Thanksgiving and Barbies

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner here last Saturday with Moya, John, Libby Caleb, Ryan and I. It was a bit of an adventure finding all the ingredients but we did pretty well. I even baked a pumpkin pie from scratch. This desert seemed a bit strange to the Kiwis because pumpkin is usually a veggie. We also had turkey with stuffing, burnt beans, mashed potatoes, Crasins (instead of cranberry sauce, rolls and mashed pumpkin.

We had a barbie (BBQ) the other day with two other Americans. Zach from Colorado and his friend Walter. We cooled up some nice steaks and talked all about our experiences here. They also gave us quite a warning about sand flies which has me worried a bit for camping.

Nick, Ryan, and I now have a car to get around in. It is a 1991 Ford Telestar wagon. It is blue. Not too much to say about it, but it was a good deal. It runs fine so far and we hope it does well for the road trip we have coming up next week when Nick's friend is here. It is a manual which is funny when we are driving on the opposite side of the road than we are used to.

Random Kiwi's from around town.

Sea Kayaking in Akaroa

This past Sunday Ryan and I took a field trip to Akaroa, a town on the Banks Peninsula. It was a beautiful sunny day and we rented a two person sea kayak for half a day to explore the harbor(video). We were hoping to see some dolphins but it was the end of a holiday weekend so there were a lot of motor boats and sail boats all around. They man that rented us the kayaks said that dolphins like singing, but even our own sing along did not get us anywhere. We may need to take one of the wildlife cruises to the mouth of the harbor to see dolphins. The rest of the day we went hiking around town and then took the Akaroa shuttle back to Christchurch.

This week we are still looking for a car and we are having an American Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. It should be fun.

Cup Day - Horses & Hats

Cup Day here in Christchurch was a great event this year. The event is officially called the Trotting Cup, which was held at the the Addington Raceway on Tuesday. The event was a sell out this year. With people dressed to the nines. It was great to see all the fashions and the hats and to watch the horse racing. People even brought in picnic lunches. The weather was also quite interesting from sunny and hot, to windy and rainy, then back to sunny.

After the race, we had some Greek food and then saw a free show of a up and coming NZ band called Atlas. There were a lot of people at the show that were still all dressed up from the races. Friday is a public holiday here and there are events going on at the fair grounds, such as a rodeo and stock show. We will have to see if we can make it over there to see it.

Rugby and a Show

Some weeks go quicker than others. Mostly if you are working hard or playing hard. This past week Ryan got to participate in a touch rugby league with Caleb on Thursday. It looks like a lot of fun. The entire game is non stop for 30 min. You get 5 downs to score and have to pass the ball backwards or straight across and then run till you are tagged. I may try to play next week.

We also went to a concert on Friday to hear Liam Finn play. He is rather impressive and plays almost all the instruments in the band just records a track and loops it then switches to a new instrument. He played at St. Michael's church. It was interesting having a show like that in a church because instead of a concert or bar venue where everyone is up and about dancing and listening to the music. In the church atmosphere everyone was very reserved sitting politely in the church pews.

My sister Michelle has just got a new Mac and along with that decided to set up a blog of her own. Check it out....
http://web.mac.com/dhoogester/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Guy Fawkes Night

Ryan and I are settling in to things in Christchurch. It is nice to live close to downtown. Yesterday Guy Fawkes Day (Nov 5th) was celebrated here in Christchurch at New Brighton Beach. They had a nice fireworks display off of the New Brighton Beach Pier. Lots of people gathered at the beach on picnic blankets. It started to rain a little right before the fireworks started and the bus ride home was packed. At least the bus to the beach there picks up right in front of the house.

Here is my first YouTube video of the finale of the fireworks.

Here is a little info about Guy Fawkes Night and fireworks in NZ from Wikipedia:
In New Zealand, the retail sale of personal use fireworks is permitted to those 18 and older, and may now only be sold on the 4 days leading to Guy Fawkes Night. Firecrackers have been banned since 1993, and rockets or any firework where the firework itself flies have been banned since 1994. Despite these sales restrictions, there is actually no restriction on when one may light fireworks, only a restriction on when they may be sold. Despite the insistence of most anti-fireworks campaigners, the continuing "mad rush" of fireworks sales show that New Zealanders still appreciate fireworks and/or Guy Fawkes Night. Helen Clark, the Prime Minister is considering banning fireworks in New Zealand if New Zealanders "behave badly" on Guy Fawkes night this year.

Meeting the Mayor

Quite a lot has happened this past week. Notably the biggest news is that we have a new semi-permanent place to live till January with a great Kiwi couple, Caleb and Libby, in a nice house downtown that was built in 1890 called Cashel Cottage. Caleb is working on a deck out back that will be great for summer BBQ's. Ryan and I are glad that we have a refrigerator here and Internet as well.

Another major event his week is that Ryan and I both have jobs and have been working for a week. We also set up our bank accounts and irds (tax id's) so that we can now be paid, yeah. I am working as a Barista in the Cathedral Cafe and Ryan is temporarily working for a mail order clothing factory. I am going to learn to be an expert at making long blacks, flat whites, cappchinos, lattes, and other coffees.

We also attended a wonderful church Oktoberfest with Moya's church where we were personally introduced to the mayor of Christchurch by Moya who was dressed up as a clown to hand out lollies (candy) to the kids at the fair.