Author Archives: bethoffreshair

Do you know what I love? A good quality peanut butter. And sunsets. Sweet dogs. Polite children. The ocean. All of these lovely things have collided in Dunedin, on the Otago Peninsula, with my current host family. I’m staying right on the water with a family of five. Two girls, ages thirteen and six andContinue reading “idyllic.”

We have worked at 18 different places, and tomorrow starts the 19th for me. 19 different personalities (although one host had at least three all on his own), 19 different pantries, towns, stories, favorite dishes, idiosyncrasies, ways of hanging up their clothes, and 19 different perspectives on New Zealand. The place I think about whenContinue reading “number 19.”

Do you know how to write a killer ad to sell a car? Include a Celine Dion CD, a tent, and a “new car” air freshener. Tell the reader the car’s name is Nana and she has a wonderful combination of stickers on her backside. I am supposedly selling Nana tomorrow at noon. I know,Continue reading “bye, nana.”

When I have solid internet, I don’t feel too far from home. I try to send quick messages to my family when I can, pictures of the dogs I’m watching, over-the-top exclamations about new towns, and postcards from my favorite places. My sweet grandpa had a stroke the night of his birthday, and that’s whenContinue reading ““hey, ugly.””

I’ve found a new gap that needs to be filled. The empty bedrooms of a recent empty nester. Glenda’s last child moved out of the house three weeks ago and she misses them dearly. The house is too silent. Enter Beth of fresh air. I am sleeping in a teenager’s room full of magazine pagesContinue reading “lovely.”

It’s almost 10pm and the sun hasn’t set yet in Dunedin, NZ. I went on a walk and picked up trash along the way, knowing my dad is most likely doing the same thing in FL’s Dunedin, albeit less hilly. I met Tessa’s (you recall, a professor from Mars Hill’s second step cousin’s wife) coworkerContinue reading “thankful.”

Automotive Nana doesn’t sound good. So I took her to a recommended oil change shop. The oil changer had a look at her and said she’d need to see the mechanic first, because the wheel bearings were off. I got his name, took it to the next shop, and made it sound like I wasContinue reading “mayonnaise.”

Back in 2005, I worked in the education department at Mars Hill University back when it was just a wee college. It was there that I met one of my favorite people, Dr. Tom Destino. Erica and I share an admiration for the doctor and we enjoy any beverage he chooses to join us forContinue reading “new friends in dunedin!”

Milford Sound was on the top of my “to see in NZ” list. That would rhyme if “z” wasn’t pronounced “zed” here. When you Google image search New Zealand, Milford Sound overwhelms the page. It’s a beauty that is so unreal, it’s almost stupid. We chose the company Go Orange for our two hour tourContinue reading “the sounds of the sound.”

We went on an incredible hour hike today in Wanaka, the Rob Roy Glacier Track. The hour drive there was epic and what Barney Stinson would call “legen…dairy.” Cows were blocking our way, sheep were on their way to the “baaaa” (kiwis pronounce “bar” like Bostonians, without the ‘r’), waterfalls were flowing from gigantic cliffContinue reading “rob roy, oh boy.”