You

  They told me once that if I write, it’s supposed to be for someone, that everything we write is intended to be for someone, so here I am, writing this first lines and all I can think about is you, you, you. So maybe that’s why, I’m writing this for you. Or maybe it’s just because it’s about you… it’s all about you right now. You and I.

  But first, me. And then, you.

  Once again, one of those things we learn in life, one of those things we read or someone told us and it feels so right we take it as an undeniable truth: to fall in love with someone else, you need to fall in love with yourself first, you need to be happy. I heard that once, and it made perfect sense... and maybe, just maybe, it explained why I was never lucky in love, I wasn’t really happy with anything, I always felt like there was something missing. So here’s where the story begins… with an Argentinean running away from home, running away from it all, crossing the ocean to the other side, arriving at New Zealand. That was me, sixteen months ago.

  After travelling for 7 months, I was in a city I hated and loved at the same time. I got there being as happy as I could be, life was good, being wild and free. Freedom is something we don’t get to feel everyday being in a big city, but your country had it all, blue skies during the day, bright stars during the night. The sea being there all the time, cuz doesn’t matter where you are, the sea is always near enough. The air there is pure and fresh, and it was just beautiful to feel it getting inside my lounges slowly. I was happy, and I thought things couldn’t go better…

  It’s always the same, before going better, things got worse. So I ended up in a shitty job, quitting it, being unemployed again, with no money to pay my rent or go to the supermarket, being pretty much alone in the other side of the world and not knowing what to do. So one day the good news came, I start getting one job and another with an agency, it was fun, but annoying aswell to get up everyday not knowing if there was going to be a job waiting for me or not… so after two weeks, I heard the best news: I had an offer for a permanent job. Thanks God. I was as happy as I could be.

  So there I was, a week after starting my new job, doing dishes in the kitchen of a beautiful hotel… and you walked in. I think I won’t ever forget that day. You walked in wearing some shorts with a black and white belt, a top, and a black and green hat… and I loved you straight away. I know, love at first sight is not a real thing, I didn’t really love you by then, but soon I did. At that moment, I just thought I wanted to knew more about you, a lot more…

  Time went by, and every single time you talked to me my wee heart would skip a beat. You would joke with me, asked how my day was, how I spent my days off, if I was being a good girl… and I knew you weren’t flirting -I wish you were-, you were just a nice boy, worried about everybody, always talking with people and making everybody laugh, and that just made me like you even more. You weren’t interested in me, you just saw a friend, and so we became… friends. Good friends I think, I knew I’d had to leave the country in a couple of month, so I was happy having such a good friend, and dreaming… What if things would have been different? What if we had more time? But we had none, just a few month and I would be gone… so I convinced myself that I was happy being your friend, but inside, every time you talked to me, my heart would skip a beat.

  Days and months went by, we hang out a couple of times, and I think everybody could see we were a bit more than friends, everybody but you, you and your broken heart that had promise himself he would never ever love again. But every time you looked into my eyes, deep inside I knew it… your eyes used to shine when you looked into mine, and I think that’s when I realized I was deeply in love with you. But what could I say? What could I do? I was leaving, and I didn’t want your heart broken again, so I kept all my words inside of me, all of my feelings, and I enjoyed your company, every joke and moment of laugh together, I enjoyed sleeping by your side even when you pushed me away in your dreams, not knowing anymore how it was like to share your bed. And I loved you, in silence, dreaming about what would it be if… if… if… if I wasn’t leaving in two months, if I wasn’t leaving in a month, if I only could stay a bit more to give this love a chance. 

  But another dream was waiting for me, Asia was waiting for me, a three months trip that was already planned, tickets already bought. So I loved you in silence, and my heart broke a bit that night you told me ‘I’m starting to have feelings for you’, and my heart broke a bit that day you said ‘stay in New Zealand, please’, and my heart broke a bit that day I finally said goodbye to you, knowing at least, I would see you one more time before going back to Argentina. And I cried a bit that day I got into a plane flying to Indonesia, leaving you behind. That day, like today, I wrote some lines, I remember well… I wrote about you, about how I knew I was leaving, but still, I felt like I still had a lot to write about you, about us, I knew I didn’t want to write the end of the story.

  And so I didn’t. I wouldn’t give up on you, cuz I knew you loved me to.

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Rydges...

Last day of work. What can I say?
Today I was suppoused to say goodbye, but how do you say goodbye without breaking down? How do you say goodbye to people you love knowing there's a chance you won't ever see them again?... I just couldn't. I left earlier, before most of the chefs were there. Just like another day, telling myself I would be back after my two days off.
As I walked down the stairs after signing off for the last time, I saw H with a puppy face looking at me, and as she said 'you can't go' i had to fight the tears to keep them in. Cuz the truth is I can't, but i'm doing it anyway. I have to. It's time to keep moving, to go with the flow, to keep growing up. Asia's waiting for me.
But leaving wasn't an easy choice, and I'll miss Rydges so much! Being far away, they became my family, a really good one. Most of the chefs were like my brothers and sisters, some more like my parents, haha. I'll miss getting there at 6am and having Johnny Wu, Helena or Gareth saying "morning", I'll miss the puppy faces and the 'sorry Sabrina, I burned it' while they hand me a really bad looking pot, I'll miss the jokes and even the ice cubes on my back. My chefs... the ones that make me laugh every day, that reminded me I had to smile when I was grumpy or just too tired, the ones that fed me all the time, gave me icecream when no one was looking or cooked me breakfast even tho they were not suppoused to. I'll miss trying new stuff, calling Tim all the time just because, sharing smiles with Will, saying 'hi Yoshi' and seing his big smile every time. I'll miss chating with H, Gareth showing the finger at me all the time and pissing me off, I'll miss poking Damo. I'll even miss the 'Sabrina, can you wash this?'. I will for sure miss Sharne's jokes, and the  'Sabrina, make me a coffee please'.
I'll miss the front staff aswell, they all have a place in my heart now. I'll miss Denisse and Olive, my favourite waitresses! The ones that had to listen to all my complains when people pissed me off, the ones that were always there. I'll miss Denisse walking by and telling me to go on break with her. I'll miss Eiko and Rachel, I couldn't say goodbye to them, but I wish they know how thankfull I am for all they did for me. I'll miss Salvador and he's hot jokes!! Imposible not to laugh arround him. I will even miss Binod asking me to put the fucking cutlery through!!God, I'll miss so many things.
Rydges gave me a family, a thousand good memories I will never forget, a lot of people I will always keep in my heart. Cuz everytime someone asked me about my job, I always said the same... I love my job, cuz I love the people I work with. And if people ever ask me where my favourite place in New Zeland is, I know I'll probably say Milford Sounds, but in my heart, I will always be thinking about my beautiful Rydges <3

But on the bright side... no more dishes, no more cleaning, no more burned pots, no more rubish inside the containers, no more plastic containers inside the food bucket, no more cutlery, no more boxes to break, no more taking the rubish out!! No more dishes everywhere, no more shitty kitchen hands that pissed me off all the time. No more puting things away, and moving things from one side to the other to have them in the right place. No more making smoothies that dissapear when they take them upstairs without letting me know, no more filling up juice bottles!!! No more work!! HOLLYDAYS here we go!!!!

So if anybody asked me, did you enjoy your time at Rydges? I will say: Yes chef!!

Hanmer Springs: Mucho más que unas termas.

Tenemos un finde donde con Fede coincidimos los días off, y decidimos irnos a las termas de Hanmer Springs a desestresarnos un poco.

Ante el bajo presupuesto y las pocas ganas de gastar plata en alojamiento que tenemos, se me ocurre meterme en couchsurfing una vez más. Aunque varias veces lo tuvimos como opción, terminamos sin usarlo nunca, pero esta vez los planetas se nos alinean. Entro a último momento, la noche anterior, y me contacto con Manish, un indio que resulta ser la única persona con couchsurfing en esta pequeña ciudad, y resulta que tiene dos buenas referencias, ¡así que allá vamos! Le mando mensaje y está más que feliz de recibirnos.

Al otro día temprano salimos a la ruta... ¡y que ruta! El paisaje es incríble por donde mires, y vamos embobados mirando por la ventanilla y sacándole fotos a todo.

El viaje se hace eterno porque paramos a cada rato y en cada pueblito del camino, disfrutando de cada instante, de cada lugar. Una de nuestras paradas favoritas es el pequeño pueblito de Culverden:

Al final llegamos, pasamos un rato en la plaza comiendo el almuerzo que nos trajimos preparado, y decidimos salir a caminar un rato para juntarnos con Manish más tarde, nuestro destino: Conical Hill. Una caminata corta y sencilla por la montaña a través de un pequeño bosquecito -aunque bastante en subida- que termina en un paisaje más que increíble. La realidad es que no esperábamos llegar a un lugar semejante, y fuimos más que sorprendidos por los colores, los aromas, el aire fresco y la libertad que la cima de Conical Hill nos supo inspirar. Para el que tenga un rato, una caminata más que recomendada :) Una hermosa vista hacia la Tierra Media.

Una vez terminada la aventura, nos encontramos con Manish en el pequeño centro de Hanmer Springs y nos guió hasta su casa. Al llegar nos encontramos con una casita chiquita pero encantadora, nuestra habitación: un sofá cama en el living con un hermoso hogar a leña. Pasamos la tarde charlando con Manish quien nos contó sobre su vida, sus costumbres, nos convidó golosinas indias y cuando empezó a caer la noche nos preparó la cena -obviamente, pollo al curry-. Lamentablemente lo llamaron de emergencia del trabajo y tuvo que irse, por lo que la cena la disfrutamos solos. ¡Riquísimo!

Fede estaba cansado, asi que mientras el tomaba una siesta yo me fui a caminar por el jardín... solo para descubrir que el mismo derivaba en un pequeño bosquecito y la ladera de una pequeña montaña. Curiosa, subí hasta la cima para encontrarme una hermosa vista hacia la ciudad del otro lado. 'Hermoso' y 'mágico' son las únicas palabras que se me ocurren para describir ese momento y ese lugar.

Cuando volví a entrar a la casa, Tiovanni -un jordano con quien Manish compartía su casa- ya estaba ahí prendiendo el hogar a leña para nosotros. Curiosamente, resultó que Tiovanni era un fanático del fútbol amante de nuestros jugadores, por lo que pasamos un buen rato charlando sobre Messi, Téves, Di Maria y todos los jugadores que pudo recordar y nombrarme. Vale aclarar que como mis nociones de fútbol son muy básicas, no fue una conversación muy interesante. 

Se hizo la hora de comer, yo comí el pollo al curry preparado por Manish y Tiovanni me ofreció a probar una comida típica de Jordania la cual constaba de un pan mojado en aceite de oliva y luego en una combinación de hierbas, lo cuál resultaba muy rico aunque extraño.

Cuando Fede se despertó Tiovanni preparó té para todos en la estufa a leña y conocimos a su gato -casualmente llamado Messi-.

Cerca de las nueve de la noche Manish volvió del trabajo con la noticia de que ¡estaba nevando!, así que cual niños pequeños salimos corriendo al patio a mirar como nevaba y comer copos de nieve mientras Tiovani jugaba una guerra de bolas de nieve con dos amigos que casualmente habían pasado a saludar.

Felices cual niños con juguete nuevo, nos fuimos a dormir. A la mañana siguiente amanecimos temprano, y con Manish fuimos a una cafetería donde pedimos unos café para llevar, y de ahí partimos hacia 'un lugar con buena vista' donde tomar nuestro desayuno. El día estaba medio nublado y lluvioso, pero habíamos pasado por ese lugar de pasada el día anterior, y por eso subo las fotos con buen clima. De todas formas, fue lindo tomar un café disfrutando de la buena vista y del reparo de los árboles.

Se hizo el mediodía y Manish nos llevó a un restaurant cerca de la ciudad para almorzar. Pasamos el rato jugando al pool, charlando, disfrutando de la vista de las montañas desde la ventana del restaurant, y eventualmente Manish tuvo que irse a trabajar y nosotros fuimos a por nuestro destino original: relajarnos en las termas!

Afuera hacía frío, estaba lluvioso y nublado, pero de todas formas nos juntamos de coraje, nos pusimos la malla y corrimos hacia las piletas donde la promesa de agua caliente y relax nos esperaba... y no estuvo errado. Disfrutamos durante más de dos horas de las distintas piletas -nuestras favoritas fueron aquellas con hidromasaje- donde casi nos dormimos del placer, charlamos con unos ancianitos durante un bueeen rato en una pileta de 43°C donde salimos casi desmayados, nos tiramos cual lagartijas en piletas de aguas bajas y metimos un piecito en la pileta de agua fría de la cuál salimos corriendo para refugiarnos nuevamente en los 36°C. Las termas cumplieron su cometido, quedamos todos blanditos, relajados y felices.

Terminado el día, retomamos el camino a casa... pero no sin antes hacer una parada en la playa de Amberley para tomar un cafecito y disfrutar del olor a mar y una buena vista!

Viajar no se trata de llegar a destino, sino de disfrutar del camino... y con esta mini escapada a Hanmer Springs lo confirmamos más que nunca.

Paseando por aquí y por allá - playas!

Entramos en rutina pero eso no quiere decir que nuestro objetivo no sea el de conocer, así que en cuanto tenemos oportunidad, ¡nos vamos de paseo!

Así que les vengo a dejar unas cuantas fotos de los lugares que anduvimos visitando :)

Después de como 3 meses en Christchurch, al fin fuimos hasta la playa! La primera vez tocó en New Brighton:

Y como nos dimos cuenta de cuanto extrañábamos la playa después de haber vivido frente a ella durante 3 meses, a los pocos días dimos la revancha y fuimos a conocer la playa de Taylor's Mistake:

Y a la vuelta, nos pasamos por la playa de Sumner a disfrutar del atardecer :)

Para seguir de playa, con Franco -nuestro compañero de casa- nos fuimos a conocer South New Brighton y pasamos un rato caminando y explorando el lugar... aunque mucho no duramos porque el viento nos volaba!