T.I.A.

11 AM this morning, Brown's bay, North Shore. An old man, white beard and white clothes, is playing on the beach with his grandson. They're building a sand castle a few centimeters away from the waves, both enjoying this simple moment, running from the biggest waves not to get wet, and building endlessly they castle. The old man likes to build and the little kid to destroy everything. And here I am, witnessing that, wondering if living in a cosy Auckland suburb playing on the beach with your grandson is a sign of success in life?
A few days ago, in Wellington, I was hitch-hiking to go to the city center and a 70 years old guy took me. After explaining me briefly his life overseas, he told me with his old smile "every kiwi from overseas come back home to die". You want to have something nice to say, in those kind of moments, but too often no word comes out of your mouth. That day I kept silent.
A few seconds after thinking that, I shook my head to put the clouds away, realizing that I still have heaps of stuffs to do before that, starting tomorrow !! My IPod still running, I watch the two guys leaving the beach and the waves eating little by little what must have been a centuries old rock castle's reproduction. Le vent l'emportera from Noir Desir randomly comes to my ears, and I listen to it silently, focused on my next goal.

Yesterday morning I woke up in Taranaki, famous for its mighty volcano, but misty would be more appropriate as it was too cloudy to see anything that day. I drove through the coast to Auckland, and enjoyed every hours of it, especially the 'off the beaten tracks' part from Awakino to Raglan. I arrived yesterday afternoon here, right on time at Jaime's place to go out for a feed. Jaime, made in Puerto Rico, is a friend I met tramping in Mount Aspiring National Park, back in november in the South Island. We directly go to Globe bar, where thursday night is a free pizza night for Aucklanders student. And for a free pizza, I was even ready to convince the bouncer that I was studying the international migration of french snails in foreign cooking recipes!! So we entered to enjoy half price beers and free pizzas, sweet. We then went to one of Jaime's friends party, Downtown Auckland, around 10 people, mostly foreigners, easy going and chilling atmosphere in a beautiful flat with view over the CBD and the SkyTower. We even saw a fire starting on Queen Street and had a drink for the fire fighters, who arrived a few minutes later. As the evening was going on, we went back to his place and drove to North Shore, 15 minutes away, where his girlfriend lives and where we ended our evening, just chatting in the sofas. Sweet as ! What I like with Auckland its warmth, with hot days and warm evening, Tshirt and shorts all day all night, a luxe you can't have in Wellington.

Otherwise I've heard of someone I might have to visit. There is an old maori guy quite famous in his field who lives in Auckland. You spend some time with him telling him your life and who you are, and he will make you a moko which represents in maori meanings and mythology, who you are. Since I arrived here I've been more or less thinking of that, and it has always been something I had in mind. I guess if I get crasy on my last weeks, I'll make one. A moko is maori for tattoo.


T.I.A. bro', This is Auckland !!