New Zealand Weekly Update #97

Last updated on September 11, 2024

27th of August to 01st of September 2024

Approximate reading time: 5 minutes

Lets get it started

Late late late! I am very late this time folks – I would apologise but things are still going up and down. With my visa application, while I am being sick and while I am trying to keep my head up and focused. This is why this weekly update is so late, I actually also thought about stopping weekly updates as sometimes it feels like a burden, like pressure, like something I do not want to do anymore. But in the end it would feel wrong to not write things down and I have come across some really interesting laws, everyone should know. Five laws, that usually make sense and that apply in the right situations. Let me share them with you and I will leave you with your thoughts about them for now.

Thinking about Kidlins’s law, it applies! Writing things down can be therapy. Can be healing. You might not solve any problems with it, but you get it out of your head, out of your mind and you make it real. You clean your mental memory space and you reveal certain things and you can get rid of this endless chaors in your mind. This might be one of the reasons I do not want to stop writing those weekly blogs. It is part of my therapy, part of my healing and part of my structure and habits. And sometimes it also reveals some funny stories as well!

And out of the sudden – Bang!

As you know, I am making my own kombucha for a couple of weeks now. I think this is my batch number 4 or five and I have upgraded from one glass jar of 7 litres to four jars of seven litres each. And I love the whole process, as this is all about learning, failing, improving, patience, reconsidering, rethinking. And about certain Aha- and bag-moments. It is about not being afraid to fail. About not being afraid to try again. Not being afraid to learn. Making kombucha is art! It is a passion. And it is something you can share with people around you. You can try different flavours, different combinations, different teas to start the fermentation. And even though a SCOBY looks quite weird, flubby and a bit like an alien, it is a very interesting creature and full of potential. You give it space, a safe environment and time and it will grow, develop and it will give something back – delicious Kombucha full of flavour, good bacteria and yeast and full of yum yum yum potential!
The second fermentation aka carbonation is all about trying different flavours, combinations, amounts of extra sugar and timing. It is about making the kombucha your own, individual style and about getting it more fizzy if you want to. You bottle it, add flavours, herbs, sugar and or juice, yam or whatever sugary you are craving for. You seal it and the bacteria and yeast will do the rest. They are craving sugar and they will produce the fizzy bubbles, aka. Carbondioxide. They add the pressure into the booch. And here comes the challenging part. Depending on how you store those bottles, on how much sugar you add and how the temperature is around the bottles, the carbonation process can go terribly wrong! The more pressure builds up, the more likely it is for those bottles to give in to the pressure and to explode, if you do nit stop the carbonation process (or better to say to slow it down). This usually happens when you store them in the fridge, as the cold environment slows down the metabolic process of bacteria and yeast. I cam home Saturday afternoon, went into my room and one minute after I have arrived, there was a loud bang. It sounded like dishes would fall of the kitchen table. But I already knew what I would find. So I went into the kitchen. And the floor was full of glass and green liquid. Obe of my kombucha bottles exploded, there was just too much pressure inside the bottle. And this was one of our new experienments with flavours. Cucumber rosemary lime. Maybe there was too much sugar, maybe the bottles were exposed to sunlight. And maybe there is still some cucumber boocha in our kitchen. Nevertheless, we will try again and improve the process. Try and try and try. Until we are happy with the product to enjoy delicious booch. Sweet az, kombucha for everyone!

What else to say?

This week was also about skiing with my housemate Sophie, the best housemate I have had so far, and I have been living together with a lot of different people. She is managing the Albie, a nice pub in Albert Town and everything just works out very well even though we are so very different and approach things in different ways and energy levels. I start to think about the idea, that it sometimes is more about the things that we do not have in common, which connects us. Which gives us the opportunity to learn from each other, to see different perspectives, ideas, hobbies, interests. To open up our horizon, to be more curious and to connect in a better way with others and also with ourselves. I start to think that those things might be more important that the things we have in common…

See you next week (well, better in a couple of days if I am on time next time hehe)
Your DingyInternational
Felix