Turning Right on Red: Uber Pool & A Warm New Zealand Welcome

Just to briefly connect the dots from my last post, after we got married Maya and I went to New Orleans for a brief work trip/mini-moon. It was hotter than balls there but we still had a great time. It was however the first time I felt a bit unsafe in Nola and I don't think I'll plan on visiting again during the summer months. I helped run a tennis camp for little kids immediately when we got back to Atlanta, did one week of language teacher training at Georgia State, and then decided to take off WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in New Zealand after some hot and sweaty and mostly incompleted house projects.

WWOOFing, much like going to Costa Rica, or watching Mad Men, is something White People do that I've always wanted to try out being a White person. New Zealand being the capital of WWOOFing and getting a chance to see an old Kiwi friend from my days in Rwanda (see previous post w/picture) I decided to take off for my solo honeymoon. Before leaving I had a few days for an old EE friend's wedding in Chicago (first Indian wedding!) and a layover day in San. Fran. One quick note about my trips to these cities - the Uber Pools actually pooled me. This has never happened in Atlanta and while it was interesting to see how it works, it hit me that this was exactly the basic taxi experience you get, and I had over 10 years ago, with any taxi in Doula or Yaounde Cameroon. I don't think they had any algorithm about how many people they could pick up though before you got dropped off. It also wasn't any cheaper and it didn't seem like you had the option to not pool. Finally, July 4th, I arrived at San. Fran. International airport for my big trip.

At the airport, as I was leaving the ticket counter fresh off a victory of securing the window seat, a Kiwi man pulled up beside me and he was told he’d have to pay $150 extra because his bag was 4 kilo’s overweight. I told the guy I could give him an extra bag or try to help him with some stuff and he yelled back “FUCK OFF!” I said “I’m just trying to help,” and he angrily yelled at me: “I didn’t ask for any fucking help.” I chose not to escalate and just said that I wasn’t swearing at him and this was unnecessary. I then added “have a nice trip” in a genuine tone as I nervously scampered away. I wondered if he was drunk or having a bad idea and how people can be so venomous sometimes.

Of course when I go to sit down on the jumbo jet plane with hundreds of people this very same jabroni happens to be the one person in the mini two person row where I am. Guess the window wasn't worth it after all. He obviously recognized me too and we both quickly put headphones on and stared away. I knew it would be a long and uncomfortable 13-hour flight and just tried to continue staring ahead and hope he didn't kill me in my sleep.

I've met a few Kiwis before, this can't be that common, right? I traveled for two days with time zone change and experienced several delays and missed my domestic connection in New Zealand due to flight delay + immigration holding me up on my way because of my hiking boots (?). After many shuttles, taxis, and buses later, I finally arrived at the farm where I am volunteering near Dunedin.