riverECHO

 After a 10 day vacation in Fiji (photos to come as soon as we upload them) we arrived into Auckland a couple of days ago, a little later in the day as expected, and stayed in a motel pretty close to the airport. The innkeeper made us feel welcome by calling us ABOTs (Another Bloody Overseas Tourist) and then giving us a small carton of milk as a welcome gift, which after asking him why he was giving us such a unique gift he replied “don’t you have milk in the United States?”  This made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We all took turns washing off the sweat and grime we had acquired in Fiji and then watched movies and ate Pizza Hut (yes our first meal in New Zealand was from Pizza Hut) into the wee hours before finally crashing.

Day 2 . . . we rented a car first thing and headed straight to Turner’s Car Auction. There were over 200 cars being sold and after registering we could take any car out for a test drive in their “race course.” I’ve never been to an auction before and overall it just made me nervous. BJ handled the bidding and I just stood by his side, heart racing for some silly reason, and kept asking him if he was ready to bid. We ended up “winning” a Holden Vectra . . . basically a dark blue station wagon. No stereo but it seems to run well.

While we were busy buying a car, Brad and Gretchen were busy running around town with our rental looking for camper vans. They have a month in New Zealand and plan to live out of their car while they visit the country. We, on the other hand, plan to head to the south island and actually rent a room somewhere . . . possibly in Wanaka, just outside of Queenstown. We would love to explore the north island but are feeling the need and urge to “settle down” on the south island. Unless B and G want to head south immediately we will probably part ways until late December.

We are currently staying at a recently renovated hostel in the Mt. Eden area of Auckland. The older houses, huge trees, posh shops and yummy cafes remind me of Berkeley, but we took a short walk to the top of Mt. Eden last night to overlook the city and all that came to mind was how similar the area is to Seattle. It’s definitely a large and bustling city but because it has so many smaller neighborhoods, the city feels welcoming and quaint.

Assuming Brad and Gretchen buy a van today or early tomorrow, we hope to head south tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day in the US). We haven’t figured out how or if we will celebrate the holiday but we may try to give the day a Maori (the native Kiwis) twist. Although I’m not really sure what that means.

I’ll leave you with a Kiwi saying I learned yesterday . . . Sweet As. No, I’m not saying “nice bum.” A young woman said this to me yesterday after I thanked her for giving me directions. It probably means something like “no problem.”

This was a great simple read for me to get my head back into the world of “tangible” text.  Its been a while since I have actually opened a book as I feel like I read all day long.  Yet, code does nothing to expand my knowledge and relax my thoughts from the real world.  This book, a personal quest by Steven Kotler for the story of the “Conductor”, the origins of surfing and its spiritual ties, was a great way to get back into it.

Spending my days lying in the hammocks of Fiji provided the perfect setting to hop alongside Steven, who had suffered from Lyme Disease, as he travels the world to find a purpose to life through the eyes of surfing and its surrounding culture.

After an eleven hour and relatively painless flight to Fiji, BJ, Brad, Gretchen and I quickly left Nadi and took a city bus down the Coral Coast to the town of Korotogo. Before finding lodging for a few days along a quiet stretch of beach, we had to stop for a celebratory beer to welcome ourselves to Fiji. The Coral Coast seemed to be a popular vacation spot for Fijians but was nonetheless very quiet.

A day trip from Korotogo to the Sand Dunes. We hiked out over the dunes during the heat of the day and ran into a Fijian-Indian family along the beach who quickly approached us and wanted to shake our hands and introduce themselves. The Fijians are some of the most carefree and good natured people I have ever met.

Natadola Beach, known as Viti Levu (the main island)’s most beautiful beach. We spent just a few hours here swimming and body surfing. By far the most beautiful beach we had seen yet, we had no idea what was to come once we travelled out to Fiji’s many islands.

We initially put up a fight on the price our taxi driver quoted us. But after he drove us to the sand dunes, waited for us even though we told him not to, drove us to Natadola Beach and back with a side trip to his brother’s house so he could fill up his slowly leaking tire, we befriended him and gave him the amount he initially requested.

All of the guide books warned “whatever you do, make sure the boat you take out to the islands is licensed and has life jackets.” We didn’t exactly follow the rules and arrived in about half the time . . . not that time matters when you are in Fiji. We headed to an island in the Yasawa chain called Waya. It is one of the largest of the Yasawa islands and we hoped to explore a number of hiking trails.

Waya is connected to Wayasewa (or “Little Waya”) twice a day when the tide is out. This is the view over the sand spit from Sunset Resort as the water is going out. Although Sunset Resort was a little more primitive than we were expecting (like the size of the spiders that we slept with every night that made us a little uneasy) the family and village that ran it were wonderful.

We ate huge portions of fresh fish every day for lunch and dinner that the staff would catch out in front of the beach. Over the course of three nights at Sunset there were only a few other visitors from England. A boat would arrive from the village, located right around the corner from Sunset, every morning to drop off a handful of family members to work in the kitchen, work in the office, or to sit around on palm leaves on the sand laughing and sharing stories with one another.

Every evening the younger members of the family would have some sort of entertainment planned. We just happened to experience two nights of “traditional” dancing including a fan dance and fire dance. They dropped the fire sticks so many times during the fire dance we though the place was going to burn down. Although these dances may have been meant for single young ladies, it was extremely entertaining.

My long hair was driving me crazy in the humid and hot climate. So one evening, Gretchen borrowed Brad’s leatherman and gave me a “little” trim. That evening was probably the best one spent at Sunset. Enesi and some of the younger men at the resort bought kava from a neighboring village and invited us to drink Kava with them for an evening.

Kava is considered to be a sort of drug made from the root of the kava plant. It is ground up and then filtered with water. Traditionally, you sit in a circle and the kava server passes a coconut shell full of kava to you when it is your turn. You clap before you drink and then everyone else claps when you are done. Once everyone has had a turn you relax and chat for about 10 minutes and then around it goes again. Although we didn’t feel any other effects from kava than a very full belly, many of the village members told us they were still drunk on kava the next day. Aside from one hike overlooking the resort, we spent most of the day reading and laying in the hammocks so maybe we just didn’t notice.

After three days at Sunset Resort, we decided to splurge and stay at Octopus Resort, located directly on the opposite side of the island. Octopus was VERY different . . . it had fine dining and a full bar, a swimming pool, lounge chairs and umbrellas on the beach, private bungalows. Although very modern and luxurious (to our standards), we were expecting to have similar encounters with the staff as we did at Sunset. It felt very corporate to us, as if the staff were instructed not to engage in conversation with the guests. But we still had an amazing time snorkeling, sitting on the beach, reading, drinking Fiji Bitters (what Fijians just call “Beer”), playing poker and eating great food.

Back on the mainland we decided to head inland to the mountains for our last few days in Fiji. We rented a car and BJ had his first test of driving on the opposite side of the road. Our destination was the village of Navala where we stayed with a family who had a few bures for rent. Mama greeted us with big warm hugs, fed us way too much food, and had a funny way of saying “Vinaka” or “thank you” even after a few minutes of silence. One Fijian characteristic that I have somehow left out until now is their laugh: high pitched, more like a giggle, and frequent. They laugh at everything and Mama’s husband would laugh at the end of every sentence. Her son Tui was a pleasure to spend time with. He invited us to drink kava, took us on a tour of the  village and told us about the ancient tradition of cannibalism, and took Brad on a hike to a nearby mountain so that he could paraglide down into the village. The children in the village of course were ecstatic to see someone just fly into their soccer field. We spent the last hour in Navala with the kids, taking pictures and asking them to sing songs for us.

Looking back on how much we actually did and saw while we were in Fiji, it surprises me that we left feeling almost “too” relaxed. Fiji is a beautiful country and the color of the water the most stunning I have ever seen. But the people are what make the country so enjoyable. Their laughter, welcoming embraces, willing to share stories and answer questions about their family, and downright enjoyment of life are what really made the trip for me and opened my eyes to how little you need in life to be happy.

The last few days in the San Francisco area have given me such a warm and satisfied feeling. I won’t get too mushy or emotional, but it was great to spend some really good quality time with so many people right before leaving for an indefinite amount of time. Unfortunately, BJ is trying to wrap up so much at work before we head out of the country that he probably feels much differently about the last few days than I do. I have already decreased the number of hours I will be working for Jed while we are away and relished in it greatly this week. While I was out and about visiting friends and family, BJ was holed up in my mom’s spare bedroom working and meeting with people over skype.

My mom and stepdad, Steve, threw us a small going away party on Tuesday night and it was a pleasure to spend time with a group of family and friends that mean so much to me . . . my mom and dad, Steve, Fran, Katie, Michele, Merrik, Shannon and Jimmy. Our last night was spent with Shalyn and Randall in the city. We stayed up much later than we all normally do, drinking wine that they still have left over from their wedding. It felt like way to short of a visit with them. I think Shalyn and I could spend a week straight together and still have stuff to catch up on. My dad and Fran are picking us up in a couple of hours to head to lunch and then on to the airport.

I am not sure it has fully hit me yet but I am generally excited about the days that lay ahead. I have spent so much time with my family and friends out in California this year, more time than usual, and I fear that I will be pretty family-sick while we are gone. But there is an easy solution to this. Everyone that I love will have to come visit us! Please let us know when you will be arriving.

We just spent the last 48 hours in Phoenix visiting my grandparents, specifically my step dad Steve’s parents, who, since my mom and Steve married when I was 8 years old, have treated me and loved me as if I was always their grandchild. A typical visit to Phoenix takes place over the Christmas holidays so this was a treat to spend time with Papa Joe and Grandma Dollie alone. We had no agenda and I don’t think we’ve ever just sat and chatted with them for as long as we did this time.

• We found out a lot about Papa Joe’s service in the navy. He spent about two years on a little island just north of Papua New Guinea called Manus during 1944 and 1945.
• They found out why we were traveling in the first place and why we enjoyed not knowing exactly where we were going to rest our heads the first night that we arrived.

The big outing for the weekend was visiting a new Asian market called Mekong and believe me, we will remember this experience forever. From the outside it looked like a regular supermarket just with and Asian influence. But as we entered the store, Papa Joe quickly ushered us to the meats and fish museum, I mean section. We gawked in amazement at the selection that was presented before us. Quickly passing by the typical display of steaks, ground beef, and brisket, we came to a quick stop at the poultry. First the whole chicken: head, long droopy neck and all. Then just the chicken feet. Then the cow stomach lining, heart, liver, and, of course, the cow uterus. Mmmmm. Behind the displays and displays of fish, including a purple and red parrot fish, were tanks of live crab, lobster, catfish and tilapia. I wanted to order a live fish just to see how they would package it. Would they put it in a plastic baggie with water like you get a goldfish at a fair? Luckily I didn’t have to find out on my own and someone else came along and ordered two tilapia. With a net in hand, the “fish man” reached into the tank and caught two. He waited for the approval of the woman ordering the two fish before throwing them on the floor. They didn’t flip and squirm long as he quickly whacked each one over the head with a large rubber mallet. Quick and painless, right? We explored the store a little more, finding frogs, pork blood, and dade – a larva like creature that apparently is served best over rice. We quickly agreed that if we lived nearby, we would frequent the store for some interesting kitchen experiments.

Other than a few dinner outings to China Town Buffet and Marie Calendars, the rest of the weekend was spent at home with Grandma and Grandpa, either reading, talking, eating, or watching their favorite Sunday morning CBS special. It was a great visit.

I have a feeling that we may be asking ourselves that a few times as we head on out on this little exploration.  But, honestly, I’m not 100% sure how it snuck up on us.  Today, we left our home, our friends and my family to head out into the larger world for an indefinite period of time.  I feel good…I feel sad…and I’m extremely excited.  The dream I’ve had swirling in the back of my head – is morphing into reality!

We have had this planned for over a year now.  And, although we have been preparing and organizing every bit of our lives over the past few months, we still ran out of time.

Now, we didn’t run out of time in getting ourselves in order.  We starting with purging all of the excess in our lives…we sold it all…and a few of you out there got some screaming deals!  We then started to acquire new minimized items that would fit the lifestyle we will be living – and also fit into a single backpack each (yes, that includes my office).  It was then on to finances and insurance. Its amazing the amount of research you can put into somethine like this.  From best international rates on credit cards, to atm fees, to health insurance options and on and on.

In fact, we ended up tackling items that weren’t even on the radar a few months ago.  Refinance the house – sure, we had a few weeks left, why not?  Hire a new employee to work alongside myself at Vertical Media – that’ll be quick and easy, right?  In any case, it all came together after some long hours and some amazing “get ‘er done” skills from Lisa.  We wouldn’t be ready if it wasn’t for her!

However, we still ran out of time to take in what we both wanted to before we left…Family and Friends.  Although we were able to “see” almost everyone, each and every one of our visits was way too short and I can’t help but feel slightly empty on our departure.  Yes, one of the greatest things we will miss is the little creature that has joined our lives for the past two years as he has no way to visit us…Good-bye Salsa.  And although we have been living with my mom for the past 6 months, I don’t even feel like we actually said good-bye (but we will see you in March to celebrate your birthday!).

It is likely that I’m feeling this a bit more than Lisa tonight as we are currently headed to Phoenix (on the plane now with complimentary beers!) to spend the next two nights with her Grandparents.  It is then off to San Francisco on Sunday night where we will stay with Lisa’s mother and step-father until Thursday with a going away bbq on Tuesday.  Again though, it will be short, and we will be on that plane in only 6 short days!

The world awaits and my emotions are currently like the sea we are soon to cross.  Troughs of sadness for those we just left, a building anticipation for what is over the next horizon, and pure excitement for every moment we are about to create.

We spent last weekend, our last weekend in Jackson before leaving for New Zealand, just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. My brother, Jeff, who turned 46 this year, got married for the first time. Elke, my now sister-in-law has two kids, Bridget – 11 and Lex – 8, from a previous marriage.  They are the sweetest kids and my brother is doing a great job at being a new dad.

Their wedding was small, but perfect. They got married in a church camp NaCoMe just outside of Franklin, where they currently live. When Jeff and Elke originally went to look at the location, Jeff had a large pavilion in mind for the ceremony. As Elke was looking around the property she found a small chapel, built in 1988 but looks to have been built a hundred years ago, back in a tree grove and away from the rest of the buildings. It sat 20 of us tightly. The chapel had two doors, one opened toward the camp to watch Elke walk down the “isle” and the other opened toward the never ending forest behind the chapel. Whether they did it knowingly or not, they picked a wonderful time of year to get married. The trees were in their peak stages of fall transformation. We couldn’t get over how beautiful it was.

They focused the ceremony on the union of a family instead of a union of a couple. Elke’s two kids were her best man and her maid of honor. After exchanging rings, Elke and Jeff then placed a necklace on each kid symbolizing the union of their family.

The guests included my dad, Fran, my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Alice, their kids Steve and Leigh, and of course many others. But it was a pleasure reconnecting with my dad’s side of the family, whom I haven’t seen for many years and whom BJ has never met. My aunt and uncle live in West End, North Carolina and most of my memories of spending time with them at their house are from christmas’ when my mom and dad were still married.

Although it was a quick visit – 36 hours – in Nashville, I don’t get to see my brother often and it was so wonderful sharing the weekend with him and his new family.