Time to move on

My dear New Zealand,

It´s time to go our seperate ways. Correction, it´s time for me to move on and leave you behind. This should come as no surprise to you, as it was clear from the beginning that you and I....just weren´t made for each other. I know we both tried hard, and every now and then it seemed to work, but every time we got back to the same point of just not knowing how to make each other happy.

Let´s face it, you like the foreign girls with hiking boots and tons of other sensible gear, and if they have a German accent, even better. And sometimes you tend to go for the other extreme: ten-inch heals, too much make-up, not enough clothes, Kiwi twang. I am neither, and I can’t change just for you.

Still, I am glad I met you and spent some time with you. You’ve shown me things that I had never seen before and were breathtaking (sometimes in a literal, sulphurous way, but beautiful nonetheless).
I’ve met some really great people through you, who I will surely will keep in touch with, and one of my best nights in the past 6 months was spent eating, drinking and playing silly games with your family in Dunedin.
Needless to say, I always loved exploring the fiords and climbing the peaks in your Southern regions, leading me to heavenly views. But other times, you made me feel lonely, prevented me from earning enough money, you bored me, you made me spend too much. I guess we just never really understood each other.
It’s not you though, it’s me. I am a product of Europe, as much as I like to think I’m not, I am. A product of the smallest, most crowded, least wild, part of Europe. You can take a girl out of the city, but...well, she’ll miss it! I do love nature and hate cities that don’t have enough green, but I need a good balance and I didn’t find that with you.
Nevertheless, these months with you have given me new insights for the future and I am very grateful for that.

So now, as I am getting ready to leave you, I feel tired and a little sad, but mostly, relieved. Relieved that I have decided that enough is enough, and that I am moving on to something bigger and better. Or smaller and better, who knows.
As these things go though, I am sure in not too long I will start looking back and see more and more good things about you. And after a few years I will have forgotten the bad stuff and will probably long for you sometimes. So who knows, maybe in the future we can have a little rendez-vous again. An adventurous, fun, let’s-go-crazy-and-spend-all-our-money kind of thing. Good but short, because you and me where never meant to be together forever. So many others do feel that way about you though, so I am sure you will be far from lonely.

Well, goodbye, take care, and don’t let those Germans mess with you!

Love,
Elsbeth