Today I had my first day of school. The first day wasn't as bad as  I expected it to be. First we had to watch a greeting dance in the hall. The Maori seniors did a Hakka like dance. Then we all divided up into groups, year 9 students, international, and transferring students. I went with the year 10 transferring students. The head uniform director showed us around the school and told us almost everything we had to know. Later in the day we took some online testing to see which classes to place us in. I am sad to say, but the class room needs new computers....windows 2 and word 2004..... -_- After the testing I had to re locate my back pack. Took me a few tries but eventually I found it. After school was out (2:00 for year 10!) My mom and I bought a printer and took the bus home. So far this has been a great introduction to Papanui High School and I will hopefully enjoy the days to come (school.....)

Re:Start mall shop

After the big 2011 earthquake many buildings were unable to be rebuilt. Some of these buildings were shopping centers. Where would the people get their everyday needs? The Re:Start Mall is a very innovative way to design a mall. The mall is completely made out of huge metal storage containers. The mall has a total of 64 shops. It was supposed to be a temporary replacement for a once standing mall, but since it’s opening it has been a huge success. The mall has a very modern feeling which is probably why tons of people and tourists flock to see this one of a kind architectural achievement. Many street performers come to this mall after the buskers festival to gain some more money.

meh in the places

Sign for the Re:Start mall 

Cathedral 2013 (ruined) 

Cathedral 2008 (intact)

Today we took a bus ride around the downtown part of Christchurch. We got to see the full extent of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The downtown of Christchurch looks like a ghost town. The “red zone” is blocked off by chain fences and military guards make sure people don’t get in without permission, because the downtown is still a very dangerous place to be. We took a tour bus into the “red zone”. Most buildings did not collapse, instead they took lots of damage in certain places which made them unusable. The year 2013 will become the year of reconstruction in Christchurch. So far they have been clearing out all of of destroyed buildings. In the “clearing” stage they have cleared out around 80% of all structurally unsafe buildings. While taking the tour through the downtown I felt almost as if I was in Universal Studios. In the cafes, plates were still on the very dusty tables. Some still had food on them. The windows had markings spray painted on them stating a search and rescue squad would have been there. My dad and I were very surprised to see the Christ College, a boys private high school, had not taken ant damage. The college is a very medieval looking building that is made up of stone bricks. Later we learned that in the 1990’s the city earthquake-proofed the building due to smaller quakes. The college was built in 1856. One of the worst of buildings was the Cathedral. The famous Christchurch Cathedral is in a court case right now on whether to restore the building or to completely knock it over and restart.

                               Thursday, January 24th

Papanui student

For the past few days I have mostly been shopping for household items. We usually take the bus down to Northlands Mall. On the 23rd I met one of the head Deans at my new school, Papanui High School. We decided that year 10 would be best for my age, although I have to take some tests when I start school. Since Schools start at year 1 here year 10 would be equivalent to 9th grade in Merica’. For sports in the summer I will be participating in tennis and cricket. The day has 6 periods in it. The school is a closed campus except for year 13 (seniors) :(   The basic classes I will be in are, maths, english, history, and science. For electives I can choose 3-6 classes. I still have no idea on what to choose. I will find out when school starts on January 29th.

Chocolate fish!

The foods here in New Zealand are different from Merica’, but similar to England’s food. One odd food is Chocolate fish. The outside of the fish is usually milk chocolate, while the inside is a flavored marshmallow. The chocolate fish has an interesting history. Many years back the chocolate fish was used as legal tender like money! Some other foods that people here eat are fish and chips. There are many of these shops around. They also have all of the fast food Restaurants like KFC and Mc’ Donald's that we have in Merica

New Zealand flag!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

We start our trip on a car ride to LAX international airport on Wednesday the 16th. My dads good friend Scott dropped us off many hours before our flight was supposed to board. We waited in the terminal for hours. Once we heard the announcer state that it was time to board, we waited until everyone was boarded. We had to wait to the last minute because we were flying standby. Eventually 12 people never showed up to the flight so there was 12 extra seats. Due to a weight restriction we were not able to board the plane, even though there were seats available. My dad then had to scramble to book another flight, but the only one going to New Zealand was leaving the next day from San Francisco. We then took a taxi to a hotel. We checked in at 1:30 AM and finished dinner at 2:30AM. 

The next day we rented a car and drove all the way to San Francisco, because we wanted to save some money. The drive took 6 hours. Finally we arrived and got on our new plane. The flight to Aukland took 12 hours 30 minutes After the flight to Aukland, we connected to Christchurch. We rented a hotel for 2 nights, then moved into our apartment!

Sunrise over New Zealand

Auckland Airport

Monday, January 21, 2013

The spire fell off of this church
at the end of our street, during
the big earthquake in 2011

WOW, what an exiting entry to Christchurch. The day after we arrived a 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck knocking stuff off of the walls in stores. After a magnitude 5 earthquake, schools are closed. The downtown of Christchurch is fairly depressing, from the large 7.1 magnitude Earthquake that struck in February of 2011. Almost every stone building has collapsed, including churches, schools, and other areas. We learned from locals that when the huge earthquake was happening water flooded the town from under the ground, creating cracks in the rode. Shortly after the water flooded the streets, silty sand corroded the black top. 

Today our landlord, Peter, took me to see the world wide Buskers festival. If you don’t know what a Busker is I’ll give you a small short example. A Busker is a street performer who creates and does large tricks/ jokes. They don’t have a regular paycheck, instead you are there source of wealth. After the festival, our landlord showed me the downtown. So far New Zealand has been a great experience, along side with the biggest earthquake I have ever been in, and probably the biggest I’ll ever be in again. 

The climate of New Zealand is also a lot like ours, in Encinitas. The summers are about the same temperature, except for the winds. Every day at around 1PM super fast winds pick up and can sometimes push you. My dad looked this up on the web, but sadly couldn’t find anything. Later in the day our landlord explained to use that on the opposite side of the South Island, the winds from the ocean travel up and over the mountains. After they travel over the mountains they come down towards the valley. Eventually they reach Christchurch. The winters here in Christchurch are a little colder than they are in California. The people here say they get about 2 days of snow every winter. The average temperature in winter is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius - they use Celsius here, I will have to get used to it).