The Brotzman Adventures -Day 1

Sort of.

I say sort of because Dad and Karen arrived yesterday...and we did some things then. Like we took them to Hell...Pizza that is. And ate our faces off. Yum...love that damned pizza, literally!!! So after a late night of unloading all the goodies Daddy brought from home (ie my COMPUTER!!!) I woke to an early phone call from my two traveling companions.

We started this morning with a traditional cup of tea. I say traditional because I am in the process of making it a tradition in my life. I figured since I entered this country, my tea consumption has increased about 200%, so to "go with the flow", why not insert it as an essential start to my day? So we had our tea, and we were off. To breakfast. And when they told us we'd have to wait three hours to get into the restaurant we wanted to eat at we decided to reserve a table for the following day and go to the coffee shop down the road. Funny how no one really goes out to breakfast in this country...and if you want to you have to reserve a table because there are so few places that offer the typical sit down, Diner breakfast that you can get in the states.

After our breakfast fiasco it was off to the Art's Center market. We parked, took a walking detour through the botanical gardens to see the giant rose gardens, some mishappen White Ash trees and a very large Sequoia (not as big as the Kauri trees though) and then made our way to the market. Funny that I have lived here nearly half a year and haven't done any of this. The market was fun and we chatted it up with lots of stand-owners, each bringing their own trade to the table: hand-knitted sweaters of pure sheep's wool, hand-made soaps sprinkled with Lavender, New Zealand jade carved in precarious shapes and set into necklaces and earrings...all this and more, accompanied with all sorts of food stands with tastes from around the globe. It was amazing to see this bustling little market, filled to the brim with people buying and "window" shopping, watching magic shows and other forms of entertainment as they ate their carmelized peanuts or sucked on brightly colored lollies. If we hadn't known about it from guidebooks and word of mouth, we'd never know it was there, tucked away in a little cul-du-sac of buildings. And people were friendly. Oh so friendly. Nothing like the Copy center Ho or other people I've had to deal with. We chatted it up with a number of table-owners, specifically the knittings ones (as Karen is interested in knitting). I learned quite a lot about how to make yarn out of wool from an elderly woman who owned 7000 sheep. Yes, seven thousand...I did not type too many zeros. One thing I did notice is that people thought I was a tourist. Obviously, three Americans together make for a pretty touristy group. But it was strange, when people asked, and I said I lived here and knew where such-and-such Street was, or that I've been to this place over there...well it felt good. I wouldn't say it was pride, but it felt nice to feel like a part of their culture...because they definitely made me feel welcome. They seemed even pleased when I showed how much I know about Christchurch and Canterbury and the New Zealand culture in general. Almost like they approve of me showing my two visitors around...like I would represent their country well, despite my American heritage.

And that's what I tried to do for the rest of the day. So what better place to take them than the pinacle of Christchurch, but the Port Hills. So they could see it all. We drove along, stopped for pictures, drove some more, saw some paragliders, drove some more, checked out Lytelton, drove some more and came down Hackethorne (one of my biking hills). They out through Hallswell (more biking stuff) and of course on to good ol' Selwyn Lake Road. The place I spend a lot of my time at teaching the kiddies to swim. It was fantastic to be able to take them to a real New Zealand home and meet more people of this country. To tour them around the pool and the farm, showing off the llamas and puppies and cows and piggies. Funny too, because it's not even my house, but it still felt good. I was so happy for them to meet Ruth and Mark and vice versa. Since these are all people who mean very much to me, well...it's always nice to bring family together, and I guess in a way it was like bringing both halves of mine together...my American family and my Kiwi family (not sure if Ruth and Mark know just yet that I've basically adopted them as my Kiwi family, but I doubt they'll mind.) We were out there for ages and the conversation never ceased...my Daddy talking with Mark about farming stuff, land, hunting, politics and all the other stuff blokes talk to each other about. Karen talking to Ruth about the farm, the house, the business, etc. Jasmine doing my hair in every lovely way a six year old can think of. And then all of us taking a little walk along the farm together as the sun set before us. Sooo precious and just like a movie.

And at the end of the day we drove home, got takeaways and ate quickly as we're all pretty ready for bed.

I keep forgetting my digital camera. Stupid girl! I will take pictures and get them up here tomorrow.

The plan? Back to the 3-hour-wait breakfast place...but this time with reservations. And then off to Akaroa for the day. And home to pack for our week-long trip to the West Coast!!!

I will be back with news as soon as stuff develops. I'm having such a great time and I'm just so happy they are here. Yippee for visitors!

-Cole