New Zealand Weekly Update #83

Last updated on Juli 15, 2024

20th of May to 27th of May 2024

Approximate reading time: 5 minutes

Lets get it started

Evening fellas. A little delay with this weekly update since I was only off on sunday and we were out and about hiking, swimming, having a drink and having a nap up the mountains but I will talk about this later. For now, I am so very grateful having friends all over the world. Friends who will support me even if I have not seen them in ages. Friends who know my story. Friends who have been with me in the worst times and friends who would sit with me suffering as long as necessary. One of those friends is my very good friend from Jena, Bettina. A lovely, great, loyal person. A great friend and such a good and awesome soul. She would support me with text messages and voicemails while I was walking the camino in Spain. And she would support me with the idea of writing a book about it. And she would do even more. The day I told her that I just published my book she applied for a public reading in Jena, the town were I was living for more than 8 years. And last week friday, the 24th of May, she was reading from my book in front of a small audience. I am not able to express how grateful I am for this person, for this friend, for this soul. 2 years ago I did not even think about sharing all of those ideas, thoughts and emotions with anyone. And now, I can share it with everyone. And even more, people would support me. This is more than I can ask for. This is more than I ever thought I could achieve with this book. The idea was to inspire. To motivate. To give new ideas. To make people laugh and cry. To tocu their hearts. But with this idea of the public reading and with doing it, my good friend touched my heart. In the best way ever possible. And I am so very grateful of having such friends.

Out and about

Day off. Time for some outdoor adventures. After I was out for a bonfire in Hawea saturday evening with Sammy, we decided going for a hike on sunday. And since we wanted to watch the sunsets up the mountain, we had to get up quite early. Very early. So the alarm was ringing at 4.30AM, we got out of the house by 5AM and we started hiking up Isthmus Peak at 5.30. Fortunately, we could not see the elevation profile and we just kept hiking. In total it was a group of 6 people, including her housemates and some friends as well. So we hiked up this one, step by step, some short breaks and talks in between. Watching the sky, seeing some amazing shooting stars, starlink formations and stars. So while we were making our way up to the top, the sun started rising. And after 2 hours and 40 minutes and some perfect timing, we made it up to the top. And the sun just showed up behind the mountains. Orange, yellow and red mixed up with blue and white. What a scenery. And some fresh coffee and some home made crumble (which reminded me of grannys plumb cake). Just stunning and so very necessary. Sun in our face, cold air in our lungs. And back after 90 minutes and down all the way. And of course, going for a skinny dip afterwards (well, I was going skinny dipping, the rest kept on their shorts haha). A beer, some food, a great nap and some movies. Active and chilled day off in New Zealand, what else does a person need?

What else to say?

Looking back to the last couple of weeks, New Zealand has been quite a big shit show. Full of rejections, full of downs, full of people leaving, full of „what the fuck is going on“ and „why do I need to go through all of this“ moments. And New Zealand was exhausting, it was annoying from time to time and I thought about just throwing in the towel and giving up. But what would have been the outcome of it? Would it have been worth? The result would be regret and doubt. And after weeks and weeks full of shit and what the fuck moments, my inly day off ended up as one of the best days I have had in New Zealand so far. And I was able to experience this day just because of all the shit that has happend before.

See you next week
Your DingyInternational
Felix