Christchurch was awesome! On the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, everything was picturesque, like a postcard, or a nice movie. The whole town is filled with character, beautiful buildings, nice and friendly people. I had a problem with the bus system, but after solving that bit of problem everything was fine! In fact, it was more than fine, it was great!
Emz and I spent the first two days just being tourists. We went to the arts centre (I bought 30 dollars worth of fudge. They make great gifts!), we were at the cathedral square, we went to the aquarium centre, and we roamed around town. The square was filled with buskers (a saxaphone player! Now that's something I've never seen in Wellington). There was also a petition about Tibet, and a huge chess board. On a good day the square is transformed into a market from Wednesday to Saturday. We had problem finding cheap food, but then we found this little Asian restaurant, and my goodness, they serve the BEST dumplings and the BEST tofu EVER! The most authentic ones since I've been in NZ! Like I've mentioned, the old buildings and the greens gave Christchurch its beautiful character (willow trees were beautiful), and it helps that God was very kind to us by blessing us with good weather!
Thursday night, of course, was Jack Johnson night! We met up with Jordan at the Westpac arena, and we stood in total for 5 hours straight, 6 if you include the time we were waiting for the bus! The concert itself was so, so, so good! He sang some stuff from his new album, but he also sang his classics. I was really happy because he ended the night with "Better Together", my absolute fav! And he sang it during the encore performance, just him and the guitar. The story of GOING to the arena was interesting, and hence my slight problem with the bus system. At that time, we still didn't know where the depot was, so we checked up the bus stop location online, and the online info was wrong. I went out an hour before we were suppose to leave to make sure that we got the right stop, but unlike Welly, where the bus leaflets are everywhere, I couldn't find them in Christchurch. A guy from Starmart showed me the way to the bus depot, and from there everything regarding buses were sweet. So we went on the right bus, at just the right time. (Emz might tell you a different story. Waiting for half an hour for the doors to open in the freezing cold for an artist she didn't like... I was partly happy she was kinda tipsy from the bad wine at that time. Oh the bad wine! That's another story! So many stories!) A nice gentleman showed us where to get off, and then the night began. The night ended with us three getting on the last bus to town. It was God being good again. After we went up the bus (which wasn't that full), we passed by a group of people who were starting their slow walk to town, in the freezing cold.
Friday started by a first-time visit to Every Nation Church, the church that my brother was part of. I felt really welcomed and blessed by the people that I've met there. Met Gloria, Raymond, Ben, Bernard and others there. Great hospitality and really friendly people! We then went to Akaroa and Lyttleton, and saw some of the most beautiful sights. No photography could do it justice. If only human eyes can take mental pictures that last forever. But thats another reason to go back! I wasn't expecting to go that far out from Christchurch, but again, thank God for good people! His blessings were clearly on the trip, and He has taken care of all my needs, and has led me to meet awesome people. Its good to know that the brother is well and taken care off, and he's got potential to grow here.
There are loads more stuff to say, and lots of pictures to show (Check out Facebook!), but needless to say that it was a really memorable trip.
And I'm going back.
Like, real soon.
