Week 30 – Yet another ‘vacation’ for me

Is it considered a vacation if I’m not exactly traveling? Oh wells, I chose the word vacation instead of holiday as my past week had been somewhat like ‘off days’ for me, like super extended weekends while I take a break from work; and traveling.

(Extremely boring blog post ahead because nothing much really happened so skip this unless you have nothing better to do..)

My life for the past 8 days had been just chilling out in Christchurch. I’ve spent my time hanging out with friends, chilling in my sharehouse (right now I’m relaxing on the sofa in the living room at 10:57pm and every single of my 8 house mates are in their room; asleep or trying to fall asleep), and well, I had a half day exploration of the city by foot. I would have probably visited more places if I still had my car but I guess without my car, I’m just a lazy sloth.

Technically, it is not true that I had not done anything at all. Well, I completed the blog post for BTS New Zealand Bon Voyage (I still remember starting it on the week after my car broke down; had it been >8 weeks?) and I also completed my writeup for my not-so-pleasant cherry packhouse experience. I’ve also finalized the car rental and accommodations for my upcoming family vacation (gawd, I took forever to decide) and I kind of have to spend tomorrow to tidy up the travel itinerary which goes beyond just commas. I have to do up the budgeting so they can decide how much money to bring over. Apart from busy computer work, I’ve caught up with the korean dramas plus watched a few old movies with my house mates. At the same time, I’ve baked, cooked and made some desserts as well. Somehow, I’m envisioning that this is what my retirement life would look like – going out to do groceries, cooking, spending time on the computer, watching dramas and chillin’ with people in my house.

Sadly, I’m not spending lesser money now that I’m income-less for the week. I’ve been eating out with friends and spending money shopping. Unnecessary visits to the grocery store adds more damage to my bank account balance and gosh, I’m such a city girl but my lifestyle is too high maintenance for me to be a sloth. Urgh. I guess it’s hard right?

With regards to the plans for my next move, I gave up the tranz-alpine train ride (to Greymouth) in exchange for a car-share ride to Motueka. I’m not sure which is for the better but I guess I gave up the opportunity of another solo week of travel. In exchange, I will get to enjoy the coastal road up from Kaikoura and possibly going through Blenheim and Nelson. We kind of got ‘played out’ on our initial accommodation but now the plan is just play-by-ear and see whatever comes. I only have 3 weeks to get a job and earn some money before flying back to Christchurch for the family trip. Hopefully everything goes according to plan and.. my final month in New Zealand will be spent in North Island.

On a random note, while I was on this break, I keep having the jittery feelings which I usually get whenever my overseas holiday is nearing the end. I don’t exactly know why this feeling is coming to me even though I still have (hopefully) 2+ months left in my adventure. I guess there’s simply too much free time for me right now to let my thoughts just wander aimlessly and helplessly. I do think about my future, which jobs/companies/industry I would like myself to enter and urm which places I think I might end up at (cause I know expectations and reality always has a gap), and sometimes I do wonder why many of my friends have moved on with the various stages in life while I’m still at the same stage. Sometimes, I ask myself if it matters. Some days, it does not matter to me while other days, I think about the what ifs and could haves and then just give up in my thoughts.

I was just discussing with a friend with regards to the many people that we have met on our journey so far. Through this journey, I would have probably met more than 100 people but we do wonder how many of these friends can we hold on to after we depart and return back to our home country? Of course, we can thank instagram and facebook for allowing us to keep in touch but will the conversations go beyond the basic courtesies? I don’t know but I do know that there had been some people that I may have met at the right timing and these friendships could possibly stay. It doesn’t matter how long the meeting time was as if there’s a connection, there would forever be that connection.

Apologies for the random thoughts but yep that’s it for this week. Hopefully next week will be more exciting.