Phone and metrocard

After I finished my last post, I wandered back to my flat and then went to meet the IES group. Our group leader is a very nice middle aged Kiwi woman named Eunice, and her assistant is a Canadian PhD student named Justin. We did some basic introductory games to introduce ourselves to one another (the only problem with them was that everyone was talking at once so it was sometimes hard to understand what people were saying). We also celebrated the 21st birthday of Carolina, one of the girls who came here from the University of Rochester. Eunice gave us a handbook which includes all kinds of information, and in the car to our next event (dinner in town) one of the girls in my car was reading off the glossary of NZ English terms, bizarre things like "box of birds," "sweet as," and "tramping." Dinner was at a buffet place which had some scary looking food (self-saucing pudding?) but all in all it was tasty. Because we all ended up finishing a lot earlier than Eunice was expecting, we took the opportunity to wander around in Victoria Square, which was a park. I had forgotten to grab my cellphone, so I had to take pictures of stuff with my cellphone camera. There was a lot of stuff for Chinese New Year in the park, mostly animals made of papier mache. When we got home, I got myself internet, and then at around 10:00 realized I needed to get food for tommorow, so I had to go find the Countdown (the local supermarket) at the same time most of my group members were coming back from their own shopping trips.

Our first activity today was a treasure hunt. We were split up into groups of 4, and then sent out to find places so we could answer questions about them (i.e. "how many yellow chairs in Cafe 1o1" or "What flags are over the door of the International Student Services house?"). Eunice then told us the right answers. Those who got the most right got a New Zealand delicacy, Cadbury Chocolate Fish (marshmallow fish covered in chocolate). My group didn't win, but one of the girls who did didn't want her chocolate fish, so I took them off her hands. They weren't bad, really. Eunice then gave us a long talk on alcohol abuse, not taking drugs, and the various horrible ways one can die while out tramping.

Then we moved on to the main thing we were doing today: a walk down to downtown to get ourselves Metrocards, which are buspasses. We walked past a park which is apparently the only existing forest of this one kind of New Zealand tree, and had lunch in a cafe in the Botanical Park. I had a roast chicken, cranberry sauce, and brie ciabatta sandwich, which was delish. Then we walked through the botanical garden, stopping at the rose garden and the conservatory, where everyone looked for the room of carniverous plants, so we could figure out which of the plants was the monkey-eating plant. We also had our picture taken in front of a massive tree (supposedly the biggest one Justin had ever seen).

We eventually got into downtown Christchurch, where we wandered through museums, the art center (which was where the University of Canterbury used to be), New Regents Street (where I saw a cool-looking used bookstore that I have to go back to at some point), Christchurch Cathedral, and the oldest department store in Christchurch. We finally got to the Metro central station where we all rushed to turn in our applications for Metrocards. It was here that Eunice turned us loose, telling us that we had everything that we needed. A whole lot of us got off at a mall on the way so that we could buy phones and plans for ourselves. First we went to the Telecom shop, then the Vodaphone shop, then back to Telecom. Most of us (including me) ended up with Telecom phones, which were more expensive phones but cheaper plans, and worked better with other Telecom phones, but won't work outside NZ. I think I made the right choice, but it was so dizsying that I basically followed what most of the others seemed to be doing. It also took me a little while to figure out how to "top up" my phone (i.e. put credit on the phone), but eventually I figured it out.

When we got back to Ilam, we discovered that the free BBQ that we were counting on for lunch had already finished. I accompanied some others to this sketchy looking Chinese fish and chip shop (which served fish and chips, all kinds of weird burgers including beet and pinapple burgers, and Chinese food), which had food that was cheap but incredibly good, and in very big portions too (I still have some chips in the fridge here). When we got back, Tamar (another IESer) yelled down from her balcony that she was going to watch Finding Nemo, and asking us if we wanted to come and watch. I and some others did. I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the movie, but I woke up when some of the others decided to got to a party they'd heard about with some IFSA Butler students. They and I got separated when I mistook a completely separate party (which had mostly Kiwis) for the one we were planning on going to. Apparently both I and they were both disatisfied with our respective parties, as we all went back to our dorms pretty shortly after we arrived at them.

Tomorrow we go to Springfield (a mountain town a little ways away) so I probably won't be able to update this blog until Sunday evening (which would be Saturday for my readers). Until then, I hope y'all are doing all right!

David Lev