I was thinking recently about that statement and had to count on my fingers how many times I might have heard that in the last 8 months. I think the count comes to about 13 houses that I could consider being home (that’s just places where people opened their homes to me, not including hostels or motels, etc.) I find it to be a somewhat happy thought as I have been able to share in a lot of moments with people I normally wouldn’t have had the opportunity to had I not chosen the path that I have. It’s also a tremendous amount of trust given which is sobering and something I take quite seriously. While it seems somewhat normal for me to make myself at home while being in a wwoofers shoes i’ve come to understand what type of trust is given to me from what is more or less a complete stranger. That there is why I think I like the wwoofing idea so much, if I had just a regular job there would be less interaction between me and the employer where instead i’m treated like a member of a family. In any case, thanks goes out to everyone who sheltered this lost dog and for all the great times.
On a separate note I’ve wanted to write for a while at the complete lack of American travelers here in New Zealand. By far the majority of travelers that i’ve met have been German, Dutch, and Swiss (in that order.) But as things happen I was joined about a week ago by another wwoofer from California by the name of Alex. He’s become our resident artist and at some point he is going to teach me to play backgammon (he created the board already.) He’s also a rock climber who’s on the lookout for boulders. As I was talking to him about rock climbing I told him I met a guy Eddie that worked for Disney that climbs all over the rides and makes sure that they are safe (I met him on my Pacific Coast ride.) As it turns out Alex used to work with Eddie which just goes to show you how small a world we live in.
The plan at the moment is to hang out at this place until the beginning of the year then I’ll be moving on to another wwoofing opportunity where I’ll be learning to make cheese and butter by hand (sounds interesting to me.) The reason I’ll be staying put a while longer is that everyone in New Zealand is on summer break so campgrounds, hostels are all booked up so I’m just going to avoid that rush until the middle of January when they go back to school and I’ll get on the bike in earnest once again.
Also just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all, have a cup of hot cocoa for me and be happy.