Evamaria's travel blog
Wellington
Originally uploaded by Evamaria N
Day 11: Cheekiness wins! With the graduation parade canceled, a lot of grads were just milling about – so I asked a Commerce grad whether I could borrow her outfit for a reenactment of the graduation I never got… 🙂
Half-way through my trip as well as half-way through my two weeks in Wellington. Although I’m taking things easy, time just seems to fly by. As you can see from my tweets, I’m feeling very happy here and having a marvelous time. I guess a part of me will always consider Wellington my second home…
When I left New Plymouth yesterday morning, it was beautiful weather and I got to see the mountain (Mt. Taranaki, that is) in its full glory for the first time since my arrival.
I had such a great time with Denise, Ross & co. but honestly, I had butterflies in my stomach when the bus finally got to Wellington (it’s a 7 hour trip that took almost 8). First you get to see the city from the bay, and the bus stop is right at the train station, where the railway campus of Victoria University is, where I had most my classes. I ended up taking a taxi to my accommodation, a student hall that rents out its rooms during the summer trimester – I get to pay by the week for my very own room (very basic, with shared facilities but my own and with 4 gigs of free wifi to boot), which ends up being quite a bit cheaper than even a dorm room in the YHA would be.
Visiting my oldest kiwi friends Denise & Ross (we met in California in 1999!) and their four kids is almost like coming home every time – when my bus arrived Monday night, they were waiting for me, the kids jumping up and down, screaming my name. It was so cool, especially considering that the youngest was only about a year old when I last saw her, but they’ve all completely embraced me as a family member that they just happen to see very rarely. A great way to start my time here!
Denise also took the time out of her busy days to go for some lovely walks with me, allowing me to revel in the beauties of both New Zeland forest and sea. This country is simply so stunning, it takes my breath away…
You can find all my Taranaki photos here (not just this year’s but all of them), the photo set for this trip is here.
I’ll be here until Monday morning, when I’ll catch the bus to Wellington. As much as I love it here in New Plymouth and with my friends, going to Wellington feels like going home…
It’s 7am – I managed to sleep until about 5:30, which isn’t too bad, I guess, considering the 12 hour time difference.
As always I’ll be posting my pics to Flickr, to a special set for this trip: New Zealand 2013
Right now no actual photos from NZ, because I spent most of yesterday on the bus where motion sickness makes me wary of snapping pics (not that the landscape wouldn’t have warranted it – the journey from Auckland to New Plymouth has lots of turns and bends, but is also rather stunning). This is the only one so far, taken after I finally arrived at the airport hotel:
I’ll be spending the week with my friends Denise, Ross & their four kids near New Plymouth, so I have lovely wireless access. This gave me the opportunity to find a new Twitter plugin, so we’re rid of those annoying single line posts and should get a daily digest of all my tweets instead.
I promise the next post will actually be an update about the trip! 🙂
Aotearoa, here I come…
Originally uploaded by Evamaria N
All packed! Astounding how easy it was to fill that huge suitcase… 🙂
Italy 2012, a set on Flickr.
In May, Märrie and I met up with our friend Amy from Singapore and we spent an amazing week in Italy: One (rainy) day in Rome, 3 days in (crazy) Naples & 3 days in pretty Sorrento, with daytrips to amazing Pompeii, Positano (on the Amalfi coast) and a spa in Ischia.
[Deutsch unten]
23 December, 4:30pm
Yesterday I got home to Switzerland after a week’s vacation in Miami Beach and was welcomed warmly by my family. I am in no way done working through what the last two months mean to me and find talking about it still rather difficult, but hopefully this will change as I acclimatise further.
This post is a great big THANK YOU to everyone who made Haiti such an unforgettable experience:
First of all, my new GVN family – I didn’t think it was possible to get so close with people in such a short period of time, but you’ll be in my heart (and hopefully my life) forever.
Then, as always, my friends and family, particularly my parents, for their never-ending support and encouragement – as well as paying the huge fee at the airport to get my third bag of donations to Haiti. 
And (in no particular order) my best friend Sibylle, Tony, Cindy, Antoinette + her mom, Avi, Lis + Edi, Maria, Vreni, Leona, Otfried + Kathrin, Monika + Gerhard, Felix, Choenyi, Taptim + her friends, Regina, Mirella, Simon, Fabian of Aktion 72 Stunden, Kastor AG (my previous workplace), and the women’s group and Baptist church of Zurich.
Your donations enabled the following: my second month with GVN, luggage, children’s vitamins, clothing donations, dental hygiene products, Jeff’s tuition, support for Esther + her family, as well as most of the construction costs at Ecole Nationale de Cyvadier. There’s even some left over, which I will give to GVN people who are going back to combat cholera. You guys ROCK!
Also, everyone who’s been following this adventure in thought and prayer, I swear I felt it when things got hard, and I thank you. I wish each and everyone of you blessed and peaceful holidays, in whatever form you celebrate (or don’t)!
Love,
Evamaria
Gestern kam ich wieder in der Schweiz an, nach einer Woche Ferien in Miami Beach, und wurde von meiner Familie warm in Empfang genommen. Ich bin noch weit davon entfernt, die letzten zwei Monate verarbeitet zu haben, aber hoffentlich wird es leichter werden, wenn ich mich wieder eingewöhnt habe.
Dieser Post ist ein riesiges DANKESCHĂ–N an alle, die Haiti zu einem so unvergesslichen Erlebnis gemacht haben:
Zuallererst meine neue GVN-Familie – ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass man Menschen in so kurzer Zeit so nahe kommen kann, aber ihr seid fĂĽr immer in meinem Herzen (und hoffentlich auch in meinem Leben).
Danach, wie immer, meine Freunde und Familie, besonders meine Eltern, fĂĽr ihre konstante UnterstĂĽtzung und Ermutigung – sowie auch fĂĽr das Bezahlen der riesigen GebĂĽhr fĂĽr meine dritte Spendentasche am Flughafen.
Und (in keiner besonderen Reihenfolge) meine beste Freundin Sibylle, Tony, Cindy, Antoinette + ihre Mutter, Lis + Edi, Maria, Vreni, Leona, Otfried + Karin, Monika + Gerhard, Felix, Choenyi, Taptim + ihre Kollegen, Regina, Mirella, Simon, Fabian von Aktion 72 Stunden, Kastor AG (mein ehemaliger Arbeitgeber) und der Frauendienst und die Gemeinde der Baptistengemeinde ZĂĽrich.
Eure Spenden ermöglichten das folgende: mein 2. Monat mit GVN, Gepäck, Vitamine fĂĽr Kinder, Kleiderspenden, Zahnputzsachen, Jeffs SchulgebĂĽhren, UnterstĂĽtzung fĂĽr Esther + ihre Familie, sowie den grössten Teil der Baukosten fĂĽr Ecole Nationale de Cyvadier. Es ist sogar noch was ĂĽber – und das werde ich GVN-Freiwilligen geben, die zurĂĽckgehen, um Cholera zu bekämpfen. Ihr seid einfach SUPER!
Ausserdem, an alle, die dieses Abenteuer in Gedanken und Gebet verfolgt haben: Ich bin mir sicher, ich habe euch gespĂĽrt, wenn’s schwierig wurde – ihr habt meinen Dank! Ich wĂĽnsche jedem von euch gesegnete und friedliche Feiertage, wie auch immer ihr sie feiert (oder auch nicht)!
Alles Liebe,
Evamaria
[Deutsch unten]
21 December, 7:30pm (on the plane)
My week in the luxurious and tourist-y surroundings of Miami Beach was as uneventful as I had hoped. I found myself coping surprisingly well with the radical change from poverty to consumerism (there was a lot of shopping, starting with warm clothes because the weather was considerably cooler than I’d expected when getting rid of most of my clothes in Jacmel) – but relating to people proved more challenging.
I did not seek out company from anyone, preferring to go for walks (along the beach, to the Botanical Garden and the Holocaust Memorial) or curl up in bed with a book, my laptop or American TV (which is almost unwatchable due to the high frequency of commercial breaks). It just felt like the most natural thing to do, giving me time to get used to the prospect of re-joining “normal” life and people. After seven days of this I’m still feeling somewhat reluctant at the thought of having to put my experiences in Haiti into words, trying to connect them to the life experiences of my family and friends.
There’s some serious disconnect in my mind, which I noticed most clearly when I went on a bus and boat tour of Miami – the city and historical bits were fine (although everything feels so much less vibrant, so very civilised), but the boat trip around the artificial islands in Biscayne Bay with the celebrity villas just made me feel like an alien. How can anyone seriously care about where JLo and Ricky Martin live, standing there gawking as if rich people’s houses were of any relevance at all? I have rarely felt more disconnected from my surroundings before.
Having this week was definitely helpful and will hopefully help me acclimatise to life at home at bit more quickly. Being in frequent Facebook contact with my GVN family helps, too – just knowing that there’s other people in the same situation feels good. And I love knowing that a number of them will go back next year, keeping alive the connection with Jacmel and the people I’ve come to love there.
On a more cheerful note, today at the airport I managed to upload my Miami photos to Flickr.
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21. Dezember, 19.30 Uhr (im Flugzeug)
Meine Woche im luxuriösen und touristischen Miami Beach war so ereignislos wie erhofft. Der krasse Ăśbergang von Armut zu Konsum fiel mir ĂĽberraschend leicht (es gab viel Shopping, angefangen mit warmen Kleidern, da das Wetter um einiges kĂĽhler war als erwartet wenn ich die meisten meiner Kleider in Jacmel liess) – aber der Umgang mit Menschen fiel mir schwerer.
Ich blieb fĂĽr mich, ging spazieren (den Strand entlang, zum botanischen Garten und dem Holocaust-Denkmal) oder machte es mir im Bett mit einem Buch, meinem Laptop oder amerikanischem Fernsehen gemĂĽtlich. Es fĂĽhlte sich natĂĽrlich an, gab mir Zeit, mich an den Gedanken zu gewöhnen, wieder Teil des “normalen” Lebens zu werden. Nach sieben solchen Tagen fällt mir der Gedanke immer noch nicht ganz leicht, meine Erlebnisse in Haiti in Worte zu fassen, sie mit den Erfahrungen meiner Familie und Freunde zu vereinbaren.
Diese Unvereinbarkeit in meinem Kopf wurde mir besonders klar auf der Bus- und Boottour von Miami, auf die ich am Montag ging: Die Stadt und Geschichte waren okay (obwohl alles weniger farbenfroh wirkt, so zivilisiert), aber während der Bootstour um die künstlichen Inseln in der Bucht von Biscayne mit den Villen der Stars fühlte ich mich wie eine Ausserirdische. Wie kann es jemandem wichtig sein, wo JLo und Ricky Martin leben, wie kann man da stehen und die Häuser von reichen Leuten anstarren, als ob sie irgendwie relevant wären? Ich habe mich selten so fremd in meinem Umfeld gefühlt.
Diese Woche war definitiv gut fĂĽr mich und wird mir hoffentlich dabei helfen, mich etwas schneller an das Leben daheim zu gewöhnen. Häufiger Facebook-Kontakt mit meiner GVN-Familie hilft auch – schon zu wissen, dass es andere Menschen in der gleichen Situation gibt, fĂĽhlt sich gut an. Und es ist toll zu wissen, dass mehrere von ihnen nächstes Jahr zurĂĽckgehen werden und so die Verbindung mit Jacmel und den Menschen, die ich dort schätzen gelernt habe, aufrecht zu erhalten.
Um mit einer froheren Note zu enden: Heute am Flughafen schaffte ich es, meine Miami-Fotos auf Flickr hochzuladen.
You can now find all my Haiti photos in my Flickr album. I might add some other people’s photos in time, but these are all of mine.
