TGIF!

It's a fabulous Friday in ChCh.  The weather is spectacular, nearly 70 degrees, and definitely the warmest day since we've been here!  Today we took a nice walk into the city centre to go to the library to use their internet so Bret could watch the VP debate from the states.  We have internet in the hostel, but the speed is SO SLOW.  I've been incredibly frustrated by the inability to watch American television here in NZ.  I was counting on being able to log onto abc.com, cw.com, mtv.com, etc. to keep all caught up on my shows (America's Next Top Model, The Hills, Gossip Girl, The Office, Lost, and many more).  However, we discovered that our international ip address is preventing us from watching on those websites because it is only available to residents of the United States.  The only way around it is if we somehow changed our ip address or something like that, but I don't want to risk it.

So I've been downloading episodes in 8 minute clips off of YouTube.  For a 43 minute episode and with our SLOW internet connection at the hostel I would have to leave my computer going all night!  When I got to the library, I was able to download those 5 segments in less than 10 minutes!  I hope that our next residence has a faster internet connection!  I'm sure before long, I'll be weaned off of the need for American tv, but it's hard to leave a show in the middle of the season.  I hope that I'll be able to get more into the NZ soap operas and shows like NZ's Got Talent, and further and further away from my American television attachment.  That's one of my goals on this journey as I further immerse myself in this new culture.

Cathedral square (at the heart of the city centre) was home to a small street fair today, and it was alive with vendors and music.  It was refreshing to see lots of people out enjoying themselves in the warm Friday afternoon.  I feel really comfortable and excited to be in ChCh, and it's only going to get nicer!

 

The famous trams of ChCh

 

One of the many sculptures in city centre