Seder/Nelson

So the seder went well. I bought some Schweppes Sparkling Duet for it, bu forgot it, but aside from that it was OK. Tonny is a vegetarian, so for instance the matzah ball soup had no shmlatz in it (I was surprised how much I missed chicken fat), which was unfortunate, but th matzah meal oancakes were delicious. I also like how Tonny had a little plastic sheep for a lambbone on her seder plate, and that we each had our own haggadha,and tried our bestto weave together a coherent service. There was this olderEnglish guy who used to live in Puyallup, so he asked me a lot about Temple Beth El (The Tacoma Reform synagogue), which I didn't know very well.

So Thursday I came across and up the South Island to get to Nelson. I took the TranzAlpine, which goes across the Southern Alps to Greymouth, and is incredibly scenic. Then I took a bus up to Nelson, which was going fine (we went thru Punakaiki and stopped for about an hour, long enouhg for me to see the pancake rocks and get some lunch), bu I ended up getting motion ick thanks to the very windy roads and the speed with which the author drove. but it all ended up alright. Jim and Meredith were more than nice to me, setting me up with dinner and a computer and offering me a plce to clean up my stuff. Friday (when a lot of stuff was closed) Meredith and I (as well as their daughter Madeline) went arounf town seeing the sights of Nelson, of which there weren't a lot. Meredith took pis in front of the local chip shop (whch had exploded yesterday), as well as on the beach and in front of an ice cream truck. We went to the local art musuem which has two collections: vintage car and wearble art (clothes that are artistic designs). It was neat and I'm glad someone could show me around Nelson. Today Jim and I went to the local market, where there were all sorts of arts and crafts stuff available. I bought some souveniers there, as well as cheap books. I ha to goet home in ordr to participate in my parent's seder back home via skype, which woorked rather well. I did the 4 questions, and then they let me go to do my own things. Later in the afternoon I went with Jm and Madeline up to the top of a hill that's apparently the official, center of New Sealand, which was quite a refereshing hike. Againl ot of grweat picstures.

Tomorrow I go back to Christchurch. Not sure what I'm gonna do for the week, but hopefully I'll think f something cool. Inform y'all if I do!

David Lev