It's been a whole since my last post and for that I apologize. Thing were pretty hectic for a minute there but luckily things are under control now!
How the hectic started: so there I was. New Plymouth, New Zealand. Hanging out with my good buddy Jack Henderson who I met in the states last year via CouchSurfing. Long story short- we had a great weekend together and then I went on to my next farm location.
So this farm was being run by the most conservative family I have ever met. Backstory- I am from Mississippi- been Christian for a long time- conservative family- homeschooled till I was 13- went to University in Alabama- have spent a huge majority of my life in the "Bible Belt". These people were way more conservative than I am used to. Part of the reason I asked to stay with them was because in their farm profile it said "Christian Family" and I thought it would be nice to be surrounded by Christians. Because recently my places have not been so I thought it would be refreshing. They were very nice people and the kids were lovely!! Such nice kids! At least the 7 that I got to meet. Oh yeah- they have 11 children... So- I did loads of chainsaw work for them. Like- a ton of chainsaw work. 3 solid days worth. Nothing but. Good work too. So I'm pretty sure I messed up and essentially got myself kicked out when........
We were playing risk. Gathered around the board game. When the son(Johnny)(the rest of the kids were girls) asked me who the tattoo on my left deltoid is for. I told him it was for Tino(if you don't know the story of Tino I will fill you in later if you'd like)- a buddy of mine who is no longer with us. He said "I'm sorry" and then we kept playing the game. As soon as Johnny asked about my tattoo I saw the look on the other kids faces. The "sweet Johnny broke the ice on asking Steve about his tattoos" look. And the questions starting poring in. "Why'd you get that tattoo?"..."do other people like it?"... "Aren't you afraid of what it'll look like when you're older".... For a few minutes. I responded patiently knowing that they were young kids. (I think Johnny was the youngest at the table at about 12-13.) And right when, for the first time, I was getting tired of defending my tattoos it happened. The question I've heard before and always responded the same way: "the Bible says Christians shouldn't have tattoos" and I replied "Yeah but 4 verses later it says we should stone homosexuals"....
.....
So. Johnny says "oh" and we get back to risk. Two minutes pass. Two. Very uncomfortable. Long. Minutes.
Johnny, "What's a homosexual?"
.......
Me,"a gay person..."
Johnny, "what's gay?"
Me panicking. Realizing I have said WAAAAAY to much, "I'm not sure I should be the one to talk to you about that...."
I waited till the dad got home- told him straight away that his son will most likely be asking him about homosexuality... Just a heads up.
So, that was on Wednesday night. Friday morning I was supposed to go up Mount Taranaki and come back Saturday afternoon and spend a few more days there. Thursday night at dinner the dad pretty much says "Hey Steve, you're going up the mount tomorrow right?" "Right" "how's about you just don't come back."
So I got asked to leave 3 days earlier than I had planned and they didn't share their Internet so it was pretty rough finding a place to stay for a little bit.
That story ended up being way longer than I planned. After that Me and Klara(who I will describe in detail on my next post) stayed with Jack again before starting to head south!
So later I'll post about my most recent adventure on the Abel Tasman Track. I hope none of you respect me less after that story!
Oh, Steve, some people are just not ready for the knowledge you bring :)
ReplyDeletekicking you out--yeah that was totally the Christian thing to do.
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