Maruf Hops Maps On Hold

December 23, 2018

It’s getting close to year since I wrote my last real article on Maruf Hops Maps and it’s made me realize I don’t know what I want out of this blog anymore. What started as place to write about exotic fruit, travel destinations, and stories buying weed has turned into a website with an unclear purpose. I’m putting this blog on indefinite hold until I find a purpose for it. To find out where I am right now, check out my /now page, which I will continue to update, and to learn who I am, check out my about page….

Miscellaneoes, Narrative

My Advice to HelpX Volunteers

September 20, 2018

I arrived on a sunny Tuesday I didn’t know what to expect other than it was a permaculture home. It was my first time volunteering on a family’s permaculture home. You don’t get to choose your brother’s and sisters unless the profile that led you here mentions you’ll be ‘one of the family’. It was time to found out how this family volunteer works and if we click. Families have their habits and rules and my stay with Hemon and Katie in New Zealand was no exception. Some habits are hard to get used to, like limiting m internet to…

Miscellaneoes

Free Time, Drawing, and Gratitude

March 22, 2018

Though we often forget to, it’s good to practice grateful. Doesn’t matter whether it’s for your cat, the fact that you have a roof over your head, or that you’re not a peasant in the Dark Ages. I was told enough times I don’t write about what’s good with my life, and that I only write about what’s fucked up with the world today, or my adventures. I thought about it, and reasoned so because no one’s interested in my contentment, they’re interested in intrigue and surprise. I thought I’d change it up. This here’s a short post about something…

Miscellaneoes

Travel Is Expensive Myth: January 2018 Expense Report

February 7, 2018

There’s a silly myth that traveling is expensive. Travel is free, it’s the luxuries you expect accompanied by travel that make it expensive. I’ve never done one before, but it’s the end of my first full month traveling around New Zealand and I’d like to break down my expenses this month. My entire costs for food, pleasure, and survival for January were $362.57 USD. January 2018 Spendings – $362.57 Food – $142.27 – 39.2% Weed – $84.12 – 23.2% Ice Cream & Cafes – $55.49 – 15.3% Miscellaneous – $60.69 – 22.3% (shopping, server fee, membership fees, accommodation, etc.) January…

Miscellaneoes, Travel

Stuck in New Zealand Customs

December 15, 2017 1 Comment

I’ve been in New Zealand less than a day and I admit, the friendly stereotype is true, even when they threaten people at customs. That fellow got the silent treatment for hours because he was hiding something, whereas the customs officials questioned me for hours, because I have a tent, or maybe because I look borderline homeless; I don’t know. This wasn’t the welcome brigade I anticipated yet here’s what to expect and how to prepare for it, if it happens to you when you land in New Zealand. I’ve never understood what it means, or what needs to be…

Miscellaneoes

How you Spot Gringo – a Colombian Handguide

April 13, 2016 3 Comments

How you spot Gringo, you ask? Gringos can be persons difficult to spot. For example, you just go about your usual day in valley of Colombian and loud persons come being loud and yelling. They no speak same language you but you understand them say word “Fuck” much times. Must be… Gringos. There are other clues gringo’s give to help identify self. Many Gringos disguise self and do not say “Fuck” every other word. How I know if he gringo then? Well I tells you! Here are tips on what to look at to know if he gringo. Servicio Gringo always have servicio his whole life and now he come here…

Miscellaneoes

Don’t Follow the News, at Least I Don’t

March 15, 2016

There’s nothing more enjoyable then calling my mom up to exchange life updates only to have the conversation spiral into an argument over how the Syria conflict affects me and how I’m a stupid fool because I don’t follow the news. Call me señor ignoramus. But guess what? I’m happy for it. Disclaimer: some of what I write might make me sound like some cold, apathetic hater on everything that is happening to our global family. I assure you dear reader that I am not heartless. I donated my 23rd birthday to giving clean water, and am actively interested in making our planet less a trash site….

Miscellaneoes

I Hate Walls.

March 11, 2016

I’m not talking about those walls in the bathroom that give you privacy from peeking eyes or walls that keep your cows from wandering away but those walls people create to define what is theirs. Call me socialist but walls serve to separate people where meaningful connections could otherwise exist. I think they’re a paranoid device man has created to frantically retain control over something that they can’t prove belongs to them without creating some complex legal system that protects their interests.

Miscellaneoes, Travel

How to Quit Your Job and Laugh About it

January 29, 2016 3 Comments

I quit my last job to start this job, then got fed up with this job and I quit it! Ok, I’m not as proud about quitting this last job as it sounds (I do still have some tentacles attached to it). One thing I know is that I need to find a new job, and no, I’m not doing any coding… A little about me, my name is Marius though I’ve had the nickname Maruf since the good ole days living in Michigan and attending Lithuanian camp every summer. Since then I have habituated a few places. My more recent chapter involved working stupidly long…