a nelson resident

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it's hard to keep track of how much time has passed since i've been in nelson; i suspect four weeks. time passes quickly and easily here, marked each week by the saturday market and the influx of fresh vegetables for the next week's cooking. in some ways, i'm doing almost nothing at all and yet at the same time my life feels pretty full. this is not the place in new zealand where i hike up five mountains a day and conquer the world. this is more of a place of living and resting and being content. ...but, i do look forward to hiking five mountains a day at some point.

it does seem that my extended stay here in nelson will leave me wanting more new zealand time. while i can't commit to a date yet, i'm already thinking to how long i can feasibly extend my stay here before that bleeds into the next trip in my head. for now, maybe midsummer... july? maybe longer. if i can swing it, i'm going to put israel on hold until next summer and go straight to quebec to study french with a few weeks stop in the states in between. maybe.

i'm in a period of french immersion in an english-speaking country. which means lots of rewatching rented french movies over and over, waking up early to study and drink coffees while all is still quiet, and extended conversations with emilie, my french-british friend who is super patient with me. often when people speak, i try to see if i can translate it into french. (often, i can't. don't be impressed). just like this trip seems to have opened up the world, in a lot of ways. in the sense, that there are so many places to see, and hopefully, so much time to see them in. learning french has opened up the world of languages and with each new language, it feels like you become connected and closer to a new culture. thereby, decreasing the size and cultural segregation in the world. ...or, maybe, i'll just stick to french.

for now, the things i want to remember:
a. the zen and calm of making small little weighed packets at the organic green grocery. delicately measuring popcorn kernels, oat bran, cocoa powder (the best), yeast (the worst?), and lists of things that i have no idea what they're.

...i regret to inform myself and others, that i never finished this entry and it's now 5 week later. looks like i stayed in new zealand longer and this entry will have to be published with only an a. of things to remember.

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