I apologize if there are numerous spelling mistakes/typos in this entry- my eyes are actually sunburnt from being out in the water for 5 hours yesterday. Who knew that could happen? And this morning, as I was stumbling around the kitchen trying to do my daily cleaning, I actually had to pour milk in my eyes (an old water polo trick) because they were literally burning like hell. You would think that I would know how to take care of myself in the sun considering It´s where I work for 10 hours a day in the summer, but I suppose the big hole in the Ozone layer above New Zealand is a bit more than I am used to.
So Merry Belated Christmas, Kiwi Style! It was quite a different kind of Christmas here in New Zealand than I am used to at home. But, there was certainly no lack of Christmas cheer at Solscape. We organized a big potluck, where everyone made a Christmas dish indicative of their home country. It was probably the most random plate of Christmas food I had ever seen; curries, and german pasta, tortillas, cole slaw, roasted vegtables, mashed kumara, prunes wrapped in bacon...but everyone ate until they could no longer move, just like Christmas at home. I introduced everyone to the term "food coma" after we helped ourselves to a 3rd plate of dessert. My friend Joann taught me that "love handles" in Catala is "Las tapas". Good think I now know how to describe my holiday weight gain in 2 languages. The day after Christmas was boxing day, which is similar to America´s Black Friday, but I think it´s just another excsue for kiwis to feast for another day and get drunk. We has another boxing day feast at a friends house, after having a brunch feast a few hours before. Feast has been the theme of this holiday season. WHich is pretty much the theme of everyone´s holiday season from back home as well. except back home, in the winter you can hide your "tapas" underneath sweat pants and hoodies and you still have 4 months to work it off before breaking out the summer wear...but here, everyone can see that feast jiggling in your ass the next day on the beach while you strut around in your bikini.
I´m really glad I decided to stay in Raglan for the holidays. I was surrounded by good people, all of us "orphans" who, for many of us, were away for the holidays for the first time ever. I will definitely admit that I missed home a lot, especially when my mom told me they were about to eat my dad´s legenedary eggs benedict when she called me, and I was washing dishes...but I knew that my family was missing me as much as I missed them. It really makes you appreciate how wonderful home is, what a good life you have, how wonderful your family is. At our Christmas dinner, we all went around talking about our respecitve Christmas Traditions, and of course, the central theme of everyone´s Christmas is family.
It´s the start of the High season now in New Zealand, and the crowds at the beach and the surf breaks have multiplied 10 fold. Meaning, there´s about 100 people in the water trying to surf the same wave. Meaning Solscape is completely booked out until after new Years. Meaning it´s going to be time for me to leave soon because it´s a little overwhelming constantly meeting new faces every day and trying to remember where they are from, their names, and their life story. I think there gets a point where you can only have the same conversation so many times until you frankly just don´t care enough anymore to bother. With so many people coming and going, it can be exhausting to try to sit and chat with everyone. ¨How long are you in Raglan for" "How long have you been in New Zealand?" "Where else have you traveled?" "What should I do in the South Island?" "Are you here to surf?" "what do you do back home?" These are the standard, sitting around the hostel dinner table questions that should just be on repeat. I reckon I will make a tee-shirt with all of the answers already provided so we can skip the intro and get into the good conversations.
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