Zackberridge's Weblog

as of now..11/30/10

zackberridge — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:03:32 +0000

Hello to all…if there is anyone left reading this!

I am in the comfort of my parents house in Pasadena,Tx after being away for 15 months. My last post mentioned going to Australia to be with Kathryn. It happened and I was there for 10months. We lived in Sydney, NSW in Chinatown, Surry Hills, Newtown, Ulitmo, and Erskinville. After leaving Oz we travelled to Thailand and visited Phuket-Pothong, Ko Samui, Ko Pang Yang, and Bangkok. Next we went to Kat’s homeland of England. We stayed at her parents house in a small seaside town in Northeast Yorkshire called Hornsea.

On September 13th we safely arrived in Houston to be met at the airport by my parents.

In Oz I maintained a full-time part time job as a massage therapist for a company called 3 Minute Angels. We did corporate, pubs, clubs, and festival massages. I did many different labor jobs including unloading 40ft containers, door to door sales for a phone company, laying floor mats in the Darling Harbour Convention Centre, working in a fabric warehouse for 4 months, working in a call centre calling Australians and offering a government funded money saving scheme, and finally I ended up at an envelope printing company called DLT Printing.

The massage work was great beacause the company was well known and they had weekly contracts at many corporate offices/banks, etc. When we would show up the employees would cheer because they were so excited about getting massages. I can’t say I don’t blame them!

While working at the fabric warehouse I met some great people from Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Iraq, and many Aussie locals. All great people. We manufactured curtains, pillow cases, and bed speads all to be shipped to Macau China for a big contract in building a Vegas type gambling city..the first of it’s kind. It located off a pennsula off the outer coast of China. Since China doesn’t allow gambling somehow the laws were ‘tweeked’ for this region to allow for it and to boost the economy.

I left the job in December due to their closing down for 3 weeks during the holiday season, so with the help of Kat I found work with her at a call centre. The company was called Green Homes Express. The government was paying for every house in Australia to have their home evaluated by professional assessors to determine what the homeowners can do around their homes that will ensure saving on their utility bills. It was at no cost to the homeowner and only took about an hour to do the assessment. Many of them qualified for free insulation as well as government rebates on rainwater tanks and solar panellin. We would typically make about 150-200 phone calls a day and sign up between 15-20 on average. It made for long days but the pay was good and I got to work with Kat. We would often eat lunch outside in the lawn and take our time. Our boss was a hyperactive, scatterbrained homosexual who often told us more about his personal life than we wished to hear. He was about 21 or 22 years old and aside from his stress and craziness he was an ok ’boss’. The job lasted until mid-February when management decided to move the call centre jobs to the Phillippeans. Unfortunately for them the govenment cut funding for the project and the whole company shut down. Our last few weeks of working there we moved into an apartment that was literally across the street from the company, so that was great for us as far as savings on public transportation and eating out costs! Our new flat was also next to Sydney park where we would run abotu 3 or 4 times a week. Or sometimes we would grab a beer and take a leisurely walk around the park (In Australia, as long as you have your beer in a small brown bag its legal to drink on the streets!).

After Green Homes closed down Kat was able to find another job quickly at another call centre that was only a 15min walk from our flat. On her first day of work I walked with her and on my way back I randomly walked into a warehouse and asked if they were hiring or needed extra help. I spoke with the owner, Peter, and he said that I can start the following Monday. My job there was a storeman in which I basically got all the jobs ready for shipping by pulling and delivering stock to the workers/machines, preping cargo by shrink wraping on pallets and putting on shipping dock. I organized the stock with an upright forklift. Unfortunately I had a small mis-hap and cause some damage to the bay door and left a significant dent…..so I named the door ‘Texas” so they would remember me, haha!! I enjoyed my job because the warehouse was a 3 min walk across the street and the people I worked with were great. I made a Filipino friend, a Thai friend, as well as more Aussie locals.

Australia was a fantastic journey full of new friends, new food and drinks, and many new experiences. I can honestly say that the Australian people are some of the nicest people I’ve ever been around. They are a happy and friendly bunch. Of course there are some assholes, but the majority are great people.

I would recommend to anyone who has the desire of opportunity to visit Australia, and if possible go for a year or two. The system is set up so that travellers can some and work for a year for two and when you leave the country you can file for your tax money as well as your “401K” money, and leave the country with a good amount of money for you next adventure.

More to come on Thailand and England, but at the moment I need a break from typing! Cheers Mate!

12 July 2010…..wow, its been a while

zackberridge — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:55:31 +0000

Greeting to all who may read this,

I’ve have been out of touch with my blog, but now I will make more of an effort to add at least once a week. At the moment I am in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, England. My last account was the beginning of my organic farming adventures, which has been almost 2 years ago. After my stay in Georgia I boarded a plane for Hawaii to begin adventures on a farm on the big island. When I arrived in Honolulu I stayed a few nights with some fellow couchsurfers (www.couchsurfing.org) in Waikiki beach to celebrate the New Year and then I was supposed to move on. But while staying in Waikiki for the few days and seeing the lifestyle of my new friends, I decided to stay for a bit longer. There were three of them in an apartment and they happen to need a fourth roommate, so I accepted their offer to stay. I found work as an ‘errand’ runner for a millionaire from Laos and I was able to set my own schedule and worked only when I wanted to. My job consisted mostly of driving his truck to his farm house on the north shore and taking supplies (herbs, fruits, flowers, etc.) to his Thai restaurant in Waikiki (Keo’s Thai Cuisine). After work I would go home for a couple of hours, relax a bit before going to work at the restaurant busing tables until 11pm. Life was amazing in Hawaii as I saw many sunsets while swimming in the ocean in the early evenings, surfing on the weekends, traveling the island to other beaches, listening to live music with a few gin&tonics. I was in Hawaii (never continued with the faming lifestyle…didnt quite work out for me) for 6 months before I met my current girlfriend, Kathryn. During my last week before coming home I met a beautiful English rose at an Irish pub. She was in Hawaii on vacation on her way to live in Australia for a year. We spent the whole week together swimming, exploring, laughing, paddling, holding hands. It was more than just a holiday romance, so I decided to join her in Australia.

Georgia for 5 weeks……and no peaches

zackberridge — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:28:48 +0000

Greetings, I apologize for not having updated my blog in a while for I forgot my password to log on and write, so I was unable to give a ringside update of my farming life. Since Oct. 9 I lived on a 50 acre farm (only 2-3 were actually used for living and growing), and basically was in the middle of the woods of central Georgia, and it was great! We lived a very primitive lifestyle and we were completely off the electric grid (apart from a small amout of electricity harnessed by solar panels), therefore we had to cook all of our meals over an open fire, as well as gather our firewood and drinking water everyday. I have managed to singe all the hair from my knuckles and backs of hands from fire building, but it doesn’t seem to bother me any, ha. Almost once a week I was able to get a ride from someone who was going into town so I could wash my clothes and check my email, however I eventually started washing most of my clothes out of a pot of heated water.

Life was very simple and meaningful. A typical day consisted of waking up around 830 or 9 and doing my exercises and stretches as well as reading A Course in Miracles(a spiritual book Ive studied the past 4 years), all while the sun warms the air. Then I would go down to the chicken coupe next to the outdoor kitchen and grab a few fresh eggs for breakfast; scrambled eggs with lavender and mint from the garden, as well as rosemary on a fried potatoe, and hot coffee. (Mm, I’m getting hungry thinking about it). After an hour and half or so of breakfast tasks I would gather a wheelbarrow of firewood from the forrest as well as a jug or 2 of drinking water from a natural spring about 1/4 mile away. Then I would either read some or play my guitar (I bought a cheap acoustic guitar from a pawn shop after my first week there) for an hour or 2 or 3. After that I would usually work on a project I had going whether it be clearing the perimeter trail with a machete and swing blade, or building bridges and doors, or re-creating the sacred circle (the highest point on the land). A few hours of that is all I could squeeze in before it got dark outside. And when it gets dark in the woods, it get DARK! =) I’ve been in the woods at night before, but not this intimately and it didnt take very long for that ‘strange’ feeling of “what’s out there that I cant see?” to finally subside, and I really took a liking to walking the trails when the moonlight was bright enough to light them up. When the sun went down I would fetch a pot of water and heat it over a fire to use as bathing water which means I would squat down next to the bucket and use a rag to transfer the water. It’s quite and experience to bath outside everyday (well, not EXACTLY everday, but as much as possible) with crisp cool air and hot steamy water. For cooking and warming at night purposes I was making up to 5 or 6 fires a day, so I think I’ve got that down pretty well. ha!

The only downside would be that I arrived at the end of the growing season so I didnt obtain much agricultrure hands on experience, but I did pick a ton of okra, green tomatoes, and peppers. I did plant some raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, as well as a bed of spanish lillies.

I met a lot of people while out there; 3 hitchhickers from Minnesota, a couple from Pennsylvania, a rugged hitchhiker from Austin, a lesbian sailor from PA, a traveling pair that met on craigslist-on is a freespirit and the other is making his way to disneyland to get a job as aladin. Also met a former anatomy high school teacher who quit teaching and is visiting farms all down the east coast and will drive across to the west coast and farm up to the northwest (his plans are very similar to my original plans, only I wasnt going to drive it all), and I met another couple-girl from New York and guy from Atlanta, as well a rastafarian in the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly who asked me if I wanted to join his band. Those were just the people who were wwoofing the farm (expect the rastfarian), but the list doesnt count the college group that stayed there for a weekend, and a beaver muck party we had another weekend that about 30 people showed up to.

Junebug was amazing to watch while he adapted to the presence of two dachshunds, a 100lb lab, and a 2 yr old boxer that was an asshole to him for a whole week. After some time he slowly was comfortable with leaving the garden/kitchen area and roaming around the entire property. He established really well where everything was in relation to each other as well as the directions of the trails. I was somewhat concerned that he my go on an unexpected hawk ride, but it was pretty safe for him for the most part. Since it would get pretty cold at night I would let him sleep in the bed with me, so I was lucky to smell his yawns everynight and morning, ha!!

This concludes a portion of my writings about my Georgia life. I will add more withing the next couple days. Cheers!- Zack

Here’s a link to see my pics: kilowords.shutterfly.com

zackberridge — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:50:25 +0000

www.kilowords.shutterfly.com

I posted some of my pics on a picture sharing website and want you to feel free to look at them when you have time. I will add the rest over time, but check it out anyways!

Mumps and Ike…..double whammy

zackberridge — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:49:14 +0000

Hello to whomever is reading this. After my return from Europe I made plans to fly to Bar Harbor Maine the following week and begin my farming adventures, however, 2 days before my flight I woke up with the Mumps! Can you believe it? I mean, who actually gets the Mumps? Well apparently I’m someone who gets them (or got them, rather). Being that the Mumps are a virus, there was nothing I could do but sit around the house for 2 weeks and rest while it took its course, thus putting my plans on hold. Well I made plans, again, to fly out on sunday the 14th september, but who came knocking on Houston’s door the wee hours of the 13th? Thats right, big Ike. So unfortunately my plans were put off for nearly 3 more weeks (not only due to Ike, but a few other reasons as well). Cabin fever is REAL!!

Now I’m happy to say that Ive found another farm to begin (I never heard back from Maine), and later this week I will fly to Atlanta, Georgia and begin at a farm located in Milledgville, 2 hours SE of Atlanta. I plan to stay there for a month, return home for my brothers birthday (Ive missed it the past few years), and leave for another month at another location, and finally returning mid-late december for a friends graduation as well as the holidays.

My ultimate mid-term goal is a take a flight at the end of the year to Hawaii and work the farms out there for 6 month to 1 year. And if all goes well in paradise I might just find a massage job, as well as bar tending job, and make a happy living until I’m ready for something else. I’m leaving all options a possibility and feel that I have the power to do anything I want and to be anywhere I please. Of course I may have a change of heart at any last minute, but for now these are my plans and I hope you will follow my journey while they slowly unravel themselves transforming into my reality. Cheers!

Concluding Thoughts from my Trip….hmmm

zackberridge — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:09:22 +0000

Well, Ive actually been home now for almost 4 days, but i’m finally caught up with this blog. I thank everyone for taking the time to read about my adventures. I tried not to write too much, but enough to give a descent picture of my journeys. I have had an amazing ride throughout Western Europe while meeting new people from all over the world who all seemed as though Ive known for years, eating foods Ive never heard of and half the time couldnt pronounce, trying new beer and wine, playing music with fellow musicians, creating art in cities across the globe, having conversations and debates, having many ups and downs, as well as many new experiences. It was healthy for my soul to experience such a vast array of cultures and customs. It was educational as well as an exciting challenge learning French, Dutch, German, Swiss-German, and Italian. It felt good to confront challenges and to overcome them, no matter the circumstances. My trip re-enforced my appectance of peoples differences, attitudes, traditions and ideas, and to continue to view everyone as small pieces of the Whole Picture. To see thru the surface of someone and getting to know their soul as a part of my own is very comforting to me and is no different in my home town than across the globe, for everyone has the same essence within. Ignorance is eveywhere, as well as intolerance, however, its our choice how we want to interpret it, accept it, and still continue to love one another. During my trip I laughed, I smiled, I frowned, I worried, I stressed, I cried, I sang, I played music, I walked a lot, I travelled, I climbed, I rode, I pondered, I grokked, I made art, I read, I wrote thoughts and ideas, I spoke positives and negatives……………………………….and all I got was this fucking t-shirt!

I apologize if the last sentece offended anyone, but I wrote it on the plane ride home, and after the stress I went thru in getting home, it made me laugh really hard when I wrote it, so I had to put it in the blog. Cheers! Zack-World Man

Praja, Calabria, Italia……..ya, I never heard of it either

zackberridge — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:51:07 +0000

I never heard of this place until while doing some research I found a website for a small hostel in the city. I initailly thought it was and hour and half outside of Rome, but was rather shocked to learn the day before my arrival, it was 6 hours south of ! It took 3 trains, and a lot of sitting to finally arrive at my destination. From 10am, until 10pm I was on the road, sitting, sweating, and anxious about what was to come. The sunset I saw from the train along the ocean side while going thru Pompei was a sign of the extraordinary beauty that was in store. The Hostel host picked my up and I joined the group at a nearby cafe for some……..drinks!! It felt kindof weird being the new guy, but after 10 min and 2 beers I was engulfed in conversation with some folks from Austria about music and guitars (and the worlds worst movie, ‘Hercules in New York with Arnold Strong’) It was hilarious hearing the drunk Austrians mockingly quote the movie because they sounded just like Arnold, ha! We got in late that night, and woke up to a nice breakfast provided by the host. We strolled thru the town in search of an internet cafe, and grabbed some pasta ingrediants from a very cheap market. (I bought a liter of water, one kiwi, and a pack of pasta noodles all for less than one Euro, equivalent to about a dollar). We came home and devoured the meal and were watching a moving while waiting to go to the beach. Three australians and Jon from San Diego were the new arrivals for the day, so we all piled in the car and went to the beach. The water and view were spectacular, and instead of sand, the beach was full of small, smooth stones. It was a little better than Galveston (just a little, LOL) I thought. Than night the two austrians, Erin from Whales, and I had 6 bottles of wine and Klause (austria) had his guitar, so we all went to the beach around 1am and Klause and I played music until 6am. IT was probly the best night of my entire trip because the energy from the four of us was very positive and very accepting of each other (and of my musical flaws!). Its the kind of night that may never be matched by any other. The following day, the 3 australians, California Jon, and I loaded into a small boat at the beach, navigated by PaPa (the hosts father) and we explored the grottos in the nearby island, as well as the main reason why I went to Praja, for the cliff jumping! We jumped from 3 different heights; 8 meters, 16 meters, and 22 meters! We jumped into the most amazing blue water Ive every had the experience of swimming in. After my 2nd jump from the highest point I realized that the crotch of my bathing suit didnt survive, so that was the end of my swimming adventures. That night I waited and hour and half for a train that was supposed to take me to another town where I would board another for Rome, however, not a single train stopped at the station, so I had to stay another night and get up at 5am, after 4 hours of sleep, and jog 20min (with all my luggage straped to me) to the station. Well, I missed the street to the station, and so my jog turned out to be and hour run to the next town. I finally made it to the station just in time to miss my train, so I just caught the next one and hour later. By missing that train, the snowball effect carried on and on, and eventuallly caused me to miss my flight home, and not being able to visit Rome. I found a B&B to stay at that was 10min from the airport, and was right on the beach; very nice turn of events. Then next morning I was on the plane, first class and 7 glasses of Italian Red wine, and was glad to be coming home. I also have to mention the flight leaving Rome was an hour and half late, which cause me to miss my connection flight from New Jersey to home, so I had to take my last leg in seat in coach. There is a slight difference in flying coach and first class, but by then all I wanted to do was get to Houston, which I eventually did 3 hours and a sore ass, later. My parents and Junebug picked me up from the airport that night and I realized very quickly that I did not miss Texas weather nor Pasadena pollution. Oh, ya, and because of my travel delays I had a miss a concert that night that I had planned 2 months in advance to go to. But hey, I was home safe and whole and thats all I really cared about. My next post will be my final thought. Cheers!

Vengo dagli Stati Uniti….Im from the United States

zackberridge — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:22:07 +0000

The title is a phrase I had to use quite a bit while in Italy. It took severl tries and several teachers to finally get it down, but now its etched into my brain forever. My journey to Italy was started with a beautiful scenic train ride thru the swiss alps and into Milan. After some transportation confusion, again(by now it was very expected and thus less frustrating…….but only by a little), my host picked me up from the metro station and we went to his flat and ate some pasta, hell ya! My host Fede was a great guy and we got along really well. His english was close to an intermediate level, so it was a very educational stay for the both of us. That night we picked up his friend Nuncio, another great guy, and we met with the couchsurfing group of Milan for some drinks and drunked photos! Every cafe that had happy hour also includes a buffet of really good finger foods and snacks, unlike the typical fried stuff you find in the states. The next day we woke up really late and relaxed around the house. It was the first time of my trip that I didnt go anywhere during the day and it was wonderful. When I found out Fede was as big a Pink Floyd fan as I, we watched a Dvd of the band and drank Bacardi drinks, very nice complimented with a cool breeze from outside. And after following up with a Dvd from ‘The Boss” Bruce Springstein, we met up again with the CS Milan group for………….more drinks! This time there were a lot of new faces, as well as another girl from Houston who lives in Spain. It was a bit refreshing to speak with another American, but I didnt want to spend the whole time talking about back home. After the cafe we all walked to popular square at a nearby church where the locals hang out and play music and in the summer they project a movie onto a very large screen hanging on the wall. All for free. The night life was very full of life and happy people. The next day we woke up late, again, and late afternoon met with Nuncio and the three of us visited an expo at a nearby museum, which had a free display of Italian modern art and design. It was very interesting, some was very appealing, some was horrible (in my opinion), but it was free none-the-less =). Next we met again with the CS group for my last night in Milan. Again, there were many new faces in the crowd, so we had another night of cheers and jolly, ha! ( i dont think Ive ever used the word ‘jolly’ in a sentence!) . The next morning we woke up bright and early, only to get to the train station 5 mins too late, just in time to miss my train. But it was ok, because there was another the next hour. (the missed train would be the 1st of 3 missed trains, followed by 2 flights while in Italy, grrr). I was stuck in the crossroads of deciding to visit Rome for a few days, or stay with my original plan and visit a small Italian city about 5 hours south of Rome. I decided to make the long journey because the pictures I saw from the hostels website were absolutely breathtaking, and lets face it, Rome is very beautiful. So I changed my plans that would allow me to arrive in Rome the day I was supposed to fly out, at 6am, which would give me 5-6hours to see the collesium, vatican, and other famous sites. Unfortunately I would never have the chance due to a string of bad luck trying to make it home, but thats another story for another time.

Zurich….well, Windisch to be exact

zackberridge — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:47:59 +0000

I arrived in Zurich after a 6hour train ride from Germany. Long, but very scenic (at least the parts I saw then I was awake), and then I had to take another 20min train to the town I was staying in called Windisch. I met my hosts wife at the rendevous point, and we walk to their apartment to put my things away and to eat. They live on the 12th floor, and the view from the back terrace was amazing. Next we went for a walk and she showed me around the city and the ancient Roman amphitheater that was still somewhat intact. The city was beautiful, and amazingly clean. Apparently all of Switzerland is very clean, and the residents are required to recycle everything. My host told me that per capita, Switzerland is the richest country and on average when a citizen dies, they have close to 3 million dollars in money and assests combined….wow, i know where I want to die! (sorry, thats a bit morbid) The Swiss are one the only countries in Eastern Europe that are not a part of the EU (European Union) therefore, I had to change my currency, which is a hassel and with commision, you always come out shorthanded). I didnt plan on spending much, so I had to pay with euro’s several times, which seemed to irritated some people, but what the hell, I had to ead (and have my beer!) The next day I took the train back into Zurich, and after leaving the train station I just walked straight with no plans and no where I needed to go, or anything in particular I wanted to see. I lucked out and walked straight to Lake Zurich, and was blown away by the view. I took the sidewalk along the lake, thru several parks, until I found a spot at the edge to the water that had perftect skipping stones, so I threw my share into the lake. I wanted to go to the beach there, which costs 6 franks, and being the brainless tourist I handed the guy a coin that had a 10 on it, thinking “wow, its really cheap out here.” The man looked at me and hesitated before saying, “thats only 10 cents. “ I laughed and walked off thinking, “the beach here sucks anyways” haha! I then went to a park and took my shoes and shirt off, and layed in the sun for nearly an hour. It was the first time of my trip that I completely relaxed for that long a period and it felt great. Afterwards I went back near the train station for a bite to eat and I drew a picture while I muched on some strange looking, but delicious food. I returned the house in Windisch and watched some of the olympics before staying up with my host and learning about creating websites, which I think will become my next project while I start farming. The next morning I left early for my last country, which turned out to be my favorite….Italia!

Cologne…..pronounced “Kuuln” Ya, it took me a while to be able to say it

zackberridge — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:08:11 +0000

My visit in Cologne (Koln) was very brief. I arrived around 10:30 pm, after walking past the street I was supposed to turn on, thus putting me 45 min late. I basically had one whole day, and then I had to leave early the next morning, and unfortunately my host had to work, so I didnt really get to know her very well. The first night we had a beer together with Jack from Australia, another couchsurfer at her place. We conversed for an hour or so about our lives in a nutshell before going to bed. The next day, well the first half, I spent hanging out with Jack in the city and we had some really good conversations about the Australian life and his journey to Cologne, then to Zurich for a job interview, as well as some really good Greek food and beer. After he caught his train to Zurich, I visited a sports museum where my host, Anita, works. She let me in free and I browsed around for almost 2 hours. The museum was great because it contains a lot of ancient olympic arifacts, such a discs (that was one of my better track and field events in school……..1st place in distict in 8th grade, ya mon!) Next I visited the “Dom” which means church. This time I got to go to the top, which was very dizzying (made up word, but you get the point) walking up a spiral stairwell for over 500 feet, but the view from the top was certainly worth it. Then put on my headphones with my music (the best of course=) ) and strolled thru the city with no paricular place to go. I ate some great, freshly made spinich pizza and had a great german beer (Reissdorf Kolsch) while I wrote in my journal. Next, I walked along the Rhine river to a botanical garden that was absolutely beautiful. I found a spot of soft grass and took my socks and shoes off and walked around, absorbing the earths energy. It was very therapeutic for my poor blistered feet (everday of my trip so far, I must have walked at least 10-15 miles). I returned home that night for some much needed rest, and to prepare for my trip to Zurich, Switzerland.