Itchy feet

Hopewell is treating me well. Cleaning is a very productive and 'rewarding' job. Everyone loves your work, including me when I take a shower in a sparkling clean bathroom! Besides that the surroundings still give me peace and tranquility. Actually, too much probably, because my Spanish is not improving very much. I am too occupied with loads of reading, some serious mountain biking, pleasurable kayak trips and, much to the disgust of my coworkers, I go night swimming each evening before I go to bed. Only my friends the jellyfish stick to me...Literally. But I still love it! Furthermore I still get totally excited when Mike shouts 'Mussels tonight'...Yes Hopewell is a keeper!

Christmas and New Year were joy full; nice food and company, an amazingly dull New Year's party at the locals from which Jill (coworker) and me escape from to hide and celebrate 2008 in the hot tub. My friends Mark and Ellie decided to come over to enjoy Hopewell, and see me of course. It was lovely having them over, even though Mark pushed me in the sea while kayaking...Yes, Mark, this is my story and I am sticking to it! Patrick decided to have a look at this gorgeous place too. Since it was raining a lot, we played a lot of ' vier op een rij' [sorry don't know the English word for it]. Patrick is still devastated by my one golden game...The look on his 'losing' face was priceless. And yes, all the other times I lost horribly.

Another highlight was January 2nd. It was my special day and I made sure everyone around me was as happy as I was: we had some nice wine to celebrate the occasion. 'Why' you might wonder. Well, officially, if I had decided to take the unpaid leave which was offered to me by my boss (well, offered, I forced it upon them, I guess) I would have been back at work on January 2nd. And I truly count my blessings that I am not back in the Netherlands nor back at work. I am really not ready yet. But do I think about work? Yes, in a nice way actually. I am starting to 'fantasize' about my work options, I'm analysing what I love in work and I am excited about all the options and possibilities which 'fly' through my head. So it's all good!

So why the itchy feet? Well, since the end of my travels in New Zealand are nearing (leaving at the end of January) I am starting to realize I truly love New Zealand: the 'dangerous' Ireland-vibrations are going through my body again! On the other hand while organising my Tahiti trip and looking into Bolivia and Peru (and even some interesting reading about Suriname) I cannot wait to move on. So much more to explore!

But for the next 2 weeks I will be staying at Hopewell, making sure that I am definitely not pursuing a career in cleaning after that...