It's been a long time since I wrote in my blog. I got lazy after my first three days road trip so I decided to just write at the very last day of the whole journey.
Well, I will skip the details of the trip as I'm too lazy to write everything. This is really an unexpected journey. I never expected or imagined that my life would be such interesting before I came here. It's far better than I ever imagined. Everything I do, everywhere I go, everyone I met, every stories I heard, I never expected this much. I've learned a lot in this journey to Middle Earth, and I love these changes on me.
If you asked me whether this journey is like a dream or not, I would say yes and no. Like dream, this whole journey is unreal, and I really do appreciate the courage I had in myself six months ago to make this decision to come here for working holiday. I do appreciate that my parents did not stop me from coming at the very beginning. Yes, there weren't much 20-years-old Asians who came here for working holiday, I only met one so far, she's from my hometown. Some would think that I am born in a rich family which is why I could come here. Well, I would only say those who really understands me will understand me.
Unlike dream where time passes slowly, I felt like time flies in this journey. It's already been six months, and I still remember clearly the situation in Penang Airport where me and my family sat down in a cafe for pie and cheesecake while waiting for my flight. I couldn't recall much what happened these past few months which is why I appreciate my hard work for writing a journal to record my everyday life. I haven't reread it though, I will do that when I went back home or in the plane I suppose. I spent a lot of time working in orchards and pack house, where you did the same thing repeatedly for around 8 hours six days in a week. Maybe that's why there are not that much things to recall. I am happy that I worked in both outdoor and indoor, I tried picking apples, packing kiwifruits, pruning apple trees in four months time, which are kind of wonderful experience.
Before I came here, I expected that everyone around me would be Caucasians. But I had been around with Asian friends all the time since I started work until my very last day in New Zealand. To be honest, I loved this experience. Even though my English language skills did not improve a lot as I speak Mandarin all the way but I'm still happy and grateful that I met them here. Most of them are Malaysians, Taiwanese, Chinese, Hong Kong, and some Vietnamese. I made some Japanese friends when I was picking apples in Timaru though. At first I was kind of shocked to see that there are Malaysians everywhere! We had been talking to each other, caring of each other, going out on Sunday together. There are too many things I did with my friends here.
I will always remember those days when everyone were looking forward to what to do, where to go on Sunday. I will always remember those days when we drove for hours in a day just to go have fun! I will remember the three-days road trip from Motueka to Arrowtown just to feel the Autumn. We spent almost more than half of the time (or probably more than half) in car! I will remember how helpless I was when I first arrived in Motueka, looking for a job for a month but there were no orchards hiring. I thought it's easy to find a job here. I will remember those days when we had party almost every weekends in Motueka, when some of us got drunk. It's great nobody had to drive because we all lived in the house so all we had to do was just walk to the bed and that's it! I will remember my two-weeks long road trip when I drove my wagon car for hours every day. I will remember those times when we had to part ways with our housemates when they were heading for a new job, one by one, until eventually it was my turn to leave.
Tomorrow I will me leaving this wonderful country, taking all these wonderful memories with me, back to home. I will be starting my university soon, which is why I did not extend my working holiday visa. And I'm ready. I'm ready to leave, and to start a new chapter in my life. I had found some purposes in my life, I fell in love with travelling. And I promise myself, I will never become one of those people who spend their entire life working days and nights. I would not say I will definitely make my life more interesting than the others, but I will live an interesting life without regrets doing things that I love. It doesn't have to be compared to others' life but at least I want to live a life which I can feel, that I'm alive. All the best for myself!
I don't know for sure whether I will be coming back for North Island and snowboarding or not. But I think I will do that!
