02.12.06
It is December! Yesterday was the official first day of summer. It is really odd seeing ads for Christmas stuff right along next to the outdoor furniture, BBQ grills, and bikinis. "Summer Holiday Sale" they exclaim, but it is a sale for Christmas trees and beach toys. Weird.
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Oh yeah we had a hailstorm the other day... (click photos to enlarge) |
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Today we woke up at 6am to frost on the windows (it was 1 C degree outside!). We packed up our gear and went down to the sea to do a group ocean swim immediately followed by a beautiful (but freezing) bike ride in the hills. I haven't been able to take any photos up there yet because I keep forgetting my camera. I will make sure to get some soon though. It is breathtaking! Plus the mountain range in the distance has a ton of snow on it! Is it REALLY summer??
I swam every morning this week and I can definitely feel my 2 week break... I am tired! Hopefully I will start to feel better next week, but that's when real training begins. Brent (my roommate in Texas over the summer) is coming next week so it will be fun showing him around.
29.11.06
My Thanksgiving dinner went well - Ben cooked some turkeys and I made mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes, and cornbread. I couldn't find cranberries or canned pumpkin so my pie was made out of sweet potatoes. They were a little wary of pie with ice cream because they mostly eat dinner pies down here, not sweet pies. There were a few Kiwi friends from our swim/training group and then Bucky Shafer showed up so I had another American to share Thanksgiving with.
I think the best part of the day was my video conference on Skype with my parents and grandparents, my Uncle John, and my brother. I gave them a tour of my flat and they met the swim coach next door too. I will definitely have to do the same thing on Christmas.
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Last Saturday, I went to a triathlon at a nearby town where a half ironman and a sprint race were held. Just for some practice, I swam the 2k swim of the half IM race and then I swam again in the sprint race. It was fun watching the people I've met here race. On Saturday night, the annual Christchurch "Christmas in the Park" took place in a beautiful grassy park downtown. It was pretty huge - tons of families (and drunken teenagers, heh) having picnics, going on the carnival rides, and enjoying the concert.
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Two cute girls dancing |
Flatmates |
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Where's Waldo? (below) |
We met up with another American from Colorado (Jenny) and her friends. We were not dressed for the weather when the sun went down but we still had a great time and took some silly photos. The show ended with fireworks and a mass exodus of people from the park. |
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Sunday night Jenny and her flatmates were hosting a potluck-style Thanksgiving dinner. I brought some cornbread and about 15 guests helped contribute to the rest of the meal. We ate mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, homemade bread, eggplant parmesan with pomegranate (first time I've liked eggplant!), cranberry sauce, and chicken. We enjoyed apple pie, rhubarb pie, cheesecake and ice cream for dessert. It was delicious and fun to meet some other people...there were Kiwis, Canadians, Americans and Brits there.
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Unfortunately (heh, to say the least), when we returned home from dinner at Jenny's we had a very unsettling surprise waiting... as I walked into the garage I noticed the back door to the garage was open and that food from the pantry was strewn over the kitchen floor. For protection, I grabbed the broom before I went inside, but the bugulars were long gone. Ben lost his iPod nano, his expensive watch, some pairs of Oakleys, and a good amount of cash. They stole my iPod and my little jump drive. They also had made a huge mess of the place. We were very lucky to have taken our laptops and cameras with us to the party to exchange photos with Jenny. I guess we do live in a sketchy area and we will definitely be anal about locking up and hiding our valuables now!
21.11.06 (notice the backwards date...)
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New Brighton beach looking north (below) |
New Brighton beach looking south (above) |
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I've been in NZ since Nov. 8 ... nearly 2 weeks. I am still adjusting to things like driving and cycling on the left side, not finding my usual foods at the supermarket, using the metric system and Celsius for temperature and deciphering their funny slang. I haven't really adopted the accent yet though. We got back from New Plymouth last Monday night. |
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front (click photos to enlarge) |
back patio with drying rack, path around house (below) |
| We spent a few days moving (shifting as they say it) from the swim coach's house about 400 meters down the road to a set of 2 flats (apartments). A Kiwi triathlete, Ben, and I are sharing one of them while our swim coach, Roly, and his flat-mate are in the other one. It was a bit busy moving in and getting settled but it's quite cozy now and I think it will work out well. We are 10 minutes from the pool and 10 minutes from the beach. Apparently it's a ghetto part of Christchurch but I have seen some WAY worse places to live. |  |
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Upper left: our kitchen. my room is off to the left of the fridge Above: living/dining area. Ben's room is off to the right next to the couch Left: kitchen opens to the garage, bathroom off the kitchen on the left, my room is straight back |
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my little bedroom |
little bathroom |
I've been taking a break from structured training and I've been doing like 1 workout a day, mostly swimming. I did some openwater swimming over the weekend and it was FREEZING! Probably 55-60 degrees F. But these group open-water sessions will be good for me.
I am preparing for a Thanksgiving dinner with some friends on Thursday. It is one of my more major undertakings but it shouldn't be too hard, especially because I am omitting a turkey. I don't think a substitute is necessary, I've gotten along for 10 vegetarian Thanksgiving dinners without a substitute. They don't even know American Thanksgiving traditions here anyway :)
The weather is still very early spring-ish. It doesn't get warmer than 65F and it is quite windy. When the sun doesn't come out it can feel downright cold. I hear it will warm up in December. I can't wait! At least its not snowing like it was in Colorado. I just realized I didn't do a travel log from Colorado. I will get on that.
I just won a trademe.co.nz auction for a commuter bike... it is pink with pink fenders and a basket on the front. It will be perfect! I should get some streamers. Getting around on a bicycle is pretty feasible here since there are bike lanes pretty much everywhere. I will have to carry a flat kit though - the roads are rough and lots of broken glass. Still beats driving and paying for gas.
