"There is a Tide in the Affairs of Men" *College*: Traveling Home: Day Four

5/15/2014
Today we left Auckland and made our way to Rotorua.

Forty minutes out of Auckland we stopped at a local McDonald's to meet up with my great-great Aunt Nancy and great-great uncle Ian. I had a hard time understanding Ian because his accent was very thick, and I was still tired form the nap I had taken in the car on the way over. He joked with me that he was the old one, yet I was the one who was hard at hearing.

The McDonald's was fascinating. Like the one in the airport we went to when we first arrived in Auckland, the menu was different, but even more there was a cafe. Unlike the cafes at home this one was more then just sandwiches and wraps. It had treats, meat pies, cakes, and some healthier choices in opposition to what else you may find in McDonald's. This was also where you would order tea or coffee that came in many variations.

This is a small coffee. They had a few options for coffee. All were great... so I heard. If you know me you know I'm not that big of a fan of coffee, or tea, or soda really. Water is the drink for me. The had black coffee, which means what it means here in America. Coffee with nothing else added to it. But they also had white coffee, which from what I was able to gather means coffee with cream and sugar.

Then we sat and talked with Ian and Nancy for a while. Unfortunately, Nancy was on the other side of the table so I was unable to interact with her much. So it was Ian and me. Ian asked me if I was the one who rode horses. I laughed, and told him that was my sister. Then I pulled my classic joke, "I like to ride many horses at once." He looked at me with amazement. Then I informed him that I was referring to dirt bikes. He laughed. We talked about family, and many other things. At one point he asked me where I got my curly hair from. I told him from my dad's side of the family. "Really? You think?" Yeah. "Who has curly hair on this side?" "Well, Sarah, Deborah, Barbara. I heard Rodney and Clive had curly hair...." "Oh! Yeah! That sounds about right." I also told him I was studying at University for a degree in youth ministry. He asked what I wanted to do with that degree. This is a common question I have found on all parts of the Earth. I told him that I was not quite sure, but that I wanted to work in a church setting with their youth in some way. Ian was a character and a lot of fun to interact with, even if I needed to get my ears checked. It was unfortunate that we only had a pit stop at McDonald's with Nancy and him. Afterwards we took pictures together. It was a nice moment, but also bitter sweet to think that this would most likely be the only picture I'll ever get to take with them. But I also felt very honored to even have the opportunity to have this one picture.

An advertisement for meat pies. When I was first introduced to the idea I was a little turned off. But they are actually really good. And, no, they are not intended for a dessert. They are to be consumed as a meal.

One of the other options at McDonald's, the "Kiwi Big Breakfast".

The selection at the McCafe.

The McCafe.

Top Left to right: Uncle Michael, Morgan, Me, Dad

Bottom Left to Right: Uncle Ian and Aunt Nancy

After seeing Ian and Nancy we made our way to Cambridge where we stopped at my great aunt Rosemary's house for lunch. Rosemary is my dad's cousins Deborah and Barbara's mother. She was married to Clive. Unfortunately, he died of cancer. Later she married Gary.

Rosemary served us an amazing tomato soup and homemade pizza.

She also had a corgi named Sky that was very sweet and made me miss my dogs at home, including our two corgis.

This is my corgi Ruby.

And our other corgi Sandy.

More pictures of Sky.

Sky's toy pile.

There also was a cat that came to the door. I never found out if she belonged to Rosemary or not.

Rosemary told us all about her life and the things that have been going on. She told us about how she had to give up golf recently, one of her favorite pass times, because her arthritis has gotten really bad. She also showed us her garden out back that had many vegetables and citrus fruit trees.

A lemon tree in Rosemary's backyard.

When her husband Gary joined us he updated us on his life as well. Now he does some teaching at a school near by. One day he brought Sky into work and dressed her up since the school was celebrating the royal family. What amused me was that Gary was wearing sweatpants at work. I loved this since I often get scolded for wearing sweatpants too often back home.

After Rosemary's we finally arrived in Rotorua. In Rotorua we rented a house, or more like an in-laws apartment. There were two bedrooms, and a pull out couch that my sister and I stayed on. The couple we were renting from had some strict rules about upkeep, and there were framed papers everywhere instructing us exactly how to do everything, like setting up the pull out couch, showering, or cleaning a stain on the carpet.

Mountains and trees occupied every horizon around the place. Although the mountains were most likely more volcanoes. In the distance you could see steam coming up from the ground where all the hotspots were. It was really interesting because you could trace the fault line with your eyes just by looking at all the steam coming up from the ground.

Eat Street

After we put all of our bags in the place we were staying we left to go find a place to eat. We found a place near by called Eat street that was a street filled with restaurants. Every time someone said Eat Street I could not help but singing in my head, "the demon barber of fleet street". And then I laughed to myself when I replaced fleet street with Eat Street. Needless to say I decided if any of the restaurants sold meat pies, I was not going to eat one. We went to a restaurant called Brew.

My meal at Brew. The burger was aioli sauce, lettuce, tomato, burger, cheese, egg, beet root, and barbecue sauce.

After eating we went to a grocery store near by to pick up some breakfast food. The entrance of the grocery store had bars that you had to walk through. The bars were set up so that you could not go backwards through them, or in other words you could not exit through that door.

pumpkins

Also, I saw the pumpkins that we had in our soup the other day, and they look nothing like our pumpkins. They are grayish-green on the outside and bright orange on the inside. They almost look like melons.

At the grocery store we met this guy who was originally from Michigan. He moved to New Zealand a few years ago. You can tell he has been here a while because now he has an accent that is a bit Michigan and a bit Kiwi. He was asking us about life in America. Since we met him in the meat section we began to talk about meat prices. Meat is a lot more expensive in New Zealand because they have to import a lot, and the meet that they do have here (cows and lamb) they export a lot of it. My uncle joked that he does not even know the prices back home because he does not think about it, he just buys it. But this man was looking very closely and comparing prices to try and find the best deal because there was a lot of money to go into the decision.

After the grocery store we went back and went to bed.

Reflections:

The rules at the Rotorua place might have bothered some people I know, but I thought it was all right. It helped us know how to make sure we were not abusing our stay there. Plus, the place was really nice for a reason. Most of all we did not want to be those “typical Americans” who leave places worse than when they got there. For me abiding by the rules was an easy way for me to express my gratitude towards the owners for letting us stay there.

At the Brew we had the place to ourselves until about six or seven. Apparently here we are early eaters. However, our stomachs were on a little bit of a different time zone. Then crowds started pouring in. All of the sudden we were surrounded by lots of noise. There was a moment of amusement that hit me when I realized the only Americans in the room were not the loud ones. At first I was a little annoyed only because it made me anxious, and my anxiety makes it even harder for me to swallow my food, but once I was able to calm down I began to enjoy it. I observed closer, and no longer saw people being obnoxiously loud, but rather people with friends and family really happy to be together. To me this was not something to be upset about anymore, but something to smile at and rejoice over. This kind of connection they seemed to have was something I was envious of and wish I had more of in my life.

The more and more I am here the more I realize there is so much here to take in, especially the nature. It seems like everywhere I go there is a new type of bird chirping at my feet, and not just any everyday bird but one that makes really cool sounds or looks like a fan. I have found a whole new love for nature that I never knew I had or would have.