Another tough day ahead. It's days like these when having a strong work ethic becomes a major pain in the ass.

Just got asked what part of England I'm from. That's a new one.

Really not sure what I've said about Chch yet. The population is about 350,000, making this the 3rd largest city in Nz (Auckland has about 1.3m, Wellington has around 400,000) and the biggest on the south island. Nelson's the next size wise on the south island and it has a population of 50,000. Christchurch has a lot of feeder services, making it diverse enough to have the services and quirks of a metropolitan without the real problems. So, like the 3 little bears, Chch is not too big, not too small, it's juuuust right.

Had an early morning wake up call this morning. The fire alarm was going off at 2:30 am. We were all gathered outside trying to figure why it was going off when finally one girl started apologizing - she had decided to "fiddle" with the smoke detector and set off the whole alarm. WHY??? Why at 2:30AM??? The hostel soon became hostile.

At least the fire station (fire brigade) is just next door. Usually in the evenings when I walk by the firemen are sitting in the trucks, hanging out. Being prepared, except they don't look like they're wearing their gear. Maybe they just don't have a lounge or a pole to slide down. Anyway, going by the fire station brings back memories of ole San Juan...

I'm having a difficult time grasping what month it is. In my head it's still dead winter at home (why would time move forward without me?) and now, because it's the start of winter here, I think it's like November. But now I know that it really is May... Mom and her peeps are heading on their annual Martha Pilgrammage, a journey to the homeland, a quest for all things craptacular. Let the Craptivities begin!