I've been in Christchurch for 2 weeks and really know nothing about it yet. It's a very British city - the centre is full of victorian and gothic style architecture and it is well kept. The heart of the city is cathedral square (the square that surrounds the cathedral). It is a beautifully ornate Anglican church. You can climb 2/3 of the way up the steeple for views of the city but it costs like $12. Welcome to tourism in NZ.

The botanic gardens (about 2 blocks from the square) are another focal point of the city. They are pretty big and popular. I've just used them as a strategic duck watching position (something I haven't done all week!) and there are sports fields surrounding them. They're really well kept. Between the square and the gardens is the arts centre. It's in the former University of Canterbury buildings which are gothic and all built around courtyards. The buildings are full of independent artisans shops & studios, as well as a theatre and cinema. On weekends there's an awesome market there filled with art, crafts, food and the occassional bit of tourist crap (but not much).

There's a tram that runs through the city centre for tourists. Well its for everyone, but I don't think locals would be caught dead on it. It would be like one of us visiting Lucy Maud's birthplace. I haven't gone on it yet - again, $12 for a short tour. Yikes. You can just walk the path it goes around and figure everything out. If you're cheap like me anyway. And you remember to watch for trams.

That's really all I know about Chch at this time... hopefully soon I'll get around to seeing more. I went into the art gallery today but soon realized I wasn't in the right mood. So then I went to join a walking historical tour but it started to rain. So I went shopping. I had nowhere else to turn. Actually one of the great things about NZ is that the shops all have huge canopies to cover the sidewalk (footpath) from the frequent rain. Very considerate.

On the work front, my week went really well. Some of the people actually knew where PEI was because they deal with the Summerside Honeywell office on a regular basis. No work yet for next week, but the week after I'm back at Doorways (where I was for the 2 days last week) for an ongoing basis. I'm starting to feel like a prostitute with regular customers.

Speaking of that, I just learned that prostitution is legal here, having only been made so this year. Massage parlours and gentlemen's clubs have always been legal but they are now trying to restrict their operations to only certain parts of the city. Just in case you were recently pondering the NZ sex laws.

I just opened this page and stared blankly at it for a good minute or 2. I guess that means I have really nothing to say today. So, I'm alive and somewhat well - first NZ cold has struck. Check back in a few days and I may tell you something of value and not waste your time like this. No promises though.

I'm on fire. A full week of work! And it's really fun stuff too like data entry and photocopying. I'm getting right good at that.

Despite my sarcasm I am very grateful to have work. Maybe I'll just be a professional temp the rest of my life. Make enough money to justify my adventures and continue on with brainless tasks the rest of the time. I've only got one way to go on the temp food chain... survival of the fittest...

I'm at Honeywell this week. Sound familiar S-siders? There's a Honeywell office in Slemon Park. They make control panels for different types of parts and techie stuff like that. The office I'm at only has about 10 staff and they do only service - no manufacturing and minimal sales.

Adventures... Sunday Sherilyn & I decided we would head down to Akaroa, a coastal town about an hour from here. We called friends of ours from BC who we met in Nelson but who live in Chch right now to make plans for the evening. As it turned out, they were going to a nearby town for the day and offered us a free lift down which was so kind, and convenient as it allowed us to have a visit before Sherilyn headed off (she left for Australia this morning) and saved us from hitchhiking. Just kidding, I would never do that mom. That's just a silly way to be killed isn't it? Akaroa is a really beautiful harbourtown surrounded by mountains. We had a great day and just wandered and took a paddle boat out for awhile. (30 mins was all our legs could handle!)

History lesson - Akaroa was where the French landed in 1840. Europeans had been visiting NZ for 100 or so years before that but only started to settle about 1815. In 1840 the British & French were racing down to claim NZ as a colony. British landed on the north island and the French landed on the south at Akaroa 3 days later. NZ was 3 days away from being a French colony.

Sunday night we went to see Monster with our friend Kinga who works in the cinema industry in Germany. (Don't know if I would recommend the movie or even say I enjoyed it - it's a disturbing story). I started work yesterday around noon after a fun adventure figuring out the bus route and last night we ended up celebrating Sherilyn's last night with different BC friends, some Scots & Kinga. We found a pub just down the road that sells their brew in 2L take away jugs for $5. Good times were had by all.