I knew I had no clue what I was doing. That's why I did it!
So turning back the page a little bit. I finally graduated from high school, and celebrations were in order. In less than two weeks I was on a Greyhound bus from Sarasota, Florida to Manchester, Tennessee to go to a three-day music festival. Bonnaroo 2013. It was amazing, just me and a tent with a sleeping bag. Except for the last day which I woke up in an island surrounded by rainwater. Yeah, I've never been one for dry humor anyways.
From there I spent more time up in South Elgin, Illinois with my mother's side of the family, making sure to see them before I took off to the other side of the globe. I spent six weeks out there before visiting my half-brother James who lived in San Francisco. He invited me to come out to Outside Lands 2013 music festival with the promise that I could stay in his apartment in the meantime. I did, and I went, but being the INFP introvert that I am, hardly left the apartment and hardly even spent time with my brother when I was in the festival grounds anyways! I was there for ten days too. It's things like that that I look back on and kind of regret, because I feel like I missed out on something. I had fun, in my own way, but in the long run I have fun like that anyways and it's more akin to comfort than fun.
So after a thirteen hour flight I landed in the north island of New Zealand, in the biggest city of Auckland, home to just over a million citizens. Not that many, and even less true Kiwis (which is what the locals refer to themselves as) in that place than elsewhere, most of the people being of Asian descent. I.E.P, or International Exchange Program, was the company whom I paid to help get me situated into the land of the Kiwi, whoch ended up being a great decision on my part. At the young age of eighteen I never felt lost or out of touch with my surroundings because of the resources and help that IEP provided for me.
Within two weeks I was on a bus to Hawke's Bay, NZ, heading out to work on an Organic farm. I learned some Muay Thai, and how to make a real outdoor barbeque, as well as how to communicate with many Europeans. Then I was off to Wellington where I spent the next three weeks blowing $2000 with no reservations. I had a blast. I stayed at the Rosemere Hostel where there were people of all ethnicities coming together to make a living and enjoy themselves. The bars were literally minutes away from where we slept, and I found a beautiful place just a fifteen minute walk away where I would meditate every morning. That really helped center me out and ground me, much better than coffee in my opinion!
I took a ferry down to Picton, after stopping by an outdoors shop to pick up camping supplies. I envisioned a grand outdoors solo adventure for myself, but didn't know the first thing about outdoors life. The ferry connects the two islands and is about a three and a half hour journey. So after a couple nights in Picton I went down the road less traveled, which wound its way across the coast of the south island via foot and thumb. I got picked up by some oyster farmers in New Zealand who agreed to take me where I was going if I would join them for their day of work out on the water. Afterwards one of the men let me live on his farm in Blenheim for several days and had me work his grapes for room and board. He dropped me off in the town proper and I got another job at a hostel, doing day labor very similar to what I had just done.
The hostel could hardly find me any work and I left after about three weeks there. I hitched a ride with a group of four french people who had a van going down to Christchurch, and we stayed at a cheap hostel there. I stayed longer than they did, actually, because they didn't think it was a clean enough place to live at. I didn't care, and I went out and found a job with South Pacific Seeds as a Roguer, which meant I got to spend all of my time either being driven or walking out in fields. I was with Czech, Romanian, Italian and Irish people, as well as several Kiwis. I had a blast. I moved apartments to be closer to work and learned how to play darts there. I had a ton of fun while it lasted.
I had been told there was a job I had qualified for with the same company in a small ski town called Methven that I followed. I decided to walk and eventually hitched a ride out there. I didn't know what I now know about packing light, and it was a real struggle, but a kind person turned around and gave me a ride after sticking my thumb out for one for a while. I bought a week's worth of rent and a week's worth of groceries and called the company the day before to confirm my job. They told me they had no idea what I was talking about, and that all the positions for that job had already been filled up. I got very depressed and didn't know what to do.
I looked up all of the local backpackers hostels in the area and finally found some work as a housekeeper for room and board. I enjoyed it thoroughly and went through a couple short jobs in the meantime which kept falling through. I eventually found a job listing on a community board near the center of town with Cairnbrae Seed Cleaning, which paid me well and I even had a neighbor who gave me a ride to and from work every day. It couldn't have been better, in my opinion. I worked there for three months and with the money I made, went skydiving and bought myself a ticket back into the states to see my brother's wedding.
I'll continue this tomorrow, faithful reader!
Peace, Love, and Harmony
~Faaabs
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