Last day of Work & Merry Christmas!

It's strange celebrating Christmas in New Zealand. The weather is hot and people have BBQ's instead of Turkey dinners. But Santa is still dressed for -20°C and snowman decorations hang in the grocery store.

At work, Mike organized a BBQ for all the employees. We had sausages on the grill, chips and drinks. We made a salad to share, and another worker shared a big bag of kiwi's from a friend who worked on a kiwi farm. It was our last day of work, so it was also a nice farewell lunch. We enjoyed joking and sharing with the people that we otherwise had only seen occasionally in the lunchroom. And it was interesting to hear from Mike what the following months would look like, especially harvesting and packing the apples.

We got ready for Christmas. We asked around to see if we could volunteer at a community Christmas event. A Christmas lunch, organized by the Salvation Army, was happy to have us on board. We bought some christmas crackers (the ones you pull on both ends and pop), reindeer antlers and an elf hat. We went to a meeting for the Christmas lunch to meet the organizers and learn our role.

On Christmas day itself, we first went to Church. The mass was informal, with lots of interesting stories. A man reading scripture was wearing a half-unbuttoned, tropical dress shirt. The pastor, who had retired several years before, was still admired in the town and came back for the special celebration. He told the story of a boy who's birthday was stolen. A rich classmate always had his birthday party on the same day. All his friends went to the rich kid's house because he would bribe them with presents! When the boy complained that it wasn't fair, the irony of the story was revealed. Jesus' birthday, and the real meaning of Christmas, has also been 'stolen' by Santa Claus and all the presents he gives each year.

We manned the stations at the Christmas lunch. People slowly started to fill the seats. One table was reserved for Maori chiefs and guards who stood outside to protect the "marai" (community house or place). In the kitchen, volunteers were busy preparing each of the courses. One-by-one we would bring them out to the tables that we were assigned. We got to know the people a bit and helped clean up. During the main course, we could go to the volunteer table and eat as well. There was more than plenty! A local musician played guitar, the mayor gave his greetings and thanks and a Samoan accapella group gave us a traditional performance. It was nice to chat with some of the other volunteers and feel part of the community. Everyone was sent off with a little Christmas cake. After cleaning up the hall, we were off too. After three weeks in Motueka, we could get back to exploring!Read more