All is Welly

2020, Mar 10    

So… this week was quite tumultuous. This post is a bit longer than usual.

After boarding our plane out of CHC we were informed that the previous crew had noticed something odd on their flight and that the engineers were going to investigate a seemingly simple issue. A quick eighty minutes later we finally took off. So that was fun! I got a window seat instead of an isle one hoping to see some of the landscape from above on a short flight. Unfortunately there was full cloud coverage and, altho that is pretty in it’s own right, I missed the sights.

Well, I’m in Wellington (aka Welly) now and all is well (lamest line on my blog yet, my apologies). I booked a bed in a well reviewed hostel’s 4-bed dorm to reduce the chances of snoring roommates (as opposed to 6, 8, or 12 bed dorms) and keep lodging costs down. Lucky me, 2 of the other 3 people in the room snore. FML! All other hostels seem to be booked for private rooms so I got stuck.

First day in new city I did not leave the hostel at all as I was given the gift of a big time sensitive work task. I told myself that the day was cloudy and hence ok to stay in, plus the lounge couch was quite comfortable. Eventually I did go out to grab some take out dinner and watched a flick in the hostel’s comfy movie room.

Managed to switch dorm rooms the next night hoping a fresh roll of the dice could result in snore-less roommates. Fail. It was only one snorer this time, but this guy has straight up sleep apnea, and it’s not mild.

Some of you may be wondering why I don’t just use ear plugs. Fair question. I did/do try and it never works. A part of the reason is that I just don’t like wearing them and have trouble sleeping with them on defeating the purpose. The deeper reason is that my mind, for whatever reason, likes to lock in on most periodic sounds. So even a ticking clock or slow water dripping could keep me up at night. In addition, I am also keenly attuned to tracking snoring after having worked in sleep research for several years in the past including doing frequency analysis of snore sounds to identify obstruction sites in the airway. Hours upon hours of auditory bliss y’all! The restricted airflow in the breathing of a snorer also triggers an empathetic/psychosomatic sensation of restricted breathing on myself. So no matter how quiet the snoring is, as with earplugs, if I can hear it at all, then I’m screwed. I usually resort to wearing headphones and playing music loud enough to fully drown the invading sound, but then can’t get to sleep anyway. Still better than listening to the snores. The irony is not lost in that I myself sometimes snore. It is not common, but it does happen. This mortifies me as I absolutely hate to put others through what I despise so much. Sigh.

But hey, at least I got up the next morning with bug bites in my right foot and left hand. WHAT?! How am I this lucky? Emptied all my bags and threw everything in the hot wash and extra hot dry. Got moved to a private room and refunded all of my booking. But since they now had to treat that dorm room and all other hostels are booked out, I had to leave the next day and find another accommodations. Found a decent deal on a cheap (and sad) hotel in the center but only for one night.

On my third day in town I finally got some real time to walk and explore a bit. City is kinda neat resting by a bay and quite hilly. It invokes a little San Fransisco vibes. There is an elegant waterfront area and also there is a tiny but cute calm beach spot. I met with a CSer for a snack and hike up to Mount Victoria lookout spot. It was quite the interesting chat about life as an immigrant in Wellington and New Zealand with a neat short hike and view of the city right after sunset. I must say, as much as I enjoyed my calm times in Christchurch, Wellington does appear to be a much more interesting place.

After switching hotels yet again with a lesser good deal for two more nights, I made my way eagerly to the botanical gardens that are not far away. What I did not know is that it was a pretty intense hilly hike to get there. And once you are there, the gardens themselves are a rollercoaster of hills. I wore my legs out. But, as usual, it was a lovely peaceful time there with tons of more flower photos. Some flowers have colors that the camera can’t quite capture properly. So even tho photos still look amazing, it’s just not quite the real deal.

On my way back I met another CSer that wanted to watch the gay pride parade. I watched a part of it go by while waiting at our rendezvous spot but she was too late and missed it altogether. Parade was quite short however, or we were both very late. We still walked around a bit and grabbed a drink while talking about travel, politics, relationships, etc. My new friend Zuzana is unfortunately going through a rough patch so I have also been wearing my therapist/coach hats a bit too.

Next day we visited the local farmers market and later attended the popular Newtown Festival on a lovely day with music, shops, food and all that comes along with it. It was obviously a super crowded event, but I had good company and our conversations still spanned a broad swath of topics. We even ran into an arepa truck! I’m happy to see Venezuelans all over the globe making it work one way or another. They were tasty arepas too (Queenstown’s joint were still better, I think). We stayed just long enough to enjoy the event but not get too overwhelmed by the crowds and even grabbing a cup of sweet Vietnamese coffee before leaving.

Another full day inside working hard on some other time sensitive tasks as some rains came and went outside. I did not leave the hotel at all the whole day and had nothing but five cookies to eat. A bit pathetic. Once I had enough work done I forced myself out on the streets to have at least some form of proper nourishment. Found a small food court around the corner just before closing time and enjoyed some tasty Korean dish before heading back to my room and hunt for the next place to stay. Settled on a private room in yet another hostel after finding a small discount. Not great, but location is good, no snorers to deal with, and bed is more comfortable than expected. Wifi coverage is a bit spotty but respectable.

So I tried something new to wrap the week. I attended a Hare Krishna evening event with Yoga, kirtans, guest talk, and a Bengali vegan dinner fest. We arrived late for Yoga (city traffic, argh!) so got into the early chill kirtan session. Not my cup of tea, but was interesting and pleasant to experience something new. The guest talk was slow, redundant, and taught me nothing at all in a calm, charming, and pleasant way. Then we had a second more animated kirtan session. Still not quite my thing but musically amusing nevertheless. Was nice to see how others can and do draw a significant emotional/spiritual experience from it and I can totally get how and why. Whatever rocks your world man! The Bengali food was fantastic and plentiful. All in all was a fun new thing to take part of and met some very nice and sweet people. Happy that communities like these exist for folks that have different walks of life, interests and needs. Just hope there is no hidden culty undertones as we (I?) may tend to stereotype groups of this elk. But my impression is that it was all quite nice and healthy. I personally would still stick to the yoga and food which I do enjoy.