more goodbyes…

Posted on June 4, 2013 by karenula

the drive from Queenstown to Christchurch was amazing! I was completely alone, doing whatever I wanted (speeding, obviously), with no worries about having another life in the car to look after…
the weather, on the other hand, was not as pleasant… the closer I got to Christchurch, the worse the weather turned (Mother Nature seemed to be reading my mood change and putting it right on my face)… gloomy, rainy, windy…

482 km

I wanted to stay with Mark and Kristo, but unfortunately they were hosting a German guy… I tried to get a couch with some of the couch surfers I met at the weekly meetings, no success… since I had to pay one more day for the car (because even by speeding I didn’t get on time to return it) I decided to call the YHA to see if they had parking and a bed for the night… they did, and so I drove there…

in the common room I met a very nice guy called Sam (UK/Australia), we were talking about the shitty movies they were playing on TV, then another guy called Scott (USA) and his friend Niklas (Germany) joined our sarcastic little talk… the four of us were making fun of everything on TV, so it was nice.

next morning I payed for another night in the hostel. I felt alone in Chch, I was supposed to have a lot of friends there, but I felt completely alone… I didn’t want to bother Mark and Lizzie again, I was going to see them one of this nights to catch up and pick up the stuff I left behind, and maybe that was enough for them… I didn’t want to push it. I had already contacted Mark and Kristo, and I didn’t want to be a pain. I didn’t feel like calling Claudio either because I thought that if he knew about my hostel and loneliness situation, he would have offered his house and all his attentions in order for me to feel better, and I think that would have made me feel like I’m using him or something. my friend Didier was not helping at all either, I didn’t feel any signs of a welcoming person towards me. and the other people I knew, I felt as if I didn’t know them THAT well as to call them and see if they wanted to have a coffee with me…

so, alone I was…

I saw Sam again during breakfast, and we took the car to go buy some groceries… drove back to the hostel to leave them… then I drove to return the car to the agency, and walked back to the hostel… there, while skyping with Citlalli, one of my friends from home, Scott appeared behind me with just a towel around his waist… he had left his key inside his room… so, my friend saw him, he got closer to chat and explain why he was almost naked, and, well… long story short… the three of us skyped all afternoon (Scott dressed of course), and we became: a family!

we skyped every day with Citlalli from that moment on. I got so attached to Scotty that I stayed in the hostel for two more nights. he became my Little Brother – as I called him.

and we would hang every night until late with Nik and Phillip (another German) too.

I caught up with Mark, Lizzie, and Didier on Tuesday night. after having dinner in the hostel, Didier picked me up to go visit our friends, and then he and I went to a bar to have a beer and talk about my travels.

I sent a couch surfing request to Julia, one of the kiwi girls that go to the weekly meetings at Smash Palace. she usually doesn’t host during weekdays and not more than two or three nights, but since I’ve met her before, and she hosted Jon, she made an exception, and we settled that she would pick me up on Thursday night.

so Wednesday was my last night at the YHA… in the morning I went to deliver some CV’s and introduce myself in different architecture firms. no success, I couldn’t talk to any of the CEO’s in any of the three firms I visited. so I went back to the hostel. unfortunately, Scotty was working that night until late. so Phillip, Sandra (a German girl we met that morning) and I went to buy some beers to be prepared when Scott came home. when he did, we started playing happy king… when we were beyond soberness, we decided to call Citlalli via Skype…

next morning I went to the other two firms I had yet to visit. the second one was my favourite of them all, and, lucky me, one of the CEO’s was actually the one to greet me the moment I entered. we then had a little chat about my background and why I was there. he told me they were not looking for anyone at the moment, but that I should give him a call when I come back from Australia to see how things are going!
I went back to the hostel with a great grin on my face!
I didn’t see Scott that evening, so sadly I couldn’t say goodbye to him properly, and at night Julia picked me up to take me to her house where she lives with her flatmate Jacek, from Poland.

after a little chat, a couple of cigarettes, and some wine, we went to a couch surfing meeting that she organises at Revival. there I met some of her expat friends, among them, a Spanish girl called Lucia.

her story and mine are very similar. we come from spanish speaking countries, we are around the same age, we both came to NZ to apply for the working holiday visa, both our countries only have 200 places and release them once a year, we both didn’t get it for the same reasons, we are both architects, and we are trying to apply for architecture jobs in Chch… the only thing I’m missing is a German boyfriend and then we would be identical.

Julia and I organised a Mexican night at her house for Friday night, so she invited some of this friends I met.

so next day I woke up, cleaned the house (here comes the Mexican maid again…), Julia then picked me up in the afternoon and we went to the supermarket to buy all we needed for the reunion that night. got back home and started cooking.

Julia’s friends started arriving. Lucia with Björn (her boyfriend), a girl from The States, Arjan from Holland, another guy from Iran, a French girl named Fleur (I think), and of course Jacek and Julia.

the night went smoothly and the food was a success – in case you are wondering, I prepared tinga de pollo and molletes! yum!

next day I went to the library to have some free wifi. I then ate at a place called Samurai Bowl (which btw is pretty good). I received a call from Yin telling me that she was in Chch, so we decided to see each other on Sunday and go to the beach.

I met with Arjan at the restart mall that evening. we went to the Earthquake City, an exhibition where they have some of the region’s history on earth tremors. we then walked to a bar to have a couple of beers. there we met two of his ex-coworkers, one from South Africa and the other one from The States called Albert.

Albert was born in The States, but his mom is Kiwi and his dad Mexican, so therefore he is a “chikiwi” (as in Chicano and Kiwi)… we were laughing all night! he’s such a FUN person. in the end he and his mate left to go to another bar near their hostel, but we exchanged numbers because he lives in Napier, and when I come back from Australia I will go there and I surely want to hang with him.

after that, Arjan and I went to Revival to meet up with Julia and some other friends. I then took Julia’s car back home because I was tired and she was taking a cab.

next morning I met with Yin at the library and we took the bus to Sumner. from there we hitchhiked (for the first time in our travels) to get to Taylor’s Mistake.

this is a very beautiful beach, Mark and Lizzie’s favourite. we sat there for a moment, had our little picnic, and then walked up the hill following the trail… but we didn’t do the whole thing… we were to lazy so we just sat off the trail, near a cliff.

we then walked down and started our way back to Sumner.

back in the CBD we went to have something at the Samurai Bowl… and, like it always happens with Yin, we had food comma.

at night I received a message from Didier asking me if I want to have lunch with him on Monday.

so on Monday I took it easy, doing nothing really, and I went to meet him at a deli place 5 blocks from where I was staying.
we talked a little bit about my plans and what he was going to do next weekend. it was going to be Queen’s Birthday Weekend and we had said before my road trip that we might do something together, but in the end he was going with some friends to do some mountain biking, which was perfect because I really wanted to stay in Chch to sort everything for my departure to Wellington and then to Australia.

he offered me a ride to the CBD, and when we said goodbye he said “safe travels” when I still had a week or so in Chch… “fine!” I thought, and I just had to laugh inside my head… after all the time we spent together he says goodbye with a “safe travels” and almost putting his two thumbs up.

so, after that I went to the library… again (I know, I sound like a bookworm), and there I saw Yin, which was a very nice surprise. we talked a little bit, and said goodbye… she is travelling a bit more and then she goes to The States, so I was not going to see her again.

on Tuesday Joel told me that he was coming to Chch for the weekend.
at night I had planned to have dinner with the Latin American community. I had a few days left now that Joel was coming, so I had to say my goodbyes to my friends… so we went to this fantastic place where we had been before when I was staying with Claudio, Chopsticks!
some friends of this group were out of NZ, so only Javier (Mexico) and his brother Rodrigo, along with Claudio were able to come… still it was very nice to hang with them and speak some proper Spanish (with the Mexicans)!

on Wednesday I did nothing interesting… at night I went to Mark and Kristo’s house to have dinner… Kristo made this BEAUTIFUL pizzas, with salmon and sweet chilli sauce… they were just amazing! we talked about what’s been happening in our lives, their jobs, my travels… they offered me to stay with them my last night in Chch, and Mark even offered me a ride to the airport! so I happily said yes!

the next day I stayed home all day reading The Alchemist, a book recommended by Jon, and that I borrowed from Lizzie… and honestly, I highly recommend it as well! it’s interesting, entertaining, easy to read… I finished it in one day…
later that day I said goodbye to my beautiful hosts… I will be moving to a hostel for the next three nights.

Friday came, and with it laundry and Joel…

Saturday morning we had breakfast and went to the Farmers Market in Riccarton, went to the supermarket, and then we had lunch at a noodle place near by.

at night I took him to CBD Bar and Pizzeria (to not break the tradition), and after that we went to Revival to meet up with Julia, Jacek, and the rest of the gang… there I said goodbye to all, I will no longer see them unless I get a job offer in Chch and need to fly back after Australia…

next day we went to a town called Lyttelton, which is the port town of Chch and where the English disembarked when they started moving to NZ. it’s a cute little town, and there are several ways of getting there, one through the tunnel built under the mountain; the other is up the mountain (my favourite), where you can see Christchurch from above on one side, and the peninsula on the other.

we got there, walked around and then stopped at a little caffe shop to have some dessert and coffee.

then we headed back home through the tunnel, and we cooked a beautiful dinner!

next morning we packed our stuff. Joel gave me a ride to Mark and Kristo’s house and we said goodbye for good… I honestly don’t think I will see him again, at least in NZ… but who knows, really.

I spent all day with Kristo, talking and watching TV. then in the evening Claudio picked me up and we went to have a cup of coffee to talk and say goodbye for good as well.

next day Mark took me to the airport at noon, where my flight was delayed almost two hours… and I was off to Wellington…

chch-changes

Posted on May 5, 2013 by karenula

after a little more than a month, I’ve finally decided to leave Christchurch (aka Chch).

it took me a while, not because I was working or because life is so busy that there’s always something to do… no, in fact Christchurch is now something like a huge ghost town – and I’m sorry if any Christchurchean is reading this, I say it with a lot of love and respect – the CBD, now called The Red Zone, is closed because of the earthquake that took place here TWO years ago… I know, shocking… so everything that used to be in the CBD is now distributed all around the city, making something like small centres in different suburbs. this causes the city to look a wee bit empty most of the time. so, that and the fact that they are still working on demolishing or holding old buildings together gives you a feeling of being in a planet of the apes movie.

just for you to know why the city has not been completed after two years (which is something I didn’t understand until I was here): apparently there’s a huge conflict of interests between civilians, government, owners, and insurance companies… they just can’t decide what goes, what stays, who pays and all that stuff, and this makes the city look like it does… the saddest thing of this, is that people don’t have a reunion and/or social spot anymore, like Cathedral Square used to be back in the days… like Il Duomo in Florence, a lot of people told me this “I used to go and just sit down to enjoy a coffee and watch people pass by”… it’s also very sad that it has turned into a morbid freak show. you can actually pay a tour guide to show you around and say very dramatically in every destroyed spot or corner “can you see the damage done to this shop… look at the hair dryers left on the floor… people just ran and left everything as you see it now”… pretty sad, they are making profit out of a tragedy… the whole CBD feels like when you go to the zoo: you can’t get close enough to the buildings, but they give you enough “windows” for you to see the content.

the red zone “museum”

cathedral

back to the first point… it took me a while to leave Christchurch because it did captivated me. this is one of the two cities that I was able to visit ten years ago, back then I immediately fell in love with it… my memories take me back to a place where people were happy sitting next to the river and walking by Cathedral Square, a place where the sun was shining, the trees were green, and the air was smooth. and though I didn’t get the same sensation this time, I started liking the idea of staying and contributing with the rebuild of the city, I felt as if this is a place I could someday call home (when the work is finished and the birds sing again).

I stayed with Mark and Lizzie the first week, they are friends of my Kiwi mom, Ali. I felt at home right away! they are near my age, so it was easy to be around them. they too gave me my own room, own key, and invited me to have dinner with them every night! we had good talks about almost any subject too… they made my stay easy and pleasant.

Lizzie introduced me to many new fruits and edible plants I had no idea existed or how to cook them, and to some other things that I will describe next.
first mention goes to: rhubarb. looks like a red celery but tastes completely different. I had tried rhubarb before when Ali’s mom made a cake with it, baked like that tastes like a sour apple, very yummy!! Lizzie cooks the rhubarb in a pot with water and sugar, the result is something I cannot describe with words (I have tried and erased many lines), so I decided to put a picture:

ruhbarb in its natural state

cooked ruhbarb

second mention goes to a fabulous kiwi invention: easiyo. this marvellous thing makes one litre of the yogurt of your choice (from the packages they sell, obviously). all you need to do is mix the yogurt powder with water in a container, put the container in another container with more water, leave it for 12 hours and you are done! my favourite flavour (actually the only one I’ve tried), was the Greek style yogurt!

now, a little parenthesis… this two discoveries have changed me completely… this two things mixed with some muesli (preferably toasted with dried fruits and nuts) have made breakfast my FAVOURITE meal of the day… when I go to sleep all I can think of is that breakfast will be the meal I will have when I wake up, and that thought makes me very happy! back home I would just have a package of biscuits (cookies) and coffee… not healthy at all… now breakfast is healthy, and beyond delicious!

third mention: feijoas. this things have a weeeeird but amazing flavour… if rhubarb cooked the way Lizzie does is not within my reach, feijoas are my second option as a complementary fruit for the muesli… of course that rhubarb AND feijoas together are THE best option for breakfast… but I can’t be greedy, can’t always get what I want…

fourth mention: pumpkin (squash). I had never tried that! and just baked with a little oil is fantastic!!! here they mixed it with pumpkin seeds and red capsicum (bell peppers).. pretty amazing the mix of flavours and the simple way of doing it!

fifth mention goes to two fruits that I only tried once just to see what they were all about: quinces and tamarillos

and of course kumara is on this list, although Ali was the first one to introduce me to it… this is an endemic sweet potato, which also baked with a little bit of oil (and with potatoes) is a delicious side dish for dinner!

I’m starting to think this will be a LONG entry (makes sense after a month) but I’ll try not to expand so much…

ok… so, remember how my body ached after Avalanche Peak? well, guess what? it was sore for SIX complete days! but that did not stop me (much) from tramping a little bit more… so one day Lizzie and Mark took me with a group of their friends to do a small walk on a hill near Christchurch: Kaituna Valley/Packhorse Hut. they are all VERY outdoorsy and sporty people, so it was a little bit difficult to catch up, specially because I had a sore body.

on that week I also went to the Couch Surfing weekly meeting that takes place every Wednesday at a very cool place called The Smash Palace. there I met a pair of locals, some travellers, and some expats, all of whom were very friendly! on the table next to us were sitting two guys, and one of them looked like someone from my country… so I approached them and just told this guy straight forward “you look like somebody who speaks my language”, and so it turned out that he does speak my language, but he is Chilean. we had such a great time that night that he even offered me his couch to stay the next week with him… and so, I accepted.

so I stayed with Mark and Lizzie for two more nights, and on Friday they gave me a ride to Claudio’s (the Chilean) house. we said goodbye but with the promise of doing something again soon.

Claudio is a chef that now works at the Mexican restaurant in Christchurch… since I stayed with him in his transition from one job to the next, he had almost all days free… so we did several things. he introduced me to the Latin American community, we had a BBQ at Mika’s (French friend) house, we went to the beach, we walked along the city, went out at night, etc…

Claudio tasting the air

the day he started his new job I went out with Cameron, remember him? the guy I met in the ferry… well, I went with him and his cousin out for a couple of beers and to have dinner… so much fun!

and the next day (Friday) I went with Lizzie, Mark and some of their friends to Hanmer Springs to a bike race they were doing on Saturday, so we slept at a house on Friday, socialising a little bit… and next day we were at a gazebo (riders and cheerleaders) socialising a lot!
we were eating, and drinking (water), and soooo cold!!! but it was very entertaining, and I met some nice Kiwis!
Didier is one of this nice Kiwi friends, he’s also an engineer working in the same company as Mark. of course we had the architect vs. engineer jokes, and we even took them to a party we went later at night in Christchurch. I had a great time with him! we said we would meet again to go out and do something…

Lizzie and Didier

Mark

the next week I stayed with a couple I met at the Couch Surfing meeting: Luke from the States and Aletta from NZ… they were really nice, also with a spare bedroom.
while staying with them the weather was really shitty, so I practically stayed in the house all day not even wanting to leave the bed!
at night I would try to go out and catchup with friends, so I saw Claudio a couple of times to have beers. I went out with Didier to have pizza and beers at the CBD Bar and Pizzeria. on Friday I saw Amit (Israeli guy from Punakaiki), we met for beers at the Smash Palace and then went to celebrate Aletta’s birthday at the Pomeroy’s Old Brewery Inn, a bar with great live music (one-man-band) and great beers! that night

Luke, Aletta, me, and Amit

Aletta and Luke were a little bit over the alcohol limit, so I had to drive… oh yeah! scary shit! but it was great and fun. it was a manual car and I was struggling with the stick (TWSS), so Luke was changing gear, and I was doing the pedal and wheel job!

on Saturday I saw Amit again, we went to the movies and then to have dinner at the CBD Bar and Pizzeria (yes… I love the place), and then on Sunday I had to change house… again… so my new host picked me up and took me to my new home!

Kristo and Mark were my new family, and for four days I felt ABSOLUTELY at home. they gave me my own room and my key to the house. they are one of the most amazing couples I’ve met!
Kristo is from Estonia and Mark from NZ, they met in Ireland while they both lived and work there. they’ve been living in NZ for five years now in a small and beautiful house located in the “snobby” area of Christchurch.
I could talk with them about anything, and I immediately felt like I could confide anything to them, so this was a nice feeling for a change… not just the usual host-surfer relation… this was more, this was family and friendship…

Wednesday was my last day there, and that actually made me very sad… I had gone with Didier for dinner on Sunday, and we decided to do a little trip for the ANZAC long weekend… so, we went to Kaikoura from Thursday morning to Saturday.

I thought I was not going to be able to see Kaikoura because it’s located between Christchurch and Picton, and since I came down from the west and I’m flying back to Wellington, I thought I was going to skip it for sure!
Kaikoura is where the whale watching takes place all year round. beautiful little town with snowy mountains (in winter) and surfing beaches… it’s weird to see all that in one place.

there we did a little bit of tramping on a track called Mount Fyffe. it was VERY steep but Didier, knowing about my horrible experience in Avalanche Peak, took all precautions to make it easy and pleasant… so as we walked we took lots of breaks to take pictures, and to have food and water too… so nice!
the track is beautiful, it takes you zigzagging up the mountain changing the view constantly from ocean to Southern Alps.

we got to the Hut on the top and had lunch there… we decided not to continue to the peak because it would take longer and we didn’t want to come back down in darkness… so we came down and got to the hostel after buying some beers and got into the hot pool to relax!

on Saturday we started returning to Christchurch through another route and we stopped to have lunch next to a river on a road called Lake Sumner Rd which takes you to a couple of lakes, which we didn’t visit… maybe next time.

on Sunday we were back in Christchurch and went to do another walk just outside of the city on the Crater Rim Walk. from there you can see the city from above, Littleton, and the other side of the valley near Christchurch.

after this small vacation in the vacation I went back to live with Lizzie and Mark for another week. there was really not much to do in the city anymore, so I kinda dedicated my time to arrange my CV and make some cover letters to start knocking on architectural doors, all with the help of Lizzie, Mark, and Didier.

one of those days I received a text message from my friend Jon (who I met in Picton), saying that he will be coming to Christchurch very soon. on May first, I received another message from him saying that he had arrived in the city.

for those of you who do not know, May First is my birthday… so it was a pretty nice surprise to have my friend Jon here. I was kind of alone that day because all my friends were working and they wouldn’t be home until late. so, having Jon by my side changed things!
we were walking around the city, and since it was Wednesday we decided to go to the weekly Couch Surfing Meeting at Smash Palace.
it was fun to celebrate a birthday with a bunch of unknown people from all around the world!

i’m not being rude… it’s a 31
toru tekau ma tahi

Jon

Julia and Sebastian

the Swiss gang and an excentric Chinese

the next couple of days we walked around the city and went shopping to the outdoors stuff stores. we talked about renting a car together and go travel to the rest of the South Island (the southern half: Otago, Southland, Fiordland…)

on Friday I had a small birthday dinner with Lizzie, Mark, and Didier… I stayed home cooking a Mexican dish called tinga de pollo and a chocolate cake (Betty Crocker, of course). it was also a sort of goodbye and thank you dinner because the road trip with Jon seemed to be becoming more and more real every day, and Saturday night Lizzie and Mark had already plans, so it was now or never!

on Saturday night I went with Didier to have a couple of beers and then to a show called The Scared Scriptless. this is an improv show, a variation of Who’s Line Is It Anyway where there’s a moderator, and the audience participates too… REALLY funny!

next day I packed my winter clothes, met Jon at the Restart Mall, and walked towards the car rental company… it was a fact, we were leaving that afternoon towards a new adventure on the south… on this baby…

novaeseelandiae

this is basically what I'm living, take it as an update, novel, or travel guide…

Tag Archives: quake city

more goodbyes…

chch-changes

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