Diary Entry from December of 2017 in Akaora

Messege From Author, 5 Dec 23

This was a diary entry from 5 years ago when I was 22. I have a whole lot of them. I lived in a small but beautiful, actually a magical harbour town called Akaroa, located at the Banks Peninsula in the South Island for about 2 months, when I was a pharmacy student, working at a small pharmacy there over the summer holidays. I remember telling my Dad that it was the best summer of my life. And it was truly so in many peculiar ways. I read these now and notice my immaturity here and there, a little embarrassed at times as well but I always wanted to post these. For some reason, it has taken many more years than I expected but here is one of them. It felt like I was in a time machine reading these. Because.. so much, so much has changed. I feel like a completely different person. But at the same time, I still recognise glimpses of my 2017-self still in me. Some things never change I guess. Some things..

19 December 2017

It looks like Christmas is going to turn out to be somewhat more eventful than what I expected. Christine and Rohan, the older couple that I met at church invited me over to their Xmas lunch and Kiela, my workmate is also coming over in the evening for a visit. Not to mention the other numerous invitations (although I assume it was just a kind gesture) for Xmas dinner I have received from Gary and Jenny, from Pip and Mike. This is just so unexpected because I just thought I will be completely alone here as I didn’t know any of these people 4 weeks ago. Speaking of kind gestures, Chrissy, the-to-be priest (congratulations on her)  even offered her spare car for me to drive up to Christchurch if I wanted to. How nice of all of them.  I felt that I was usually on the giving end of things, but all these help I got from various people in Akaroa made me realise how nice and crucial it is to help someone out in need. I got lots of help, all kinds of help from strangers this summer from this magical and strange harbour town and it compels me to help other people in any way I can in the future. Everything I’ve done, the people I met, the things I got up to is actually mostly unexpected and pleasant. I’m so thankful for this summer. What a summer. I’m sure these days will be a building block to something great in the future.

Today I feel that If I could go back to end of October this year, I would choose to come to Akaroa again. I was regretting the interview offer that I declined because of Akaroa , and the other options that I had for summer, but now I think it’s good that I chose Akaroa. Not that everything is all fine and sweet, (and also not ignoring the fact that I’m counting down the days I have left before leaving) but for the lesson of resilience, for the surprising rewards of being out of your comfort zone, for the growing appreciation for family and friends, for the discerning of real friendship, for the time I spent completely alone and with God, I would happily do it all over again.