Connections

A quick post before bed.  Big things have been happening around the country recently; no doubt you have heard.   As I have been telling worried friends and family, all most people in Dunedin felt was a bit of a vibration in the ground.   I didn't feel anything, though, and proceeded to mock my flatmate Alex when he asked me if the earth was moving.  I've been wrong before.  Unfortunately I was wrong in a big way this time.  It's interesting how proximity to a situation magnifies or diminishes the realness and care it produces in a person.  I guess that seems like a pretty obvious statement but it's something that always seems to take me by surprise.   Ultimately, I guess it comes down to empathy for people.  Even though I have only been here a week and have met only a handful of people, the people they know and the people those people know all create a chain of empathy to bring us closer to the situation.  It's the difference between a public drama on the news and a very real and personal story.   This is one of the main reasons I'm finding that travel is good for a person.  How else would I have felt personally connected to the earthquake in Christchurch or the complex issues of Colombia?  At the same time, how else would I have been connected to the friends I will meet here or known the sense of family I had with the Ortegas?  The same can happen at a local level but I'm very thankful to be making worldly connections in such an exciting way.

I spent the day partially sleeping off the night of dancing on Wednesday and partially exploring the cliffs near St. Clair Beach.  Both were lovely.  Without much idea of where I was going, I just sort of jogged around until I found a street or a trail that I thought would connect to somewhere interesting.  I was not disappointed.  I sat on the edge of the cliff where I took this picture for quite some time just taking in the squawk of the seagulls, the crash of the waves, and as I found out later, the stares of a German exchange student.  Hopefully she didn't judge me too much when I nestled into the grass and closed my eyes.  Anyway, the cliffs were one of the most impressive things I have seen here so far so I hope you enjoy the picture.  This post wasn't so quick after all but...hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.  Goodnight.