New Zealand Weekly Update #39

17th of July until 23th of July 2023

Approximate reading time: 10 minutes

Lets get it started

Apologize fellas, this blog update is way too late. Might be way too much. Heaps of adventures, heaps of people, heaps of emotions. But finally, I made my wa back to Germany. To be part of the wedding of my best friend (and which will be beginning of August) and to see friends and family again. To go for a long journey, for long flights, for a long roadtrip. And what to say. The last days I have had way to less sleep, I have met way to much and way to less people at the same time. And I realized, that I need to plan some time just for myself to rethink about all the stories, all the people and everything which is ahead. And I realized, that even though I am so happy to be back in Germany and so happy to see all those lovely, impressive and great people again, that I miss New Zealand, its nature, its energy and its positive vibe. Lets have a walk and talk through the last week – enjoy 🙂

DingyInternational goes national

Last week, the time has come. The time to go back to Germany. And since I was about to don’t see people in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, I decided to meet them in my house for a german night. Beers. Potatoes. Sausages. Jägermeister. And german songs. And we ended up with 14 people, heaps of food and drinks. And great talks about this and that. And I realized, that there are lots of people in Wanaka, that I would miss and which would miss me as well. And that the fact of missing something is beautiful and sad at the sime time. Because it means that you have had something great, that you want it to stay and that you sometimes have to move on, to be able to appreciate it even more when you come back.
So I made my way to Queenstown on Wednesday, to stay there for one night and to catch my flight to Auckland at 7am in the morning. And while waiting for the bus from Wanaka to Queenstown, I had a look to the lake, to the mountains and my heart felt heavy. It made me very sad to leave this place, this town full of energy, full of good and important memories. Full of good things that I needed and that I still need.

1st flight – Queenstown – Auckland. 2 hours. And afterwards waiting. 5 hourse for my international flight to Singapore. With Singapore Airlines. One of the best airlines I flew with. great food, great staff, great flight. And great movies 🙂
Arrival in Singapore in the middle of the night. Next flight – Singapore – Berlin. 4 hours of waiting. And while waiting at the gate, I had a talk with a guy from Denmark. And he told me that we will be flying with Scoot. A subcompany from Singapore Airlines. Like Ryanair, just for international flights. And so it was. No displays. No food or drinks (unless you pay extra for them). And almost no space for legs. And me in between. I was sitting in the middle of the middle of the plane. People left and right. And me. Tired. Hungry. Excited. Well, so I tried to just sleep the whole time with my head in the left, on the right or just on the seat in front of me. But honestly, it is not really usefull to try to sleep like that. It is more like a semi sleep situation. Anyway, arrival in Berlin friday 8.30 am. Welcome back Dingy!
Quite an interesting feeling to be back after 9 months. Of being back home. Or partly home, since New Zealand has become part of my home as well.
In Berlin, I met a good fried of mine and we spent the whole day togehter. Having a Kebab in town. Going for some culture. Going to a Shisha bar and to a small and cozy little german beer pub as well. And just talking and trying to have a nice start in Germany 🙂

Bachelors Party gone wild

Saturday morning. Train from Berlin to Leipzig 7.30 am. Time for a bachelor party, since my best friend is about to get married in two weeks. So I planned the day with some friends a couple of weeks ago. First stop, breakfast in town. Getting ready for the day, energy and a long and big hug. It was quite strange to see this big and strong guy again after such a long time. And it still felt the same. The same smile. The same energy, The same guy.
Second stop „Teamduell“, kind of a 13 game challenge where you play against each other in two teams. Buzzer games. Sport games. Skill games. So we went for some golf playing to music song guessing games to setting up lego stones in a right order and color. And as you might know, it is always fun to challenge your friends and try to beat them, just because of. Unfortunatelly, I was not in the winner team this time and my best friend and his two buddies won the challenge and received the cup – fair enough – you deserve it bro!

Since we had some time until the next event, we made our way to a lake for some spontaneous waterskiing. Half of us did some waterskiing, half of us just sat down by the lake and had some drinks. And I was quite happy that it was not too warm or too crowded. And that it was a lot of fun. After some rounds of skiing, I decided to try one of the ramps in the water (which was not allowed if you have rental gear, but since there was no instruction for us, I was not aware of that before…). So I moved to the ramp while skiing, jumped of the ramp and lost control. And almost hit a wooden beam, which was behing the ramp, with my head. That was fu**ing close, fortunatelly no accident, no blood, no hospital. And some short discussions with the staff members as well 🙂
Back in town, we made our way again to the water for some kayaking, some beersies and some smaal and shit talk as well 🙂 And since nobody brought soem sunscreen, I burned my head (of course I did 🙂 ). After 3 hours on the water, it was time for us to go for some food. Burger time. Feed the animals 🙂

And what to do at the end of a day outdoor? Going for some party, some drinks and some dancing. So we went to a „Neon Party“ which was supposed to be indoor and outdoor as well. Unfortnutally, the party was just indoor and the beginning was quite boring and slow. And everyone was a little tired – the day has been already pretty long. But anyway, we moved our bumps, went on the dancefloor and danced our ass off. Until 4 am the next morning 🙂 And just had a good time. A good bachelors party. Some good memories, pictures and drinks. With friends. And honestly, with family as well (since for me, my best friend is part of my family and part of my life).

Back in bed at 5.30am in the morning. Ready for some sleep. 3 hours later, ding ding ding, ready to get up and get the rental car. To make my way to my hometown. Prior that, I just went to the storage where all of my stuff was and I moved everything into my car and the car of my brother, who supported me to clean up the storage room and to move all the stuff out of Leipzig – bro legend! And after a short walk and talk with Ira, I made my way to the east. Back to the roots. Back home.

Back to the roots

Time for the next party, time for birthdays! As my grandparents invited me to their birthday party (both are 80 years old now), I was keen and happy to be part of it and adjusted my travel plans to join them. And as I was just able to be back home on sunday, they moved the party from saturday to sunday, so that I was able to join (be ready for some tears in your eyes 🙂 )
And what to say about the party? 30 people. Lots of hugs. Lots of smiles. The whole family together in one room (and this is something really special since it has been a long time…). And just a great evening with good food, heaps of drinks and just jokes, stories and good vibes. It felt like I have never been away. Like I was always here. Always part of this family and those wonderufl people. And I realized that being with your family is sometimes everything you need to be happy. And I realized how much I missed my granny. And since we spend so less time together, the grandchildren decided to spend some time with our grandparents next year in January. Since giving away time is the most valuable thing you can do for someone else. And so I did and stayed in the flat of my parents. Our relationship was quite difficult for the last couple of years and since I moved to New Zealand, we try to fix this and to approach to each other again a little bit more. Step by step. And I am quite hopeful that things will be allright again.

What else to say?

Being back in Germany is a quite busy, exiting time for me. Lots of people. Lots of destinations. Lots of hours on the road. But it is also full of great moments, smiles and good energy. It is great to see people again after such a long time and realise, that lots of things have changed and some things are still the same.
And it is great to sometimes miss people and moments, to be able to appreciate them even more when you are able to see or have them back again. To appreciate their presence. Their interest. Their stories. To appreciate them.

See and speak next week.

Your DingyInternational
Felix