| For the
past year, I have been insulating myself from my garden.
Roddy and Susannah
have both experienced the loss of their fathers. Roddy, the doctor, told
me medical literature reveals grief as a three-year process. The first
year it is inwardly directed, hence (hence is a Kiwi expression!)
my insulation. The second and third years are a moving out into the world
and can be compared to adolescence. There is self-consciousness and
experimentation, hence my worries about my appearance and whether I can
travel by myself successfully.
But, Kiwis
are known as great travellers. And I want to be more like a Kiwi. Perhaps,
the ability to look outward has something to do with being an island nation,
always looking out to what’s beyond. Both the Maori and the English share
this heritage.
When our
family first came to New Zealand, I remember being struck by the objectivity
the people seem to have, an ability to be more analytical about the world,
less insulated. Able to go out into the world, see it from a distance,
they bring back what they want, “tweak it to suit,” and make it
their own.
At the beginning
of this month I got permission from my school board to take the first two
terms of 2005 off. This will mean that from the end of this school year
in early December, 2004, to the end of July, 2005, I will not be earning
my regular income. I want to do this adventure the Kiwi way which means
as economically as possible!
Last month
I wrote about the great airfares, especially for round the world trip tickets.
These tickets require that you pick a direction and keep heading that way
until you complete the circle. I was intending to go West, starting with
a stop in Hawaii to see my sister, my mother-in-law and meet up with friends.
It made
sense to me: I would start here in the Newer World, the outposts of
western civilisation. Then, move through the New World, the United States.
Then over to the Old World of Europe. Then the even Older World of India
and Asia before arriving back in New Zealand.
The next day,
my Head of Department handed me an advert (another Kiwisim). She
thought I might be interested in what it said:
EXPERIENCE
THE REAL CHINA!
Your future
is to spend three months teaching English In Lanzhou, Gansu Province
- all expenses paid, good care, modest salary.
It is a
sister city thing between Christchurch and Lanzhou. I will have to
apply. The position requires an initial three-month contract to see if
there is a good fit and then it can be extended. It involves teaching teachers.
Rewi Alley, a New Zealander, and friend of Mao and Che Guevara,
worked there for 8 years http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/alley.html.
I
will have to find out more about this guy!
All this to
say that heading around the world in another direction has got me spinning.
But, I am going to apply and then deal with it after I hear. It does seem
like a wonderful opportunity and just the kind of thing that can happen
in New Zealand.
More recently,
at the end of the last week of the school holidays, I flew across “the
ditch” to Sydney, Australia. (The ditch is another name for the
Tasman Sea separating Australia and New Zealand.) I wanted to give
the city another chance. I had hated it on a 12-hour layover three years
ago on the way back to New Zealand from Hawaii.
The city
came through.
And this is
not just because my youngest daughter, Hadassah, the most Kiwi-like
of us all, is there now. She and Adam, the leader of their folky/rocky/bluesy
singing group, The Bittersweet, met me at the airport.
Within minutes
we were on an incredibly efficient train system and into the city. We were
able to walk through the city, through Chinatown, through darling Darling
Harbour and to my hotel in Ultimo, near the Powerhouse Museum http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2754731-monorail_sydney-i
.
When we looked
a bit lost, a woman came out of her way to ask if we needed help. I remembered
my father, whose US Navy ship docked in Sydney, saying that he had
always thought Americans were the friendliest people until he met Australians.
It seems to still be true.
Even though
it rained almost every day, I had a wonderful time. In five days, the three
of us went to five movies. We walked and walked. The duo showed me their
workplaces. Adam’s is on Pitt Street in a bookstore. Das’s in Circular
Quay at an Italian restaurant.
I soon realized
I had left my camera at home. The Duty Free shop provided me another one.
The salesman was Attila, a Hungarian immigrant who advised my daughter
to have her adventures when she was young. He does reviews for
a wine-tasting magazine we discovered. He thought I was energetic
for a widow!
My daughter
introduced me to an American traveller, Jill, a wandering soul from
Wyoming who is working in Australia for the second time. She gave
me some idea of how to live on the road cheaply. She had stayed in Europe
in 2002 for eight months and lived on $3500US! I told Jill she should write
an article for Escape from America magazine.
I loved
the exhibit by South African artist William Kentridge at the Contemporary
Museum of Art
http://www.mca.com.au/default.asp?page_id=10&content_id=81
and http://www.artthrob.co.za/99may/artbio.htm
. In fact, I was so stimulated I couldn’t view it all.
It was great
in Sydney, to see my Kiwi-ised daughter and her Kiwi love singing and
playing together at Mojo’s, a really cool record store. They were conquering
a city in their own way, making plans to go on to Nashville when they have
saved enough money.
I heard my
lyrics put to music, songs sung in a strange land. As I walked Sydney,
Australia’s streets and gazed at its buildings I felt its architectural
links to both Christchurch in New Zealand and Honolulu in the United States.
It continues
to be a small world after all. Everything can be redeemed..
.
My departure
involved the plane being delayed on the ground. The international flight
of only three hours involved going through customs at 1AM. Even so, it
was wonderful to be back in New Zealand, to the insulation of this
island nation. To breathe slowly. To risk allergies. To feel at home again.
Kia Ora!
The following
are the previous articles that Candy has written about New Zealand for
the magazine:
To contact Candy
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