Yeah, But What Are You LEARNING?

Ok, so I'm doing all of this amazing traveling, getting to meet new people and share these awesome experiences with the (mostly) nicest group of folks I could hope to live with 24/7... but what I'm I learning, you might ask?

We have a lot of readings, guest lecturers and journals to keep of our activities. This week we met with someone from the World Wildlife Federation on the impact of tourism and climate change on the environment and creatures here, the Department of Labor about immigration and seasonal worker policies, took a tour of Parliament and learned about policy administration, met with two professors from the University about ethnographical research of the Maori and ethics in studying indigenous tribes and learned about the changing landscape of New Zealand based on farming and industrialization. How's that for a start? Our WWOOFing (which is working on organic farms in exchange for room and board, btw) experience ties into our ethnographical research, too. We keep two journals during this trip- one for our field notes (jottings about everything we see and do) and one for reflections on our readings. Everybody in this class has a different focus and interest. It makes for some great conversation...

Here's a little sample of what I wrote during part of my WWOOFing time:

"4/23:

Slept in a converted rail car last night. Awesome hippie place. The car is rusty red, set in the woods about 100 yards from the main house. It has signs in it indicating what you should and shouldn't do (turn lights off when you leave, don't leave the gas on)... they get lots of guests here. There's a giant beast of a wood stove that's hard to get going. Katie woke us in the middle of the night, dropping wood and clanging about trying to get it restarted. Slept really well, though. I love cold rooms.

First day of work today. Jo says everyone has their own circadian rhythm and to wake and work when we want to. Breakfast is in the main house. Jo has cupboards full of WWOOFer food. We can feed ourselves in between the awesome meals she makes. I have muesli and milk, instant coffee and sit outside with Hannah to eat and marvel at our surroundings. I keep having moments where I think about this experience and try to relate it to my research question or this course but it's impacting so much of how I feel about my life in general. I feel so grateful to be here. I'm so happy in this environment. I am living without fear or concern. I feel so safe here. Even in this strange hippie house. Living in Eugene for so long and being exposed to ferrets on hemp leashes, patchouli, recycled everything, beer in mason jars, dreadlocks and pot everywhere has made me weary of anything hippie. And here we are living in it. I'm out of my comfort zone yet so comfortable. I feel so at peace. I think about other WWOOFers and the NZ travel experience. How do they feel about traveling this way? You'd have to have a lot of time to do this and still see the rest of NZ. You'd have to be a several month kind of vacationer. But what an experience! Being out here, though, would make it hard to do anything but exist here. Good for hikers, campers or those who want to explore just being. Or just being in the New Plymouth area. Also, what is it about being in nature that makes me so introspective???

I think about the idea of what we NEED versus what we WANT. This place is a mish mash of other people's castaways. Trinkets dot every corner. But they make it all work. There's an old card catalog in the kitchen for odd tools or bits of things and each shelf is labeled something clever like "Wubberbands" or "Punches, Kicks and Cold Shoulders" or "Pointy Bits and Things To Sharpen 'Em Wiff". So clever! Thinking about the quality of life out here and standards. Back home this kind of place might seem trashy or "poor" but they have this million dollar view, fresh water, fresh air and it's so quiet and peaceful. Surely these elements speak to a greater quality of life. Or maybe it's a trade off for the culture you get in urban areas..."

And that was just up to breakfast that day! So, you get a little bit of what I'm doing. Kind of. All of this research and learning and exploring will result in a final project on the "New Zealand Experience". My research is geared toward this experience as a commodity in New Zealand. You can pay to do all sorts of extreme sports here. There's bungee jumping, sky diving, rolling down a hill in a giant hamster wheel... It's crazy.

Obviously I'm loving my time here. I highly recommend NZ as a travel destination. The people are so friendly. And it's gorgeous!