotten food our way, but it was a blast and really put me in the Christmas Spirit. Then, we went back to solscape and baked christmas cookies in the woodfire oven outide, as well as making paper snowflakes like we used to do in kindergarten. I'll admit that they probably looked a lot better when we were in kindergarten as well- being that I have not an artistic bone in my body, mine looked a bit like a blind person took some garden sheers and had a personal vendetta against the particular piece of paper. But the effort was there, and now we have retarded snow flakes to hang around the Station house. And copious amounts of barbeued christmas cookies that are cut out in shapes of surfboards and board shorts since we had no Cookie cutters. I was happy to share the most fattening, delicious butter cookie recipe with my mates, compliments of my dear mother. It's always one of my favorite parts of Christmas- baking with my mom. I really missed her; the cookies were delicious but definitely lacking the mom/daughter ingredient.
So it's been absolutely pissing down rain for the past week. Super windy as well. The surf is a washing machine and everything I own is damp and dirty. I have to keep reminding myself, "Ok kristi, you are in New Zealand. You're not at home in the freezing cold, you're not stuck in an office, a little rain won't hurt you." But it is boring at times. I have been a baking fiend; baking bread, coookies, home made granola...playing a shit load of cards. There's also a lot of time to think- think about my goals, my friends, my family, what I want out of this trip. A girl I met a few days ago who is staying at Solscape just ended volunteering with a woman named Ingrid Visser, who does research on the Orca populations here in New Zealand. I think I might try to see if I can work with her for a bit, because right now, my surfing certainly is not improving by playing 34 games of "shithead" in a row.
The other night, I found myself spooning on the floor with a friend who found out he just lost a best friend in a car accident back home. It breaks down barriers; this life of traveling. Barriers you put on your self, and barriers you put on connecting with others. Two weeks of knowing someone and getting drunk and singing Christmas carols with them is all of a sudden sufficient enough to cry unabashedly into their arms on a rainy Sunday night. It makes me think that people really are meant to be with partners or friends- we're constantly searching for companionship and emotional connections with others. Because it makes being out in the big world a lot less scary.
I don't know how to end this entry, so I'll just tell you that as I sit here, I'm looking out into a cloud that has settled onto the hill. I can hear the waves pounding the beach, and the rain is pattering on the rooftop. Everything is wet and green and fresh; and it is beautiful.
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