Christchurch - By Steve

We've been here for three days now. Spending time in the YHA Hostel cooking our own meals and walking around a lot seeing the sights. It's a lot like Cambridge Massachusettes only with really erratic weather. Generally it goes from one to another kind of nice though. The first day it was drizzling, then it warmed up and got cloudy, then nice and sunny. Today's been mostly sunny with a few clouds and very low humidity. It was founded by the English and planned to be like their own towns in Jolly old England.


Adjusting to the time/currency/measurement systems isn't nearly as difficult as adjusting to people driving on the left side of the road, we never know which way to look. The nice thing is their crosswalks have these little beeping sirens on them, so you can let your mind wander while you wait and know it's safe to walk when you hear the beeps.
Yesterday we had a nice walk through the Botanical Gardens (see photos) and the Christchurch Cathedral, you can really see how the English really wanted this place to be the ideal community. We went to the movies last night to see Frost/Nixon, it seems they're only a couple of months behind us as far as movie releases. They're great though, since you can buy BEER for the theater, and we didn't know this but it seems that they always have assigned seating, so you have to get in early and request a good seat.


For the Starbuckians back home, here's a bit of their lingo. I went into a starbucks yesterday, and they have almost the exact same menus we do in the states. The merchandising was pretty much the same, and they even had one of the Contemporary Grinds playing on the stereo! I really enjoy the way they do coffee here. My favorite drink is what they call a Flat White, what we would call a double short latte. Then there's a Latte, which is about the same as a double tall latte. Shortblack is a shot of espresso and Longblack would be an americano, but with less water. They also serve in either a Cup or a Bowl, so a latte in a bowl would be like a Starbucks triple venti in a porcelain cup, but it's actually served in a soup bowl, no handle, I saw this guy just drinking right out of the bowl. Interesting stuff.

Personally, I find the cultural differences to be the most fascinating thing. Here in the hostel we have a communal kitchen and living room. I've seen Japanese, Irish, English, Chinese, Indian, German and Israeli people all living together in the same building. Everyone cleans up after themselves and gets along quite well. The odd thing is, if you ask a question or try to tell someone something, half the time you'll come to find out they don't actually speak or understand english. It makes speaking one language seem like such a handicap. The way New Zealander's treat the environment is very different too. They Have recycling here, but they also have about five different ways of disposing of different “waste”. There's the can for “Landfill”, then there's “Compost” (which gets fed to pigs), then “plastics” and “bottles”, etc,. Everything seems to have it's own place to go and most of it gets reused.