Submitted by Kenneth Rosenberg on the 2017 winter session program in New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Computer and Information Sciences…
There is no denying that the Kiwis are a better brand of people. Time after time, we are shown the attention and kindness of complete strangers while navigating the beautiful culture and scenery of New Zealand. A bus driver overhearing the foreign accent and offering to confirm our route, an invitation to an upcoming barbecue, or just a friendly welcoming smile and excitement for your visit to their land. Unfortunately, these are gestures I’m not sure I can count on from our comrades back home.
We have taken to saying that everything that is hard back home is soft here like the hearts of the citizens to their guests and even the nature. Yesterday afternoon, a small group of us elected to extend our two hour hike to a four hour adventure in the Castle Hills where The Chronicles of Narnia was filmed. With alpine tramping experts in tow, we ascended 20 – 60 degree inclines to an overlook of the small town in the basin. At this plateau, we were presented with an opportunity to “Scree”, a word which none of us had heard before. A strictly New Zealand idea of taking the hard and making it soft, Screeing is the use of these treacherous inclines and the loose rocks that coat them as a ski slope of sorts. We crawled up a nearly vertical wall of tumbling jagged stones and received a one sentence overview of the safe method of traversal: don’t lean forward. I went first and immediately felt the cradle of the mountain beneath my feet. Each step springs you back up into the air, the rocks cooperating to soften each footfall and encourage the next.
In all of my travels, I believe that only New Zealand has transformed my perspective in this way. I feel that I can rely on local compassion as we explore the country and that when a hike, climb or leap seems hard, the ground itself might even give way.
