Craft Brewery Central

First stop on the south island, Nelson, NZ.  Most people pass through this town, but for craft beer lovers, it’s a stop that must be made, it has a craft brew trail after all with at least a few dozen breweries.  Places like Sprig & Fern and The Free House.  One place that I really enjoyed is Founders Brewery that is located inside Heritage Town and in addition to this “Main Street” feel, it has a bakery that makes fresh pizza using all fresh, local ingredients and was a very decent pie to eat with my beer tasting. 

Though my favorite night out was hanging at The Free House.  What’s really cool is that it’s inside a converted church and also has a Mongolian yurt outside used for events.  Now, The Free House is not a brewery, but carries several different NZ craft brews.  The employees there certainly know their beers and are great at making recommendations and letting you try the different beers.  If your taste for beer is anything like mine, which is that I have a deep love for Belgian ales and IPA’s, you’ll love Liberty Brewing’s Vespas beer.  So damn delicious!  Another sweet thing about The Free House is that you can bring in your own food or have food delivered there too.   So I just hung out there, drinking some damn fine beer, and listening to a little jazz trio play inside.

By day, when not busy drinking beer, Nelson has some lovely hiking in the surrounding hills.  It supposedly is the geographical center of New Zealand but even if it is or isn’t, I still enjoyed the hike up to it’s center point and being able to look upon the coast and the mountains. 

I really enjoyed my time in Nelson and would recommend it to anyone who loves food and beer.  While there isn’t a whole lot going on there, it’s not just some tiny town with nothing going on there.  There really are some great restaurants, bars, breweries, a night scene, lovely parks and some nice homes there.  All worth checking out for a few days.  But while Nelson may be a few things, it’s certainly big on beer.  And I love that.  

Recommendations:

The Free House: 95 Collingwood Street, Nelson 7010

Sprig & Fern (two locations): 134 Milton Street (in a cute bungalow and next door to an amazing fish & chips place), 280 Hardy Street

Founders Brewery: 87 Atawhai Drive

I'm back!

Ok, I’m back at it.  Let me catch you up on a few things… granted, I’m way behind on my blog (let’s just say that I’m three countries away from my last post - which makes me at least 3 months behind) but at least allow me to explain one of the things I’ve been doing.  First off, I have been in school full time for a month getting my TEFL/TESOL teaching certification so that I may teach English abroad.  It’s been 15 years since I last stepped in a classroom and I gotta say, it’s not easy.  I actually had to use my brain, not b.s. my way out of situation, and was challenged to push my own boundaries.  But I’ve learned so much and I’m glad I did the classroom certification as opposed to an online certification. 

As part of the curriculum, we applied what we learned that week to actual classroom teaching at local schools, most being government schools for children from 10-15 years old with some of them even having the local hill tribe children attending.  So for 50 minutes twice a week, we taught a lesson through flashcards and activities.  I really had a lot of fun doing it and learned things about myself I wouldn’t have in any other situation – like the fact that I have a teacher voice.

An interesting thing I observed at the schools that I’ve always suspected through my travels in Asia, locals are interested in who I am and where I’m from.  I look like them, but am different, both physically and how I carry myself.  Let’s face it, I’m built like a tall American, or as one local had put it I’m built like I play football (I sure hope he means soccer because I would hate to be considered that I’m built like and American football player).  So at the schools, many of the children would wai to me (bow) when they entered the classroom or when they would see me in the hallway or schoolyard.  They could tell I was a teacher (and they typically wai a Thai teacher out of respect), but were also trying to figure out whether I was Thai or not.  Even when I wasn’t teaching and sitting in the back of the classroom observing one of my peers, many would wai to me as well.  I have to admit, it’s kind of awesome and makes me feel like I’m The Godfather. 

For me, I decided to teach English for a few reasons, obviously one of them was so I could continue to travel and live abroad.  But after traveling through Asia for a while, I realized how beneficial learning something as simple as English can open up some doors and provide more opportunities for locals.  Thailand is a perfect example of a country that has prospered over the last few decades through tourism, and partly due to the fact that many people took the opportunity to learn English.  Anyone who has traveled through Thailand knows that it’s a pretty easy country to travel through unlike other countries.  This place is set up for tourists.  Thais who work anywhere near the tourism industry know some English.  The same certainly cannot be said for all of Southeast Asia.  But even if people don’t end up in tourism (and on many levels, I hope not), at least learning English can help them be engaged with other foreigners and perhaps inspire them to travel one day or at least further pursue a higher education.  And I have to admit, the one most rewarding job I’ve ever had was when I had coached volleyball.  There’s nothing quite like seeing the light turn on and seeing someone actually learn something that you taught.

So now I’m done with school, all certified up, and will be looking to work in Chiang Mai when I come back in January.  My time in the states has come to an end for now and am looking forward to starting another chapter of my life living abroad.