Making Lemonade
- joyclaypoole
- Jun 4, 2016
- 6 min read
Ouch! The picture above (second pic!) is a mapping of the weight distribution of my feet. It’s no wonder I have had stress fractures in my second metatarsal. A visualization like this picture above confirmed everything we thought was going on with my feet. So, I have not been running for the past two weeks (tell an athlete to take six weeks off and it will actually be two. Happy I made it this far) and it’s feeling just a bit better. Since my foot didn’t want me to run, I’ve been working out in the weight room with my friend Miles. One of the most sexist gyms is here at Otago (even past Olaf students have mentioned that) so it isn’t the most comfortable gym to be in being a girl and an endurance athlete. But ohh well. I was given lemons (a functioning, kinda healthy body) so I'll make lemonade (get stronger!).
It has been two weeks since I have ran, so I tried it yesterday. My run was GLORIOUS!!! Nothing better than sunset and fields upon fields of keiki (kids) playing american football, rugby and field hockey. I stayed on grass for my 5 miles and got my new shoes nice and muddy with the saturated grass (Otago being a big flood field over the weekend). My foot felt great!!!! Even the hours after, it felt great!! Next morning… not so good. Not good at all. So I might need some more time off. Yoga, core strength and weight room it is for now :)
Why not Wanaka? Spent a weekend back at my favorite town I've found in New Zealand! Forgot the hairbrush (most camping trips I do), forgot my flash light and head torch (big whoops), and no warm pants (for Miles). Last minute packing doesn’t always make things easy, but that’s why we travel together! A friend had a brush, the moon was bright enough to do most things I needed to and, well, Miles spent the weekend in women’s tights (who cares!). Make do with what we have. Just making lemonade with the lemons we can find, right? The reason he needed pants was because it’s just about winter here and WE FOUND OUR FIRST NEW ZEALAND SNOW!!!!! And it was fresh powder, untouched by anyone! Only on the summits of the surrounding mountains. We got up hours before sunrise to get to the top of the mountain as the sun would be hitting it. One of my favorite mornings! By the time we came down the mountain, we looked back up to the summit to see all the snow had melted. “Lucky us” we thought as the copious amounts of people passed us heading to the top mid afternoon.
The adventure of Wanaka continued!!! Trespassed through some land, hoped some fences and navigated through lots of cow pies to get to TWO 1,000 ft waterfalls. Me, the waterfall seeker and enthusiast, had to contain my excitement. I even got to swim/stand under one of them. It just about took me down to the ground with it’s power.
Following this splendid weekend trip, I woke up at 6 am Monday morning to ANOTHER WATERFALL!!! …… IN…. MY ….. ROOM….. Uhhoohh. A storm had brought so much rain, and the gutter was so clogged (and the houses here are not well constructed) so a waterfall came to be in the corner of my room. Coming from the ceiling onto my desk. Enough water was falling to create enough sound to wake me. I guess that’s what I get for loving waterfalls so much. I’m now friends with the maintenance guy, Jed. A very ruff and gruff sort, (oddly similar to every other Jed I known) and he helped fix the problem. Phew!
And now to the deep thinking part of my blog….. (feel free to close out this tab, or continue to listen to my rambling and contradicting thoughts).
There is a reoccurring idea that I have seen in the media and in articles I have read recently, and that is, “we are human beings not human doings.”
At first thought,
I agree with this and scold myself for wanting to do so much. I crack down on myself for being such a ‘doer’. I must go see this, I have to go here, my week won’t be good if I don’t get out. Being in New Zealand I’ve gotten better and worse about this. I constantly want to DO (however I think that’s justified being in a new country, and one of the most gorgeous ones!) and then do some more. I know I have gotten on some of my friends nerves with how many times I ask them to take me to the beach to go camping for the night… (which has yet to happen, why??? What’s better than sleeping next to the sound of waves???). Times when I haven’t been doing - which has been a whole lot more than you all might think - I’ve gotten down on myself. And so this idea of ‘be a human being not a human doing’ somehow relieves me of that pressure I feel when I’m not doing.
Second thought,
It’s a healthy reminder to work on who you are rather than what you do. It reminds me that it is much more important how you do something than what you do. Quality of quantity sort of lesson. And this I have gotten better at in New Zealand. I’ve mentioned it in past blog posts that there is much more free time in the culture here… time to just live. It’s splendid and I find it a whole lot healthier than the ultra busy American (St. Olaf?) schedule. And so being here, I have taken time to be. To work on me. To become a better me. To talk to friends and gather what it means to them to be. The responses ignite new thoughts for myself, and that is one of the best things this adventure has given me.
On a final, and contradictory thought,
I am writing my 2500 word Feminism Theory essay on exactly the opposite saying. Judith Buttler articulates her theory of gender being a performative act and argues that we ‘do’ gender and are not ‘a’ gender. To my understanding, she argues: we are what we do. Performativity theorizes that we are not born a gender, but instead our actions create our gender, whether congruent with the institutionalized heterosexuality culture we live in or not. Butler is quite an activist and she calls us to ‘cause trouble’ within the social system which has a distasteful binary system of understanding gender.
Random thoughts given the commencement of exactly one more month in Dunedin:
My hair has doubled in length since I got here. Yes, that is how short my hair was when I came... yikes
I’ve come more accustomed to a city than I thought I ever could. Thank goodness there is a body of water nearby though, trips to the beach keep me sane!
I have yet to use my bus card since the first week… I should use the money on that.
I really feel like I should be flying to the east coast next week to celebrate my sister’s graduation (and go to the Dixie Chicks concert).
Journalling is healthy.
Although I can’t reproduce it myself (so don’t ask me when I return please…) I’m going to miss the New Zealand Kiwi accent. It’s unquestionably adorable and attractive from males and females.
I don’t want to go back to the twin beds of college.
I feel like I’ve done nearly only a third of what I could do in New Zealand
I love water in all forms - especially waterfalls. I also love expresso.
Sleepy time tea works.
I’ve enjoyed deep thinking classes that have analyzed society. And I feel blessed to have found a few friends who engage in conversations regarding these topics.
I’m frequently too hard on myself. I also overthink an excessive amount.
Sometimes people do and sometimes people don’t understand my overthinking. Only my beautiful sister Lauren does that best.
The cold here is a wet cold. And there is the difference with Minnesota, where if you bundle up and protect from the wind things are fine and dandy. Not here.
I’m slowly understanding the concept of having just a short window of knowing and being able to enrich another person's life. I've always been in one place for a long time, never just four months.
I do not at all like short days. Sunrise at 8am and sunset at 5pm just does not work well with me AT ALL
Off I go too write my feminist theory essay on gender being performative. If you have any questions about that, message me on Facebook or send me an iMessage!
T-1 month to go here in Dunedin! Kind of an unwelcome thought.....
(P.S. This blog is actually finally being posted a week and a half late. Whoops. A better, more excited post to come in a weeks time!)
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