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Monday, December 18, 2017

6th Day of Hanukah-- Pacific Blog Day 2

MYKEL'S PACIFIC BLOG
Entry 2

I restart this entry after a computer crash that wiped out my previous attempt at an update..

I'm now on a bus traveling from Picton to Christchurch. It's been an event-filled couple of weeks, including Los Angeles, where Julien in the midst of several personal crises... still had time to attend to his friend on (mostly) and off (once for a long time) for 30 years. Waiheke island, where Reneta made me several meals a day and the only payment expected was my changing into a bathing suit to help wash the porch screens. Wellington where Mr. (and Mrs) Sterile took care of me like a long-lost punkrock friend.

Right now, the computer is on the blink. It shuts down and loses everything if the bus goes over a bump... and bump is the name of the game. The Internet is spotty in this mountainous land of 4.5 million people who walk barefoot on public streets. Where all the signs are in English, with an abbreviated version in Maori... which had no written language until the English transcribed it using English letters.

I don't think I've heard Maori spoken on the street, though I have heard German, Chinese, Swedish, some unidentifiable Slavic language and New Yorkese (“You talkin' to me? Fuhgeddabouddit!”). I've made it to Christchurch, the biggest city on the South Island. I hear there's a synagogue in town... it's long been my dream to take a picture of a synagogue in Christchurch. The irony is just too good to pass up.

I've been on the road for 18 days now... one in a hostel. It's the kindness of friends that bed me down every night (not THAT WAY!) and from start to now I have to thank:

Julien (LA in the fire)
Renata (Waiheke & Aukand)
Kieren & Chrissy (Wellington)
Vera (Christchurch)

I've been traveling in New Zealand using the INTERCITY BUS SYSTEM. It works like this:

You buy TIME in advance. For example, I bought 45 hours. Then you reserve a bus from Y to Z and they deduct the time it SHOULD take to go that distance. When you get to zero, you can “top off” buying extra hours.

The buses are more comfortable than Mega or Bolt... but they have no electrical sockets. (Which are weird here anyway. They look something like a facebook SURPRISE emoji.)


The “wi-fi” on board is pretty spotty, but that's what you get most places with a lot a mountains and few people. Most annoying, however, is the bus schedule. Yesterday, on the trip from Picton to Christchurch, the bus left at 7:30... AM!!! Oh yeah please be at the busstop at least 15 minutes early to check-in with the driver.

From Christchurch I go to Nelson, and the leaving time? 7AM??? Are they kidding? That's bedtime! What? Do we have to milk the cows before we leave?

I booked a hostel the night before so I could be close to the bus station.

“Don't worry,” says Vera, “I'll take you. You can cancel your reservation.”

“But that means getting up at 5:30 in the morning!” I say.

“No problem,” says Vera.

Like the others... I owe her big time.

Ah well, today was the sixth day of Chanukah. Vera's maternal grandmother was Jewish, so that means she's a Jew. Her friend Susan... visiting for dinner is also a Jew... a doctor! Vera had a menora... probably gotten in New York. No Chanukah candles in sight, but the age-old birthday candle trick worked like a dream. Waddaya think?

--more later

If you're interested in my nastier, more political writing, you can read me at:

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