Christchurch, NZ

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I didn't write as many notes throughout the day so I'm sure none of this will be in the correct order...but who cares.

We went to a lot of markets today. We found a neat little grocery store that reminded us of Whole Foods. I took pictures every few minutes. People stared. ::Crazy Americans:: But we saw some crazy things that I HAD to get a picture of. I took notes in there too. Some things I found included 'Succulent Roast Lamb & Mint' chips, 'Tomato Sauce & Mince Pie' chips, as well as every other flavor known to man. I found the candy isle (of course) and discovered Clinkers, Mega Mallows, Jaffas, Maltesers, Pods, Pineapple Lumps, and Imperials. Ha!

The eggs sold in New Zealand are NOT REFRIGERATED!!!
Apparently...(according to Kiwi folk anyway) it's a myth that they need to be refrigerated and actually have a pretty long shelf-life without it! I'm still going to stick to the fridge though. The local butcher told us that it's fine as long as they're not stored in too hot of a room cause then "they'll cook"!

On the way out I saw their cigarettes for sale and the different warnings on each box...which are much more shocking and violent cigarette warnings than we have in the States. They include "SMOKING BLOCKS YOUR ARTERIES", "SMOKING CAUSES GANGRENE", "SMOKING CAN MAKE YOU IMPOTENT", "SMOKING CAUSES BLINDNESS"...all with very disturbing photos. Maybe we could use these in the States.

We went to the Christchurch Art Gallery and being the "dumb American" that I am, I started snapping photos left and right (without a flash, mind you) because this is allowed in most of our museums...but not here...no no no. So the lady told me to stop, to put my camera away, and to delete my photos. Which I did. Well mostly. :D

We ate dinner at "Mum's Japanese & Korean restaurant" although after sitting for about 20 minutes we were asked to move to another table because a large party of people came in and they needed it. We were a little offended. As I sat down at our other table, I hit my head on a TV (of course) and they must have felt bad because they gave us some free green tea. Ha!

This town is woven with contradictions...everyone seems to love their privacy. There are privacy fences on EVERY person's property...and yet all of the restaurants and stores have HUGE glass windows, all glass doors, and are very open. You can see down the street and into each store from where you are sitting at each restaurant. Also, the people are very liberal in their political views. They were the first country to legalize Gay marriage, they have raunchy shops all over the place selling videos...toys...I feel awkard listing these...entertainment...you probably feel more awkard reading them...clothes...etc. And yet the people are very conservatively dressed. I saw ONE person wearing a short skirt. No low-cut tops. We do see several people walking around in no shoes (bare feet or sometimes in JUST socks)!

We went to the Canterbury Museum which was more of an Ashley-friendly museum as I can't sit still and it was hands-on and camera-friendly.

We shopped at a couple of street markets which sold more locally-made products. One that we went to was mostly a food market and they sold things like honey, olive oil/spices, chocolate, fresh Figs (we bought 2!), lavender, flowers, etc.

We started to explore the Botanic Garden but we were so tired that we ended up chilling out on a bench by a fountain. I wasn't TOO tired to not climb the awesome trees they had nearby though!


Random hilarities of the day:

when discussing driving outside of the city..."I'm not going to drive on icy mountain hills. There's no way in hell." -Nancy

while walking on the street... me: "ha-Express Liquor " mom: "GET DRUNK FAST!"

😊

Ashley

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Photos

Christchurch 001
On our way out for the day

Christchurch 002
pretty (I know we have these at home...but still!)

Christchurch 017
description next to the exhibit of the sculptures getting successively smaller.

exhibit
I loved this!

Christchurch 019
Sculptures outside the gallery

This is for Kathy
This reminded me of you, Kathy...always making your bunnies their own salads every day. :)

Me crawling out of a cave
that I almost got stuck in.
apparently it's for children.
meh

Christchurch 031
check out the nozzle on THAT one!

Christchurch 036
looking down into another room in the museum

Comments

[anonymous]

Yay! I'm finally reading the entries :) I love the pictures, and it sounds like both of you are having a blast. I'm impressed by the amount of vegetarian options there--are many people vegs? p.s. those picture smoking warnings freak me out!

[Kathy]

Oops, I think I just posted a comment w/o my name attached to it! I LOVE reading about the adventures and looking at the fun pictures! I'm impressed by the amount of vegetarian options over there--are there many vegetarians? p.s. Those pictures w/ the smoking warnings are disturbing

[Julia]

Cigarette warnings
Ashley, I absolutely love those morbid cigarette warnings; I wish I could pick up a pack of them for my dad, who's been a chain smoker since he was 14! And I think it's really interesting how you were able to pick up on all those contradictions in their society already. I bet a lot of outsiders do the same thing to us lol

[arline]

INCREDIBLE
WOW, I love the pics. It sounds wonderful. Are you having the time of your lives?? Have fun fun fun! Ashley, dont forget the routine we talked about for you mom :) Arline

[Chelsea]

Eggs
Heh, once in French class in HS, the teacher mentioned that they don't refrigerate eggs in France, and a girl asked why they didn't hatch... yeah. I love you, hope you're having fun!

[Kortni]

I'm IN LOVE with the "I wish I were" sculptures and captions. Isn't it amazing how irony still finds you half a world away? And that tree. is. the. coolest. thing. I've. ever. seen. American horror movies would kill for that. <3 u