I remember watching this video a while ago where they were looking for new slogans for promoting NZ tourism and one of the slogans they had come up with was "New Zealand: where nothing happens" (trying to promote it's peaceful, laidback, chilled-out image). HOW TRUE! I had thought. For the rest of the world, New Zealand was one big playground for all sorts of adventurous thrills, from bungee jumping to white water rafting but for me, it came to a point where NZ was a place where nothing happened. I was stuck in the dead end of a very monotonous lifestyle and I couldn't wait to chase some excitement and fun in "greener pastures"...now that I have returned for a short visit back after 3 months, I've realised how the thing that drove me away is now what's pulling me back to NZ.
To be honest, I was never really home sick for NZ in Prague..I missed a few things(mainly food and the English language), people and the beach but none of it was so unbearable that I had to pack my bags right away and fly back to NZ. I guess I'm still in the "honeymoon" period of my exchange where everything looks great through those rose tinted glasses...However, on my flight back home I made a long list of things that I missed/things I'm looking forward to doing/seeing in Auckland and boy, was it a long list! Looking at that list, I realised I had taken sooo many things for granted while I lived here! Ever since I've landed in NZ, I've started seeing it in a new perspective..it's almost like returning to an ex-lover after "experimenting" a little...that may explain why I have "Nothing compares to you" stuck in my head ever since I've been here ;)
It's sooo good to breathe in clean air..fresh NZ air that my chain-second-hand-smoke-inhaling lungs had totally taken for granted here. It's soo good to smile at strangers on the street and speak the same language as everyone around you. It's sooo good to know where everything is (and if lost, to easily ask for directions). It's soo good to go to the supermarket and get exactly what you need. It's so good to see unity in diversity. It's soo good to see the green Macleans fields and the crystal blue Eastern beach. It's soo good to FINALLY get that mince and cheese pie, L&P and bubble tea. It's soo good to be around happy-go-lucky people with a sense of humour! It's soo good to be back! Ever since I've been back, no day has been "ordinary". I've tried to savour every moment and absorb as much of NZ as I can while I'm here. I've learnt to become a tourist in my own home. I've learnt to meet and embrace NZ as I had never met it before.
I'm gonna sound like a complete hypocrite. It's soo good to be back but I'm not sure if I'm ready to be back for good yet. New Zealand is home, it is paradise, it is heaven on earth, it has beaches and sunshine and great coffee and very friendly people, it is the place I'd want my kids(if I have any) to grow up in but I'm just not ready to be back yet. I consider myself to be a NZer but I also consider myself to be a global citizen who wants to take on every opportunity the world has to offer. There's still so much more to explore, so much more to see/do, so many people to meet, so much to compare and contrast to NZ ;).
I was thinking about graduation next week. I'm going to get my degrees and fly straight back to Prague to complete the rest of the internship. After four long years at University, after gaining all the knowledge/skills/competencies needed to be a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts who has majored in Marketing, Management and Psychology, I'm going to go back to a country faraway and drain a brain from NZ. My conscience is not particularly happy right now. I guess I'm somewhat of a brain drainee...I find solace in the fact that although in the short-term, this looks like a brain-drain, once I'm back after plenty of work/travelling experience(and or probably a masters degree from overseas), it would be a brain-gain for NZ in the long-term. I find solace in the fact that once I have traveled the world, met a whole bunch of people, lived a fast-hip-hep-happening lifestyle, I can finally come back to the fresh air, the friendly smiles and fish n chups of NZ, where nothing happens.
I have no idea where I'll be next year. On Sunday, I'll return to Europe for an indefinite period. I have no idea when I'll be back but while I'm here, I'm all set to meet New Zealand as a proud Kiwi, as a tourist with insatiable need for discovering the amazingness of the country,as a bird who has just learnt to fly thanks to the launching pad the country has provided, as a (kinda) guilty brain drainee who wants to come back some day to this fine land with some more brain gain.
