oh how fragile we are

i stand in absolute awesomeness and awe staring out at the life we live.. Yet a tear wells up from the corner of my aye (eye).. we oscillate between happiness and sadness at the drop of a hat, when we speak of we who do we speak of, in general we speak of the the general we, not of the specific we and definitely not of the Wii.. Heavens no, there is a life beyond the puta screen and definitely the TV screen.

what is it we hold dear to ourselves about our existence in this mortal coil or is it on this mortal coil.. cannot really be sure at this stage. Standing from a far i must apologize about certain misconceptions and preconceptions and illusions i may have ahd about certain things, and this wil be cryptic to protect those and myself..

But there are things that supprise me both in the positive and the negative about being human, humanity and my impression of others or my humanity. Somethings amaze me and disappoint me. There are things that I am clearer about, there are things i am sure about. so where to now, quo Vardis, like before we can never be sure which way the wind blows, like before i am not sure .. i just don't know.. but there are things which resonate and other things that leave me cold..

one being one thing i always contended to.. i hope that is the opposite of contesting? :-) That being that I would not subscribe to views of expats of my own origin.. expats are wonderful in terms of the diversity of life, spirit, baggage and ideas they drag forwards like heavy pack horses not leaving their burdens behind.. But these burdens are those things which form them and those who interact with them.. directly and indirectly. with this i do, however, categorically want to state that the notion of holding onto things in the past should at best be a bad thought in terms of culture and origins other than that they are things that form us .. this is now spiraling into an argument which can be seen from to many sides.. do not get me wrong in terms of the value that new ideas bring into a society and interactions of various memes and the growth in though that it creates, but remaining in a meme can lead to dead end in terms of the evolution of thought and the adaptation to an environment which is different from where the meme originated. sometimes memes need to change, sometimes they must stay the same to hold dear those things which are off value. But beware when the meme is more overpowering than the reality of the appropriate interaction required. I must apologize for the randomness and un-constructedness of the current discussion which i will have to re-think and re-enter .. we are making breakfast .. and there is noise and confusion and requirements for me to interact on a more human level and not through the threads of thoughts emanating from the tips of my fingers ..

ok more later on salt and life and thoughts and pillars of society and change and people and the value of friendship new and old and rekindled.

part two of a strange man in a strange land

Yes i suppose we knew it would be different.. but the things that are different are not so strange .. maybe moving to another country the biggest stress at this stage is starting a new job and figuring out where everythign is ...

But for once i must admit and say i work for a multinational company who embracess technologies.. sitting here on this little rock in the middle of the ocean under a hail of streaky white clouds all my meetings are either via arkinfo which I know is very old wroldish .. but the the bulk are all in video conference mode .. so no sleeping and ass scratching through the meetings whilst sleeping on teleconferences .. Aesh wickedly wierd stuffs ...

LOL

yes it is a strange world .. other than that anita is makign good headway in finding the NZ moot, apparently the Chinese got there before the caucasians .. but hey wTF .. we will go there then..

and yes things are expensive here .. but after a little thought .. yes we should have thought about it a little more .. this is one damn isolated palce ..

:-)

no seriously it will take us a while to work out the anomolies in society here .. chicken more expensive than beef .. fish cheaper than all of them .. strange .. we ate huge pieces of sole to repair our sole last night and that was cheaper than chikin or chook stew ... insane ..

But the Coffee.. now there is something to behold .. in your life you ahve never seen so many coffee shops .. every corner and building is littered with them .. and awesome coffee is had by all and sundry ...

yummeeee ..

amazing things ..

so now i stand fishing rod in hand, no way to get anywhere yet, but i am ready..
and yes .. i decided i might just buy a hi-ace .. they called something else here ... practical and it will remind me of home ... good and bad times :-)
second hand cars are insanely cheap .. u can pick up a very fucntional car, albeit high km's for between 7- 25k ZAR ... and there are some awesome cars in the 7kZAR bracket .. and they do annual RWC's or actually for older cars bi-annual RWC's so they seem safe-ish ..

now just to see where we will stay .. part 2 of the muli-numerous adventure ..


some more on bio-security down the line ..

cites and parrot feathers .... Bla Bla ...

stranger in strange land and the story of a refugee in the first world

oh boy things are weird on the other side of the world.

i am now the stranger in the strange land .. and things are strange here ..
people are stranger. And not pretty.. yes they are not pretty..

But let me first speak of the long flight. the weirdly not so long time wise yet very long flight. In clock time it only took 11 plus 3 hours which in relative time is not all that bad .. it is like driving down to cape town, but throw in 10 hours of time difference and it lands up taking almost 2 days ..

the 3 hour hop from sydney to wellington takes 5 hours start at 6:50 land at just after 11:50..

and yes we are totally zoned out :)

our computer clock is still on yesterday's time linking to ZA time .. but it is today here now i can see the sun .. or ish ..

yes we had a sunny day yesterday..

oh I do I do have to tell of my fantastic biosecurity and customs adventures. Whilst the stranger is still car less (and BTB the people are damn friendly) (and out of the family it appears as if i will be the first to transgress and adapt the lingo and voice patterns... note not by choice .. it just seems that my voice drifts that way). so being carless it means we have to walk every where .. so i sent all my fishing goodies along with as extra un attended baggage ... ^&*%^&$%^$# so it was supposed to be simple ... BAH humbug ..
firstly it gets sent to another terminal totally .. airport being FAR away from where we stay and work ...
secondly i then find out it lands on another day ..
thirdly i then figure out i need to deal with Biosecurity or the so called MAF first.. then customs .. so i look ont he interweb find the offices adn start walking all to the other side of the city near westpac stadium i am told .. and i walk and i walk .. and wonder around aimlessly in the sun .. Yes the frigin sun .. sweating like a pig .. in my work clothes and runnign shoes .. this day really turned for the worse. I trudged along walking throught the industrial areas of wellington to eventually find my destination nestled jsut behind the kiwi rugby union.. i am sure i am supposed to spit on the floor or something after saying that.. or is it kiss.. my sensibilities are definitely leaving me here now .. so i find the office and these are serious people with serious forms and sensibilities .. look the the people from parke'raad.. So eventually julie helps me .. and i fill in the 5 page document .. and se walks off.. i wait and wait and try not to look stupid .,... not knowing what to do.. so I eventually realised i might be waiting in vane.. so i left and walked abck to wellington.. 20 minutes later just as i reach wellington to go and buy a skype camera. They phone me and say i must come and pick up my form. I then start the long walk back.. and firstly my damn bank card (new does not work) .. oh the life of a foorlong refugee ..
So i walk and walk and walk and walk and pick up my forms .. only to be sent to customs to go and fill in more forms and pay more money .. now these dudes are really serious dudes .. no humour at all and no human interaction as i stand behind the counter. and 37NZ$ later and 30 minutes of sitting and waiting and filling in forms and declarations .. i can rush away .. only to be told by new employer.. that i need to come for a meeting with the self same customs people in an IT meeting .. LOL so I rush back in my work clothes and in my running shoes. and that meeting went on and went on. then later on the Biosecurity people phoning me back about this and that .. and asking about the piece of porcupine fur .... For frig sake .. it is a piece of klipspringer fur.. and then about the parrot feathers .. the FRIGIN parrot feathers .. ROTFL ... damn where would i get parrot feathers from .. they are worried that they are protected. these are damn chikin or chook feathers that have been dyed .. LOL

oh well enough for now .. Later dudes .. and dudesses