Homes, Apologies, Notes, Endings

Well that trip is finished and a new one is starting up. As of July 28th I am back in Mill Valley, and on August 25th I'll head out to Boston to start my graduate program at the MIT Media Lab. Jenn is in California now too, and she'll come out to Boston for the first week to see where I'll be and to help me get settled. Then she heads back to Honolulu to resubmerge herself in the Aloha (I'm not sure if she'll like that wording).

So yeah, "home is where the heart is," only right now our hearts are in different and multiple places, so we're a little confused about our homes. The confusion is temporary though; this unsettledness isn't comfortable, and certainly isn't sustainable. We'll figure something out.

Being back in the bay area has been great. I've reclicked with most of my good friends, enjoyed the the good moments of the inconsistent summer weather, and stepped back to contemplate my intentions for my time out East. My friends and family have all done a lot while I've been gone: two engagements, one marriage, one major surgery, several big project completions, and many excellent travels near and far, from Alaskan treehouses to Turkish hookah bars to the Normandy coast to Belizean hidden valleys. Americans really are getting out there and traveling, or at least the cool ones are.

So here is the apology part: I'm sorry for not writing much the last few months. I was in a slump of sorts, though not in any grand life sense. The computer just hasn't been calling out to me lately, not like it used to. It may seem like such a shift in interests doesn't bode well for my upcoming stint at the Media Lab, but I am still interested in code and problem solving and creative work and technology that affects people's lives, so I think I'll be ok out there. Still, I'm realizing how much I dislike staring at a little screen for hours on end. Perhaps I'm lazy, but I'd much rather ponder new ideas while outside looking at stars or clouds. Maybe my computer wings are just a little atrophied right now. My friends assure me it will all come back once I start school again.

Hopefully Jenn and I will add a few more posts to this thing over the next few weeks, and then we'll wrap it up and let it sit. This blog has served as an interesting combination of journal, photo album, and correspondence. I know I've also learned that I like to write, though I'm only just beginning to find my voice.

Bula time

...ahhhhh. At the end of a 4 hour boat journey from the Yasawa islands of Fiji, Brent and I were treated to a spectacular sunset as we passed through the island group. It was a fitting end to a long trip and left us with satisfied smiles. Fiji has not been exactly what we expected, but we've gotten our share of beach days and mellow evening. We stayed in a local village house for part of the time and experienced rural living on "bula time", a kava-ed out, beyond mellow definition of time. Seganalega- that's Fijian for "no worries". It also means, "no, your name is not on the list for the boat because no one put it there after taking your reservation. Thank you."

We were treated to true Fijian hospitality when someone we met at our hostel invited us home to drink kava. After gulping down a few bowls of "high tide" servings, we were further invited to share a beautiful meal of chicken curry. The whole family sat with us and chatting into the evening and welcomed us as part of their family. It was a totally unexpected surprise that left us feeling grateful to be in Fiji.

Soon after we met up with our friends, Josh and Anita in Nadi. We were a little late in greeting them after their arrival from New Zealand, but we quickly caught and then we all jumped on a boat headed for Naviti island. It was so good to have friends along to enjoy things with and Brent went to check out the caves hear Nadula island and I stayed back for some solo beach time. The week together went by all too quickly, but Josh and Anita left the island just in time to avoid a lovely little storm that was a little too reminiscent of a hurricane. Brent and I were growing uneasy as the winds picked up speed and a few days later it rained incessantly. Luckily we met a really cool couple from Oregon, Chuck and Gay, and we all took it in stride and resorted to playing board games in our bure. Good family fun. Chuck and Gay left for the US just as the sun peered out from behind the clouds and we were hopeful of the tropical days ahead. We spent the last week just relaxing, taking long walks, snorkeling, and challenging each other to scrabble.

If we could have clicked our heels while chanting, "...there's no place like home, there's no place like home...", and been transported home, I think we both would have done it. This last bit of our trip left us really homesick for friend and family, not to mention jonesing for hot showers and homecooked food.

So here we come...... HOME AT LAST, feeling a little wrecked and weary from our journey to 8 different countries.

NZed

Some the most spectacular natural scenery yet. I think we'll be back with warmer clothes, but we will be back. We went to the Coramandel coast first and hiked to cathedral cove and spent the night in Whitiangsa. We then headed to Rotorua to enjoy hot springs, cultural dancing and relaxation. The lake was really stunning with crytal blue waters surrounded by bubbling thermal mud. We had to see the glow-worm caves of Waitomo and do some more hiking through the farmland of the middle of the North Island. In Taupo Brent endured to snow to hike the Tongariro crossing while I rested and enjoyed the lakeviews. Now we cruise around Auckland with our friend, Lisa who took us through the aquarium.

NZ: yummy yogurt, people in shorts, open windows in cold houses, addictive meat pies, green everywhere, dolphins, wonderful walks with fern trees and friendly folks! (oh, and rugby fanatics!)

Breaking News from the New Zealand Whirlwind Tour

Jenn and I are now in the town of Taupo (we are told it is pronounced "toe paw," but we're not sure how to properly say it with our American accent), which sits on the shore of Lake Taupo, the largest lake in the Southern hemisphere. Across the lake is a big snow covered volcano that was Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings. It is all quite beaufitful, but painfully cold with frigid winds blowing in from the lake. Actually, it has been pretty damn cold from the moment we stepped out of the airport in Auckland, but the locals seems to be just fine in shorts, while we wear everything we've got, including thermals, gloves and hats. Tomorrow I am going on a guided Tongariro Crossing trek, which evidently involves eight hours of walking at altitude through snow and chilling winds. Jenn is opting for the more sensible activity of soaking in thermal hot pools.

Pies

Here in Australia, when you hear someone say, "Lay off the pies, mate!" you should know that this person is really saying, "Hey man, you are fat."

If you ever find yourself in Sydney, even if you are a vegetarian, you owe it to yourself to go to Harry's Cafe de Wheels for a meat pie, preferably on a cold rainy night and washed down with a cup of hot tea. Our friend Simon actually instructed me to order a pie floater, which is all stacked and piled and drippy like a savory, meaty pie cousin of a hot fudge sundae, but I was rather put off by the whole concept of "mushy peas," a soupy green mush that evidently serves as an essential layer in the floater. I'm not sure if these mushy peas are valued more for their flavor or their structural qualities, but they looked gross, so I opted for the simpler meat pie with mashed potatoes and gravy.