Day 29: Baby, I'm ready to go!

I used to fear change but now I get a kick from it. At the age of 20, in my third year at University, I had my entire life planned out, all my 5/10/20 year plans sorted and then I was struck with a personal setback which kind of shook up my plans and taught me that there was no point of planning and preparing, if things have to go wrong, they will go wrong. So just go with the flow. "Go with the flow" has been the mantra of my life for a while now. I don't organize, I don't plan ahead, I don't worry about the future but just take each day as it comes along. You can't adjust the sails of your ship based on the wind up ahead, you just have to go with the flow. As a negative side effect of this new mantra, I have developed a horrible habit of leaving things to the last minute because "going" is always intensified just before the "flowing" is at the flooding stage. I take pride in the fact that I can work very hard the night before on an essay and get an A or that I can pack 2 hours before my flight and leave without knowing where I'm going to stay and what I'm going to do. It's all a part of the adventure, I'd try to convince myself. When it comes to travelling, I'm often the person running towards the train just as it is about to leave or the person they page for at airports. I'm the kind of person who comes with a travel bag, with half the things missing - no toiletries, no socks, no jandals etc. I never go with a map or a lonely planet book but rely on the foreign paths to lead me to my "destination". I watched this really awesome Bollywood movie called three idiots which taught me to say "all izz vell" and lie to my heart and convince everything is ok even if I'm scared to bits and that's what I do when travelling. So my new thing for the day was to be a little more organized about my next trip. I planned and packed 3 days before my flight which is an achievement! My friend Ting nearly fainted when I told her! It really brought a smile to the always prepared and super organized mother's face. I made a list of everything I needed and made sure I had everything I needed. I packed and weighed my bags. I read my lonely planet guide and Singapore must-do lists and went all out to find accommodation and local contacts in Singapore. It felt weird being so organized, it almost took away the novelty of surprise or a sense of adventure but it also made me feel really onto it. It's like baby, I'm ready to go (with the flow and a plan).

Day 28: What rubbish?!

One man's rubbish is another man's treasure. I realised that at an early stage while growing up in India. Things we didn't have use for or didn't need were often given away to our house helpers for their kids. Those kids would hold the toys we grew disinterested in as their most precious possessions and would happily wear clothes that we didn't think were cool enough. I was always amazed by this recycle/reuse concept and it always gave me great joy to see a "not needed" thing being used as a "most wanted" commodity. In this growing age of consumerism, where we believe retail therapy solves all our problems, it really is increasingly important to recycle and reuse our so-called rubbish as treasure. I may sound like a primary school teacher here but I feel extremely ashamed and wasteful every time I clean my room and have to dispose off all those things that I once bought and thought I needed but never used. I do try and give most of it away to charity and clothing drives but I don't think that's enough.

My new thing for the day was to create a treasure out of rubbish. I wanted to do something creative, something fun, something useful. I decided to make jewellery! It would not only make my ex-roomie happy but also prove my craftmanship or lack thereof. I googled some ideas fore recyclable jewellery and came across a really cool new idea for earrings made from headphones! I'm not sure how and why but I go through headphones like Hugh Hefner goes through his playmates. I need a new one almost every couple of months. Out with the old, in with the new. I dispose off those headphones without even stopping to consider if there was another use for them...but now I do! Earrings! They were super easy to make, all you need are broken headphones, scissors, paint (if you want to jazz up the earrings) and the wire for the hook. Within less than an hour, I had new earrings! Treasure out of rubbish! Who would have thought? We all have a Midas touch to turn things into gold (gold is a metaphor for something splendid/useful), just have to adopt a new perspective sometimes. New day, new earrings, new disposal ritual for headphones! Success!

Day 27: Getting beached-azz

It is a commonly held notion that you often or only regret things you didn't do. Timing is key and it really does suck if you don't make the most of the right moment at the right time.

What I did yesterday wasn't very new. I went to the beach. I do that every summer and a lot of it every summer. However, it was my first official beaching out experience of this summer (after 2 years) and perhaps the last, before I head off to Singapore. I would have regretted it if I hadn't spent my last splendid sunny day in Auckland at a beach.

Everyday I try to be the type of person who wakes up thinking "carpe diem" but sadly, my laziness or busyness often comes in the way. There are so many sunny days wasted indoors watching TV or so many crispy cold mornings on weekends spent recovering from the night before. I clearly remember last winter in Prague. It was cold and snowy...the usual Czech winter and I was in no mood to go out and "seize the day" and make the most of the winter wonderland. I stayed indoors, avoided going out as much as possible and dissuaded others too from venturing in the "oh so pretty but oh so awful snow outside" but my flatmate, a Colombian, experiencing his first white winter begged to differ. He would go out, take photos of the christmas decorations, grab hot wine, make snowmen and snow angels and bring back a snowball as a souvenir. He held onto his childlike curiosity and made the most of a snowy day. At that time, I was allergic to his enthusiasm but now that I think about it, I actually do miss the snow and do wish I had spent more time reveling in nature's Christmas present instead of wallowing in a pool of contempt and vodka.

I didn't want to make the same mistake with the quintessential kiwi summer experience at the beach. I didn't want to regret not bathing in our chilly but pure waters before I left. The "stars" and I headed to Long Bay as a part of our summer ritual with a whole lot of junk food, sun screen and books (that remained untouched) and basked in the glory of summer. Swimming, walking, sun screen smearing, people watching, napping, more sun screen smearing, ice cream eating, more walking...times flies when you are at the beach. Five hours later, we had managed to finish a major portion of our sun screen lotions, all the junk food we bought and managed to get a tan on! The sound of the waves, the chill of the water, the jet skiers and wake boarders, the warm sand and smell of grilled meat on the barbie...this is summer. This was summer condensed in one day.

It was new because it was the first beaching experience of the summer. It was also new because I somehow managed to get sunburnt for the first time in my life! Definitely a new experience for my complexion...and a not-so-pleasant one. New you seek, new you shall get! Day 27 was a beach of a new experience!

Day 26: Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle!

It's hard to choose the most awesome Queen song. There are just SO MANY! Freddie Mercury had the Midas touch, every thing he would touch or rather every note he would sing would turn to gold! Even if it was a song about riding bicycles! Rumour has it that this Queen classic was inspired when Freddie Mercury first saw a "tour de France" race...people got so caught up in the racing, they forgot what how simply joyful just riding a bike with no competitive pressure or ulterior motives was! I love the song! I love bicycling!

Cycling is fun, cycling is healthy, cycling is good for the environment and good for toning those legs. If I didn't live in such a large, dispersed city, I would commute using a bike. At the age of 23, being a "learner" driver with the most disorientated driving skills is very embarrassing, especially in a city where driving is not a luxury but a necessity. Amsterdam and Copenhagen inspired me and made me believe that you don't HAVE to drive! I just wish I could hold onto my "hippie" free-will and bike around everywhere and show people how cool it was to bike around everywhere!

Every journey starts with one step or one pedal. As much as I liked biking, I hadn't really done it on the streets of Auckland. Auckland was no Amsterdam or Copenhagen. I wasn't sure what I was in for. I don't even own a bike. So, on Saturday, I borrowed a bicycle from my sister's friend and the three of us set off to grab breakfast at the cafe by the beach, on our bikes. Biking around the eastern suburb of Bucklands Beach was far from tedious, in spite of the crazy wind and breathtaking (literally) slopes. It was actually fun! We don't have designated bike lanes but noone messes with a cyclist! It was safe albeit a bit scary at times.

I'm glad I could ride my (borrowed) bicycle, I could ride my (borrowed) bike. It not only helped me partake in a simple joy of life but also helped me experience the life of a commuter on two wheels! I just wish more people would discover the joy and ditch their fuel-burning/lazy-making vehicles every now and then and experience this fun, natural, healthy, inexpensive and simple joy too!

Day 25: Challenging my world view

Kurt Cobain not only rocked it but also said a few smart things. One of them was, "My generation's apathy. I'm disgusted with it. I'm disgusted with my own apathy too, for being spineless and not always standing up against racism, sexism and all those other -isms the counterculture has been whinning about for years.”

I'm no rocker, but I do agree with him. More often than not, I'm shocked by the apathy of my friends and colleagues towards seemingly important world issues. Now I don't expect everyone to rent-a-board and be a "professional activist", as my dad calls it, but I really do wish people become less apathetic and more interested and involved in what's happening around them. Living in a state of oblivion doesn't really help anyone.

We had the NZ general elections a couple of days ago. They take place every 3 years, you exercise your democratic right and make that right/left choice to choose a government that you feel would work for the best interests of the country. It hardly takes any time to enrol, even lesser time to go to a polling booth and vote. Yet, only 68% of our eligible population voted. Really disappointing if you ask me. Around the world, several oppressed, suppressed nations are currently protesting and leading a revolution to bring democracy and the right to choose their leadership body and here we are "cbfd" or "not bothered" to vote. Too many rocky spines!

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum of apathy, when it comes to Politics, in fact, I get way too involved, be it local or international politics. Politics to me is not just about governing but about leading, about having the power to change, having the power to influence and the power to make big decisions that impact the smallest of things. Being a hopeless idealist, I think my political leaning is very left-winged. I don't consider being called a "tree hugging hippie" or a "socialist" to be offensive, in fact it makes me feel like an agent of change. I was extremely involved in the political race to the elections with a very leftist orientation. I knew what I wanted, I knew who I wanted and I knew why I wanted them but I began to wonder if I was getting too blind-sided. I would get so caught up in discussions with people with opposing views that I would just tune them out and drown out what they had to say with what I knew. I would delete or unsubscribe from Facebook friends with a strong leaning to another political orientation. "Bigoted", a word I once feared and disliked, could well be used to describe the way I was behaving. Taste of my own bitter medicine. Not pleasant.

So the night before the elections, in spite of being pretty sure about who I was going to vote for, I decided to read every party's policies (in brief of course) and rationally analyze them, before taking a "bigoted" decision. I had to challenge my worldview and really establish for myself why I was going to vote for a certain party. It was just one vote but a vote that could make a difference. I didn't skip any parties, did not overrule any because of their leaders or previous histories but genuinely took an interest to see how they would benefit me, my loved ones, my future loved ones and the country as a whole and decided to make a sound decision.

After closely scrutinizing and analyzing, I did stick with my original decision but this exercise helped me open up more and see things from a new perspective. I think at the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing, they just have different ideals of how to get there. It's up to you to support what you think would be most effective. I may not agree with you, I may even dislike you at that moment for liking what you like but I would like you more for having a stand...for not being apathetic!

Challenging your worldview and coming to terms with ideals vastly different from yours can be hard sometimes but every now and then, every idealist needs a reality check. Mine was on Friday. New thing, new perspective, new threshold for tolerance.

Day 24: Splash

If I was to believe in reincarnation and be allowed to choose what I'd like to be reincarted as, I would definitely opt to be a sea creature, a dolphin specifically.

Dolphins are smart, they are friendly, they seem to be happy all the time, they have a darn good reason to have layers of blubber and they can live under the sea and swim around all day! Pretty sweet life, as long as they can stay away from oil slicks and fishing nets that we ghastly humans lay down every now and then.

I'm a water baby! Little mermaid was not only my most-watched Disney movie when I was younger but was also on my "things I want to be when I grow up" list. I don't really do a lot of sports and suck at most but with swimming, it's different. I really enjoy it,not just watching but also doing and it's perhaps one of the few racing sports that I wouldn't come last at...or so I thought...till I went for a dip on day 24.

I started swimming at the age of 8 when I was involuntarily thrown into the deep waters by my swimming coach. At first, I hated the smell of chlorine, disliked wearing the goggles and feared the deep end. But just like most things, as soon as you can realise you can do them (and are not too shabby at), you start liking them. "Fear is a friend who is misunderstood" as John Mayer would say. I transcended very quickly into a stage where it was hard to tear me away from the pool or the beach. Summer meant swimming or splashing around in the pool for a big chunk of the day.Fear of water? Say what?

As I grew older, just like everything else which was healthy and fun, swimming took a back seat as well. I would still attempt to go for early morning swims in the ocean as often as I could during the summer in NZ but slowly and surely, swimming just became a hobby I once had. I hardly swam in Prague. I blamed it on the cold...even though the pools were heated, nothing was as comforting and reassuring in winters as the layers of fat and clothes or the liquid blanket of slivovice.

Now that it was almost-summer, it was time to reconnect with my favourite summer hobby! I went for a swim to the closest community pool (was too cold and choppy for an ocean dip). Thankfully it was after 7.30 pm so it wasn't infested with children of all age groups but there were still an undesirable number of people. I started zealously with my laps. Nothing like a good dose of work out to make you realise how horribly unfit you are. I huffed and puffed like I had just smoked an entire pack of cigarettes but paddled and splashed along for a good 25 laps. I was pleased with myself till I realised that wasn't even a whole kilometre! However I was poofed and ready to reward myself with some steaming and saunaing (or pre-conditioning myself to the weather in Singapore as I convinced myself that night)! Hot steamy end to a good pseudo-summery swim!

If I really do want to be reincarnated as a dolphin or come remotely close to being a mermaid, I seriously need to work on my swimming abilities! I came, I dipped, I splashed, I nearly died of exhaustion. A refreshingly new day!

Day 23: Attending Ivy League courses

Looks can be deceiving. I may not look it or act it but I consider myself to be a closet nerd, a recovering academic who would be more than happy to be a student for the rest of her life.

I always had a dream to graduate from an Ivy League School. I always felt like I was smart enough, hardworking enough and determined enough to have it what it takes to study at Harvard or Yale or Columbia. However, the older I get, the more pragmatic I get and I've realised that graduating from one of these top-notch universities does not just require intelligence, hardwork and determination but also deep pockets or a huge financial investment. Fees at these universities are exorbitant, scholarships are scarce, student loan figures are astronomical and considering my NGO/NFP loving "hippie" ways, the probability of paying off the student loan in a short period of time if very low. So the likelihood of fulfilling this dream appears to be bleak at the moment but I'll get there some day, some way!

In order to make this dream come somewhat true, I indulged in my guilty pleasure of the day. I went through a list of open courses and lectures, made available online by all the top Universities, and decided to attend some of these classes. I could virtually attend lectures at these world-renowned Universities at the comfort of my own home without paying those ridiculous tuition fees. I wouldn't get a formal degree or the networking opportunities to meet some of the brightest minds in the world but I could still broaden my horizons and be taught by some of the most respected faculty members in the world. Better still I could pick and choose subjects that interested me without worrying about how they would fit in with my degree and/or life and hop from one campus to another without any problems. This is the power of the internet!

I watched a couple of lectures today. One by Michael.J.Sandel at Harvard University who teaches a course on Justice: A Journey in Moral Reasoning which deals complicated yet vital philosophical questions about what's right and wrong, the fine line between morality and law, sensitive issues such as affirmative action, same-sex marriages etc. I think he is a brilliant educator as his classes seemed to be very interactive, thought-provoking and in some ways life-changing. He uses a Socractic sktyle and lets the students take charge in his lectures and be proactive in generating discussion. He asks questions but also makes it very clear that not all questions are answerable. I loved him and wished we had more lecturers like him when I was doing my Undergrad. The other lecture I watched was one on Faith and Globalization from the School of Divinity at Yale. I don't think I would ever pay to study divinity, especially if it was taught by Tony Blair so I'm glad this lecture was made available online on Youtube. This lecture wasn't as interesting as I had hoped it to be...Sandel was a tough act to follow! The resident Professor - Miroslav Volf had a completely different teaching style, more of "I speak, you take notes". He provided a context for the lecture, defined the scope and gave a general overview of how faith and globalization are interlinked, which was further elaborated on by Tony Blair. Considering it was the first lecture of the series, it wasn't extremely insightful, well it was delivered by someone who rushed into supporting "the war on terror" so that was expected...but I do hope for the sake of my inquisitiveness and the fees paid by the students at Yale, that the lecture series do get better!

Overall it was a good intellectually stimulating experience for my rusty brain cells. It was refreshing to be on the pursuit of knowledge without worrying about grades and assignments or the financial burden if you failed. It was fascinating to see the different teaching styles, student responses and behaviours etc. It was nice to kinda live that childhood dream...even if it was done virtually and just for a day. Hopefully one day, in a not so distant future, I'll really be able to sit in those lecture halls and meet those lecturers in person, for longer than just one day!

Day 23: attended and passed!

Day 22: A meat-free, dairy-free day of existence

My new thing for today was going vegan for the day. I had to survive the entire day on a plant-based diet. No meat, no dairy products, no eggs, no honey...nothing that came from animals.

I've tried being vegetarian for a while now. I love animals and I love the environment but find it very hard to give up meat. I'm like the guy who loves the girl but cannot commit fully and wholly. It's not like I need meat everyday, in fact we eat vegetarian food most of the days at home but I do love my meat when I eat it. Just when I'm ready to renounce meat, I get a mad craving for a mince pie or chicken wings and then I'm back to square one.

I have friends who are vegan, some by choice, some by compulsion (owing to food allergies) and I've had many discussion about its merits and demerits. I personally have no objection to it but just think it makes thing a bit hard and inconvenient Just like anything idealistic, I feel veganism is great in theory but hard in practice. I went on the Vegan Society website to learn more about the merits of going vegan and here's why they think it is awesome:

1) It's a healthy choice - plant-based diet so rich in vitamins, fibres, low in saturated fat.
2) It's compassionate - no blood is shed, no animals are raised solely to land on your plate later.
3) It's better for the environment - apparently someone on a "normal" (i.e. meat-based diet) baggage of carbon dioxide is 1.5 tonnes more than someone on a plant-based diet.
4) It's delicious - vegetarian food can be yum and everything can have a vegan substitute - pizzas, burgers, even steaks!
5) Why not? there are so many advantages of this vegan diet...so why not?

Out of all five reasons, the last reason stuck out for me. If I can find food that is healthy, environmentally and animal friendly and delicious, then why not give it a go. I have nothing to lose (except calories maybe) and a lot to gain, according to this vegan society. It was for a day anyways. May as well try something new and help my animal friends and ozone blanket a little more.

Like I said, we eat vegetarian most days so I didn't really miss meat much today. The hard bit was going dairy-free. I so wanted a cup of coffee, not a long black, but a good ole flat white but that I couldn't do. Neither could I add honey to my green tea. Nor was I allowed some cheese on my toast in the morning which is a part of my daily staple diet for breakfast. I had to substitute my usual in-between snack of oreos with a trail mix of nuts. Dinner of lentil soup, rice and aubergine was vegetarian and delicious but I could have done with a little helping of greek yoghurt on the side! The highlight of my day was when I found out that I could actually eat chocolate as a part of the vegan diet. Apparently the Whittaker's 62% cacao blend is vegan diet friendly, that just made my day! Any diet that allows chocolate consumption is a good one! :)

Final verdict: being vegan for a day wasn't that hard. I could definitely be vegan/vegetarian for at least 3 days of the week. I just need to keep discovering delicious substitutes and satisfy my cravings (in limited consumption) for all things unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly on other days of the week!

Day 21: Round the bays

Today was a gorgeous day. I had planned to go swimming but I was frightened by what I saw in the mirror after 12 months of winter when I put on my togs, it was also very cold. So as usual I had to improvise and improvise I did with round-the-bays!

I met up with a friend for brunch at Mission Bay. The portion sizes were humongous and the cheesiness of the mushrooms and the greasiness of the chorizo didn't really help to improve the scary tog image from the morning. So after brunch, at mid-day, on a bright, sunny and incredibly windy afternoon, I decided to ditch the bus and be even more of a greenie and walk to the city. It would be like a round-the-bays run but in a walking mode! I would have run, except that I was in my jandals, with a heavy bag and an even heavier food baby...besides I don't think I can run 10 k.

The walk from Mission Bay to Britomart is around 9.1km according to Google maps, on a fairly flat land, around the Auckland harbour. It feels like that is an awful lot of walking but I didn't really feel the strain (till right now). The weather was way too awesome and my positive phototropism bars from me complaining about physical exercise in hot weather. I was made for sunny days and my unbelievably unfit body could really do with a bit of exercise.

As I walked past joggers and cyclists (most of whom looked like corporates who chose to do something outdoorsy and physical in their lunch break which I so totally admire!), I felt good, I felt high on endorphins and I felt a real sense of appreciation for NZ (yes, the ocean view always makes me super patriotic). Who needs to join gyms when our entire outdoor setting can be used as a more fresh, natural and smell-free gym?

I really do hope we can hold on to these clean, green, run-when-you-like, cycle-if-you-please, skate-if-you-can outdoors. I want my kids and their kids and so on to enjoy it just as much as I do. I decided to make more of an effort to ditch the car/bus and walk/cycle more...it not only allows me to enjoy more of the great outdoors but also helps with sculpting a more tog-friendly body! Round-the-bays, not run but walked and done!

Day 20: Documenting a documentary

By day 20, I started to get a bit slack at maintaining my Newember resolution. I was running out of new things to do or rather getting lazy about doing my new thing. Just as I was going to conveniently "forget" about my new task for the day just before mid night yesterday, a best friend came to do what best friends are best at - "keeping you on track". That's the most amazing thing about friends, they are there to keep you going, just when you are about to quit or "forget". I do get by with a little help of my friends.

Yesterday, this help came in the form of a documentary. When I was skyping with my ex roomie from Prague, she mentioned how she was going to watch a documentary on Singapore to further familiarize herself with the place that I will kinda be calling home for the next 3 months. She is a documentary buff and I, as much as I like learning about the world around me, would rather watch sitcoms to chill. She had linked me a couple of really good documentaries which I had added to my "to-watch" folder but never really got around to watching. Yesterday she reminded me of a critically acclaimed and well received documentary on North Korea, that she had recommended a few weeks ago. It was short. It was interesting. It was new. Definitely doable in an hour and added to the new things done in November.

I watched the hour long documentary, "Welcome to North Korea", directed by a Dutch director in 2001 which won him an Emmy for the Best Documentary. It gives a hard-hitting, factual, at the same time emotional insight into life in North Korea. The documentary not only educated me and introduced me to the finer details of the bigger picture I always had known about the country, but also made me feel grateful for what I had and helpless for what I couldn't change. As a freedom loving human rights advocate, I was saddened and appalled by the situation in the country.

It was interesting to see how easily malleable people are and how the way we think, act, behave is so totally governed by our realities. It made me wonder how sustainable their state of "Juche" is and whether there will ever be an uprising in the country, similar to the ones we have seen in the Middle East and North Africa this year. I'm not sure if the citizens are living in a state of "ignorance is bliss" or if they really do want a change. It's hard to crave for things that are unknown to you and often it's best to just exist or do whatever it takes to be alive, even if it feels like they are not really living according to our Western democratized ideals.

For someone with an insatiable to explore the world around them who finds being restricted to one place unbelievably suffocating, I really did sympathize with the people of North Korea. Not only because they are living in a be-all, end-all state of impoverishment and strict control but because they are not being able to achieve their full potential and broaden their horizons. It made me feel grateful for all those things that I normally take for granted. It may sound very American-ish but it really did make me value the freedom.

I'm glad I didn't just give up on new thing for the day. This documentary gave me provided me with a buffet of new food for thought! Something that's going to keep the fire of activism in me burning! Thanks Zizi for the new thing for the day! Day 20: done!

Day 19: C'mon get musical!

I'm perhaps the most tone deaf person in the world. I love music. I like listening to it and discovering new types, I'm in awe of people who can sing or play a musical instrument. My guy friends have a sexist joke along the lines of "beer is the best makeup for girls". The guitar is like the instant sexifying make-up for boys, according to me. I also like to sing much to my family's displeasure. I have the musical talent boosting nick name of "Cacophonix" so try to restrict my singing to the bathroom as much as I can.

I've also tried to play musical instruments. Piano classes as a child which I wasn't very fond of and not very good at and then I often tried to play the guitar by trying to learn from my friends but again, I just don't have the ear for it. Trying is the first step to realising you suck!

However, I decided to do my new thing for the day and attempt once again to learn the basics of guitar playing. We had a farewell for a family friend yesterday and had a wonderful performance by a local band. By local I mean, people we knew, by people we knew, I mean four 16-year olds who jam together after school. They really were awesome though. I thought if the 16 year olds could rock it, why can't I? So I picked one of them, the most patient of the lot (picking a patient teenager is like picking a tolerable cast member from Twilight or picking the hottest doctor from Greys anatomy...extremely hard). He tried to teach me to play "smoke on water" on the bass guitar. He made it look super easy, I tried and my chords sounded nothing like the actual song! I tried to copy what he was doing but it felt like I was rocking a completely different tune, one that would drive just about anyone away and make babies cry. Patience has a limit and this guy gave up and tried to get one of his other band member to help...that wasn't very successful either. Shortly after every person who plays or has played the guitar tried to teach me but yep, my tone deafness is more serious than I thought.

I tried to play a few chords...wasn't very good but it was a new thing! I'd just have to continue on a pursuit to find more friends with musical talents to live vicariously through them and till then, continue to sing in the shower and play the air guitar! I'm mighty good at that!

Day 18: Travel writing

My dream job would be being a travel writer. Working for the likes of National Geographic or Lonely Planet, globe trotting, immersing myself in different cultures and writing about them.

Lately I've been writing long long emails of recommendations of must-dos and must-sees in Europe based on my experience. It's always nice to relive those memories and become a ambassador for countries I've visited and loved. While I was in Europe, I rarely blogged about places I visited...simply because I didn't think I had the knack for being a travel writer and also because I was too busy having fun ;). However, considering how alcohol has damaged my brain cells, I want to document my experiences before they become a long lost memory. My new thing for the day was to create a list of my top 5/6 cities in Europe as an aspiring, burgeoning travel writer, based on my adventures last year.

It was hard to narrow down 5(ok maybe 6) from the 37 different cities I visited. I can't say there was a single city that I didn't like. The fact that they were all so new or old (depending on your perspective) and so different from NZ, made them all special, in one way or another.

So top cities in Europe, for a young, single traveller:

1) Praha, Czech Republic



Ok so this might be slightly biased but I really do think Prague is the most beautiful European capital city. It literally took my breath away as soon as I landed, not only because it was freezing cold but because it looked like I had time travelled and landed in a winter wonderland in the medieval ages. I landed in Prague after 3 days in Paris and I thought nothing would ever compete with the charm and romantic magnetism of Paris but boy was I wrong! Prague with its cobbled stone streets, ethereal castle complex, century old buildings and bridges, lavish gardens, buzzing night life, sprawling cafes and pubs on every corner is definitely an eclectic yet somewhat perfectly blended mix of the old and the new. I miss the people, I miss my old job, I even miss the flat I lived in but what I really miss and long for is the beautiful view of the Prague Castle glistening in the Vltava as I walked home from work every day. It really is one of a kind. Prague unlike its Western European rival cities is cheaper, smaller and easy to czech out in just a couple of days. The beer is amazing and unbelievably cheap. Food is great if you like hearty meals of meat and potatoes and the nightlife is unbeatable. There is something for everyone. The Czechs themselves are not the friendliest people you'll meet...in fact it's surprising how their tourism industry is flourishing in spite of their somewhat rude and cold customer service...but most people will agree, who needs smiley sugary customer service when you get an entire meal and a couple of beers for under 10 euros and be served by a waitress or waiter, who look like they have just walked out of a Vogue magazine?! Besides, if you do spend longer time in the Czech Republic, you realise the Czechs are like pineapples, hard and prickly on the outside but once you get in, they are the sweetest and softest! It just takes time to get through the outer shell, especially as a tourist. Prague definitely is a must-see in Central Eastern Europe. Like my friend Gui said, once you leave the city, you feel like every city lacks a bridge, a castle and angels! No place will ever be good enough!

2) Copenhagen, Denmark




I spent 10 whole days in Copenhagen, which after Prague, is the longest time I've ever spent in a European city. I went there for work and my objective was to learn as much as I could about the city to talk about it like a "local" before I lead my group of students around the city. Copenhagen with its laidback city feel, royal architecture blended in with modern Nordic designs, canals and some awesome waterfront cafes was very different from other European capitals. I liked how everyone cycled, whether you were a CEO of a company or a toddler or a University student. That, coupled with the wind mills gave a very "green feel" to the city. It felt pure, it felt natural, it felt hip and sustainable. I also really liked the mindset of the Danes. Our tour guide explained to us how Denmark prided itself on being the most mediocre country. After losing parts of the country to Norway and Germany, the Danes realised how they couldn't be the strongest super power but what they could do was be the best mediocre country in the world. They decided to make the most of their resources and focus on rebuilding a successful, sustainable, somewhat socially egalitarian society. I was lucky to be there just before summer, so the weather was its best behaviour. I also had the pleasure of witnessing a huge carnival with colourful Samba dancers, heaps of different floats, latin tunes and an atmosphere of contagious enthusiasm. I literally felt like I was on the streets of Rio but in a Nordic capital! I also really enjoyed the business culture in Denmark. The Scandinavians are world-renowned for their efficiency, fairness, integrity and innovation and I experienced that in every business meeting I had. The Danes in general were very friendly too, they would offer to help if you looked lost, they would zip out their smart phones to look for directions and speak English which was such a novelty in Europe! One of my most favourite memories from Copenhagen, besides a wonderful lunch of fresh and orgasmicly delicious salmon in Nyhavn was the Aqua Concert in Tivoli! I saw Aqua live in the biggest amusement park in Denmark, a band I hadn't listened to since I was 10. To see them perform "barbie girl" and "Dr Jones" to a crowd packed with people of all ages and backgrounds on a pre-summer's day was just awesome! Copenhagen is expensive and perhaps too cold and rainy at times, but definitely was a breath of fresh air (literally) from the other cities I went to. Not only a nice-to-visit city but can also be a nice-to-live in city!


3) Amsterdam, The Netherlands



I fell in love with the city as soon as I stepped out of the Schipol airport. Amsterdam is cool, it is liberal, it is multicultural, it is relaxed, it is eccentric. A lot like me! It might just be my personality twin! I was only there for a couple of days but felt like I could drop everything else and move there to live permanently. Most people attributed my love for Amsterdam to the freely available and legal Marijuana sold in the coffee shops but I attribute it to the endorphins released by cycling around the city! When i think of Amsterdam, I don't think of the notorious red light district or the coffee shops, I think of the bicycles and the breezy, relaxed, eco-friendly, leg-toning activity I indulged in. I rode a bike after a long time and man, it was fun! I loved the smell of fries at every corner, I loved how multicultural the city was, I loved how quirky their bars were, how friendly and tall the Dutch people were, how the entire city was soo indie yet so commercial. We lived with a friend of a friend in an awesome apartment and the apartment was like no other. We had to climb 3 floors up an extremely dingy stair case at an almost 90 degree incline (not recommended when under the influence of alcohol) which led up to a spacy, bright, modern apartment. It was such a contradiction to the exterior of the building. From the apartment, we could look at other apartments, all with a small balcony, small terraces where people drank and hung out. I can totally see myself on one of these terraces in a not-so-distant future...


4) Paris, France



You know when you think of what your dream mate would be like, you make a list of the most glorious attributes and characteristics? Paris was like my dream man. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a Parisienne. I always imagined myself walking along the Seine, wearing a beret, eating a croissant with my French poet/writer boyfriend (I know horrible stereotyping eh?!). Something about Paris always attracted me and was on my MUST-VISIT list. It was the first city I went to in Europe and it was love at first sight. I was greeted at the airport by a huge, unfriendly Algerian man who barely spoke (or chose not to speak) English. Not the romantic, chisel faced "Thierry" or "Fracois" I had imagined but that didn't bring me down. It was 6 in the morning and I was welcomed into my hotel by the most mouth watering smell of fresh pastry. The hotel, small and dingy, was very European and located in the most Bohemian part of Paris - Montmartre. I loved it. Most people suffer from the "Paris Syndrome" which is a transient psychological disorder suffered by tourists when Paris they dreamt of doesn't match the Paris they see. Yes, it is not as romantic and grand, as movies and books make it out to be but I really didn't have a problem flying solo in the city of love. In fact I loved it. Paris was what had inspired Hemmingway and Orwell to sit in cafes and write and I could see what inspired them...I loved all the touristy sites - Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame etc..all very touristy and just as people describe it in city guides but what I liked more were the secret alleys with creperies and the fresh vegetable markets and the wine bars and the artsy markets of Montemartre. There was something very charming and captivating about the streets, cafes and the people. They had an air of world-renowned snobbery but could still say the darndest things in their French accents which would make your day. Other than Spain where men would often blatantly greet you as "Hola Guapa", I was never really wooed by the European men but in Paris, the men were direct and they knew what to say and how to say it. For example, I was asked out to a drink by a ticket checker at the metro station and offered a free tour of Paris by a man in a souvenir shop. Coming from NZ where kiwi blokes are far from being charming or forthcoming, this was a welcoming yet kinda creepy change! I think at the end of the day, Paris is a treat for all the senses, as Hemingway described it, it's a "moveable feast". Paris in spite of being big, crowded and expensive, reminded me about the joie de vivre, you may love it, you may hate it, but you definitely can't forget it!

5) Madrid, Spain/Berlin, Germany
It was really hard for me to pick my 5th favourite city. I tried to be like Bella and pick one between a dazzling vampire and a rugged werewolf but was hard...was difficult to choose between a siesta-loving, warm (in every sense) capital and a crazy, buzzy German capital. I decided to be a kindergarten teacher and let them all win! They both get a joint 5th favourite position.




I loved Madrid. We went there in the peak of summer. Temperatures were soaring and the entire city was sizzling. Most people who have been to Spain recommend Barcelona but I preferred Madrid more, partially because I had to spend half the time I had in Barcelona in sorting out life after getting pick-pocketed and partly because Madrid gave us more of an opportunity to experience the Spanish way of living. We would wake up late (around 11ish), go out, eat lunch (which was ALWAYS amazing). People talk about Italian and French food but I love Spanish food. I love the sea food, the boccadillos, the delicius jamon and chorizo! After lunch, we'd attempt to sight see but more often than not, would return to our hostel for a siesta and again leave in the evening for more exploring and soaking up the night life. Madrid is old, it's rusty, it's hot. It may not have Gaudi's crazy architecture or Dali's paintings but it has a vacationesque vibe which is hard to beat! The night life is amazing too, after gorging on tapas for dinners that lasted for three or more hours, we could explore the clubs - a nice mix of salsa bars and "club like" music or just chill in wine and sheesha bars. I think the day starts after 6 pm in Madrid. I surely am mad for Madrid's manana.



To contrast Madrid's manana is the buzz and beats of Berlin. After spending just 48 hours in the city, I had blatantly declared that if cities were soulmates, Berlin would be mine. Berlin is like that person who everyone adores. There is nothing to not like about Berlin. It is pretty, it has a lot of history, it has a lot to see, a lot to eat, a lot to do and lot to come back to if you miss out on a few things on your last trip. It is also easy on the wallet. The most unforgettable night out that I can't remember much of also took place in this German capital. Berlin is hip, it is hipstery, it is hippie and despite the past, it is happy. Therefore can appeal to various groups of people. With its unique traffic light signs, the bears of unity all over time, the ever evolving Berlin art gallery, buskers on every stark corner and the stark difference between East and West Berlin, it is intriguing, it is like the guy with a mysterious past that you can't wait to unravel more of. Berlin has awesome albeit very confusing metro lines and cycling lanes which always makes me happy. The mayor of Berlin described the city as as poor but sexy and that's where its appeal lies. It's not just like any other Germany city. As Jack Lang once said, "Paris is Paris but Berlin is never Berlin", it is always changing, evolving and full of surprises and that's why I love Berlin!

There you go, my top 5 or rather 6 must-go to cities in Europe. Coming soon: the Asian edition!

Day 17: Strangers with stories

"The universe is made of stories, not atoms". - Muriel Rukeyser

Life becomes a lot more interesting and your interactions with people become a lot more meaningful when you realise you are dealing with a whole lot of told and untold stories.

I love stories. I like reading them. I like hearing them. I like sharing them. That is the reason why for a while, I considered being a journalist, I would be hearing, reporting and sharing stories for a living. Not bad huh?

I did Dale Carnegie's effective communication course for a couple of months once and the course was all about having more effective conversations with people. One thing we learnt on the first day was that people love talking about themselves. Apparently Dale Carnegie went to this dinner party once and sat next to a man, who upon leaving, told the host Mr Carnegie was the best conversationalist the man had ever encountered. The man spoke for four hours, Mr. Carnegie spoke for 2 minutes. This highlights the importance of being a good listener and asking the right questions. Everyone loves talking about themselves, you just have to lend an eager ear to hear the stories. I strive to be a better conversationalist, someone who can not only talk for 4 hours but someone who can also talk for 2 minutes and listen for 4 hours.

I think one of the reasons why I like travelling so much is because I can discover untold stories and meet people who have stories completely different from mine. I could hear moving stories of how people my age survived war, stories of passion, funny anecdotes involving alcohol, family dramas etc. All I needed to do was ask the right question, listen with ears and mind open and follow it up with more questions. It's amazing how some of my most memorable encounters involve story telling with strangers...who are not really strangers any more because of the stories we have shared.

I once again realised that I didn't need to go travel to uncover stories. There are so many untold stories at home itself. I did a couple more night shifts at my mum's workplace with a couple of elderly ladies. These ladies, in their 40s and 50s, Caucasian, born and raised in NZ, with kids and grandkids, basic school education were very different from me. Both lovely and very nurturing but it was hard to find a common ground. Our first couple of nights were very professional with awkward small talk factored in every now and then. However, yesterday at my last night shift, instead of my reading my book, I decided to hear a story, a real one with real people. So I tried to start a conversation. There were 8 hours ahead of us and several anecdotes and life stories to be shared.

Time flew by as we got talking. I found out all about their experience of working in night shifts. I found out how and when they met their spouses, their fondest memories of their kids' childhoods, what it was like to be a grandmum etc etc. These are conversations I would never have had with people from their backgrounds otherwise. These stories would have never been shared if one of us did not take the first step to open up and ask questions. The "stranger" would have not been seen as a "mum" or "grandmum" or "Waiheke" resident if we hadn't seeked each others stories.

Life becomes more interesting as we unravel a new story. I really want to keep up with this "new thing" and become an interrogative journalist of life, befriending "strangers" through the power of stories! New day, new thing, new stories! :)

Day 16: You've got mail!

With the advent of the internet, communication has become so much easier. We can facebook, skype, email, chat, video blog, webinar etc. It’s amazing. It’s fast, it’s effective, it’s personal but I still like the old school letter writing form of communication. The goose bumps, the feel of the paper, the deciphering of inked in scribble, the fact that the person actually touched and wrote on the same piece of paper you are now holding makes it so much more personal. It provides a sense of instant emotional connection.

I remember being away from home for the first time while I was studying in Canada. I used to talk to my parents and boy friend at that time every day but it’s not till I got handwritten letters from them that I bawled my eyes out. For some reason, seeing their writing, seeing the return to address on the envelope, smelling the paper (yes weird I know) was all very overwhelming and so much more emotionally “in your face” than a skype call or email.

I really do love letter writing and reading. I’m a hoarder when it comes to collecting any bit of personalized written communication. The other day I was cleaning out my room to look for my Arts degree which I’ve somehow managed to misplace (a sign from the Universe highlighting its insignificance?) I discovered that a huge portion of the clutter that my mum despises comprises of letters, cards, sugarcubes, photo albums, scrap books, postcards etc. High in sentimental value, good guidance for a walk down memory lane, instant uppers when in need of a pick-me-up, also good at taking up shelf/drawer space but that’s about it... I still make a strong case for them year after year and mum lets me hold on to my intangible assets for yet another year.

As much as I like to read letters, I also like to write them. I think my written words of wisdom make for great gifts (or lack thereof). My ex boyfriends and friends would all vouch for that. Lately, however, I’ve become really lazy at letter writing. However I do want to revive that passion for handwritten snail mails. All it takes is one baby step to form a new habit. So one baby step I took, to the post box with a few postcards freshly inked with my messy, hard-to-decipher scribble and stamps and sent them away to my near and dear ones in not so near places. To think, a card that I had just scribbled on and sent from the land down under would be (hopefully) picked up and read by friends in continental Europe or sunny Latin America was exciting. I’m not sure where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing in the next few months but I’ll definitely be keeping everyone updated, if not by my frequent status updates on Facebook, then by my hieroglyphic-resembling handwriting on a postcard. Stay tuned and keep checking those mail boxes (not just the web based ones)!

Day 15: Beautification

I read this quote a while ago - “Pretty is something you're born with. But beautiful, that's an equal opportunity adjective.” Witty. Beauty really is all about perception. It's just a pity how much emphasis is being placed on girls to be a socially constructed version of beautiful.

From being a super chubby kid to being a super conscious, self-esteem challenged teenager to being a borderline feminist who does not want to be labeled, judged or valued based solely on physical attractiveness, I've evolved, I've come a long way. If there's anything Lady Gaga has taught us (other than you can recycle meat to make a dress) is to accept and embrace the way we were born. Born this way, hey?

I can say I'm fairly confident about the way I look and dress. Of course like everyone else I have days when I look at myself in the mirror and wonder WTF (Why the face as Phil Dunphy would say) but generally I like what I see. My friend and I took a gender psych paper at University and did our research mainly focused on body image, media representation of women and self-esteem in teenage girls. The more research and case studies I read and watched, the more aversive I grew towards the media and the cosmetics/glam industry. It's sad how manipulative they are in changing and influencing perceptions of people, how they create images that are so far from being natural or even "beautiful" sometimes, how they overplay the importance of being "pretty" or "beautiful" (i.e. like their models).

Our main takeaway after an entire semester was that there's a lot more to life than being a pretty face. Also, when it comes to "looking a certain way", other people have to look at you a lot more than you look at yourself so as long as you are comfortable and happy with the way you look, other people just have to learn to deal with it. I've always been the one to "keep it real", I don't like make up, I don't own a lot of it, I don't buy any (I just inherit stuff from an aunt who believes make up maketh a woman), I don't have any beauty rituals and I hardly invest any time in making my skin glow or hair shine. This would be all be very evident if you met me. Crazy hair, natural skin, colourful quirky clothes, signature hat and flat shoes. That is me and that is who society has to accept or "deal with". I'm not going to emerge out of my house looking like a girl from a Vogue magazine, neither do I want to.

Having said that, every girl does like and need a little bit of TLC. Facials, manicures, pedicures etc are feel-good beauty rituals. I've never had any of those. So to do something new, I decided to pamper myself a bit and invest a little more time and effort into looking good. So instead of running off to an expensive spa that I cannot afford or to a beautician who would plaster my face with a mask of chemicals I decided to do a few home-based beauty rituals. An oil massage for the hair, natural face mask for the face, pedicure (manicure was not really possible since one really needs unchewed finger nails for that) etc. It was nice. I don't think I have the time, patience or inclination to do it every day but was a change from the mundane. Something new, something done deliberately to maintain and repair the body!

I don't think any of these beauty rituals made any drastic difference to the way I looked but was a good way to get in touch with my girly side and show my body that I haven't just taken it for granted and am willing to spend some time on a little bit of pampering and maintaining.

Day 14: Dream harvesting

Ok so the new thing for Day 14 might be a bit too cheesy, weird or quixotic but was my new thing for the day and so I'll blog about it.

A couple of years ago, during my study break, I would often watch afternoon time TV to procrastinate. Oprah with all those stories of hope, empowerment, change etc was one of my favourites. During one of the episodes she met with this lady from Zimbabwe who went against all odds to make her dream of getting a University education come true. This lady from rural Zimbabwe, was denied further education and forced into an early marriage but she had always dreamt of getting her Bachelors and Post Graduate degree. She always thought it would be one of those dreams that remained a dream. On meeting with a missionary from the US, she realised her dream could come true, she just had to believe in it. Upon the encouragement of her mother, she wrote her dream down to get a BS, a Masters and PhD and hid it in a tin under a rock. "If you can dream it, you can achieve it". Opportunity came knocking on her door and she managed to move to the US, re-marry, start a new life, get her 3 degrees and check off the dream list. She is apparently a "Doctor" now. Really a miraculous story of the power of dreams!

It was very moving. From my own personal experience, I know that if you really want something, you will get it. It might take a while, it may seem unattainable but it will eventually happen. The important thing is to know what you want and keep striving for it. Keep the final destination(the end-goal) constant and use as many different ways, directions, detours to get there as possible!

According to popular belief, there is a "law of attraction" that comes into play so be careful what you wish for and be sure of what you want to wish for. I still remember the time our teacher in India had said that we should make a "target board" in front of our study table. This target board will have the grade or percentage you are striving for, written in bold and each day when you are studying, you are working towards that goal, you are diverting all your energy to achieve that grade you've written down. It worked! It worked that first time when I got very close to my target percentage. It worked ever after in school and University when I would get (or come very close to getting) my target GPA. I definitely cannot attribute all the results to the target board but I do think the board acts as a focal point, a guiding star to achieve what's desired.

Lately my dreams have been scattered. There are SO MANY things I want to do, see, feel, achieve. I find that as you get older and feel the sand in the timer flow much faster than usual, you start freaking out and get into a mad rush of making things happen! It's the same with me...but the problem is the same as always "too much to do, too little time"...problems with prioritisation! I really had to focus all my "want" energy on just a few things so I had a clear goal and could figure out a way to get there (with the Universe conspiring to help every now and then of course). Yesterday I sat and I thought of what I really wanted. When I wrote my target grade on that board as a student, it wasn't a "A+, maybe A, if that doesn't work B+" scenario, it was ALWAYS "A+" and I had to do the same with my new target board/wish list. So I sat, I pondered, I went for a long walk and thought some more and came up with a few things that I REALLY want to achieve and I wrote them down.

After writing the list, to follow the footsteps of the inspiring lady from Zimbabwe, I decided to bury my dreams in a secret place in our garden to see my dreams grow. The wishlist would keep me grounded and at the same time motivate me to keep the dreams growing so I can harvest them all some day. Yep cheesy and very dreamy but I am a dreamer and I'd rather write down these dreams and have the pleasure of checking them off on a list one day rather than write them off even before they can be conceived.

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as though you'll die today". One of my favourite quotes and an important life philosophy. Just wish I can follow through with it! :)

Day 13: Family bonding

Agape - a word that my friend Shen introduced me to when we were talking about tattoos and how she wanted that to be engraved on her hand. Apparently it has a biblical origin and means unconditional love. Short and simple. I liked it or rather I agaped it. I think that word perfectly describes how my four family members feel about each other.

People often wonder how I can be so close to my family...most people I know, the older the get, the more distant they get from their family. Their friends, partners etc take priority. For someone who has always moved around a lot and never had a life-long friend, my family are my best friends. I may move away and go do my own thing but I still feel really connected to the three most important people in my life. My flatmates in Prague were surprised at how I would Skype with them almost every day, how do you have so much to say? That's the thing about great relationships...you don't always have to have something to say, sometimes silence or talking about nothing in particular suffices too.

With varying and clashing work, school, social commitment schedules, we make it a point to have at least one meal together per week, at the table, not in front of the TV, not while Skyping with some other relative or friends. This meal is usually the Sunday morning breakfast that usually goes on for way too long and leads in some sort of major debate or disagreement! All four of us are very opinionated and feel it is our moral duty to make our opinions heard, expressed and fought for, even if it is to just wind the other person up sometimes! With the elections coming up soon, and with the parents and us divided over our political beliefs, we are always in for a debate worse than the one between Key and Goff. A simple bonding activity ends in disharmony!

So this Sunday,we decided to have the first family barbie of the summer! It's nearly December and it was time to get the grill on! Dad as usual was busy right from the morning with the shopping, marinading, grilling etc... leaving us in charge of more difficult things like tasting, eating, drinking, playing music. Tough job! But someone's got to do it! Over the course of 4 hours,we went through various rounds of grilled meat and veggies, several glasses of chardonnay, lots of memories and a long playlist of all our favourite songs! If happiness was to be captured in a moment, it would be then! Sunset: 4 happy people, barely moving from all the eating, giggling and singing (or attempting to sing) "Love of the common people"...C'est la joie de vivre! We kept politics out of the picture. We kept all serious talk out of the picture. Computers were far away and TV was switched off. We went down memory lane and discussed our vision for the future. It really was awesome. Family bonding, as it should be :).

Good food, good music, good company, seriously what more do you need?! If and when I ever start a family, this is exactly what I'd want!

Day 12: Ice breaking

Motor coordination is not my strength. My limbs are always out of control as evident in the crazy poses I strike in photos or the number of times I've fallen or broken things whilst just walking or holding something. It's bizarre. My colleagues at my last job unanimously voted me as the "clumsy one". I was like the real-life version of Betty - breaking, spilling, dropping, tearing, bumping, falling, walking into things etc etc...much to everyone's entertainment.

Therefore I try to avoid anything that requires super coordinated body movements - dancing, yoga, martial arts, surfing, wake boarding, skating etc. I've tried all of these at some point or another but none ended in much success. That doesn't stop me from trying though..if it works, I can rejoice, if it doesn't I have a funny anecdote for FAIL blog.

Ice skating is something I've always wanted to try. In spite of being self-aware of my lack of balance and having a strong disdain for snow/ice, I've always wanted to ice skate. For some reason, I totally missed out on this quintessential childhood experience whilst I was growing up and we never managed to find an ice rink in Prague, where my room mate, a national level synchronized skater, could have taught me to glide gracefully. I did slide and slip several times in the snow in Prague but never ended up ice skating.

Last week while we were on our group-walking mission, we decided to break the ice between the rink and me and finally experience what it feels like to glide on ice. I was fairly confident at first, since I had attempted roller blading as a child, but man was that misleading! Balancing on those ice skates was nothing like my trainer wheels on the roller skates! I was so nervous before we left, I even googled "how to ice skate" so I didn't make a complete idiot of myself on ice.

It took me a while to just stand in those skates. A friend suggested treating them like very uncomfortable heels...I'm the kind of person who is always uncomfortable heels, even if there are just an inch long, I couldn't even fathom what very uncomfortable heels were like. Anyways I somehow gathered the courage to get on the ice rink, holding on to the side of the rink like Kate Winslett to the wooden buoy in Titanic and tried walking slowly. My friends were uber supportive and tried to coach and guide me as much as they could and I tried to observe and copy all the others on the rink, NOBODY was a learner! Everyone looked like they had appeared out of a Swedish synchronized skating team or the Canucks! Maybe I was exaggerating but I was the only one freaking out on the side of the ice skating rink! Well every great learning experience starts with the first step so I took that step.

At first I just walked around like a pregnant duck, holding the side of the rink and going at the pace of hair growth per day but I was making a progress. We realised this was going to be harder than expected so we asked one of the other girls if we could borrow her frame for a couple of minutes, she saw my damsel in distress condition and offered me the frame for as long as I wanted! That did the trick, with that frame, I felt a lot more confident. I couldn't fall! The things you can do when you know you can't fall/fail! So with the frame, I continued to walk and "skate" slowly but surely. I'm pretty sure I looked like a pregnant duck and was far from being elegant and graceful like those synchronized skaters! My friends shared all their tricks, one very important piece of advice from my friend Susan was, " you are too upright, you need to stick your booty out", that did the trick! As soon as I stuck my booty out, my feet miraculously began to glide...still not as gracefully as a synchronized skater but a bit better than my previous waddling pregnant duck moves.

It was all good as long as I had the frame but then the girl who lent me hers needed it back and I HAD to try skating without any support. I panicked again but I figured you only learn to swim if you are thrown in the deep end, the same law might apply to skating! So I tried to skate, without the frame, knowing I was 100% susceptible to falling but I tried it anyways...I was very close to the side...just in case but YES I did skate..for 2 whole minutes without holding the side bit! That was a start and my 2 minutes of supportless gliding kept improving. By the time we left, I was fairly confident in skating without support although I did stay as close as I could to the railing on the side. I did not excel but I tried and I survived! Huzzah!

I'm glad I finally broke the ice with the ice skating rink without breaking any body parts or property! Day 12: Miraculously survived!

Day 11: Can cooksville, baby doll!

I still remember my 6th grade English teacher talking about optimism. She said the world could be divided into 3 categories of people, the "Can"s, the "Can't"s and the "Won't"s and we then had to identify which category we most identified with. I mean no offence to her but I think this is more of a spectrum and I change from one category to another depending on the situation. When it comes to the kitchen, I'm definitely a "Won't" that often confuses herself to be a "Can't".

When asked if I can cook, I often reply with can't but I can. I can but I chose not to so it's more of a "won't" problem. I've always prided myself on having a long list of things I'd rather do than be in the kitchen. Being blessed with having two amazing culinary masters as parents whose main objective in life is to ensure you are well-fed and never go hungry, I was spoilt. I never really had to cook for myself unless I wanted to surprise the family with one of my innovative creations and on those occasions, my sister would do majority of the cooking anyways.... Living away from home didn't help either because as luck would have it, I had the most awesome flatmates in the world who all enjoyed cooking and feeding their take-out buying/noodle-heating/cereal-is-perfectly-good-dinner-option-eating flatmate. I was exposed to delectable cooking from all over the world which broadened my palette and at the same time weakened my enthusiasm to cook. I remember one day I decided to reciprocate the kindness showered by my roommate and offered to cook her eggs for dinner which I eventually ended up burning because I forgot step 1 of making an omelette - greasing the pan! We all decided that to safeguard everyone's safety, sanity and health, it was best if I did not attempt cooking. My "won't"'s determination grew stronger.

However, after I've come back, I've really gotten more interested in cooking and have attempted to upskill my cooking skills from boiling cup noodles to stirring up a 3-course meal. As my friend Matt said, if I can't find a job, I may as well get domesticated ;). I've started cooking a lot more than often (at least once a week) which is indeed a lot more than often! I think one of my methods to overcome my reverse culture shock was to bring back Europe to Auckland. I couldn't travel to Spain for a tortilla espanola or Poland for some pirogues. I couldn't make Pierre make me crepes or make a hefty deposit to the generous layer of flab I accumulated in Europe by eating Zizi's fritule but I could recreate it an recreate I did. My cooking adventures started with following their recipes, which as my friend Pierre said, "were so easy that even Rucha could do it". The positive feedback I received from my 3 guinea pigs at home encouraged me to cook more. The won't/can't started changing to can.

So as a part of my Newember challenge, I decided to dedicate a day to cooking, to expanding my gastronomic talents, to positively changing my won't to a can and man, did it feel good. Cooking can be therapeutic. Cooking can expand your creativity and innovation. The opportunities to experiment, to create, to stir up a storm are boundless! At first I always thought cooking was a drag, my parents and relatives always remind of my words of wisdom at the age of 13 where I blatantly stated that cooking was not my thing, "My mission in life is to find myself a husband who is a chef or one who can afford a chef". Although I still wouldn't mind either of the scenarios, I really won't mind doing some cooking too.

There is a quote from Julia Child along the lines of "“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” With a whole lot of what-the-hell attitude, 4 open tabs on Google chrome of different recipe websites,3-4 main ingredients, I ended up creating a completely innovative 2-course meal with my assistant chef and perpetual partner-in-crime, Urooza. I never thought I had that in me! That's what being a "won't" does, it blocks out any opportunity for "can" to discover and flourish. In this case I'm glad my "can" was stronger than my "won't". Cooking can be fun! Bring on Singapore and new flatmates, this time I'll be the one doing the cooking! :)

Day 10: Unfriending facebook for a day

So I think everyone who knows me, knows about my Facebook addiction. I LOVE Facebook. It's the first thing I check in the morning when I wake up, the last thing I check before I sleep and the thing I go on if I wake up in between. I pretty much live on Facebook. I read a study about highest facebook usage in the world and NZ was second, I'm pretty sure I've made a very hefty contribution to that prestigious ranking.

I can't imagine life without Facebook. It's my most preferred form of communication, my space for self-expression, my tool for stalking, my tool for evaluating, my treasure trove of photos, videos, wall posts, memories (that's why I LOVE the new timeline feature), my source of news and knowledge (I like a million pages for newspapers and magazines and get news about what's happening out and about in the real world in real time). I'm a strong advocate of Facebook and will continue to be on it even if I do indulge in a little bit of infidelity with the twitters, google pluses, tumblrs etc. Nothing compares to Facebook and I'll always come back to it. I might just be Mark Zuckerberg's dream user. If only he would give me a job at Facebook to make it even more awesome and promote its awesomeness to more than 750 million active users! ;)

However I do see that I'm getting addicted to Facebook. I need to check it a bazillion times in a day, having a phone that lets me log in any time I like, fuels this addiction. I sit on it for hours at a time sometimes, constantly refreshing my home page to spot something exciting, checking out photos and videos of "friends", following fiery online debates about topics I may or may not care about, looking at my old photos and videos...OMG, you can enter the world but can never leave. Facebook is sadly actually one of my hobbies! I do feel like I'm experiencing the social networking paradox though, although it feels like I'm in touch with people all the time, I don't really feel a sense of connection. You don't get to 500 million friends without reducing some of them to acquaintances of the status of "Facebook friends". I can send page long messages or drop a quick line on someone's wall but it's not the same as talking to them face-face. I was thinking about it the other day, ever since I've left Europe, I keep in touch with most of my idiota family members on a regular basis through facebook messages/chat/wall posts but when was the last time I actually heard their voice or had a conversation with them? I always know what people are up to through photos, statuses and check-ins but that information feels impersonal and incomplete sometimes. Facebook is good but real life is better. Or should be.

Addiction of any kind is dangerous so I'm trying to slowly reduce my Facebook usage. I thought of giving up Facebook for a day as a part of the Newember challenge. For most people, it's no big deal, but for someone who is as hooked on or logged in as me, that is a HUGE sacrifice. I almost felt incomplete. I logged off Facebook on my phone, deleted the facebook tab off my Google Chrome page and tried to stay away from the computer as much as I could. It was HARD. I was dying to know what people were up to, what the latest meme and re-shared photo/video was, I was dying to update my status or post a photo, I found hard to remember information hidden away in messages and chat history. I felt distant and disconnected from the rest of the world. This might sound really exaggerated but it was really a big deal for me. Logging into facebook is like a reflex reaction for me as soon as I sign into the computer, I mindlessly check in a hundred times just to see what's happening. Not being able to do that was so difficult. I tried to watch more TV, I tried to read, I tried to go for a walk...all sorts of distractions but nothing compared to that white and blue screen of awesomeness. As soon as it was mid-night, I logged in and haven't logged out since.

My name is Rucha Sarma and I am a Facebookoholic. Problem identified. Solution to be found.

Day 9: An all-nighter

Getting paid for staying up all night to read a book. BOOM freaking awesome.

An all-nighter is a quintessential and inevitable part of the student life experience at University. I somehow missed out on that. This doesn't mean I didn't procrastinate or leave things to the last minute because I almost always did but I think I valued sleep more and would always factor in at least a couple of hours of sleep before a major assignment was due. I couldn't remember the last time I stayed up all night doing something productive. I did have plenty of all-nighters of intense partying in Prague where we party rocked till the wee hours of the morning, a weekend where we came home before 5 in the morning was considered to be a FAIL (yes, we had some super stringent partying standards). Anyways, so when my mum mentioned there were some night shifts available at her workplace, I signed up instantly. This would not only help me do my "new thing" for the day but would also add to my Asia-travel fund, which at the moment is as minimal and depleted as the European Central Bank's lending reserves.

I think social workers are unsung heroes of our community. It is a noble profession which is often not given the support and recognition it deserves. My mum works at a residential facility for kids from challenging backgrounds who come for short-term programs to bring about a positive change in their social, behavioural, health etc related aspects. Majority of the children come from low socio-economic, low-decile schools and disturbed family backgrounds. These camps are a sanctuary, a cocoon of safety, a shield from nastiness, a launching pad for better and brighter futures for these kids. As a "night owl", I could not directly contribute to any of that but I had an opportunity to somehow contribute in a small way to the smooth functioning of this organization.

The main requirement for this night shift is to "stay awake". I don't really have a problem with staying up till late, in fact I'm always up till late at night, wasting time on the internet. So that wasn't hard and other than that you just have to regularly check on the dorms and see if the kids are ok. It was really not a tough job. Besides I got really engrossed in my book - Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (great piece of literary work, highly recommended especially if you want to get an insight into life in India before the early 80s). One page after another, one hour after another, one cup of coffee after another...all went by faster than I expected.

It was an interesting experience. Not only because I spent 8 hours in broadening my literary horizon (something I have NEVER done before) but also because I got to literally make sure that some of these troubled children sleep peacefully. There is a really interesting photo shoot by James Mollison titled "where children sleep" which beautifully captures children from diverse backgrounds and countries in their rooms or places where they sleep. It is eye-opening and moving as it shows such a stark contrast in realities. The children were all so alike yet so different. I could not help but think about it while I walked around in the dorms while I did one of the regular checks..these children were in a way so different from children I know or the child I used to be yet they are so alike while they were asleep. It may sound terribly cheesy, cliched and like a song by the Scorpions but staying up all night felt a lot more purposeful when I felt I had a duty to be a guardian for these children of tomorrow dreaming away in the wind of change... Cheesy I know but whatever helps you get through the day/night right? ;)

An all-nighter: Check.
A decent contribution to Singapore/Asia travel fund: Check

Day 8: Adopting a zen habit

“Zen masters say you cannot see your reflection in running water, only in still water.” - Liz Gilbert

Meditation. Staying still. Trying to find inner peace. Definitely not my cup of tea. This was my hypothesis way before I tried my new thing for the day on Tuesday and it was proved and confirmed immediately.

I love Eat.Pray.Love and I love Liz Gilbert. The book has been my guiding light through my deep in the abyss of crap times and I've always wanted to have a life adventure similar to Gilberts. In her book she talks describes in-depth her experience in an Ashram in India where she tries to "pray" and get in touch with her spirituality. Although I could relate to almost every thing she talks about in the book, I found it hard to connect with all the karmic, yogic, spiritual experiences.

Lately my family has really gotten into meditation too. They had a really tough year last year and the holosync meditating techniques have all helped in some way. I usually just mock them as I see them "sleeping" whilst they listen to the holosync CDs. I "meditate" enough I thought.. at least 8 hours a day and very soundly too ;).

Was I just being like the fox who said the grapes were too sour? Cynicism without first-hand experience is dangerous so I decided to give it a try. I'm not doing anything much anyways these days. May as well do absolutely nothing for 30 minutes to give this "Zen habit" a shot.

I plugged in my iPod and started listening to the 30 minute holosync audio tape...which basically sounds like rainfall. Yep you have to lie still, listen to 30 minutes of rainy pitter patter and free your mind and focus on just one thing/word/action and keep repeating it to yourself and take in deep breaths. With a mind as scattered as mine, that is HARD. I'm the type of person who is ALWAYS all over the place, I'm always multi-tasking, I always have a thousand tabs opened on mty laptop, I suck at one-one talks just because I'm easily distracted from one thing and person to next. Being an aquarius which apparently is an air sign and like air, I'm free flowing and constantly circulating. So yep 30 minutes of being still and listening to pitter patter and bells go off every now and then was much harder than I expected. I just couldn't reach my nirvana, far from it, I could barely focus that one word without thinking about what's for lunch or what was going to happen in Glee or how the monks in Tibet meditate or future travel plans to Tibet...but I somehow managed to gather myself for the last 7-8 minutes and did feel a sense of calmness come over me. This was what a conscious state of uncosciousness felt like. It didn't last long but yep it was strange and refreshing, albeit short-lived feeling that a spiritually ignorant person like me finds hard to articulate.

"The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life's achievement.” That's what the zen masters have to say about meditation and being still. Like the L&P advertisement says, I can do nothing much but I'm not very good at doing nothing...I'm still a long way from life's high achievement but hopefully will get there some day!

Nirvana, some day, some way. Not for now for sure.

Day 7: Yo no se mañana

"Yo no se mañana" is a pretty popular/overplayed song by a Nicaraguan singer called Luis Enrique. It means I don't know tomorrow. The song basically emphasises on the "NOW" because you don't know what tomorrow will bring or if there will be a tomorrow. It pretty much is the philosophy of life. Why leave till tomorrow what you can do now?

Having said that, I do put have an alarmingly long wishlist of things I want to do. I remember having this conversation with my friend, Orlando, we were both sitting by the sailing club in Oslo and I mentioned how "learning to sail" was on my things to do before I turn 30. That wish kept multiplying and I had a lot more under my "pending or to-do" list than my "done" list. I started freaking out, not *that* long to go till 30 and still a heck lots of things to be ticked! As John Mayer would say, "won't someone stop this train"?!

One of my aspirations has always been to speak another language fluently. Sadly as of right now, I can only say I'm fluent in one language. I can speak Hindi and Gujarati (my mum's mother tongue) but I'm losing my fluency and I can't have a proper conversation without fumbling for words or casually weaving in some English words and phrases which is very embarrassing. I think bi/multilingualism is a very valuable asset. I was so dumbstruck by people I met in Europe who spoke multiple languages, not just their native and English but most people could also speak a third language! I was totally in awe of a colleague who spoke 8 different languages and she would easily switch from one to another as she spoke to various people and departments in our office! LIKE A BOSS!

I like languages and am pretty good with picking them up...not so good with continuing. I flirted with French for a while which I loved but never took to the next level. I took Spanish and Mandarin in University which again I really enjoyed but didn't really continue to use. I took some beginners Czech classes..more out of need than want but didn't really use it much either. I also picked up several profanities and silly phrases in Portuguese, Croatian, Dutch etc but it's best if I don't use them ;). It appears as though I have a non-committal tendency towards languages. I'm like the Jack of languages, master of none.

To keep up with my new resolution to do one new thing and to tick off another thing from my "to-do before 30" since "yo no se manana",I decided to reconnect with languages far forgotten and seldom used. It was a tough decision between the seduction of French and the sexiness of Spanish, like a linguistic battle of the McDreamy vs McSteamy but in the end, McSteamy i.e. Espanol won. Spanish in my opinion was easier, more fresh in my memory and easier to practice with all the Spanish speakers I know. So I spent an hour studying Spanish yesterday, basic phrases and survival terminology and then spent the rest of the evening listening to my Spanish playlist. It was awesome actually understanding some of the words in those songs I usually listen to so naively. I'm going to try and keep up with the self-study and hopefully practice my Espanol soon with some guapos in South America (must-do destination before I turn 30 ;)).

Day 6: Walk the talk

I love catching up with the girls - "STARS" as we call ourselves (cool acronym made from all our initials). We kinda met and bonded over the summer of 2008 over a common interest of fun, themed parties and jello shots and have all remained very close ever since. Five very different personalities but we ALL love food and our hangouts often cause some serious damage to our waistlines (sometimes our livers)... if we aren't eating, we are talking about food!

A group workout was something we always talked about and added to the "to-do in the summer list" but always postponed for another day. This Sunday was different. We were determined to make it happen. However the weather didn't match our level of enthusiasm, the sun had actually decided to take a day off but we had back-up plans up our sleeves. Plan B: a swim in the local pool but surprise surprise I couldn't find my togs! Our spirit was unshaken. Plan C: Zumba at home but the technical equipment did not cooperate. Plan D: same as Plan A but in another location. Calories will be burnt, come what may, was the motto. We returned to the Rotary Walkway that I had really enjoyed on Friday and walked through a part of it and also took a little detour to admire the mansions in one of the most expensive streets in Farmcove. The weather wasn't great, in fact it rained as we were making our way to the car but that just added to the fun - running in the rain! One of the purest and simplest joys of life!

So this was a fun activity! We not only caught up on all the goss and talked about things girls usually talk about, but also "carpe diemed" a semi-gloomy day and walked the talk! All the binge eating that continued after the running is another story and can be carefully omitted to maintain the feel good factor of the day ;).

Day 5: Cafe crawl

"Idemo na kavu" - Croatian for "Let's go for coffee", Perhaps one of the more sophisticated (i.e. non-"colourful") phrases I know in Croatian. In memory of Croatia, my favourite people in Europe (the Balkans)and the lazy Sundays my roommates and I spent in cafes in Prague, I decided to dedicate my entire Saturday afternoon to enjoying the cafe culture in Auckland.

I just had lunch with a friend and was a bit to queasy to take the ferry home after a very heavy meal that was recommended suggested by our friendly French waiter (noticing a trend in easily falling for men with exotic accents) so I decided to go get a smoothie from Shaky Isles, my new favourite cafe in town. It's quirky, it's cool, coffee is excellent and Colombiano and the staff is friendly (and some of them have exotic accents too ;)). I sat there, blogged, people watched, flicked through magazines, mused, casually eavesdropped on conversations around me and enjoyed my heavenly smoothie. As much as I didn't want to leave my sanctuary of refillable caffeine goodness, I was off to Cafe 2 and 3! L'Assiette, new fave chill out place, especially to watch the French rugby games, for some macaroons and coffee. I firmly believe that there is no problem that French accents and passion fruit macaroons cannot solve and I was right. Just as I was entering a sweet place we call "food coma", it was time for another caffeinated beverage. The espresso workshop was next and last on this wild cafe crawl. There's only so much coffee you can drink in a span of 2.5 hours. A shot of espresso and I was ready to call it a night. Tis sure was CraZzY crawl.

I'm not sure if a "cafe crawl" is a sign of me getting older and wiser (and boring) or me becoming more comfortable just spending an afternoon by myself in a caffeine induced state of nothingness...but I sure did like it.

I really like the quote that goes along the lines of, "I met a lot of people in Europe, I even encountered myself". I did encounter myself in Europe and I realised how I was a pretty cool person to hang out with ;) I didn't always need to be a social butterfly fluttering around in search of company, from one group of people to another. I could sometimes just stay curled up in my cocoon of personal space with myself and still have an awesome time. Saturday afternoon of lazing around in cafes around the Britomart block was just a prime example. As my Croatian flatmate would say, this caffeine fueled adventure sure was "jebeno" ;).

Day 4: Discovering Para-para-paradise

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton

I think one of the best and long lasting side effects of travelling is a burning desire for exploration. What's ironic is I explored far more in Europe in 18 months than I did in Auckland, since I got here. I guess we all take "home" for granted. Home is known, home is safe, home is always going to be here so may as well book a flight to the other end of the world first before you revel in the beauty and bounty of what home has to offer. Not sure if this is true for everyone but it sure was for me.



As one of the panelists from the event earlier this week had mentioned, NZ is a country where you walk through the exit gates but run back through the entrance at the airport. While I was away, I realised how I longed for this green pasture, that I had taken for granted earlier. So now that I was back and now that I had to challenge myself in some way, I FINALLY decided to do the Rotary Walkway right in my backyard. The walkway was always on my to-do but never done list. What better timing than day 4 and a pseudo-summery November day?!



The Rotary Walkway is a 5km walking route going through various reserves in East Auckland. It runs all the way from Pigeon Mountain to Pakuranga and is an oasis in the middle of..well another oasis. 14 km, various pukekoe sightings, one crazy encounter with a wild cat, majorly sore legs and a couple of blisters on my feet later, I can say this is one of the most awesome parts of Auckland and a highlight of my week.



It challenged me physically, simply coz I haven't been too physical lately (no pun intended) and blew my mind with all the tricks and treats that were up mother nature's sleeve in that 5 km stretch. Vast areas of lush green grasslands, canopies and reassuring shelter of trees, pukekoes that walk around fearlessly traversing into a small coastal line where you can hear the waves, smell the sea breeze and see the boats casually bobbing in sync with the waves (like my head to The Islands song that I was listening to at that time) to some volcanic remains to some more beauuuutiful flora and fauna. Coldplay's "paradise" came on the iPod several times during this walk. How apt I thought! I don't have to close my eyes to see para-para-paradise. I just have to walk 10 k to discover and enjoy it :).

“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes

I think the same can be said about places.

Day 4 was awesome! I discovered paradise in my backyard. Boom!