In the valleys of southwest Iceland, the Great Geysir is part of a system of hot springs that, in addition to spewing boiling water some seventy meters into the air, have lent their name to the English word for ‘geyser.’ The word ‘geysir’ itself comes from the Old Norse verb geysa, to “gush” or “rush … Read More
“Neal rattled on like this; he was overjoyed and exuberant. He and I suddenly saw the whole country like an oyster for us to open; and the pearl was there, the pearl was there.” — Jack Kerouac, On the Road My first two weeks on a black pearl farm in French Polynesia felt like starting … Read More
I was in no mood for adventure. An email that morning – informing me that my application for a university scholarship was unsuccessful – had set the tone for the day, namely, a poor one. Customers seemed grumpier than normal. The coffee pots seemed to always need refilling. The future, and all its ensuing financial … Read More
Somehow, I’d ended up in Rotorua for the night. Well, I knew exactly how it happened. State Highway 1 had led me from Hamilton through Cambridge to Tirau, where I picked up SH5 to Rotorua. But I was late leaving Raglan; partly because it was such a lovely little town and partly because things got … Read More
On the highway out of Cambridge, I’d passed a large warehouse-like building with the words “Corrugated Creations” painted on the side like a built-in billboard. There were a few cut-outs scattered around the complex – made from corrugated iron, of course – large cartoon-ish images of a donkey, a car, and an alien eye, but … Read More
Near the crossroads of Victoria and Queen Streets in a little town called Cambridge, the Prince Albert Olde English Pub offers “traditional cuisine at affordable prices.” Just across the street, the Jubilee Gardens, built in 1897 to celebrate the sixtieth year of Queen Victoria’s reign, features a cenotaph memorial dedicated “to the immortal memory of … Read More
I have a habit of expecting a lot from myself. It began in high school, I suppose, this self-enforced pressure. While friends faced the gauntlet of their parents to achieve and succeed, I answered to no one but my own high standards. I was the one pushing myself into college admissions meetings and AP classes, … Read More
It had been a day of Germans. There were six and myself on my caving trip in Waitomo that morning and tonight, the back kitchen of the hostel in Raglan is full and I am again the only one not fluent in Deutsch. As I quietly scrape the remains of spaghetti bolognese off my dishes, … Read More