Last Saturday, my host family and their friends all met to let the kids play in the ocean and explore rock pools and do all the amazing things that make up a childhood. One of the boys, before embarking on an imaginative quest down hills and into the surf, raced over to the picnic blanket.
"One tomato for courage!" he declared as he popped a cherry tomato in his mouth and ran off with his friends, a blur of sunburn and grass stains and salty skin.
I loved that phrase. I etched it into my mind immediately, because I think it might perfectly encapsulate my thoughts about this whole experience so far. Sometimes you need the firm, just-sweet-enough taste of the familiar, the comforting, to carry you into your next adventure. Sometimes you just need a tomato for courage.
"One tomato for courage!" he declared as he popped a cherry tomato in his mouth and ran off with his friends, a blur of sunburn and grass stains and salty skin.
I loved that phrase. I etched it into my mind immediately, because I think it might perfectly encapsulate my thoughts about this whole experience so far. Sometimes you need the firm, just-sweet-enough taste of the familiar, the comforting, to carry you into your next adventure. Sometimes you just need a tomato for courage.
In honor of my birthday, this week has been American Week with my host family. I cooked meat loaf, cornbread, grits, country ham (the infamous country ham!!), and more and....well, the kids liked the cornbread! I am a terrible cook, and I hope one day my host family can visit NC and have REAL Southern food, so they can fully appreciate the deliciousness. I seriously teared up just smelling the cornbread cooking in the oven; it smelled like home! I didn't think I would miss the smell of cornbread, specifically, but golly I sure did.
We visited Martha's Backyard, an American grocery store in Auckland, and I was equal parts elated and embarrassed by the array of processed goods: your Nilla Wafers, your Captain Crunches, etc. etc. We got Bisquick and graham crackers and packages of Goldfish and I have to admit it made me smile to carry these small reminders of home with me.
One tomato for courage. One tomato for courage. One tomato for courage.
We visited Martha's Backyard, an American grocery store in Auckland, and I was equal parts elated and embarrassed by the array of processed goods: your Nilla Wafers, your Captain Crunches, etc. etc. We got Bisquick and graham crackers and packages of Goldfish and I have to admit it made me smile to carry these small reminders of home with me.
One tomato for courage. One tomato for courage. One tomato for courage.
I took a walk today in the cemetery near my house. The graves are flung onto the hillside, and headstones are swept up against each other as if an absentminded groundskeeper left them there after a quick dusting.
Some of the graves are covered in this orange moss-rust amalgam. I've never seen it before, but it lends the graves a sense of mystery.
I love this cemetery. I feel transported in cemeteries somehow; like they're all connected to each other, and when I'm in one I'm also in Bonaventure and UNC and Oakdale and Shaw's Creek and all the other cemeteries that have steadied my breath in uncertain times.
Cemeteries are like my Pensieve.
I love this cemetery. I feel transported in cemeteries somehow; like they're all connected to each other, and when I'm in one I'm also in Bonaventure and UNC and Oakdale and Shaw's Creek and all the other cemeteries that have steadied my breath in uncertain times.
Cemeteries are like my Pensieve.
One tomato for courage. One tomato for courage. One tomato for courage.
Little by little I'm trying to let go of the anxieties and neuroses that hang onto me like barnacles, no matter where I go or what I do. I'm trying to become a better teacher, a more patient caregiver, a less selfish person. I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous. I'm trying to be as cool as a little Kiwi kid enjoying the summer!
Little by little I'm trying to let go of the anxieties and neuroses that hang onto me like barnacles, no matter where I go or what I do. I'm trying to become a better teacher, a more patient caregiver, a less selfish person. I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous. I'm trying to be as cool as a little Kiwi kid enjoying the summer!