Well, we finally got out of our van and into a real place. We are staying with a European couple, Ed and Aisha, who we met at the airport. Ed is here on a school related (I think its similar to an internship) job and Aisha is tagging along. Ed works at the local Rugby club and Aisha is currently in sales. They help us get all of our things moved in, of which we have very little, and even took us around town to get some furnishings for our room. Ed hooked us up with a bed through his boss so we aren't sleeping on the floor, a plus, and they bought everything for the house including the TV, the DVD player and pretty much every other furnishing. Our first day in Christchurch was spent driving around town and pretty much just hanging out. We didn't venture too far from home as we didn't know the area very well and didn't want to get too lost. I've found Christchurch to be a fairly imposing city to get one's bearings in, but once you figure out which way the streets go, it isn't too bad. We're lucky that we live so close to the park because all we have to do is head in the general direction, find the park, and navigating home from there is a piece of cake. Christchurch has a pretty odd architectural style. Most the buildings appear to have been built more than 50 years ago or less than 3 years ago. Our flat, which is a narrow two story with three other units in the same building, is right next a box that one would be hard pressed to confirm as a house unless they saw the inside. The same goes for the buildings downtown. It's almost as if they passed a law a year or two ago that all buildings had to be built in a super modern style. It makes for interesting scenery though.
The park behind our house is absolutely amazing. Ed told us when we first got here that it was a great park but I really didn't think much of it. Hagley Park boasts dozens of tennis courts, including hard court and grass, a restaurant/cafe, thirty or so rugby/soccer/whatever fields, exercise equipment scattered throughout the park, botanical gardens, any number of lakes and ponds and a golf course. I'm not quite sure how many holes there are but I'm inclined to think 18. Pretty sweet deal, and it literally is our back yard. Its about a five minute walk to get into the park, and if you're keen to jog its even closer. The city boasts restaurants to suit any taste, ranging from the traditional sandwich and coffee cafe to Indian food to Sushi and whatever else you could want. Prices are slightly higher for the lower end stuff, but a night out can be had for fairly cheap. Indian seems to be an especially good deal, as even the best restaurants don't charge much more than 10 bucks a plate. All in all its a pretty sweet city, too bad beer costs so much (alcohol is even more outrageous).
Comments