Transition

 11 - U.S. West Coast, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Venice

My parents decided to go back to New Zealand for some months before travelling to Europe but my father sprung another fun surprise on us. He had a speaking engagement at the YWAM base in Salem, Oregon so he decided to make a West Coast family trip out of it. While we were in Oregon I underwent another childhood rite of passage when I spun myself in one of the large clothes dryers they had on base. That was also where I saw my first snakes, playing with the harmless garters they had on the property.

We drove from Salem all the way down the coast to San Diego on the famous Highway 1, stopping at different spots along the way. That was when I was first introduced to the grand American restaurant breakfast when I ordered a loggers breakfast at a diner along the way. It was HUGE to my 11 year old eyes and stomach. 

We visited San Francisco, staying with a friend of my parents in a nearby town called Richmond. We were warned that Richmond wasn’t the nicest area of the country, which was confirmed when we saw people walking around swinging chains. We did all the San Francisco stuff – Pier 39, the cable cars, Ghiradelli. 

When we were in Los Angeles we got to go to Disneyland for the first time but I was afraid of roller coasters. I was afraid they would break. I have since learned to realize it will not break and to just have fun. But in 1978, I was eleven years old and I was scared. We also spent a little time in San Diego visiting some friends that had been involved in the Boat School who lived on a boat in the harbor. Samuel and I used their dingy to row around the marina. They had a little boy who called Samuel and I “him and that thing”.

We went back to New Zealand for five months to visit family and for my dad to re-rent the house they still owned. My mom taught us school with self-study materials for part of that time but I was also enrolled in the local intermediate school for the rest. That was where I learned the essential skill of sewing when I sewed some shorts and a hat in what I guess was a home economics class.

I felt out of place in such a large school. I didn’t have any super embarrassing moments but it was a constant struggle to keep from being picked on. Along with the few years I had spent at Viscount Primary School, that was the only time I spent in a public school and I’m glad about that.

During that time, Samuel and I used to play across the street at Viscount Primary after school hours. They had what we called a jungle gym in the schoolyard. It was one of those old, metal climbing playgrounds. Some of the pieces were moveable but heavy. Samuel decided to move one of them one day and proceeded to accidentally drop it on my head. It hurt so I hit him. He looked a bit scared and must have been very sorry because he didn’t hit me back. As I touched my head I felt something warm and wet and as I pulled my hand away I saw blood. I touched my head again and realized that there was a hole. My brother had cracked my head open! Fortunately there were no long-term effects…at least I don’t think so.



Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 26, 2020 at 10:55 PM

    Why would you spin yourself in a dryer? The door would have needed to have been shut..........yuk. It's also Viscount Primary School, Mangere :)

    It is interesting reading all of these - I look forward to them.

    ReplyDelete

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