The first snow

"You wear sunglasses in winter?!" She asked him more or less ignorantly with an undertone of cheeky seduction - Mel was technically a tropical flower herself and very well travelled but had to admit that she had never made it to the southern hemisphere and was in fact completely dumbfounded to find out that Down Under - was precisely that. Down under and upside down. It had simply never occurred to her that her summer could be his winter.

"'Course! - it's pretty darn sunny during winter!" replied Waz, that hunky surfer chiseled to precision by the almighty beach gods; she still couldn't believe he was real and actually talking to her. That tanned skin, the sun bleached hair and that jaw line - "Have you ever seen the Great Barrier Reef? Yeah, that kind of jaw line!" - a jaw line so chiseled, Mel felt silly for being attracted to someone's bone structure. Surely, Mel can find it in her to find more than superficial pointers such as bones? "Hang on - bones are inside - I am being deep - how deep is your love? Boney M deep - not being shallow at all!"

Mel was hiding behind being coy - whilst she was literally hiding behind the comfort of her keyboard - she wasn't sure what exactly she was hiding; was it the fact that she didn't know that her summer was his winter or the fact that this super hunky surfer was actually talking to her.

Mel and Waz met online - it was 2006, just 3 years after MySpace had been created. Like many others, Waz had created a profile a while back and occasionally checked in on his profile to find music and chat with his friends - he had 47 friends and a rather boring looking profile but who needs an exciting profile when you look like you were chiseled by the gods themselves?!

Social Media wasn't what it is today - it was a place one would go to to find new artists and feel hip because you found them first - or to get a bit of an ego boost because you knew enough code to make your profile look outstanding. It was also a faster (and maybe cooler?) way to communicate than via SMS - those things used to cost quite a bit, Myspace undercut that.

Waz grew up in a quiet town, not much to do other than hanging and surfing - he wasn't overly ambitious in any particular way - he didn't have to be. He came from a good home, things would always just fall into place for him without him putting much effort, let alone sweat, stress or anxiety into anything, Waz is really the stereotype of a surfer, very laid back. This also meant that he's never had any particular motivation to ever leave the country and see the world - he had no need to go anywhere - everything he has ever needed was right there - his family, his friends, the beach - he would later claim, that just leaving his state could easily take up to 18 hours.

Mel was this patchwork kind of kid - born in Europe to parents of mixed heritage who met in Florida - let's just say she was no stranger to things outside of her borders, since she wasn't so sure what her borders actually were and later on decided that borders were altogether just stupid. Her Mum was of Chinese descent and raised Mel with a solid set of Chinese "idea(l)s" - such as, "holidays are just days where you have more time to study!"

So, during her European holidays, Mel was shipped off to Asia to study her own roots a bit more - Mel was lucky in that she never had to work on catching up on anything for school, which meant her Mum actually had the luxury to worry about all the non-academic things that Mel was missing out on, such as her terrible piano skills or the fact that she began to literally uproot herself by forgetting about her Asian lineage and leaning towards her Scandinavian liberties - which was code for becoming a nail that sticks out and needs to be hammered down for the Asian side of her family.

True enough, Mel didn't think much of her Asian heritage - it was her blood but really - "What's in it? I was not born there, and they let me know that I am not part of their world - in fact, I am not part of any part this world unless or until I do something great, then everyone claims me. Hells, I can't even claim to be discriminated against - my minority is so exclusive, we are not even big enough to be a minority! I exist in the shadows! So, no - I know I should know, but I'll do it at my own pace and not as part of any patriotic protocol, persuasion or other obligation".

She thoroughly enjoyed being alone on HOLIDAYS IN ASIA! She's backpacked from the tender age of 15, and has often been dubbed the "crazy Asian" (yes, by her European side, the other part of her that would let her know, that she didn't belong) - she had pink hair, piercings all over and zero understanding for fashion (she described her outrageous fashion sense as trend setting - as her fashion-sense was weirdly catching on - she was rather annoyed by that - it meant she had re-invent herself all over again every time) and deemed it a good idea to pack her bags and see what was out there. In other words - Mel understood the world outside (of technology) a lot better - she only used her computer for her assignments - a glorified typewriter is what she called her laptop.

Mel was a wild spirit injected with the domineering trait of having to excel academically by an overly ambitious Tiger-mum- Mel only ever allowed herself to rebel as much as she academically accomplished - and Mel was accomplished alright. Youngest to matriculate, Bachelor of Physics, Law degree after only 4 years.

After passing her bar exam Mel looked into getting her Masters far, far away from where she was right then and deemed Australia to be far away enough. It's not that she needed to polish her CV any more than it already was, but she needed an excuse to get away — and being Asian, the only valid excuses are education or becoming the CEO of Tesla, Google, Apple or Microsoft - best if it's all of them in one big conglomerate. Alas, Mel wasn't so inclined with the digital realm - more education it had to be! To get her on the way, Mel's geeky friend suggested she should give Myspace a try - "It's fun!" she said.

"Fun…how much fun could this possibly be, I mean it's digital - is it like playing Pacman?"

"No no, no games! Just try it out and give it a go, you'll see!"

Mel gave it a go on her glorified typewriter - it took her 2 days to get over her digital suspicions and understand the workings of this "space-thing" but she would still not use her real name or pictures - at this point in time - Mel had exactly one friend - Tom. Everyone's first friend.

She went on to browse Myspace and see if she could find anyone she knew - she found some. Then she had learned to adjust the search parameters to "Australia" - "let's look for guys - because why not, it's the internet."

And of course, like in any good movie, the first page showed this insanely hunky surfer dude - "For sure, this is a trap, no one is this good looking AND on the internet AND single!" Mel thought to herself.

"Alas, what is the worst thing that could possibly happen? Nothing! Let's do it - let's message this hunky beau!"

She did and he replied.

Not long after, for the first time in her life, she made it to the southern hemisphere - ready to get geeky in a perfectly academic way! Waz picked her up from the airport.

She immediately fell in love with this divine surfer sent from the heavens and was still awestruck that he was an actual person who was STILL talking to her AND picking her up from the airport?! "Why nerdy me? - I am as boring as boring gets - you could have any pretty girl that's …you know….not from the other side of the globe - laterally and/or longitudely (is that even a word?!)"

He, much like her, immediately fell in love with her spirit - how can someone like her exist - so, full of life and adventure, so fearless AND be into him? "Because girls who know words like laterally are usually not into guys like me - I am as boring as boring gets - I am actually a bit dumb".

"Well - we are both a bit dumb, aren't we - I mean, we met online and now we're here! I mean meeting people online is probably not a novelty anymore but following through sounds like a recipe for a horror movie! - So - uhm…let's get into your car for as long as I have no idea where I actually am and no one knows where I'll be staying because I literally just landed in a country I have never been in before!" Mel remarked with a confident hue of sarcasm - trying to not come across as desperate, young and looking.

Over the next two years Waz watched Mel constantly being on the move - she needs to go there and see this whilst simultaneously completing her Masters degree in her THIRD language - AND helping him with HIS Bachelor's degree - AND overcoming her fear of the ocean to become a surfer. Every waking moment, Mel does something - and rarely does she know what she's doing but she just does it - it's like "the less she knows about it the more she digs into it" - he couldn't tell her what she couldn't do without challenging her at the same time - he told her that the didgeridoo was not meant to be played by women - the next thing he knows is that she's practicing circular breathing and not just play the didgeridoo - she started making them!

Waz was in awe of her but he felt that he wasn't enough for Mel; whatever Mel set her mind to, she'd follow through like a bullet train - she barely slept and was always busy doing something. "You can't" to her was code for "I challenge you…" and "I can't" was code for "I am too lazy".

Seemingly out of nowhere, Mel woke up one day and decided "It is time that I go back to my roots - I am moving to China to teach English"

"How about law?" not just Waz inquired, but essentially everyone - it was not so much her response that irritated Waz, but so much more that she was unwaveringly resolute about it even when questioned by everyone. "Either it will catch up to me or it will not have been my calling to begin with and I will have to accept that I may have wasted 7 years for a degree that I won't be using for its designated purpose - but all is not lost - it's never a waste of time when you have spent that time doing something even when the takeaway is that it took me 7 years to realise, maybe this isn't for me after all - good things take time"

Mel and Waz had spent many hours talking about the universe and life and he knew, there was no point in talking her out of it and the only way to stay with her was to go with her. So, he needed to understand why Mel felt like going to China, out of all places. "You don't even like China, the people or the language…why do you want to go there to live, you could just go there on a holiday?!"

"Oh, but you see, the reason that I don't like any of that is because I only ever witness them OUTSIDE of China, and tourists are always the worst representation for their country - I am not doing them any justice by judging the entire nation by the worst that they have to offer - I mean, you wouldn't know but Australians are just a bunch of obnoxious drunks shouting Aussie Aussie - Oi Oi Oi! The whole time, trust me - you guys aren't the most popular people either when on holidays. It'd be unfair to dismiss all of this country's beauty just because of some drunks. So, I want to work on my pride and my prejudice and break down stereotypes that I may have while I am educating myself about my origin story - I might also end up just re-enforcing stereotypes, but I'll never know what I don't know if I don't go - so, I will go - the last thing I want to do is to die not knowing what if…"

Not long after, Waz took her to the airport - this time to bid her farewell - he didn't want it to end but once Mel had set her mind to something there was no going back.

There he was, alone. Mel had entered his quiet existence like a tsunami - her restless energy had washed him off his lazy feet. She had grabbed him and shown him parts of his country he didn't even know existed. And this wave that is Mel started a long time ago and is still moving - "the things she has seen, the people she has met - the adventures she has been on. That woman just did a Masters degree in law in her THIRD language in a country that follows a different system - I don't know many people who can do that for whom English is the first language - she came here and was terrified of the ocean but she wanted to surf - so, she stared the ocean into submission and got on the board - just like that.

…and I can't even make it out my own state…" Waz thought to himself and her last words rang and over the next few weeks her words would become a deafening thunder "I don't want to die not knowing what if and the only way to solve that dilemma is to just go - just do it."

Waz knew he lives a good life where he is, everything he needs is right there, his family, his friends - girls - tons of girls, but none of them like her - pretty yes, but lifeless. None of them swept him off of his feet to inspire him, to get him going. What if that was the rest of his life? Would he ever get to see her again? Would she ever come back to be with him? Why would she?

Ok, Waz decided to put on the Mel-cap - if she can do it, I can do it! But he didn't want to come across as desperate, young and looking, so he couldn't ask her for advice and that meant, most importantly he could not go where she was - he had to prove to her, that he can do things without her to make her come back to him.

The following year Waz made it to South Korea! He had no idea what he had gotten himself into and was terribly confused at himself but he kept telling himself "keep the Mel-Cap on - if a quirky little girl can do it, then a white man should have no problems in the world."

Not long after - Mel came to visit him - she was a wee bit proud of him but sensed there must have been an element in there to impress her - so, she poked at him - "Why are you really here? This is not your world - you don't feel comfortable not speaking your own language and you're clearly overwhelmed by the food choices and the traffic - don't get me wrong, you'll get used to everything but do you WANT to get used to everything? Why are you really here?"

He was prepared for this - he knew he couldn't get such a big life change past Mel without her sniffing it was because of her but he wasn't ready to admit…Mel has flaws after all, she doesn't know everything and will let go eventually - maybe… "I have never seen snow before! I wanted to see snow!"