Life in ChCh

January 22, 2010

We’ve been here almost two weeks now. Perhaps because we’ve been so busy, it seems like we’ve been here much longer. Finding your way around a new culture and place is always such an intriguing process, and becoming accustomed to Christchurch has been no exception. It has been a little frustrating at times because we don’t yet have a car to see the countryside and the city as much as we’d like. We are, however, enjoying ourselves immensely.

Today, I’m in the main library of the University of Canterbury. It’s been raining heavily all morning, but I’m dry inside trying to get some analysis done. I’m looking over the results of the experiment I conducted with Tracy Ng last summer on the role of changing discharge (i.e. spates and floods) on leaf retention in streams. The results, so far, have been interesting (to say the least!). It’ll be awhile before all the analyses are finished, though. (I’m also listening to the Wu-Tang Clan. I hope you can appreciate that, Tracy.)

We walked downtown last weekend. Walked though Hagley Park, along the Avon River. Went to the museum, and visited Cathedral Square and the Arts Center. Looked at wool products in a shop. All very fun! ChCh has a distinctly European flavor, and we’re looking forward to getting to know the city better.

We looked at a house near the university yesterday. It is by far the nicest of the places we’ve looked at, although it is more expensive than we’d like. It has a lot of great features, though – big windows, french doors off the bedroom, a beautiful garden with fruit trees (one lemon and one peach), hardwood floors, 3 bedrooms, and it is only 2 blocks from the university. Unfortunately it is $355 a week, plus utilities. Even in NZ dollars, that’s a lot of money. I think we can afford it, though. We’re looking at the inside of the house on Monday, so we’ll have a better idea of whether we are going to rent it then. Even though it is expensive, other houses that we’ve looked at that are much less nice – and with unpleasant yards – are are nearly the same price. With all the space in the house and a nice yard, it’ll be a great place for visitors to stay and explore the east coast of the south island. That assumes, of course, that we’ll have visitors…

In many ways, New Zealand has been much what I expected – a very British country with great scenery and interesting landscapes. However, some things I didn’t expect…

Pleasant Surprises
(1) Cheese! ChCh has Vancouver (or any Canadian city, for that matter) beat hands down when it comes to cheese. All kinds of cheese, locally made, inexpensive! I have been enjoying Camembert with crusty bread with virtually every meal. Even the big blocks of inexpensive cheese are both better and less expensive that the similar product in Canada. (Joshua would be in heaven.) Groceries are a little more expensive here, but the vegetables are MUCH better in quality (field grown, often local, as opposed to the greenhouse-grown flavourless stuff we put up with in Vancouver). Maybe winter will be different, however.
(2) Wine is cheap, and they sell it at the grocery store. Unfortunately, I don’t drink wine. I am tempted, though, to pick up some bottles just to have for visitors.
(3) Meat! Again, I don’t really eat much meat, but the lamb and beef here are unbelievably high quality (as good as Alberta, even?), and inexpensive. I made lamb chops (for the first time ever) last night, and they were incredibly good.
(4) Trees! There are beautiful trees here – both native and European species. Trees here grow well and look healthy, and it is amazing to see English oaks, Eucalyptus from Australia, Cabbage Palms from NZ, and Cypress (from all over, including North America) growing side by side. Makes for interesting walks.
(I feel that it is important to note that Trevor and Michelle should take careful note of items 1 through 3, and plan a visit accordingly.)

Unpleasant Surprises
(1) Coffee. Drinking a ‘flat white’ (like a cappuccino with very little foam) is one of my greatest pleasures. Here in NZ, they are made consistently, taste excellent, and are served well (again, Vancouver could learn from ChCh – ordering a coffee drink in Vancouver was frustrating at times). However, they are generally $4.00. Expensive, but I guess you can’t have everything. (I should note that Shane, who used to work at Saltspring Coffee on the UBC campus, makes the best Cappuccino in Canada).
(2) Spiders. There are very few spiders here. Also, very few large beetles, or large insects of any kind. HOW DISAPPOINTING. In general, there are few insects – as an insect ecologist, I am a little bored. Apparently, in the forests there are more, so I still have hope.
(3) Refrigerators, and other household appliances. In NZ, when you rent a house, appliances are not included (except a stove). How uncivilized. Shelley and I are going to have to buy a fridge.
(4) Electronic communication (i.e. email) is not taken seriously by people here. Again, I suspect I have been spoiled by the Canadian academic community, where emails were promptly replied to. *sigh* We’ve left several emails and voice mails with real estate agents, not a single one has been replied to.

Shelley and I feel that, so far, ChCh makes a better first impression than Vancouver. However, it is important to note that we lived in a less-than-beautiful part of Vancouver (East Van Represent!), so we may be somewhat biased.

More Later! We miss you all!

Trent.