New Zealand 2017-2018

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New Zealand has every shade a green. It's the most beautiful country I've ever seen and I'm so grateful to have traveled there. Wanaka is in the South Island, and was my favourite spot, specifically because it had great food, great climbing and a lake to swim in. Frankly, it was the Boulder of New Zealand, but with water.

While I have lots of stories, there is one memory that stood out more thank others:

I stayed at a hostel in Wanaka one day and there was a man in the kitchen that couldn't stop sneezing. He looked quite sick so I asked if he was okay and he said, "no, someone just mowed the grass and I'm allergic to it." I said, "that's your liver. If you detox your liver, then you won't experience those symptoms." He responded in a common way: "I don't believe in that." It annoys me, but hey, I'm not the one that's suffering, so I just move on. If I can deliver information and the herb that makes them feel better and they don't take it - then (in my mind) they are choosing to be sick.

Fast forward 10 minutes: I walk into the hostel bedroom and a girl is laying in bed, sick. "Are you okay?" I ask? Again with the grass!! She is feverish from it! This time, having just been ignored, I let her be sick and decide not to offer any information. Three Asian men walk in and I simply let them know she is sick and to kindly keep their voices down so she can rest. They oblige and I leave. (She later tells me she was extremely grateful for that.)

I come back a few hours later and the poor girl is still sick. This time I decide to say something. She is instantly interested in hearing about the liver causing the allergic reactions and I let her know I have some supplements to detox her liver (I take them daily). As she is agreeing to take them, I hear sharply, "Are you licensed to do that?!?!" The young Asian man is somewhat angry and approaching me. I turn instantly and simply say, "Yes." He turns on his heel and goes back to what he was doing, completely satisfied with my answer. This caused me to pause: I recognised that tone. That's the tone I use when I hear someone giving advice that sounds like they went to the "University of reading too much Google." I hand the girl some supplements and I turn to the young man. "You are a healthcare practitioner, too," I say. I was right, they all were! They were studying to be doctors at the same hospital that I studied at in Taiwan!! We had some remarkable conversations about Eastern and Western medicine: the pros and cons of each medicine and how/when integration of the two worlds work best. It was so lovely to chat with them and about an hour later, the young lady's fever broke and she was so happy! She paid me for the supplements she took from me and also for a bottle of some other liver detoxing supplements. I saw her again a few days later in another town and she told me after the first dose she had been completely cured, but was continuing to take the supplements. Now we are Facebook friends and we will both live happily ever after, with better livers.

The End.

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