Defining moments
- Halfway around the world
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Okay, this is not exactly in chronological order, but when I was 5, my mum took me halfway around the world to India, Australia and New Zealand. This was one of the most amazing trips of my life, and although I missed the start of primary school, I already had an education that most people could only dream about. This journey was full of moments that helped to define the person I am now. I remember many experiences, like walking bare-footed on the scorching marble floor of the Taj Mahal, the unique mixture of foods and sewage in busy New Delhi, real life Koalas in Sydney, and climbing Kiwi Fruit bushes in New Zealand to find some breakfast.
However, two things
about the trip really stick in my mind.
Firstly, we were in India, driving
through New Delhi in a rickshaw. We stopped and paid the driver, and there
were some children at the side of the road who didn't go to school, as they
had to help their parents. We had very little money, but I had some felt-tip
pens and paper, which we gave to the children. I'll never forget the look
of absolute joy on their faces as I gave them something they had never had
before, but which I took for granted. These children had been deprived of
much of the innocence of childhood, and I gave them just a bit of it back.
I realised that generosity, like many things in life is about quality not
quantity.
The second thing was in New Zealand. Everything that people say about New Zealand being the most beautiful place in the world is true, it's like something out of a dream. We went to Rotorua, a particularly beautiful place in the South Island. At Rotorua there was a Maori visitor centre, and inside were amazing geysers and mud baths. Visitors were allowed to bathe in the mud baths, and my mum readily took advantage of them, but being young and very self-conscious, I refused. To this day I wish that I hadn't, because through my own insecurity I deprived myself of a unique experience. You live life for yourself; if people are prepared to readily judge you then their opinions don't matter.
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The
children in New Delhi
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Me,
Franz and the Taj Mahal
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Climbing
Kiwi Fruit bushes
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