Sticking Out Your Tongue

Well it came down to me making it to New Zealand at the right time and when I arrived I saw both of my parents greeting me by taking pictures, a little strange but hey I suppose it's normal. We met up hugged and did all of those things, we caught a cab dropped off my stuff and went to the closest pub to catch up on life. The one thing that I will never forget was the night of August 11th 2010, my parents and I were booked in to catch a bus from our hotel to go to a live Maori culture dinner night. As we get out of the shuttle bus and eventually found our seats and the entertainer picked up the microphone and talked to the crowd. He began by the normal greeting and then he started asking all of us where we are from, everytime some one said a country he could always speak simple phrases of their language no matter where they were from, it was amazing. All together there was 16 nations from all parts of the world gathered around tables completely captivated by this man. He said "with of these nations here together we need a chief, we need a leader, some one here and it has to be a man, so just put your hand up!" He scanned around the room a couple of times things went very quiet no body volunteered and I thought to myself WHY NOT? I'm going to do it and raised my hand. The man shouted "congratulations we have a chief to lead all 16 nations here let's give him a round of applause" everybody looked at me and clapped. Then after everybody stopped he began to give me my responsibilities: give a speech for thanks and appreciation and then he said "you also have to fight a big scary man in very minumal traditional Maori clothing and accept so everybody here can eat tonight can you do that?" Not really knowing what to say I just simply nodded my head, smiled and said yes; more rounds of applause. There was a large amount of people from Portugal sitting at the back of the room and he asked if they could sing a song that could satisfy their new chief, they all stood up and began to sing what I assume was their national anthom. The man led the group of people to a creek and said that the Maori people were going to show up in a canoe singing songs with torches and will lead us to their village. They showed up in their canoe and jumped right in the water which surprised everybody because the water was freezing cold and all they had on were the traditional little flap of cloth. After a while the entertainer came and spoke to me alone he said that I am going to speak to a real chief and accept his welcoming to his land and ceremony. To do that the chief was going throw a branch from a native plant to New Zealand down on the ground and I have to walk towards it, pick it up, look into his eyes and walk backwords to my original standing point. Then after that I had to give my speech on behalf of my "nation" to him and I had to thank him in the Maori way, and here is how you do it: we had to look each other in the eyes grab hands like a handshake and touch our noses together twice softly. After that conversation the group followed the Maori men from the canoe into a building with chairs and a huge outside stage set up of what Maori villages looked like in the olden days, fires were lit, and everthing looked very beautiful and so authentic. The Maori chief stood out to the front of the stage and began to speak his language to us, while this was going on the entertainer grabbed and placed me on the side of the stage and he said that I was going to accept but I had to wait for his signal of tapping me on the shoulder. He placed me opposite of the chief on the stage standing there, every body was looking at us, we were the only two people on the stage. He had some sort of weapon with him, it looked like a spear, he bagan shouting and making the angriest faces I've ever seen. The tension was so extreme, I was the "leader" of my "nation" and I had this huge muscular Maori chief screaming bulging his eyes and sticking his tongue out at me and the only thing I did was hold my ground. Every second that past felt like an achievment and then he took out a branch and threw it on the ground slapped his bare leg and walked backwards, then the tap on my shoulder. I walked forward picked up the branch and had to entertainer telling me that it was safe to walk backwards but to keep looking into the eyes, they were so serious and angry but I kept my concentration. He began singing and then 10 or 15 Maori come out and join him and I got shown back to my seat on the side of the stage. The entertainer said "Oh you did great, but in like five minutes you are going to your speech, so sit tight" he left and I sat on the stage admiring the passion of the Maori songs. They all sat down in a straight line and the chief sat in the middle and it was turn to talk. This is roughly what I said because I couldn't possibly remember it word for word: I said hello in Maori ( I was told before hand) and I said I'm Johnny the leader if these 16 nations here gathered together from all the world and I think that what you have created is beautiful and how you are keeping your culture alive is completly amazing. I might have managed to stumble some other words out but that was most of it. He said to his brother (who was the entertainer) in Maori that he didn't hear the words that I said, he said that he felt them. Then after my speach the Portugese people supported me and sung their song for him, then a big round of applause. The Maori chief accepted and I was shown back to my seat and he and his crew began speaking to the crowd. Things lightened up a lot and they began telling jokes and doing amazingly coordinated dances impressing everyone. Dinner was served and the rest of the evening was really pleasant, then after the event was over I went home with the plant and a night not to forget as I said. Have a lovely morning, afternoon or evening when ever it is that you read this.

Sunshine Today

There are some days when I wake up and see the clouds and the rain pouring down and I just sink my head back into my pillow and mumble swear words underneath my breath. I think that the best thing I can do on these days is just be myself, even when I particularly don't feel like the happiest fellow. There is always the days when nothing wants to stay in my hands and my eyes just don't want to be open and small inconviences feel like world shaking disasters. I've been away from home for 4 months now and I've had my fair share of days when nothing goes according to plan, but it's always been not a very big deal because I find that sticking to plans may not always be the best way to go. Everyday is Saturday when backpacking,but this is the important month, it's August and at the end of this month I have to get my grungy self to New Zealand. I'm on my way to Auckland to see what it has to offer. Looking at the calender and I can see Sunday coming, it's sitting in it's little box just snickering at me and saying "hey bastard, you need to make money, more money," how lovely. There has been all kinds of adventures ahead of me, the first and major one is getting to New Zealand and the second one is getting back to Sydney in time so I can fly home, time to get serious and organize myself put some backbone into my daily routine. This is almost like the feeling of when I was a boy (still am) and going back to school in the autumn and walking by the Back to School Sales of pencils, calculators etc. The shudder goes down my spine and the realization that I have to see teachers again and learn. Of course it's different because now I wouldn't mind having a beer at the pub with my teachers now and bullshit about man things like motorbikes, women and sports. The times change and so does our piece of mind, calenders and day planners are more important to us now then they were. Now instead of the classroom I'm going back to the bored customs workers, the shuffling, tapping business people and everyone else who vacates the airport. One of my day time hobbies is to play guitar and sing songs, there is one song that just always comes up, it's like the backpacker song. Wonderwall by Oasis always gets the whole crowd singing at the top of their lungs "But Baby, maybe your the one that's going to save me, and after all you're my wonderwall!" it's a great feeling when I'm strumming the tune on my guitar and leading the crowd, I feel like a conductor except instead of a tuxedo and a stick I have dirty Levi's and a skateboard t-shirt on with a cheap self destructing Sanchez acoustic guitar. The backpacker lifestyle is so much fun, it's so hectic and the countless times sitting in the kitchen drinking cheap alcohol mingling with all of those around me. After what feels like a major vacation spending all the money I had partying basically it's now time when I have to get a job and go back to reality; the one quite similiar I had back home. This time it has changed because now a job means stability and making life a little easier to live and before it just meant I had to go to work. Like so many backpackers I've been stuck with a job that only offers two days a week of work and minimum wage. Here is the problem, I need to get to New Zealand by the end of this month so I have to find a job and only work for three weeks and piss off. This is foreshadowing a very awkward social situation, I could upset an employer and also put them in a tight spot and I also consider it being very rude. The contemplation of just lying and saying "yes I will be here for at least 6 months," then leaving after three weeks, or just trying to find a job for three weeks with no lying which is just not likely. A weak spot for me is disappointing people but it's easily predictable that I have to so I can make it to New Zealand in time. With all of the thoughts going through my mind I am trying my best not to be a downer, so I just look around and say to myself "I'm in Sydney Australia and there is sunshine today," to unwind my worrys. Along my travels in Australia I have learned the most from people and for a good example is rejection, walking from place to place asking, "is there are any positions availible?" And the person puts on their nicest voice and says "no I'm sorry but there is nothing right now but I can take your CV (resume) and give it to my manager," to humour me and give me the slightest feeling of hope. Realizing that I won't get a call from them I just move again and try my luck somewhere else. It's not all that bad but when you're young unorganized and inexperienced, you leave getting a job to the last minute and the pressure of not having a place to stay and money for food creeping up from behind you with a red hot poker and evilly laughing. So desperate measures have to be made like getting a job for accomodation at the hostel cleaning the puke from the toilets, floor and wall every weekend, I would have done that in a second but all the positions were taken so I was shit out of luck. Now I'm just putting all the pieces together and trying to get closer and closer to my goal every day, but sometimes it's just hard to keep your head up. So optimism is the key, life is so much easier when you are positive about it all, so here my attempt at it, I'll make it to New Zealand in time; I WILL! There is sunshine today and I'm going to enjoy it when I push myself around to get on top of my game. Thank you for reading and enjoy your sunny day amd if it isn't sunny it will be sometime soon.