Working Travel: Realizing a Dream in a Year

Chapter 4 Travel is illusory, but dreams are not
free lunch

Because my money is much looser, I don't need to worry about the next day's lunch for the time being. As the parting is getting closer, I start to think about the next stop.In the end, I decided to change accommodation with local people in New Zealand. Firstly, I wanted to rest, secondly, to get out the translation, and thirdly, I wanted to understand New Zealand better and better integrate into this country.

I have written emails to many local families through the website, but either I have helpers or I have no work for the time being.It doesn't bother me, I make it myself if I don't have a chance.

Dear xx&yy:

Hello
I am a three-good young man from China. I am eight feet tall and handsome. I am healthy and do not smoke.I saw your advertisement on the website and felt that all the conditions were met, so I took the liberty to apply. I wonder if there is still a chance to exchange room and board?

Although what you need is a French teacher, I think speaking Chinese is also great. Consider letting your children learn Chinese!
Hope to reply.All the best!

Wu Fei
As a result, the other party responded as follows:

Hello Wu Fei!

Thanks for your letter.

Chinese is indeed a great language!But we have a Frenchman in our family and have to learn French... It is our loss to miss such a fine young man as you.

I wish you all the best in New Zealand!
From a week before the end of kiwi fruit picking, I began to look for a place to change, but none of them succeeded.Until one day, I received a letter from a family that had rejected me before.

Hi Fei!

We talked to the girl and she said she wouldn't mind being in the same room with you.Your job is to chop wood, weed, smash cement, five hours a day.Come if you are strong enough and physically fit!If you don't have a car, we can come and pick you up.

Looking forward to meeting you!

Before I wrote an email to inquire, the head of the household told me that there was already a French girl helping in their home, so there was no need for a new helper for the time being.Didn't expect the turning point to appear so soon.I immediately agreed and made an appointment to meet.

The first Monday in June is the birthday of the Queen of England (the rules of different Commonwealth countries are different, such as Australia is the second Monday in June), this morning, I was restless waiting for Rudy in Jeff's living room .

Shortly after 8 o'clock, the sound of a car horn came from outside the door. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw a sturdy foreigner get out of the car.I hurriedly said goodbye to Jeff and went out to greet him.

"You are Rudy?"

"Yes, it's me. Get in the car."

I got into the co-pilot and felt curious eyes behind me. Looking back, I saw two cute little boys staring at me with blue eyes.

"Zach and Cagan, my son." Rudy introduced.He was smiling all the time, and I felt the distance between each other being drawn closer.

"Hey, how are you guys." I waved to the back seat.

"Hello," Zach said.

Cagan's little head was spinning wildly, and he was not very good at talking.

The atmosphere in the car was a bit awkward, and everyone didn't speak for a moment.The bad thing is that I don't know what to say. I have been in New Zealand for almost a month and I haven't spoken English well yet.I'm hot now, my tongue is curling, and I wish I could get to Rudy's sooner.

Fortunately, Rudy broke the deadlock. He asked me which city in China I was from, how long I had been in New Zealand, and what I had done. After chatting, I was no longer so nervous.

After 20 minutes, the car turned into an uphill dirt road. At the end of the road was a wooden house with a pointed roof, like a villa. The chimney of the stove did not emit gas, but it seemed to drive away a little bit of chill.As soon as I got out of the car, I was surrounded, and two big dogs jumped on my lap eagerly, scaring me.

"This is Tui, this is Phoebe, and they welcome you," Rudy told me.

Entering the door is kissing, first the middle-aged hostess, and then a young girl. I have grown up so much, and I have never been kissed by a girl other than my girlfriend. My ears are hot and my face is probably red.

"Hello..." I stuttered with excitement.

"No, let me introduce you. This is Marion. She just came here two days ago." Julie is such a passionate woman.

I headed into the room and was awed by the size of the kitchen.The size of this kitchen is amazing. The 5-meter long cooking table and bar span the entire room, and a dining table for 6 people is placed on the side near the window.

After unpacking in the bedroom, Rudy gave me a tour of the home.There is a tin building behind the main house, which is Rudy's workshop. The road forks in front of the workshop, leading to the uphill and downhill respectively.There is an orchard on the mountain, and some fruit trees are planted, including apple trees, pear trees and peach trees.Also raised some poultry chickens and ducks.Seeing someone, they rushed over, probably because they were hungry.The road leading down the mountain meanders down the hillside. Many small saplings are planted on this hillside. Rudy said that this is to prevent soil erosion and provide a habitat for birds.Pointing to the dense forest on the opposite hillside, he said, "Three or four years ago, that hillside was just like our house, with only grass. Can't you imagine it?"

"The tree grows so fast? I can't imagine it."

"Two years from now, it will be completely different here."

We descended carefully, avoiding stepping on saplings, and came to an open flat.There are two pigpens directly opposite, each with a pig, and on the right is another hillside, where three cows are strolling leisurely.

"Marion feeds these guys every morning."

"What do they eat?"

"Tomorrow you'll find out."

Turning around in a circle, I started today's work.

"What's my job today?" I asked Rudy.

"Have you ever chopped wood?"

"No……"

"Come with me, I will teach you."

We came to a small open space next to the workshop, where some logs cut into small pieces by a chainsaw were piled up. Rudy told me that these logs were sent by the neighbors around.

He put a log on a thick stake, swung his arm round, and split the log in two with the axe.

"It's like this, it's very simple," he said with a smile, "I'll make a more difficult one."

After speaking, he picked up a much thicker log, which obviously couldn't be split in two.

"For this kind of big guy, just circle around and start chopping from the side. When the diameter is small, you can start from the middle. You're fine, try it."

He handed me the axe.

I swung my arm round as usual, but unfortunately the ax seemed to have no eyes, and it was skewed.I slashed three times in a row, either the edge was crooked, or I couldn't aim at the center of the wood.

"Just practice more, no problem." Rudy was very sure, leaving me alone and leaving.

"You're going to grow new muscles on your back next year!" Jolie joked.

When chopping firewood, I thought of Haizi's poems.

Be a happy man from tomorrow on

Feed horses, chop wood, travel the world
Caring about food and vegetables from tomorrow
I have a house, facing the sea, with spring flowers blooming
From tomorrow, communicate with every loved one
tell them my happiness
That happy lightning told me
I will tell everyone
Give every river and every mountain a warm name
Stranger, I also bless you
May you have a bright future
May your lover be married

May you be happy in this world

I just want to face the sea, the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming
I am approaching such happiness. The long journey has just begun. I am standing in the green field on the other side of the world, and the sea is in the distance. What do I need to worry about?The hunger of animals, the price of food, the time for postcards to cross the sea?

I can spend afternoon after afternoon carefree and doing nothing.Being in a daze is a luxury in the city, and now that I can squander such a luxury, I think this is happiness.

Half an hour later, I found some doorways, and the wood I split was at least less grinning.Marion cooperated with me and moved the firewood I chopped into the small shed for shelter from the rain.This morning's work is over.

New Zealanders' lunch is usually very simple, with a few pieces of bread, a few pieces of bacon, and a sandwich.I was not used to it, so I said, "I eat a lot at noon."

"Our habit is to eat more hearty at night, but if you have any requirements, just say, we won't starve our guests."

In foreign countries, my feeling is that although there are many cultural differences, people will respect your habits.So if you have any thoughts and requests in your heart, you should still say them.Later, I met a girl who was also changing accommodations. She couldn’t get enough to eat at noon every day, and I’m embarrassed to say that she really suffered.

In the afternoon, led by Rudy, Marion and I went to the hillside for weeding.It is this hillside that entrusts Rudy's desire to be lush in two or three years.When I think of the power to make it come true, there are my hands, and I can't help but feel satisfied in advance.

I thought it was necessary to remove all the weeds on the entire hillside, but Rudy said that as long as the area around the saplings is cleaned up, herbicides can be used on other parts.

"Then why not use herbicides everywhere?" I asked.

"Herbicides will hurt young trees, so we have to clean up the surrounding area of ​​the saplings, and then we can use the potion with confidence."

"Understood, let's start!" Marion and I were very motivated.

This job is not too difficult to get started. We use our hands and scissors to quickly sweep up the overgrown weeds, and the time passes without knowing it.When the sun climbed into the sky, we sat down on the hillside to rest for a while.Marion leaned relaxed in the grass, her blond hair gleaming brightly.I looked at the French girl, at this green hillside, at the cattle, sheep and pigs in the distance, and at the sea in the distance. I had a particularly unreal feeling, like a dream.That's how Alice felt when she started her adventure.

Are you really alive?Have you really thrown your suit and tie into your closet?Am I really in New Zealand?

"Hey, why did you come to New Zealand?" I asked the French girl.

"I think this is a happy thing." She turned her face slightly.

"Do your friends think you are a brave man?"

"Yes, but I don't think so. I think I came to New Zealand because I was not brave enough. If I stayed in France, I would probably marry and have a wife; if I had children, I would have to take on one." The responsibility of being a mother, I haven't had the courage to face it. I'm not brave."

Chasing dreams or escaping from reality, maybe only we know best.The bravery in the eyes of others is self-knowledge.

Because of the festival, many guests came to the house in the afternoon, and the children had a lot of fun.I shut myself in the room and typed the first word of the translation.In the evening, a few guests took me to the small slope behind the house, where the owner built a slide with plastic sheets, and the children laughed and slid down from the high place on the cardboard, swaying from side to side, It just won't fall, and it has the demeanor of a surfer.It was me, and I only slid a few steps before falling down on the dirt slope, which made me amused.

The sumptuousness of the dinner really surprised me. The bad impression I had of Western food in Germany was completely reversed tonight.During the dinner, I chatted with the host's friend, and when it was mentioned that Shanghai has a population of 2000 million, everyone exclaimed, because that is five times the population of New Zealand!
An interesting question occurred to me, and this occasion is an excellent opportunity to ask it.

"If you had to describe New Zealand in one word, which word would you use?" I asked everyone.

"Good question," Julie said.

Everyone talked about it, and finally someone said: "Green (green)."

This answer is expected. It was winter when I arrived in New Zealand, but there was no sign of bleakness at all, and the eyes were full of greenery.After a rain, the grass has grown a lot.Rudy said that on the contrary, there will be yellow grass on the hillside in summer.

"But green is not just a color. Green is the way we live. We believe in sustainable living, and the tree planting project you participated in this afternoon is just one of them. Every house in New Zealand has a rainwater harvesting function on its roof. Otherwise, the government will not accept it. In addition, we have our own vegetable gardens and fruit trees, as well as livestock such as cattle and sheep. We try our best to be self-sufficient in order to reduce the consumption of commodities. Even milk, we buy directly from dairy farms It is not only fresh, but also retains bacteria that are beneficial to the stomach. We also have strict regulations on garbage classification, and there are even several types of recyclable garbage.”

As a person, I feel restrained when I am in a crowded place, and I can't even speak Chinese well, let alone English.I stumbled through this dinner and hated myself every time I couldn't understand and said "sorry".I even think that with this level of English, it is better to give up as a translator.

It's only when I'm talking to Marion that I regain a little bit of self-confidence... so I'm usually in a better mood after talking to her.

The first day of fatigue passed like this. Before going to bed, Marion asked me: "Do you snore?"

"will not."

"great."

well digging dreamer
Having worked in a kiwi orchard, I realized that no job is easy, but conversely, there is no job that cannot be improved.On the second day of chopping wood, I fully implemented the fast, accurate and ruthless shooting style. Marion exclaimed, "You are in great shape today!" There are also routine feedings. We use kiwi soaked in buckets to feed pigs and cows , fed the poultry with special feed, and Phoebe and Tui each ate 10 dog biscuits.Their personalities are so different, Tui has been dangling in front of people, it has a mischievous tail.Phoebe always followed Tui quietly, occasionally approaching people, but when I held out my hand to it, it flinched again.They crunched the biscuits, and I grew to like these two guys.

At 12 o'clock, today's work is over, Rudy and Julie take the children to the city for school, so it's just me and Marion at home, we warmed up the leftovers from last night, wild vegetable salad, macaroni and lamb mashed potatoes, Scrambled eggs again.We sat on the small terrace with a view and enjoyed the leisure time.

"Have you talked to Julie?" she asked me.

"Not yet, never had a chance. She said that she used to work as a production assistant at the BBC (British Broadcasting and Television). There must be many interesting stories."

"She is a very special person, chatting with her, I was so moved that I cried a lot."

"What is she doing now?"

"She will be at home tomorrow, and you will know then."

I replied half-believingly.

The next day, when Julie was home, I took a chance to strike up a conversation with her.

"Julie, what is your job now?"

"Education, I train teachers."

"Aha, are you the teacher's teacher?"

"Yes, my dream is to inspire others."

"Why did you leave the BBC?" I asked.

"For travel, I have been on the road for 10 years. When I arrived in New Zealand, I only had 10 yuan left on me."

"Finding your dreams doesn't seem to be an easy task."

"But it's not as difficult as people imagine. There are eight aspects of human self-worth: family, body, intelligence, spirit, wealth, social status, work and vacation. What do you think is the most important to you in these eight points ? What is the second most important? What is the least important?"

I thought about it, but didn't answer.

Julie continued: "At different stages of life, the focus is different. For me, the most important thing now is family. When I was young, the most important thing was probably intellectual and spiritual. Therefore, my dream is also It is constantly changing, and a life with only one dream is really wasted. No one stipulates that we have to fight for one dream all our lives."

"There is a story in China. It is said that a man was digging a well. Every time he was about to dig water, he stopped and changed to another place, so he never dug water. The result of constantly having new dreams is likely to be nothing. .”

"Your metaphor seems a little inappropriate. If this person's dream is just digging a well, then hasn't he fulfilled one new dream after another? If his dream is water, then he has never changed his dream. The man who dug the well has been working hard towards his dream. Regardless of whether he can achieve it in the end, no matter what step he takes, he has no regrets in his life. It is foolish to laugh at him because he did not dig water. "

Julie also said that she believes that the world is balanced, that there is gain when there is loss, and pain can definitely be exchanged for happiness.As long as you believe this, you will not count everything you have paid on the way to pursue your dreams.

"Can even those very painful, lifetime wounds be healed like this?"

This time Julie hesitated, and said: "Sometimes it is indeed difficult, but it is still possible. When I was young, bad things happened to me... But it also made me deeply appreciate the family and friendship, and I got something priceless."

I believe Marion will cry.I feel hopelessness and hope to have equal strength, tears to prove that sadness and joy are not that different.

I got my emotions under control before the tears came and I started thinking about what was important to me.It seems that it has nothing to do with travel. Travel is not that important to me, otherwise I might as well spend my whole life on the road.In fact, my parents are in good health, my daughter is still far away, and I have never owed money to the bank, otherwise, I would have stayed in Shanghai.

Wang Xiaobo said that he has very low requirements for himself, and he only has two wishes in this world: one is to understand some truths; the other is to meet some interesting things.In the past 5 years, there have been more and more truths that I don't understand, and fewer and fewer interesting things.I'm terrified that my life will be ruined like this. Even if I don't know what a working holiday is, I'll give it a try.This has nothing to do with dreams, because my dream at the time was actually to write a mystery novel.Travel is often illusory, but dreams are not.

The days of changing accommodation became sparkling because of such conversations. After we got to know each other, we would laugh at each other because of a joke.

"If you eat more, you can gain weight."

"Then I'll be worried!"

"Worry?"

"If you are worried about being too fat, you will stay in the closet all your life and never come out..." Its sexuality, I'm joking with Julie.)
pizza battle

Every Friday night, it is a routine family pizza competition, where friends gather together to contribute their own craftsmanship and creativity.

"No, you also want to participate!"

"I've never made pizza..."

"It's okay, it's very simple, let's play together." Julie encouraged me.

The guests that night were Paul and Anne from a nearby farm, and two other French guys who were staying at their farm.After the boys had finished fighting the French Civil War, it was my turn and Marion's.

I think since I'm here to play, it's better to play a little bigger.So after I finished the regular rolling cakes and spread the sauce, I cut apples and pears into pieces and made a fruit pizza. Amid the exclamation of everyone, the dough was sent into the oven.

About 10 minutes later, the first pizza in my life was out of the oven.

We drank heavily, ate big pieces of cake, talked and laughed loudly, and a circle of colorful lights hung under the eaves outside the window, twinkling and twinkling, very beautiful.It was the happiest night I had in New Zealand.

Changing accommodation is a particularly open and inclusive attitude towards life. Many families abroad welcome young people from all over the world very much.For them, the process of getting along with these backpackers is also a way to see the world.This is often related to their experience of traveling around the world when they were young.It is precisely because I have experienced the splendor of the world that I am willing to continue this splendor in other ways.Looking at our country on the other hand, letting strangers into one's house is a matter that needs to be carefully considered, let alone letting the other party eat and drink at home, which is simply a fantasy.In China, especially in cities, neighbors in the same building often do not recognize each other when they meet. The distance between people is too far away.The fast-paced life will make us have no energy to care about others, but this is not the most fundamental reason.When a country is pursuing material things from top to bottom, the spiritual world must be empty and pale.I used to think that Britain was an indifferent country, and the British people were very proud, but this trip made me realize directly and indirectly that they are actually very willing to help others in their hearts.In China, if an old lady falls down in the middle of the road, you have to think about whether there is fraud before going up to help.This is a funny phenomenon. Doing good deeds is the same as doing bad ones, and you have to be careful.

I stayed at Rudy and Julie's house for 10 days, and there were different activities almost every day, they took me to the hot spring pool to play in the water, to the orchard for training on pruning, to the viewing platform in Whakatani to see the whole city, to the bar Participate in a weekly quiz.There are more things that I haven't had time to experience, such as kayaking, catching oysters, and watching dolphins.time flies.

Before leaving, I gave them a Chinese knot and wrote a letter in Chinese.

Rudy, Julie:
Meeting you in New Zealand is destined to be a wonderful part of my life journey.I am very curious about what it will be like when you have the opportunity to read these words.Have Zack and Cagan grown taller?Has the small tree grown into a verdant tree?Have cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks been changed several times?These questions make me fascinated and smile - I am full of anticipation for the future.

There are so many countries in the world, each country has so many cities, each city has so many villages and towns, and each village has so many families, but I just walked into your family, I feel really lucky from the bottom of my heart.

I hope that when we meet again, I can be more handsome, but not too fat to walk out of the closet (you know), more importantly, I think these days, you have given me inspiration and let me continue to think about "love" proposition.You said that all objects are neutral, there is no distinction between good and bad, but if I must find an exception, I think I should choose "love".

Goodbye, I love you!
Non

Nov. 2010, 6

I said, in the future you will meet backpackers who can understand Chinese, and then you will understand this letter.

Julie asked me, is every Chinese as interesting as you?
As I said, everyone has their own story.

On June 6, Rudy and Julie dropped the kids off into town and dropped me off at the pier heading to White Island (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand's most active volcano).It was a sunny day, a good day to go to sea, and a new journey began again.

(End of this chapter)