i took a freakin' chill pill!!!

Ok, it has been a few days since I wrote that last post, but I’m just getting to post it. I’ve had some time to cool down and offer a sunnier outlook. Don’t get me wrong - apple-picking is still terrible. But day one Maggie and I got 4 bins together, the next day 5, the next day 6. Granted we have to get 8 together to make min. wage, but the last day and a half of the work week we were put on other tasks around the orchard and paid on hourly since we had picked all of the most pickable apples, so at least we made a little money. We didn’t even have to work on Saturday and I never knew a weekend could feel so long. It rules.
Napier might be my favorite town thus far in NZ. It’s claim to fame is an Art Deco theme that is vaguely present in the main shops and streets of the town. On one weekend every year they have an Art Deco Festival during which everyone in the town dresses up in their finest Art Deco garb and hangs out down town. That festival just so happens to be this weekend, which is just the luckiest timing. There are old cars everywhere and ladies in lipstick and gloves and hats with lacy parasols and pearls. Kids in suspenders and men in suits with canes and vests. Last night we came into town to witness the festivities and it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Everyone was doing it. As Maggie pointed out, it didn’t feel like Halloween because it was such a uniform theme. It felt like the four of us (who didn’t dress up because our traveller’s budgets don’t allow for play-clothes) had simply stepped into another time period. Malcolm said that he kept expecting the kids to run up to us and try to sell us newspapers or something because you just couldn’t quite accept that they were just normal, modern children. It was crazy. Right now I’m sitting in a coffee shop wearing running clothes and typing on a laptop, but everyone around me is wearing boas and hats or suspenders and bowties. It makes me nostalgic for things I never even experienced.

Tomorrow it is back to work, which will unfortunately be painful and non-profitable. For the moment, I’ve got to just people-watch. There is so much to see!