Week Three

Hello to all of you in Maine, at the Harward center, in snowy dorms etc...

My time here is almost coming to a close, as it has almost been one month, and on wednesday i will be moving on to the big city to begin my studies. Actually i am completly dreading the day, i do not want to leave this place in any way. I could spend about 3 months here and learn a million new things everyday. I feel as if i am just getting to know the land, the area, the people, the relations between this community and the surrounding town, the managment of the environmental resources, the dynamics between the local kiwis, the native Maories and millions of foreigners all thrown into one area. And now i must move on and begin the process all over in a new place....
I guess that is part of traveling, you dont have the advantage of spending four years in one spot, getting to know how everything works as we can do back home in Lewiston/Auburn. Its frightening to have to move so quickly, there are so many things i want to do here, people i want to get to know. Instead of just switching jobs, community learning agreements etc, i am switching cities, regions. I will not bump into any of the people i have been working with on the streets as i do in Lewiston. But they will stay with me forever, and the things i learned here about being in New Zealand will help me to find meaningful work in my new city, Auckland, hopefully...

I have begun to ask questions about the place i am going, about the farms, the farmers markets, the organizations, who knows who...I find this method, if sometimes spotty, so much more rewarding then blindly typing things into google, although i do that too. I have an advantage here of being connected to the waldorf community, which is the foundation for the community and school i grew up in as well as Hohepa Homes, the community i am working with now. I can always connect to places through that but i am also looking to leave this network, put myself into a situation that has a very different outlook on things, different ways of dealing with things.

However, being in this community for the past month has made me feel much more comfortable in this country. I fell more at ease, with dirt on my hands and skin darkened by the New Zealand sun. I feel better about traveling, meeting people, and being able to say that i have already connected with this land, even if just for a little while. I have been having very intense conversations with the other volunteers and employees in the fields of Hohepa about being from the US verses being from other parts of the world...much more about that later i promise.

In work news, we completed making a huge biodynamic compost pile by hand the other day, what a feeling of accomplishment! At the end of the day it is so rewarding to stand up, stretch your back out, and stand around with the residents and other workers admiring your weeded field, crates of harvested veggies or a big, straw covered compost pile...everybody there contributed in some way, throwing grass, and cow manure, and straw onto the pile. Dirty, smelly and sore, we all made our way back to the farm shed to hold hands and finish off the day.

alright, next week i will be in Auckland....and i will let you know how things go there!

All my best,
Dani