Christchurch!

Today we got to Christchurch. I am so happy. It feels like I suddenly have so many amenities I feel I shouldn't have. It wasn't even to hot by the time we got here, in fact it was pretty cool. I changed out of running shorts and into jeans and a sweatshirt. It's also so much drier here.

This morning we left the dorm motel place (which actually turned out to be slightly nicer than I thought. The showers in the main building actually had pressure, which I hadn't had for a week. Also, my parents and I found a little room at the end of the building we were in that had clearly previously flooded, but was dry. So we had a little privacy and quiet (no doors, of course, but still nice). Anyways, so the cab came, we piled in, and went to the airport.

The airport was swarming with tourists that finally were able to get through. There were humongous lines (that we managed to avoid, actually) and many upset Australians. Finally somebody came to the check-in counter for Air New Zealand, and we managed to get boarding passes. We had been rebooked so many times we weren't sure if they would give us tickets, but we got them. M was still stressed, although a little better in comparison. Security was very easy, with only three people there and they were very casual. After a couple hours waiting for the plane to arrive we got on. It was amazing to be in a NZ airplane-- it felt so comforting. Only after we took off did M finally start to relax. Which, again, is still relative. I watched the Little Mermaid (basically only classic Disney movie I'd never seen) and the first part of the Duchess, which I'd already seen and loved.

Finally, we got to Auckland. I was almost singing and jumping with joy. We tried to rush through customs, because although we didn't know what flight we were on we thought it would take off in about 30 minutes. Suprisingly, getting through customs and to a check-in counter with no line at all was very fast. The woman working at the counter had a little trouble getting us boarding passes because we didn't have any paper tickets, but eventually we did. At one point she called a superior to ask what to do, and reffered to us as "Fiji disrupts" which had clearly become the catch phrase at the airport. She even booked us on a flight 30 minutes later.

The Auckland airport was very comforting. Eventually we got on the flight to Christchurch, which felt even more like a miracle. As we were deplaning (for some reason we went a very odd way-- following other people-- that took us behind much of the airport scene and by administration offices. It was bizarre) I was imagining Halleluyah playing in the backroung (with the full chorus and symphony, even with the timponee at the end). We got a rental car (the woman working there was extremely nice and efficient), got our bags, and packed up the very strange minivan we got (all the instructions on the car are in Japanese). In the planned itenerary we were supposed to already be out of Christchurch and in Wanaka, so we didn't have a house to stay in. Instead, we went to a motel run by a couple (one of them works in Psychology at the University, so we had connection). This is the hotel and couple that picked P up from the airport and have been taking care of us while we tried to get here. The motel is so nice-- so much room, water pressure, and the owners are incredibly sweet. I actually had culture shock at that moment, although it was a very comforting one. It's so nice to be able to drink the water and not be sticky and wet. We went to a very J-F-y restaurant-- a veggitarean and mostly vegan Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall, which felt very much like we were in Eugene or Berkeley. Not having frozen fish and chips was a great change. Also, the tap water tastes very good.

I should go to bed. By the way, the times are all off on the blog because the computer is still set to Eugene time, so now it's 3 hours before whatever time it says (and a day later. Fiji was four hours behind but a day later). We're leaving for Wanaka tomorrow.

It is pretty amazing we got out when we did-- and important. The storms were supposed to get worse, and scares of Typhoid and food/water shortages were everywhere. Below are some links to news stories. The second and third have pictures.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=44113
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/fiji-poised-another-downpour-2438772
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/12/2464201.htm?section=justin


well, I'm off to bed. Good night.