I have decided to write here on this blog to tell you all about the exciting and not so exciting happenings as I travel so so far away. I miss you all, all of the time, and traveling alone has to be one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life!
I spent the last 6 weeks in Melbourne, Australia. As some of you know I was living there last summer (winter over here) for 2 months and decided that I should use up the holiday work visa while I still had it and before it expired. Thanks to so many wonderful friends and family and all of the support I had in raising funds, I made it happen and came back to Melbourne with the only plan of going back to a job I had working at a beautiful bakery and figuring out where to travel to from there. I guess I decided to travel back to Australia again also because as much as I LOVE New Orleans, (and trust me, I DO know what it means to miss New Orleans) I felt like it was time for me to explore other places and learn about them and myself in new exciting and challenging ways.
While planning to go back to Melbourne, I decided that I could come over to New Zealand after my visa was up because 1, its right next door and I mean, lord of the rings anyone?, and 2, they also have a holiday work visa, which makes traveling a lot easier if you can earn money while doing it. So I got the visa and started to look into job opportunities in New Zealand, not really knowing where or what I should do or even where to go. I found a backpackers website that had listings from lots of different employers suited to travelers and a job description for an au pair in the beautiful coromandel peninsula stood out to me. I've worked with kids a lot in the past and know that it is something I enjoy, plus, just google image the coromandel peninsula as I did and you will see why I thought it would be heaven. The family contacted me on Easter, in the middle of a huge lonely spell I was having. I was sitting in a house that I was cat-sitting for a friend, in Melbourne, on Easter day. I had just finished a really stressful shift at the bakery, selling hot cross buns to the hungry masses like their lives depended on it, and felt so awful and lonely. I collapsed on the kitchen floor with jade the kitty by my side, and had a real good cry. I was just craving something familiar, someone to cheer me up and tell me that I did choose to leave all of my loved ones and happy life for a reason. Well, as I was looking up plane tickets to return to the states, I get a text message from the family from the au pair ad in New Zealand. Talk about timing. The mom tells me that I sound like the perfect candidate because not only do they need an au pair for their daughter, but they also OWN a bakery! And would I be interested in possibly baking for them as well? It was such a crazy serendipitous moment. Here I was, in tears, writing to my Mom and my sister, telling them about how lonely I was and how I should come back home, researching plane tickets, and in that moment, I get a clear message that there is a perfect sounding opportunity for me. I couldn't not take it. I ended up having a phone interview the next day and getting the job. I had to leave my job in Melbourne early, but I also felt like well, this could be my dream job, so I better do it. Plus, when a moment like that happens, you can't do anything but recognize it and see it through.
So a week ago I left Melbourne and landed in Auckland, greeted by the family that I am supposed to live with for the next couple of months, taking care of their daughter, and working at the bakery, in what I imagine paradise to look like. This is exactly what I needed, I think on the plane over. I just need a beautiful place that enriches me and lets me have time to do lots of art and creating and reading and exploring.
Thats the background. Keep reading for how my life is going now that I am here in Pauanui Beach, in the Coromandel. It has sure been a learning experience thus far!
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