Date with myself, the car and the road

May 3, 2011

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Imagine a day off during your last week of full-time work in a foreign country you haven’t explored past your bicycle-wide range of transport. Throw in the excitement of trying to drive on the left side of the road.
So I [...]

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Lovely sandwiches, you are not enough

May 1, 2011

I’m not a chef. I wish I were, but I’m not. I’ve lived with one. I’ve learned much. I’ve got some knife skills and knowledge of sauces. If I choose to, I can prepare myself a fantastic meal—from memory as well as from recipes. I love to eat. I live for food and wine.
But what I [...]

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Vampires on the finish line

April 30, 2011

The very last truck with grapes arrived last night. We took group pictures of it, alternating cameras. There’s still work to be done at the winery, and we are busy. We don’t have twelve-hour days any longer—just ten-hour shifts. It feels so strange to go home in the dark and not witness the sunrise at [...]

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Traveling is being in the present

April 20, 2011

Biking back from town centre in the evening before work, I’ve pinpointed what is so majestic about traveling—especially long-term traveling, where you get to stay in a country for a while. Naming this feeling had escaped me before, wrapped in the vicissitudes of short-term hassles. But it’s so simple it’s genius.
It is living by the [...]

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Trip to Nelson

April 16, 2011

Who needs sleep when you can made adventure happen?
On our day (night) off, my roommate and I decided to do exploring outside of the sleepy town of Blenheim. One of her car owner co-workers agreed to join us for an overnight trip to the coastal city of Nelson, which is an hour and a half [...]

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Recipe for a night out after work

April 9, 2011

Ingredients: a dozen people of various nationalities who are all vintage workers toiling the night shift, five bottles of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from various regions, cheese, crackers and a fun attitude.
Setting: vintage workers’ house (my house), eight o’clock in the morning after a freezing foggy work night, bean bag chairs and a fireplace in [...]

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Uh-oh, I like the countryside

April 6, 2011

The city junkie has found enjoyment in the countryside.
Blenheim, New Zealand, my current temporary home, has no traffic lights. Its only significance is that it’s in the heart of Marlborough wine country. Its population is about 30,000 people. Everything is closed on Sundays. Need I say more?
And I don’t even live in town. I live [...]

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Inspired and in motion

April 1, 2011

Today is the continuation of my night off. Since I don’t have to be at work until evening, I decided to enjoy the day fully. This morning kicked off in high gear with my roommate Sofia and I going wine-tasting with a couple of people she works with at Kim Crawford winery. One of them [...]

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Working under the Southern Cross

March 31, 2011

Working through the night under an open sky has its own rhythm. The winery is humming with activity in the middle of the dark sleeping valley, with trucks bringing in grapes one after another. And we are a cluster of gumboot-clad, able workers, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the beginning of the shift, dirty and tired [...]

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Duties as Vintage Cellar Hand

March 30, 2011

Now that I know my way around the winery, I can elaborate on what exactly “working the harvest” means. I was hired for a contract position called “Vintage Cellar Hand”. During the first day of work, those of us who are first-time vintage people had no idea and few instructions as to what we were [...]

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