Leaving New Zealand

I left New Zealand last week. This was earlier than I had originally planned, but it was time to go. I had received word that my brother in law Del was getting worse. Del was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in November. We had all hoped that he would last the year, but it looked now like it was time to return. I wanted to help him with his transition back to the spiritual realm, and help my sister Pat with her own transition back to the single life. She and Del were high school sweethearts, and Pat had never lived by herself.
I had to think quickly how I would handle the logistics. I decided to leave my bike and trailer in Nelson, and stay in the US until mid September, when I would return to New Zealand and continue my volunteer work. Rebekah from the Nelson City Church very kindly offered to store my bike and trailer in her garage. So I took nearly all of my gear over to her house (see photo), and tucked it out of the way in her garage.



I took a last couple of sunset photos from the deck of the Couchsurfing Collective house, turned in my leased computer, said lots of goodbyes, had a group hug at the Collective, and got a ride to the Nelson airport Friday morning, March 23.






I had to stop in Auckland for a few hours to pick up my US passport and drivers' license, and other bits and pieces before continuing on to the US. Penny, my Auckland angel, picked me up at the airport. On the way home, we stopped for a cup of chai at a cafe. As I was waiting for the chai to be made, I noticed the cafe had some very lovely tile work. One tile in particular, on the ceiling, told me what this building used to be.
















I thought the cattle beast on the ceiling had a particularly knowing look in his eye.


Penny kindly lets me keep some of my gear in her garage. And she let me borrow a car to go to my safe deposit box, and buy an EasiYo yogurt maker and yogurt to take with me. Someday I may give up dairy products, but I am not ready to just yet. Especially my EasiYo!!












Then it was time to head for the airport again. Penny took me once again, which is a big deal, because it is an hour and a half drive from where she lives to the airport - one way. We took her 2 year old grandson Tyler with us, as Penny was looking after him that day.
We were happily chatting away in the car, and were almost to the airport, when we heard a thump, and saw what looked like white smoke coming out of the back of the car. But nothing seemed to be wrong. No flat tire, no funny noises, hmmmmm. Maybe we just ran over something. But at the next stop light we heard a noise from the engine. But the heat guage was normal, and the oil pressure was OK. Hmmmmm. The noise from the engine went away as we left the stop light. And then a little later we heard it again. Sounded like a loose tie rod end to me. And then the engine quit. And it smelled like something was burning. Penny pulled off the road, and we opened the hood. No smoke. No fluids dripping on the road. Hmmmmm. I called the AA (New Zealand's AAA), and they were going to send someone out. I had to stay with the car though, which might make me miss my plane. A dilemma. Penny realized she also had some emergency towing coverage, but not AA, and called them. So I canceled my AA request. Right about then the airport emergency services guys stopped to see if they could help. They asked if we had tried starting the vehicle. We hadn't. It had been about an hour since we had pulled off the road by now. The car started right up, and Penny drove it around the parking lot we were close to. No problem. Hmmmmm. So she decided to chance it, and head for home. I got a ride the rest of the way to the airport with the emergency guys. Sitting in the airplane waiting for it to take off, I sent a text message to Penny, to see if she made it home OK. She replied that the car had failed again, and she was now waiting for a tow truck. Hmmmm. And then it was time to turn off all electrical equipment prior to takeoff.

I have since learned that the bump we heard was a water line breaking, and the flash of white smoke was water vapor. I can only guess that the heat guage didn't work. Her engine may be shot, because that burning smell was a very hot engine, which shut down twice. When Penny finally got a tow truck to show up, the driver was a very rough talking guy covered with tattoos. She feared for her life at one point, she said. But it all turned out OK. The tow truck guy had a good heart, and Penny and Tyler made it home safely.

My travels had only begun, really. I flew to Los Angeles, and changed terminals to fly on Delta. I helped a young woman who had been on my flight from New Zealand figure out how to find her terminal. She had a bike and a BOB trailer with her, big boxes loaded on a cart, just like I had been 7 weeks earlier. When you get off the planes in LAX, it is not easy to find someone to tell you where to go, when you can't use the bus system. So I was glad I was able to help her.

I had an interesting experience at LAX. I was in line waiting to go through the metal detector. The security guy with the wand at the other side was a big black guy who was telling all of us in a loud voice to keep our boarding passes out as we came through. He was pretty intimidating. But for some reason, as I came through the metal detector, he said "God Bless you, ma'am". I was so stunned all I could do was say 'thank you', and quickly pick up my hand luggage off the belt. He hadn't said anything like that to any of the people before or after me, and I wasn't wearing any kind of religious symbolism on me at all. And I am sure I don't look like his grandmother. Hmmmmm.

My plane stopped in Salt Lake City to change crew and passengers. I was about the only one that was continuing on. I had half an hour to go buy something to eat and bring it back to the plane. (US airlines rarely feed you now). I bought the vegetarian special at the Chinese place, and brought it on the plane. This was a mistake, because the garlic smell was overwhelming. I wasn't sure how best to handle this. Here I was with this very 'fragrant' meal sitting on my lap, with two guys on either side of me who weren't eating anything. I knew it would get worse once I opened it up to eat. I had to do something. So I touched them both on their arms to get their attention, I apologized for the smell, and asked if they would like to share my meal with me. It was the only thing I could think of doing, short of dumping it in the bathroom. And I wasn't about to do that. Both my fellow travelers politely declined my offer, so I ate my decidedly smelly meal amid what I expect were the silent groans of all the people in that section of the aircraft. Everyone was too polite to comment. No more Chinese takeaways for me.

A far worse tragedy was that I was so tired by the end of this flight that I forgot my Sharp Wizard organizer in the seatpocket in front of my seat, and didn't realize it until an hour later. This was like leaving my brain behind. I have everything in there. Surprisingly, I was not very disturbed about this. It's OK. I can figure out how to get by without it. It has not yet been turned in, but I am not too worried about all my confidential info in it, because all the data is password protected. My card is taped to the outside, and if you turn it on all you see is who owns it. So it may well find its way back to me still. And if not, I have a backup organizer in the safe deposit box in Nelson, and my angel Penny will send it to me. It has all the same information in it except what I added while I was in Nelson. So it is not a serious loss. Most of what I added in Nelson was quotes from the superb book "The Power of Now", by Eckhart Tolle. So I just need to buy another copy of it, and enter the quotes again.

Couchsurfing Collective 4 and Free Hugs

The Global Kids shop is now up and running, and I had a great time at the Saturday market and the shop. I confirmed that 100% of every dollar spent in the shop goes back to the children's school in Bawana, India. All the costs for the clothing, the shipping, the space, and of course us workers is all donated. So I can imagine people wearing one of these beautiful pieces of clothing, and when people comment on it, the wearer can tell the wonderful story of the Global Kids shop and how it came to be.

I was lucky to find a free bike maintenance class being held in Nelson during my stay here. I have learned some interesting new tips, such as

• A stiff link in your chain will clank as you ride. Clean and oil it.



• Teflon oil helps the dirt fall off, and wax lasts longer



• Use tie downs instead of bungy cords.



• Kerosene cleans wood sap.



• It's sand and grit you want to get rid of



• If you jump curbs, you can get flat tires where the holes look like snake bites.



• Glass sticks to soft tires, and to wet tires. So keep your tires pumped up hard, and avoid wet pavement.

The instructor noticed my tires were not pumped up much, and used her heavy duty floor pump and added quite a bit more air. It was a much different experience going home after that class!!! It felt soooo good!

From the guidance in the class, I knew I had to clean my chain. I had taken the bike onto the beach on a windy day, and there was sand in the chain. My biggest challenge was figuring out some way to hoist up the bike so I could move the pedals with one hand, and clean the chain with the other. An unused bed frame left on the side of the house served my purpose. So this was the first time in living memory that I cleaned my chain!!

Living at the Couchsurfing Collective, normally the food is prepared in the kitchen and people come through and grab a plate or bowl. But once in a great while, we clean off the laptops and cables off the tables in the work room, and bring them into the living room for a real sit down dinner. Here is a photo of one of these dinners. Once we even said grace before dinner.

Dinner is invariably ready after sunset. Here are a couple more amazing sunsets from the house at 22 The Cliffs in Nelson.

Here is my bed at The Cliffs. My sister Sue sewed the very special small travel pillow case for me: one side is flannel for cold weather, and one side is cotton for warm weather. The bed is very comfortable, but squeaky. Because I go to bed much earlier than the others, I sleep with earplugs and a light mask every night. Once I put those earplugs in, the chatting and laughter just disappears. I am reminded of the Eddy Arnold song 'Make the World Go Away', whenever I put them in.

Though I no longer eat meat, fish or shellfish, I am still eating eggs and dairy products. Last Saturday I was at the local farmer's market, and spotted a lady selling free range eggs. I purchased a dozen from her, and asked her how long she lets her hens live before they are killed. She made my day when she replied: "We don't kill our hens. We pension them off." I have lived in New Zealand long enough to know what that meant. The hens retire and are sent to the 'old yolks home', to live out their lives with others of their flock. Nina, the lady who owned the hens, said that they just sleep a lot more as they age, and eventually die. I was so delighted to learn this, that I requested that we buy her eggs for the Collective. And now we are. They cost 15 cents NZ more per egg, and well worth the difference. Even the vegan among us is willing to eat those eggs.

If there were milk available on the shelf from cows allowed to live out their lives, I would drink it. Maybe in India I will find such a thing.

Also at the Saturday Farmer's Market I ran across Ted and his amazing bike. Ted is ready for the coming global oil crash, and we had an interesting chat about things. http://www.xaccess.org/ is the nonprofit arm of this cycle company. They are working on getting these bikes out to the people who need them in Africa. This is of interest to me!

Free Hugs Day in Nelson

This was the most fun I have had in a long time! A new Collective member, Callum, suggested that we go downtown and offer free hugs, as they were doing in Melbourne Australia. Lots of us loved the idea. So Callum contacted the local media, and Friday afternoon we converged on a busy corner in central Nelson and proceeded to give hugs to one and all who were willing to be hugged by strangers. Most folks were willing to have a hug. Some weren't. Some people asked why we were doing it, and were wondering if we were raising money. I learned I 'give good hug'. We even hugged the occasional motorist, and at least one bicyclist and a motorcyclist! I enjoyed it so much I think I will do it on my own sometimes as I travel.

This is me hugging a motorist.

The Free Hugs originated with an Australian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Hugs_Campaign. If you have high speed internet, take a look at the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4 It's great!!! And it is very much like what we did yesterday.

Justin Duckworth. Last week the Nelson City Church brought in a fabulous guest speaker, Justin Duckworth. Justin is a long time friend of Karel. I really wanted to get a photo of him and his dredlocks for you, but decided it wasn't perhaps quite appropriate. We were invited to a pot luck at Karel and Mary Ann's home after church, and I went. It was a great opportunity to get to know people better. Here are a few quotes from Justin's excellent talk:

The more successful we become, the more separated we are from the poor.

Look into the eyes of the broken and see Jesus there.

Search out one person who will break our heart, who we can give our life to.

We risk going down in history as the generation that entertained our lives away.

I offered to do a bit of gardening for Karel and Mary Ann, and returned today to help out. It was a perfect day. Warm and cloudy, and even a warm sprinkle at one point. Mary Ann is shown here doing some weeding, while I trim the shrub.

5 Things You Didn't Know Your Cell Phone Could Do

This was sent to me by my friend Callista. I didn't know any of these. For me, it is really good to know about the global emergency number

5 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool forsurvival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST: Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself outof the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish theemergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialedeven if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND: Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry?
This may come in handy someday.Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and thespare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from yourcell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and havethe person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobilephone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to driveyour keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of milesaway, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car,you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car overa cell phone!"

THIRD: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50%increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cellnext time.

FOURTH: How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits onyour phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This numberis unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. Whenyour phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give themthis code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thiefchanges the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won'tget your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can'tuse/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point inpeople stealing mobile phones.

FIFTH: Free Directory Service for Cells in the USA
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry atelephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more ofa problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial:(800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

I would also like to remind people to program your ICE number into your phone: "In Case of Emergency". Police and emergency workers know to look for the ICE number on your cell phone.

Free!! Free!! Free!!!

I thought that would get your attention!

I recently found a most interesting web site: http://www.freecycle.org/, an organization which helps communities all over the world unload their unwanted items, which other people can really use! I am all for this idea, so I am sharing it with you.

Here is how it works: (from their website): "When you want to find a new home for something -- whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door -- you simply send an e-mail offering it to members of the local Freecycle group.
Or, maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member's offer, and you just might get it. After that, it's up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure.
Our main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.
Non-profit organizations also benefit from The Freecycle Network. Post the item or items you want to give away and specify that you wish the gift to go to a nonprofit cause. It's entirely your choice! It's a free cycle of giving. The Freecycle Network is incorporated as a nonprofit organization and is tax-exempt under the IRS 501(c)3 ruling."

Sounds great, and their website is easy to use. Is your community listed? Go see!!

Couchsurfing Collective 3

Life in Nelson continues to be interesting, though not as interesting as a couple of weeks ago! Rebekah and I have finished painting shelves and desk for the Global Kids shop which she started.


Here is Rebekah in the shop the night before it opened. Several of us gathered there to pray for its success, and so far it is working well. The opening of the shop warranted front page news in the local Nelson paper. I will be working in the shop this coming Saturday for the first time.















My hair is really beginning to grow out, now. It has so many colors in it that it reminded me of this grass I walk by regularly on my way into town, so I thought I would take a photo of 'us'.

This is a photo of most of the Collective participants that I am working with. No, they have not just been told the organization is folding, though you might think that from the looks on their faces. They are all watching the video I watched the week before: The Earthlings. It is pretty serious stuff, and the next morning we had a few more vegetarians and a vegan to cook for.

Isn't this an interesting project in the river? I took the opportunity to wander along the river after a doctor's appointment in town (my thyroid scan), and I spotted this! Look how clear the Maitai river is, flowing right through the center of town. A town of 42,000 people, no less. You can see the rocks all along the bottom. Wouldn't it be great if we could see that in Algona????? It used to be this way, you know.

My thyroid is better than last year, according to the scan, so I get to keep it for a while longer. Thanks for your prayers, everyone!

This photo shows the balancing act one needs to perform when vacuuming at the Quebec Road Collective house. You have to keep the 'on' button pushed down for it to run. We were cleaning the place in preparation for Casey's surprise birthday party. Casey, the founder of The Couchsurfing Project, www.couchsurfing.com turned 29 last week, and we had a party. And what a party!

Joe Edelman, one of our team of Couchsurfing volunteers, helped us think up some fun party activities. We put together a stack of cards with specific instructions to people, and times on the back. We handed them out to the party guests when they arrived. Nearly all were completely random except for a few individuals who had specific assignments just for them. The guests could trade cards with each other if they wished, in case they didn't want to do what their card said for them to do. So, for example, one person had a card that said they were to go to the downstairs bedroom, locate the hula skirts and flower bras, and walk around with them saying "Hula, Hula!" And that was it for their assignment. Another person had a card that said "Find a person holding a hula skirt, take it from them and put it on, and go find a man with a guitar. Prepare to dance." Another person had a card that said "Find Casey, and get him to the lounge". Each card had a specific time on it, so that the entire activity came together appropriately, and the people who were part of it got to understand as it happened how their part fit into the whole.




Shai, shown here, had the assignment of being a fortune teller, and she had to come up with a creative fortune for Casey, while being heckled and also supported by 'plants' in the audience. We had some new fun thing happen every 15 minutes for 2 hours. On the cards were putting on bunny ears and tails and collecting others for a bunny hop snake dance through the house, Mission Impossible music and Casey and Andrew dressed up as secret agents and firing their 'hand' guns at people, a card that required you to exchange clothes with someone else, etc.



















The grand finale was a chocolate custard pie being smashed into poor Casey's face. My assignment in this dastardly plot was to lure Casey out onto the deck and keep him there until the pie person came to do the deed. Casey was a good sport, and after he was full of chocolate cream pie, he made sure lots of people nearby wore plenty of it, too.
Later in the evening, nearly everyone else went out to a club. I stayed home and cleaned the place up a bit and went to bed. The next morning, I awoke to a disaster area of such proportions (photo at left) that I decided to take myself out for a leisurely breakfast and a visit to the local market, and let others do some cleaning. And they did! I returned to a neat and tidy house around 2 that afternoon. It was great!

I spent the rest of the day after the party packing my things, and putting the trailer together, as I was moving over to the other house that the Couchsurfing Collective is renting in Nelson. Shai wanted to spend time in the Quebec Rd house, and I wanted to get to know the folks better in The Cliffs house. Our neighbors on The Cliffs (the name of the street) have million dollar views, and houses to match. Here is one.

Here are some sample views they enjoy. The white dots in the photo on the left are sailboats. Wednesday is race day in Nelson, and people go out after work to race their sailboats. And we get to watch.





As you look at the photo below, imagine me climbing up this hill with my bike and fully loaded trailer. That is what I am training every day to do. Right now, I can do it without stopping if the trailer has a light load of 15 pounds. I need to get up to a load of 75 pounds by mid April. Wish me luck!
















My second night at The Cliffs I made dinner, and had someone take a photo of me grating carrots for a salad. Cooking for 20 people requires a lot of work!










The photo on the left is my view as I work during the day at The Cliffs. And the last two photos are of an amazing sunset a couple of nights ago.