Christchurch is NOT the spot

Christchurch is NOT the spot.  

I have been here three and a half weeks since Mariel left.  I had no clue I would be here so long.  Everything took so much longer than I thought it would.  Nothing had been done to the van during the time we were gone.  It had been literally pushed into the corner.  After a long talk with another mechanic across town, I got really angry.  He made me see that I was being played as a fool.  I jumped in the car and drove straight back to the other shop.  I wasn't looking forward to the conversation in the least.  Having angry words with someone has gotta be on the list of my least favorite thing to do.  But, I wanted to talk before I cooled down.  

By the end I felt I had gotten my way.  My van was towed to a garage a block over where the mechanic who would be working on her, Dave, lived.  Dave was to work on the van full-time until it was done.  Dave was the mechanic I was talking to when the earthquake hit.  He and his Scottish wife, Jenny, lived above the garage in an apartment with their two dogs, Stripey and Tuffey, two very large, very protective, but very good dogs.  Over the last three and a half weeks, I have come to know this garage as home, and Dave, Jenny, and of course the dogs, as my friends.  Its funny how the worse things get, the easier it is to spot good people.   They have been nothing but kind to me, and always said that I could stay with them as long as I needed to.  I just don't think anyone predicted it would be this long...  

There's not a lot to do in Christchurch.  Between the city center being completely blocked off, and the beaches being closed due to the raw sewage thats pumped into it each day, pass-times are hard to find.  

Lucky for me, I am the MASTER of passing time.  No, seriously, I am undoubtedly the best time-passer there ever was.  I think it came from long years of broken down cars in third world countries.  

Which brings me to an off the topic question… How come you never breakdown somewhere cool??  I was trying to think the last time I broke down somewhere sweet, and I think its only happened once in my life, and I've had a lot of breakdowns.  It was in southern Costa Rica, on a gorgeous little bay where the waves were unbelievable.  I don't think I've ever cared less if a car was fixed or not.  And that only took a week!

My two favorite things to do here, sad as it may be, are playing Spiderman pinball at the pizza parlor across the street, or going to the mall to see a movie.  Those are my two highlights.  In fact, Jenny told me she had me figure out the other day.  You see, I have gotten in this weird habit of making a tea, and then leaving it behind untouched.  

"If I come home and your tea is still warm, you've just gone across the street to play pinball and will probably be back soon.  But, if your tea has gone cold, you are at the mall watching a movie, and probably won't be back for a bit!"

She could call it everytime, solely based on the temperature of the tea that I had inevitably left behind.  HAHA!  I love it…

Other things did happen,

One night the tattoo parlor that I had as the homepage photo burned down.  Dave and I were some of the first to see it and ran over there to try and put it out, but the fire department showed up and got it under control.  Everyone thinks it was the owner, maybe trying to get some long overdue insurance money.

I was taking photos of it the next day, and this old man came up and startled me.  Technically I was in a restricted area so I thought I was in trouble.  He just wanted to know what happened.  We got to talking, and until he finally said, as if just needing to tell somebody, 

"My wife died in the earthquake…  We had just gotten married a little while ago.  I'm staying with some friends right now, but I think I might have to move soon.  There's just nowhere to stay anymore thats affordable.  After all, I'm just a pensioner…"

He was a proud, well-dressed old man, who was obviously ex New Zealand Navy by the tattoos on his forearms.  My heart sank for him.  Nothing pulls the heart strings more than a proud man trying to be strong, when he's obviously just really sad.   I told him I could help him find some places on the internet and got his cell phone number.  I gave him a call and left a message of the options I had found for him, but I never heard back.  

People are in remarkably good spirits here.  Part of it is a cultural thing.  Its highly valued here to be what they call a "battler"; someone who doesn't have much reason to be happy, but who is happy and charging at life nonetheless.  A true "battler" is highly renowned and respected.  Its what most Kiwi's strive to be. I think its the very reason this country is so special; everyone's trying to get the most out of life, no matter what the circumstances.

I remember being at a bar, watching the rugby game one night.  I'm not a big fan of rugby, but I had nothing else to do and needed a good meal!  Anyway, we were hit with an aftershock.  Now, small aftershocks happen all day long here.  Literally thousands have happened since the big quake.  But this was a pretty sizable one.   I looked around to see how people were reacting, as the glasses clanked and lights shook from the ceiling, but no one even moved.  I mean, no one even stopped their conversations.  I saw one man stop to point out the swaying chandelier but that was about it.  Imagine sitting through so many earthquakes/aftershocks that when one hit, you didn't even interrupt the conversation!  

(photo of the week)

I've also tried to do some out of the ordinary activities.  I've always believed that there is an adventure everywhere, you just have to know where to look.   It's hard sometimes.


The other day I decided to go inside this abandoned Railway Station.  It had been empty for decades and graffitied from top to bottom, the entire building.  I always passed it by thinking it was probably a meth lab or something, but Dave assured me it was cool to go inside.  So I did.  I have to admit, that little voice in my head was telling me to get out of there for the first 20 mins, especially because it was getting dark.  But, once I got passed the whole spookiness of the place, I started feeling quite comfortable there, and even found some really talented drawings.  I should go back before I leave.  The "Canterbury Sale Yards Co." I wonder what it was like back in the day.  

Probably my final highlight of the last three weeks was seeing Simon and Jan for dinner the other night.  Simon and Jan are the older couple we helped clean up their house immediately after the earthquake hit.  It was really good to see them.  They were a nice couple and reminded me of happier times, even if only for a while.  It was so nice to have a home cooked meal and a glass of wine.  I felt, well, relaxed, and for one reason or another, that was a luxury these days.  We relived the earthquake and spoke of recent happenings.  All in all, it was a much needed change of pace.  

The van is up and running now.  I've decided to extend my visa a few more weeks to try and get some use out of her.  Not sure where I'm going yet, just a few more loose ends to tie up.  All I know is it will be good to travel again, and get a little life pumping back into these empty feeling veins.