Couchsurfing
25 November 2008
Aaron and I have decided to join the Global phenomenon Couchsurfing. When my sister Sarah joined it I have to admit I automatically thought “ooh dodgy”. An Internet site that puts you in touch with people who will provide you with free accommodation as you travel the world? Who on earth would do that? Why would they do that? This was surely as dodgy as Internet dating. I worried for my sister and the age difference between us seemed immense. At what point had backpacker lodges become passé and strangers couches become acceptable?
Mum worried as well. So much so that eventually she joined Sarah on her travels. I think mum had this idea that they’d stay in motels. Sarah had other plans. They would both couch surf. I can only imagine how mum felt. In some ways mum’s more conservative that I am and I found the concept altogether too weird and just a little scary.
Left with no choice mum found herself travelling around Europe meeting and staying with complete strangers. From what I understand mum found the first few days a little strange and not altogether comfortable. However, by the end of the 3 weeks mum was a convert and is now a keen couchsurfing member.
I was both stunned and impressed.
I accessed Sarah’s couchsurfing profile and started reading the references given by the people who’d hosted her.
http://www.couchsurfing.com/mapsurf.html?SEARCH[skip]=0&view=detail&sid=d4c3c10eb27eade60a5b74504d623df3
Wow, not only did these people write the most fabulous things about Sarah but they also seemed to be genuinely nice people. Then I read my mum’s profile and her references and suddenly it clicked. There are actually thousands of genuinely nice people out there who want to share their home, their life and their slice of the world with others. What a fantastic way to meet people and share knowledge.
I emailed Sarah and said I quite liked the idea of opening our own home to travelers but that I wasn’t sure how Aaron would feel. And of course it did cross my mind that it would mean more work for us in terms of housework, and obviously there’s money involved in providing meals. I thought maybe I’d wait for Sarah to return to NZ and tell us about her travels and then suggest it to Aaron in the New Year.
Then one afternoon Aaron said he wanted to join Couchsurfing and there and then he opened the site and started creating a profile. Within 2 days we’d finished writing our profile and were set up ready to take in guests.
http://www.couchsurfing.com/mapsurf.html?SEARCH[skip]=2&view=detail&sid=d4c3c10eb27eade60a5b74504d623df3
It turns out Aaron is even more keen than I am about the whole idea. I don’t expect we’ll be inundated with requests for free accommodation but I’d be quite happy to host people every couple of months. While we can’t offer to spend our days taking people on tours around the local area, I hope that we can offer people a unique view of kiwi life.
Of course I’d love it if we could host people with knowledge of things that could help us with our goals on our block but that’s a big ask. In the end I’d just like to meet some nice people and learn more about the world.
Just from the short surf I’ve had of the site it amazes me the range of people who use it; from young to old, singles and couples and numerous nationalities.
Just from my own sister’s experience I think this concept could do amazing things for tourism. I’m not saying it won’t affect motels and backpack lodges in a negative way but it could encourage people to travel to places they may never have considered, either because they couldn’t afford it or because they just never knew about them until they met someone from the area.
For me this is a great way of learning about other cultures, only not through history and architecture but through people.
I hope by opening our home in this way it will also make me feel less selfish. I certainly don’t want my whole life to be about hard work and no pleasure.
It's Good To Have Friends
17 November 2008
Tuesday night we went to Marty’s for dinner. Poor Marty, I think we must have dominated conversation all night. Discussing politics and environmental responsibility, among other things. Marty is such a happy, pleasant host. I always feel so relaxed when we visit. It’s just a shame it’s always a Tuesday night as I’m the only one who has to get up early the next morning and I always pay for it by struggling to stay awake all Wednesday.
We’ve just had another fab weekend. Despite predictions of rain we ended up with a lot of sun and a very warm, dry wind. My favourite type of weather, except it’s bloody hard to work in and inhibits grass growth.
Erica drove up on Friday night and it was good to catch up. She’s a bit of a trooper is Erica. She hates the country but endures it for the sake of our friendship. I told her to stay the weekend but I didn’t push it. I’m grateful for what time we spend together.
Last week Aaron and I made the decision to let each other sleep in on one day of the weekend. Aaron chose Saturday morning and I chose Sunday. We had a latish evening on Friday and I assured Erica she could sleep in as I would be up with the birds (Marty specifically) and be busy doing chores until about 10:30.
I joked that sleep-ins on the weekends are now impossible for me and Aaron due to Marty taking up residence on the verandah outside the bedroom door at 6:30 in the mornings.
I Think Our House Has A Design Flaw
Despite shutting the chooks away each night, Marty has created a doorway in the netting that he and the girls can get through in the mornings. Saturday morning as Aaron and I lay sleeping in bed Marty let rip with an extremely loud cock-a-doodle-doo.
I lifted my head off the pillow. Marty and the girls had their beaks to the door. The dogs sat behind them eagerly wagging their tails. Marty crowed again.
“What time is it?” Aaron mumbled
I looked at the clock. “6:30 on the dot. Marty, go away!”.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” he crowed impatiently. The boys tails wagged faster.There was no point fighting it, I got up and got dressed.
A Busy Day On The Block
Marty and the girls got breakfast, the boys came with me to feed the eagerly grunting pigs. I walked the dogs up next door’s driveway in search of bunnies and then it was home for their breakfast. Once porridge and coffee were on the table I got Aaron out of bed. It was 7:30.
By 10:30 we’d finished our set chores and came inside for morning tea. Erica was up. She hadn’t quite had the sleep in she’d wanted. We’d fired the chipper up at 9:30, but Marty and the girls had already taken up residence below the guest bedroom window in their favourite sunny spot and had spent some time just chatting, as they do.
Aaron and I had a lot to do. There was fencing to be finished, more scrubcutting to do and flaxes to plant. We talked Erica into walking the dogs with us. In the end we toured our property, the DoC land and Gary’s property. It was midday by the time we got back to the house and then Jeff turned up. We had lunch and then Aaron and Jeff started fencing, I started scrubcutting and Erica made herself comfortable in front of the tv. It was an exhausting day and we worked our butts off until 3:30 feeding time.
I felt bad that Erica’s day had been so boring but it couldn’t be helped.
Erica departed just after 5:00 and the 3 of us blobbed out on the couch, too tired to do anything else.
Beware The Nasty Chemicals!
It’s now a week since Aaron and I have changed our washing habits, added oily fish to our diet and started moisturising. My hands look and feel a hell of a lot better. And although there’s still more work to be done I haven’t yet resorted to the antibiotics. I’ve also started using an anti dermatitis cream on other parts of my body that have dry patches and the itchiness has almost gone. Stupidly I had put the dry, itchy patches down to hard work and not bothering with body moisturiser.
Not only that but I had also discovered that the bottle of alco-gel that I keep on my desk at work to help ward off all those nasty bugs is probably the prime cause of the dermatitis on my hands.
Aaron’s eczema patches have also faded considerably and the intense itching is gone.
In just one week I have learnt a lot about the damage all these modern cleaning products do to our skin. It would seem that anything that states it’s got anti-bacterial qualities actually does more harm than good. I didn’t think I had been sucked into the whole anti-bacterial propaganda thing but then I stopped to think about how paranoid I have become at work in the last few months. The staff on my floor seem to have all become very ill with colds, flus and gastric problems and I have become quite obsessed about staying well. And so I’ve sailed through winter and into spring with no illnesses but my hands have suffered dreadfully.
Sunday was another great day. Despite it being my sleep in day the chooks and dogs decided 6am would be a good time for us to get up. Aaron dutifully got up and dressed and fed out while I lay in bed for the next 90 minutes trying to get back to sleep. It didn’t work of course but at least I felt rested when I did actually get up.
Aaron and Jeff continued fencing until they ran out of wire and I scrubcut some more. After a break for morning tea Aaron and Jeff worked on the duck dam and I started planting flaxes at the bottom of the drive.
Aaron suggested I put a stick in the ground where I plant each flax, due to the fact that every time we cut the grass we invariably lose flaxes because we don’t see them until too late. We’ve planted up around the gate before but escaped cattle ate everything they could find. What was left we let the grass grow up and cover but then our neighbour kindly scrubcut our entrance last summer and we lost the remaining plants.
So the area by the gate is now planted with small flax plants and tall sticks. We’re determined not to lose our plants this time round.
Jeff left at midday and after lunch I continued to plant and Aaron caught some zzz’s on the couch
I lifted my head off the pillow. Marty and the girls had their beaks to the door. The dogs sat behind them eagerly wagging their tails. Marty crowed again.
“What time is it?” Aaron mumbled
I looked at the clock. “6:30 on the dot. Marty, go away!”.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” he crowed impatiently. The boys tails wagged faster.There was no point fighting it, I got up and got dressed.
A Busy Day On The Block
Marty and the girls got breakfast, the boys came with me to feed the eagerly grunting pigs. I walked the dogs up next door’s driveway in search of bunnies and then it was home for their breakfast. Once porridge and coffee were on the table I got Aaron out of bed. It was 7:30.
By 10:30 we’d finished our set chores and came inside for morning tea. Erica was up. She hadn’t quite had the sleep in she’d wanted. We’d fired the chipper up at 9:30, but Marty and the girls had already taken up residence below the guest bedroom window in their favourite sunny spot and had spent some time just chatting, as they do.
Aaron and I had a lot to do. There was fencing to be finished, more scrubcutting to do and flaxes to plant. We talked Erica into walking the dogs with us. In the end we toured our property, the DoC land and Gary’s property. It was midday by the time we got back to the house and then Jeff turned up. We had lunch and then Aaron and Jeff started fencing, I started scrubcutting and Erica made herself comfortable in front of the tv. It was an exhausting day and we worked our butts off until 3:30 feeding time.
I felt bad that Erica’s day had been so boring but it couldn’t be helped.
Erica departed just after 5:00 and the 3 of us blobbed out on the couch, too tired to do anything else.
Beware The Nasty Chemicals!
It’s now a week since Aaron and I have changed our washing habits, added oily fish to our diet and started moisturising. My hands look and feel a hell of a lot better. And although there’s still more work to be done I haven’t yet resorted to the antibiotics. I’ve also started using an anti dermatitis cream on other parts of my body that have dry patches and the itchiness has almost gone. Stupidly I had put the dry, itchy patches down to hard work and not bothering with body moisturiser.
Not only that but I had also discovered that the bottle of alco-gel that I keep on my desk at work to help ward off all those nasty bugs is probably the prime cause of the dermatitis on my hands.
Aaron’s eczema patches have also faded considerably and the intense itching is gone.
In just one week I have learnt a lot about the damage all these modern cleaning products do to our skin. It would seem that anything that states it’s got anti-bacterial qualities actually does more harm than good. I didn’t think I had been sucked into the whole anti-bacterial propaganda thing but then I stopped to think about how paranoid I have become at work in the last few months. The staff on my floor seem to have all become very ill with colds, flus and gastric problems and I have become quite obsessed about staying well. And so I’ve sailed through winter and into spring with no illnesses but my hands have suffered dreadfully.
Sunday was another great day. Despite it being my sleep in day the chooks and dogs decided 6am would be a good time for us to get up. Aaron dutifully got up and dressed and fed out while I lay in bed for the next 90 minutes trying to get back to sleep. It didn’t work of course but at least I felt rested when I did actually get up.
Aaron and Jeff continued fencing until they ran out of wire and I scrubcut some more. After a break for morning tea Aaron and Jeff worked on the duck dam and I started planting flaxes at the bottom of the drive.
Aaron suggested I put a stick in the ground where I plant each flax, due to the fact that every time we cut the grass we invariably lose flaxes because we don’t see them until too late. We’ve planted up around the gate before but escaped cattle ate everything they could find. What was left we let the grass grow up and cover but then our neighbour kindly scrubcut our entrance last summer and we lost the remaining plants.
So the area by the gate is now planted with small flax plants and tall sticks. We’re determined not to lose our plants this time round.
Jeff left at midday and after lunch I continued to plant and Aaron caught some zzz’s on the couch
Couchsurfing
Sunday afternoon Aaron decided we must join the couch surfing phenomenon. I agreed and so we started to create our profile. While it’s going to be difficult for us to travel anytime soon we have decided to open our home to travelling strangers. Who knows what friends we might make and what things we might learn?
An Annoying Itch
11 November 2008
During the week Aaron had complained the rash on his body was frequently itchy and more often than not the patches seem raised and inflamed.
On Wednesday, while looking for something in the medical dictionary on my desk at work, I noticed a photo of a skin condition that looked very similar to Aaron’s. I googled it and came to the conclusion that Aaron actually suffers from a specific type of eczema. It seemed the best solution was to ensure Aaron avoided chemicals and detergents. Aaron is now using products specifically designed for people with eczema. Plus we’re going to up his omega 3 intake and he needs to moisturise to keep his skin hydrated. It’s not a huge change to his life so if it works it won’t be a lifelong hardship.
Friday night Aaron spent the night in Auckland helping to celebrate a family member’s 50th. I would have liked to go as I knew it would be a good evening. However, the drive from Whangarei with a stop to feed animals and walk the dogs was just too much for me to contemplate so Aaron went without me.
Our 'To Do' List Gets Longer
Saturday arrived and I was up and into it at 6:30. Aaron was home before 10am. Finally we had a weekend with no guests, no travel and good weather.
Aaron and I had rewritten our “To Do” list.
When we discussed getting ducks a couple of months back I said to Aaron that I wanted to wait until 2009 as we had a lot of projects to finish and more urgent tasks that needed tackling. Aaron reluctantly agreed.
Last week he ordered our ducks, informing me we should be getting them in the first week of January. What could I say? After all, I had only specified the year. Rather foolishly I had not bothered to specify a month or season.
So now on top of our already huge list of tasks we needed to add to it fencing of the new duck paddock, finish building the dam to create a duck pond, scrubcutting the paddock and building a duck house.
We now have a list of 30+ projects to be done by the end of January. There aren’t that many weekends in which to complete all these tasks. I can see it is going to be an extraordinarily busy spring and summer.
As always, Aaron’s focus is on the animals and potential cashflow and mine is on increasing property value. We need to focus on both but often I find myself sucked into Aaron’s enthusiasm for the new and exciting. So this weekend I decided we should tackle the tasks we considered more important.
Saturday we focused on our usual tasks of cleaning and chipping and compost turning, etc, and in between all that we drove into town to vote. Saturday night we started watching the election news but it was going to be very late before the results came in so I went to bed. Aaron stayed up and watched.
On Sunday National were in power and Helen Clark had resigned from Labour. We were happy with the results. Aaron spent the day ramming in fence posts and scrubcutting a line for the fencing and I scrubcut around the driveway entrance and painted the fence with diesel.
By the end of the weekend we were both exhausted but happy.
More Skin Problems
Come Monday I wanted a sleep in but I had already made other plans. Early morning I was in Whangarei visiting the doctor. I have a spot on my forehead that appeared 2 months ago and won’t go away and since accidentally pouring boiling water on my finger about 2 or 3 months ago, I have a finger that has been dry and cracked and frequently splits and bleeds.
The end result is the spot is pre-cancerous and needs to be removed. I suspected as much.
And I am actually suffering from dermatitis of the hands. This was a surprise, although shouldn’t have been as I have had dermatitis on other parts of my body before. The doctor also told me I have a bacterial infection in my hands and prescribed me antibiotics. I’m not convinced. I suspect what looks like an infection is actually a mixture of dirt and diesel stuck in the creases of my dried and cracked hands. I am very anti antibiotics, so although I picked them up from the chemist I’m hoping I don’t have to use them.
So now I have to stop using soap and harsh detergents and regularly moisturise with a dermatitis friendly moisturiser.
I went straight from the doctor to the optician. My glasses are constantly falling apart and I need new prescription sunglasses. 2 hours later I was $1100 poorer and wondering how the hell it had happened when I’d picked cheap frames and got a 10% discount.
Much to the dogs' relief I was home by lunchtime and they got to spend the rest of the day out of their run. Quite frankly I didn’t feel all that flash. That $1100 was earmarked for other things but now it was gone.
Aaron was even less impressed when I told him.
Last week he ordered our ducks, informing me we should be getting them in the first week of January. What could I say? After all, I had only specified the year. Rather foolishly I had not bothered to specify a month or season.
So now on top of our already huge list of tasks we needed to add to it fencing of the new duck paddock, finish building the dam to create a duck pond, scrubcutting the paddock and building a duck house.
We now have a list of 30+ projects to be done by the end of January. There aren’t that many weekends in which to complete all these tasks. I can see it is going to be an extraordinarily busy spring and summer.
As always, Aaron’s focus is on the animals and potential cashflow and mine is on increasing property value. We need to focus on both but often I find myself sucked into Aaron’s enthusiasm for the new and exciting. So this weekend I decided we should tackle the tasks we considered more important.
Saturday we focused on our usual tasks of cleaning and chipping and compost turning, etc, and in between all that we drove into town to vote. Saturday night we started watching the election news but it was going to be very late before the results came in so I went to bed. Aaron stayed up and watched.
On Sunday National were in power and Helen Clark had resigned from Labour. We were happy with the results. Aaron spent the day ramming in fence posts and scrubcutting a line for the fencing and I scrubcut around the driveway entrance and painted the fence with diesel.
By the end of the weekend we were both exhausted but happy.
More Skin Problems
Come Monday I wanted a sleep in but I had already made other plans. Early morning I was in Whangarei visiting the doctor. I have a spot on my forehead that appeared 2 months ago and won’t go away and since accidentally pouring boiling water on my finger about 2 or 3 months ago, I have a finger that has been dry and cracked and frequently splits and bleeds.
The end result is the spot is pre-cancerous and needs to be removed. I suspected as much.
And I am actually suffering from dermatitis of the hands. This was a surprise, although shouldn’t have been as I have had dermatitis on other parts of my body before. The doctor also told me I have a bacterial infection in my hands and prescribed me antibiotics. I’m not convinced. I suspect what looks like an infection is actually a mixture of dirt and diesel stuck in the creases of my dried and cracked hands. I am very anti antibiotics, so although I picked them up from the chemist I’m hoping I don’t have to use them.
So now I have to stop using soap and harsh detergents and regularly moisturise with a dermatitis friendly moisturiser.
I went straight from the doctor to the optician. My glasses are constantly falling apart and I need new prescription sunglasses. 2 hours later I was $1100 poorer and wondering how the hell it had happened when I’d picked cheap frames and got a 10% discount.
Much to the dogs' relief I was home by lunchtime and they got to spend the rest of the day out of their run. Quite frankly I didn’t feel all that flash. That $1100 was earmarked for other things but now it was gone.
Aaron was even less impressed when I told him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
