For two years I hosted a room on AirBnB. I hosted a range of personalities; quiet and reserved, chatty and friendly, … activist, … business person.
A note about privacy: Their photos are displayed on their (public) AirBnB profiles, so that seems fine. And divulging the, potentially personal things they told me, … well shit. I did change the names tho.
Carlos: Saved for two entire years to afford a trip to NZ (supposedly you need to be able to show a bank account with at least $4,000 NZD to be allowed to enter). He has been trying to enjoy his time here as much as possible. But most of his money has already escaped his clutches. He is chasing a part time job, anything he can get.
We went over his CV together as (he thinks) his English is not very good (I think it is adequate, he just needs to be more confident and speak up). It turns out he studied history for a little but dropped out. He doesn’t seem to know where he is going.
Matt: An Australian (I think), who has been living in Munich. Him and his family are moving to Wellington. He has come over early to sort out sorting a house, a car, … etc. He is not impressed with Wellington’s public transport. I can’t remember many more details, which annoys me.
Aroha: A business woman. She is trying to start a business around the automated retting of flax. The fibre from flax is especially strong. She was in town from some meetings with investors and patent lawyers. She was nervous and spent her pouring over her notes.
Dave: Is a certified builder and has decided to finish off his studies in econ and finance. He was currently struggling through a breakup. He wanted the best for his ex, but she wanted to give up her studies to be a doctor, to be with him. He asked, “if you hear me talking on the phone, can you please interrupt me”. He loved her, and she him. But he seemed to think he was somehow bad for her, and wanted to distance himself, even though it was hard for him.
He also related a sad story about his twin brother. His twin brother had epileptic fits, a result of some kind of risk-seeking sport (can’t remember which one…). Note: Epilepsy is actually super dangerous. Suddenly most daily activities become dangerous. Driving, climbing a ladder, crossing a road, swimming, … Anyway, his brother continued to drive and had a very bad accident. He is now brain damaged and barely able to speak.
Phil: He was in Wellington to visit his son and do some maintenance on a house he owns. Super friendly and curious about my life. I enjoyed having him. I got the impression he was bored at home and coming to Wellington was something-to-do. Also it gave him some freedom from his married life, which wasn’t bad as far as I could tell, but maybe set in its ways. He rented out the entire Buffy the Vampire series and consumed them over a rather slow week. I assumed this binge was something that might have drawn criticism back at home.
Leon: was deeply depressed about the current state of the world; climate change, atrocities in the middle east, poverty etc. (I have also been there…). Leon had come to NZ because he had studied the colonization of NZ at school. He was quite interested in how our indigenous people had been treated.
He is especially outraged that soo much harm is done to the natural world. He believes that natural is ‘better’. And that ecosystems are the most efficient way to distribute energy (which is the universes purpose). One of my favorite ideas of his was: we can and should help other lifeforms become intelligent. Where we disagreed was; he thought most humans, should be made to pay for the damage we have done to the environment. For example, he saw wildfires that burned people and homes as justice.
We had some rather tense debates (which I enjoyed, in hindsight). For example, Thomas thinks I am a specist (like racist, but for species. That is to say; I value humans over - say - ants). And I was totally ok with that, which I found rather amusing, he did not.
However, he did manage to change my mind about animal rights, which I think would make him happy. (The debate normally starts with some hippie-animal-lover claiming that animals feel pain, or are somehow sentient. And I start questioning the evidence for these claims. Together we managed to settle on a compromise, some animals are more / less likely to be able to suffer, we should minimise the risk that other life suffers. I can agree with that).
Rose: I liked Rose. She is a book lover (likes bleak literature) and a self identified ‘weirdo’. She was curious about the world, and loved learning. But she thought the financial commitment going to university was too much, and was unlikely to pursue further studies. She was American… (Supposedly: many countries - not inc NZ - require a uni degree to get a working visa - that seems silly, plenty of people have amazing skills yet don’t have a degree.)
She was deeply political. Hard not to be when you are from America… She had participated in an anti-fa protest. And had some strong beliefs about what is right and wrong. Especially with respect to racism (I recieved a couple of lectures). We also had some interesting chats about the value of history (which is being rewritten in american schools in the name of patriotism).
She and her boyfriend were starting to get serious. He works at a funeral home. And he will soon be following her to NZ. She was so clearly happy, her face really lit up, I havent really seen that before. Seeing her think about her boyfriend made me happy.
Beatriz: Unfortunately, I didnt learn much about Beatriz. She is from Chile and was in town for an Eminem concert. An interesting and sad note is that; despite the fact that Beatriz loves being in NZ, her visa expires in a month and we (NZ) will unceremoniously boot her out.
Emily: Emily was an; advocate for herbalism, a youtuber that provides affirmation, self-help and advice for ecsma sufferers, and a self-described woman of color. Emily reminded me of my mother. She was passionate, wanted to help others and had superstitious beliefs.
Interestingly, Emily was super skeptical of the medical industry, she wouldn’t trust a doctor. And she has good reason to be skeptical of them and the medical industry. She has struggled with eczema her entire life (over her entire body) and the doctors have prescribed many different drugs. None have worked, and most have only made the eczema worse. Her trust in herbalism is quite understandable. She especially loves the idea of using herbalism to help others. And has been delving into the chemistry of various herbal remedies.
Unfortunately, our relationship didn’t end well. We were having a chat about racism (and sexism). Emily was saying things like white people this, white people that… And I tried to point out she was being racist. We got a little lost in the debate. She abruptly left and filed a compliant with AirBnB claiming that I am racist (I was really surprised by this and had a long reflection about it). The lesson I learned was that I should be more cautious when discussing sensitive topics. Many people are victims of racism / sexism / … etc.
Emily also helped me realise how lucky I am to feel so safe, many dont. Emily doesn’t drink in town for fear of men. And asked me whether I thought X or Y locations were ‘safe’, a thought which had never crossed my mind.
Dan: A lot of a hippie. He is keen to go with the flow and to float through life. He is enjoying sampling every kind of job possible. Currently he is working as a builder and is fascinated by the ‘builder culture’ amongst his colleagues.
Also enjoys philosophising about life and the universe. We stayed up late a couple of times chatting about the meaning of life, etc.
Claire: Is studying to be a teacher. She was staying at my place so she could sit some exams at the local uni. Currently she is about 30-35 (according to me…) and currently works as as a sales person / admin in a small town craft jewelry store. In her spare time she has been learning to make games in python. She is possibly one of the most timid / unconfident people I have ever met, despite being one of the more interesting people to stay. I liked her.
Susane: A graphic designer who seems to have a small amount of fame in the right circles. She has supposedly designed a few of the character skins for Dota 2. I dont think I have ever met someone in a better mood than her, and maybe it wasnt even a mood, maybe she is always happy, curious, enthusiastic about life, grateful to be where she is, … Wow.
Camile: Was a french student, studying pharmacy, doing an internship at the Wellington hospital. Camile was my longest staying tenant, she stayed for around 6 months.
She studied biotech in her undergrad, so we had some fun chats about bioethics, a hatred of labwork, and my iGEM project.
She had a real want to do ‘real’ work. To finish study and start contributing. I liked this attitude, but I wasn’t able to fathom her drive for it. Her drive that pushed her trough the tedium that is the FDA regulations, data manipulation, …
I was a little saddened that, despite a friendly introduction, she found her own group of friends, we didnt get to see her that much.
Jasper: A PhD student down in Otago. In town for a conference. Presenting results on a special medical gauss that had been electro spun. Super fine textile that allowed cells to grow.
Joline: A dentist living in Masterton. She has to deal with crazies accusing her for stealing their teeth and shouting at her for extortion. She seemed to feel a bit lonely / isolated. I think she comes into Wellington semi-regularly. She seemed super smart, and she was religious. An interesting mix. I really enjoyed talking to her.
Taylor: My favorite tenant so far! He is just the nicest person. One of the things that made him so endearing was that he is genuinely enthused by his job; he works as a physio-therapist in the prosthetics unit.
Also, he used to be an elite runner having done a ~33 minute 10 km, daymn.
We had great chats about; health policy, robotics, neuroscience, …
Ladies, he is a catch.
Russell: His family was moving to NZ from SA. He told about living in Johannesburg: if you drive through certain neighborhoods, you will, with near 100% certainty, be robbed. So he would drive an extra 30 minutes avoiding those areas on his way to work.
Fredreik: From an Eastern european country (I cant remember which). He was young and seemed home sick. He had been travelling around NZ for the last 3 months and was waiting (for a week) for his plane. He spent almost all of his time playing video games.
Fetu: Was a Samoan structural engineer. Fetu stayed here on around 10 different occasions, as his family lives in New Plymouth, and he returns there in the weekends.
Ontop of working, and being with his family. Fetu was also studying a MBA (part time). And a ‘leader’ within this ancestral Samoan village.
Feta was friendly and interesting. But, he seemed like he only had a single mode, ‘on’. Where he was running at 12km\h. And had to tell me everything about structureal engineering, corruption and money laundering, Samoan infrastructure, … Which was all interesting. But there was a lot of it, and it didn’t stop.
Juliette: Juliette was a French chef. I hosted her, and her boyfriend for around 2 months. They ended up leaving because I gave them a strong word about their incredibly loud sex…
Mike: An American economist. Mike was very affable. He told be about how flood insurance works in Florida-Keys. I was bemused that the average tax payer subsidises people to live the hurricane alley. Although, he pointed out that it isn’t as silly as it sounds, and any solution will take time.
And then there are all the others who I remember little, a face, a single fact, a hello, … or nothing at all.
Senthil, Hiroki, Jo, Marina, Kim, Anike, Rui, Elena, Erine, SungIn, Jasmine, Joelle, Alice, Gill, Olwyn, Lizzie, Jed, Sophia, Laporte, Jeff, Tracy, Nilesh, Blake, Ankita, Nathan, Anna, Alex, James, Lina, Mohan, Fabio, Adam, Don, Abbey, Marc, Adam, Mehran, Daniel, Denise, Matthew, …
Ok, wow. I did not think the list would be this long!
From this experience I had a couple of insights.
- I have very little insight into most peoples cares and fears.
- Everyone seems to have their own ‘pet-theory’ of intelligence.