Random Act of Kindness

After our roadtrip last week to Napier, this week I'm hitting the road again to Auckland via Taupo and Hamilton. As usual, the trip started with late night clothes-drying and packing. This time I'm using different bus service. The whole trip up set me back less than $6, can you believe it!

I don't know how this new bus service works, although it is a bit weird - I can't complain really. A taxi shuttle came to pick up the passenger at the opposite of the Duxton Hotel. There were two little kids and a mum in there. I sceptically asked , "We're not going to Taupo with this shuttle, are we?" Which the Mum answered, "Yes we are." The mum and the kids turned out to be the driver's family.

After dropping off the family (at this small town which I can't remember the name) the trip continued to Taihepe with only the driver and I. Sitting on the front seat I chat with the driver all the way. It's funny how you get to know so much about one person in such a short period of time. I got useful tips for our South Island trip and how to pass a full driver's license test, talked about travelling (as a true AIESECer and nomader does), future plans. It was a good trip.

Between Taihepe and Taupo I did a lot more observation on the environment surroundings. Did you notice that on the SH1 there are a lot more trees and bush (aside of the massive lands and flocks of sheep and cows) in comparison to the way on SH2 (where the grass is greener)?

Taupo
Arrived in Taupo, Andrew (a former member of AIESEC Auckland) picked me up and we headed to the tour of that Dam thing. It is actually the 50th celebration of the Mighty River Power supplying electricity to most of the North Island Region. It was quite cool because we got to see how the power station works (a real tour inside the power station where people don't normally allowed to get in!).

The night was ended with a firework display, lighted up from the top of the dam. Considering that the last time I saw a firework display was on Guy Fawkes in 2004 - I found this one quite exciting and amusing (Then again, I am easily amused :p ).

I found that Taupo would be a pretty good holiday spot for the MC (whenever the next available holiday is going to be ;) Unfortunately when we got back to town it's already dark and was a bit cloudy. After having dinner, we went for a walk along the Lake Taupo. It was a loo..oong walk! When I saw how far we had walked I was quite please of my effort. See... I'm not so bad with walking! As long as it's on a flat ground :D .

Another achievement I did was I managed to do rock-skimming on the lake. (You know, where you throw a flat rock and it skims the water). Two hops - not bad for a beginner who has been trying (and given up trying) for ages.


Hamilton
I went to the pancake place! The Flapjacks. It took me ages though to decide what I wanted to get, and changing my mind at the last minute too. I met up with Amy (yes, we misses each other so much after two days not seeing each other ;p). At night we had an LC dinner.... oh well it was supposedly an LC dinner and followed by a game (or two) of pool. I'd like to think I am getting better haha, but the boys still give me no chance of winning. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

The night topped off with a good long catch up with bottomless green tea at Dan's. Being me who drinks anything with sugar, by the end of the night I was quite high on sugar. (The good thing was he didn't let me drink coffee - otherwise I'd be up all night!)

Those were the days of a Director's trip. Although I don't sound like doing much of work, but I do! My thoughts are constantly on "Work, work, work. Gotta get some real work done!" And it is the thoughts that count , isn't it? I still have another 4 days to spend in Auckland. More adventure to come - Yay!

Cellphone: Check!

The five of us - Amy, Kristi, Chris, Ray and I- went to Napier to spend the long weekend. I was so excited! This is the first time in a while, I was actually on a real holiday roadtrip. No work, no session, no conference, no nothing!

The trip turned out to be better than expected. It must be in the weather! Not only I got to know the people I'm travelling with a lot better, I learned a great deal about myself as well as growing appreciation of the beauty of the nature.

Some highlights of the trip are:

- The amazement over the amount of cows and sheep and green grass in New Zealand.
Kristi (seeing the sheep lay on the grass lazily on a hot sunny day): What are they doing? They cant just lay there all day.
Me: Oh, yes they can! :)

- The trip to Mahia. The supposedly less than an hour trip turned out to be a 2-hour long drive. It was well worthed,though. A very good lunch, beautiful beach and scenery, and learned new things about Paua. The moral of the trip are : 1) Don't trust the distance on the brochure and 2) always call ahead when the brochure says "By arrangement"

- Banning chips from our diet from now on! The trip started with "Chicken and Chips" for lunch and ended with "Fish and Chips". And trust me, we shared a lot more chips in between. By the time we got back to Welly, one thing for sure. Amy, Kristi and I won't be eating chips again for a while.

- Kristi and her obsession with Palm trees

- Chris and his obession with "the woman statue" ;p (Check out the slideshow pictures on Amy's blog)

- Neighboring room wasnt too happy with the chats and giggles at 3 AM in the morning.

- The 8 AM spa (I know I know, thank you girls for dragging me out of bed!;)

- The random but insightful, thought-provoking, and very thoughtful chats throughout the entire trip. The funny thing was we were talking just about everything from having Asian parents, funny drunken stories through to tax laws. Tsk tsk tsk, aren't we a bunch of a very well-educated individuals?

Chris, cheers for driving us all around.And farewell. Best wishes for you and Melbourne!
Ray, cheers for reading the map and planning the sightseeing. Can't do it without you!
Kristi and Amy, cheers for the late night chat and for dragging me outta bed 8 am in the morning ;)

The collage of the trip (click to enlarge) :

Sun shining, It's holiday much needed Urban Getaway
I'm smiling, It's holiday but nature's got something to say

Urban Getaway, Elemeno P

You dont stop playing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing.

I have done this less and less by the year. If I didn't do something - I think I'll be a bitter, old, boring person by the end of the year. It's hard to look forward, Amy. If looking back, life was that good - simple and sweet.

I think I need to do more of this randomness, or a roadtrip, or just lazying around? I need excitement, variety, comfort zone? Anything that gets me my mojo back. Because right now, I feel like I'm a complete stranger to myself.

It feels weird not having to worry about exams anymore. Yes, it is the end of the year. I normally would be running around like a headless chicken at this time of year. Printing out all of the missed handouts and completing notes from missed lectures (Sometimes this could mean, 8 out of 10).

I miss the whole feeling of being under pressure (Not that I need more of those these days!), the all-nighters with a bunch of friends, checking, double checking and triple checking the time and place of the exam, comparing notes, and doing last-minute cramming. Never thought that I would miss all those. Life was so complicated but yet so simple!

The thing I missed the most would be the celebration after. Going out to town, Christmas dinner, Singstar games, lots of silliness and randomness and everything else in between! The sense of achievement, hard-work and a well-earned rest.

Ah, the life of a student, eh?

I just read the message from the Chair of International Congress '06. I wasn't there myself but just by reading the message I know that he was a great inspiring chair. Here is a part of his speech that he delivered at IC,

...

Now, when you’re feeling bad, where do you usually look? Correct, you look down. And that’s what I did. I looked down at the floor.

But then I started laughing! All over my shoes were stickers that my little girls had put on them before I left the house. Just seeing those stickers and thinking of my girls made me laugh! And then I laughed even harder when I thought, “Where had I been all morning with stickers pasted all over my shoes?!”

So now I was laughing. I was feeling good.

And when you’re feeling good, where do you look? Correct. You look up. And when you look up, you see people and you see opportunity. You’re creative and you’re curious.

So it was then that I realized how important it is in my life to have positive triggers all around me. Things that remind me what is good in my life, things that make me look up, not down.

So now I keep things around me that make me smile, that make me think about all the good things in my life. I learned this lesson: We can make almost every day a good one

I love catching the bus when it's not too crowded, not only it does not made me walk, but also because it gives me "my time". My own time to be occupied with my own thoughts while people watching. Since I read what Mr Pollay said, I was trying to remember what are the happy thoughts that would make me smile at the least.

- My MCWD (MC Working Days - when you get to spend times with the MC and helping out) a couple of years ago. That was fun! From midnight-wine-drinking session at the Harbour with the MC team to *almost* falling asleep at the FASC meeting.

- The 30-seconds-of-fame-and-embarassment on the national radio a day before I left for New Zealand. (The full story is for me to know for you to find out - to those who involved plotting it out , well done, you made it so historical it goes straight to "Nikita's most memorable memories ;)

- The times when I had to make tough decisions - it makes me realise that I am not alone.

- Of course the last but not least was that time when I woke up someone else , and we showed up at a morning plenary of a conference one hour early! Nothing can beat that!

Those funny moments and happy thoughts really come in handy at times. Cheers for that! =)