Chch Earthquake

This morning at 4:27, I thought I heard someone pounding on my front door. It freaked me out in my sleep; Bryce was gone and I was reluctant to wake up and deal with it. All of a sudden my bed moved. For a split second I thought someone was in my room, but luckily the rationale part of my kicked in and I realized it was an earthquake. The pounding I had heard was really the doors rattling. I sat bolt up right for a minute or two; listening to the rattling slowly die down after about 20 seconds. I uneasily went back to sleep.

At 6:30AM, Bryce's cell phone rang. Jeez, busy morning! It was an unfamiliar voice in an American accent, which confused the heck out of me-- no one ever uses our cell phone for calls, we just get texts. I heard a male voice ask, without saying hi or announcing himself, "Is Bryce there?" Since I was home alone, I was reluctant to say, "No," but didn't really have a choice. Unexpected calls at night when you're all alone are scary. I asked "Who is this?" and was told it was his step brother, who we haven't heard from in years.

Woke up a few hours later to see that a friend was asking over e-mail if I was ok; I checked the news and was shocked to see there was an earthquake in Christchuch.

Off I went to hang out with Josien and Laura to hike up Colonial Knob in Porirua.


We could see the South Island pretty clearly.


Haircut in Porirua and then we girls headed to the 50% off ice breaker sale. The guy behind the counter found out I was from Seattle and said, "Oh that's where this stuff was made." Aaggh!? This is supposed to be NZ stuff! Apparently it's NZ merino though-- Oh wells at least with the 50% off the price I got it for is roughly what I would've bought it for in WA.

Fell asleep watching Mama Mia (chick flick while Bryce is gone!) Man Pierce Brosnan is the worst singer!!

A Sunday not spent on the slopes

Since we were at the All Blacks game last night, we couldn't go skiing for the weekend. Bryce still managed to fit in some snowboarding related activity:

Out in the shed waxing his board with his music going.

The mountain that we ski on (Mt. Ruapehu) is so rocky that there are tons of huge gouges in his board. He found a couple of rocks that are wedged in so badly that he can't even take them out. ahh, North Island skiing.


Off to have Beef and Guinness pies at a friend's house in Porirua :-)

Farewell Dinner

I just had a rather touching farewell dinner at Monteith's Brewery with my Porirua colleagues.

I'm really going to miss working in Porirua, I've enjoyed the team and driving around the gorgeous city. I got some ribbing for playing the tourist and taking a shot of the pretty sunset before dinner.

Tonight I had shnitzel for the very first time; it was pretty yum and went great with my cider on ice. For prezzies I got NZ Words fridge magnets, a kiwi cookie cutter, and a kiwi apron. They were perfect gifts for me-- I love to bake and I'm always having endless conversations with them about words and pronunciation. This week's learning was "pikelets," a type of pancake that sends me into giggles every time I hear it pronounced aloud. A wrapped stack of them were waiting for me at my desk this morning; made by my colleague Tania who said that she wanted to know what was so funny about the name.

Once home, Bryce showed me our visas-- newly stamped with our residency permit and returning visa. We can enter and leave the country as often as we like until 29 June 2012. And, if we never leave the country, they will never kick us out. cool. I mean, sweet as.