First Week in Christchurch

Hello from Christchurch, New Zealand!  We are back in Christchurch for 3 months.  Paul was asked to teach the 2^nd half of a computer science course for a professor who was promoted to an Associate Dean position.

We traveled from Eau Claire to Christchurch, New Zealand, about a week ago now, traveling through Minneapolis/St. Paul, Los Angeles (LAX airport), Auckland, and finally, after about 27 hours of travel, to Christchurch.

Two story tall very realistic video screen at LAX airport

It's fun to take flight #1...

Because we were late additions to the university program, all campus house were already allocated, so the university rented a private flat (apartment) for us.  Our flat is very different from our Eau Claire house.  We are in a newer building above a hair salon, and are located behind a large shopping mall.  The flat is quite comfortable and sunny, and we have a nice landlord – we see him styling hair as we come and go.  He and his wife own some other properties including several buildings next door where six young doctors live.

Our flat is on the second floor of this building

Westfield Mall - half a block from our house

Paul’s class in database systems is going well, with the typical range of students (i.e. a few very active and interested students and others who are less engaged).  Paul is also observing student team meetings from a software engineering project course, and will be working with one of the course's faculty members back in Eau Claire in January.

Christchurch has a population of about 380,000 people.  It is the largest city on the South Island.  The city was severely damaged by a series of earthquakes in 2010-2011, but is making good strides toward recovery.

We’ve been back to the Farandol folk dancing group and attended a play called Guru of Chai in the new Piano Theatre with one actor playing all seventeen roles.

Cindy went tramping with the Tower Trampers group for four hours on Tuesday and got to overlook Lyttelton Harbour on the Crater Rim trail.

It’s still winter here, but flowering trees bloom all year.

Everyone has been pleased with unusually warm winter weather and an early spring, with high temperatures some days around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  However, we just had two days of a return to winter with gale force southwesterly winds (they come from Antarctica) taking the temperature down to below freezing, lots of rain and hail, and snow in the hills.  The weather report advises you on what to wear – for the first storm day, it was 4 layers plus a waterproof layer, and people were advised to secure their trampolines.  Apparently some people didn’t listen – today’s news reported car damage from downed trees and flying trampolines.  Unfortunately we don't have any photos or video of flying trampolines.

Hail on one of our patio chairs