In a fast-paced city, rarely do we have a chance to slow down and look into ourselves from within.
Being away from the places I am familiar with to New Zealand, it means a lot to me. Well, this is the first European country I’ve been to, and when you are plumped into a new place, that implies a certain degree of unlearning about the practicability of one’s own culture, letting go of the social status, material possession, a stuck relationship or situation when you are in your own country. You are just about to start a new journey and to learn and view the world from a different perspective. It can be insightful yet exciting!
Throughout my 6-months working holiday in New Zealand, I spent the most of my time in Franz Josef for about 4 months. Why I was here for that long? Haha, I’ve never planned for anything and it just happened that I have a “special connection” with this place? I was blown to here and stayed till mid autumn.
I love to walk around Franz Josef. Sometimes, I walked alone, sometimes, with a friend. When I am alone, I usually indulged myself in gazing at the glacier, feeling the natural surrounding, the gentle breeze, and then I would have a pleasing conversation to myself. I walked with my preferred pace and dreamt about the desired.
When I was with a friend, I did enjoy the way we walked together and although some people just don’t talk much to you, but you would cherish the chance to walk alongside with someone and appreciate this acquaintance.
Shan is the Hong Kong girl whom I had most of the non-solitary walks with in Franz Josef. She is few years older than me and she is about to be a full-time roamer. We talked about life, love, the interpersonal relationship we had in the situational drama of Franz Josef Scenic Hotel, etc while walking along the farm road behind our lodge that gives us another stunning view of glacial mountains.
I remember how we talked about love, I mean the romantic relationship of a couple. There is a saying, there are two things a couple should do before they decide to tie the knot: one is to cohabit, to stay together, the second is to travel together. One is to test the couple in dealing with the certainty (seeing your mate’s unchanged temperament) in life while the other is to test their ability to face the uncertainties together in life.
To stay together, you get to know each other better in term of his or her character, predisposition of likes and dislikes in daily activities, his or her habit and so on. It’s not merely about having temporal fun while hanging out with him or her nor the first infatuated impression when meeting him or her. To travel together, it is another challenge to face. As the relationship proceeds, there might be some unexpected obstacles that happen. If those happen, are you going to hold her hand still to tackle all the undesirable things? Will you be able to tolerate or compromise when she has severe disagreement with you? When both of you started to have different agenda and different destinations to go, will you two calm down and sort these out?
.................. I am 25, still enjoy being free and solitude is a state when I am most truthful to myself. People come in and out and pass me by, some stay silently for me, some leave unnoticed, my heart is drifting, so I am still a little uncertain :)
