Marathon and Shuttle Delays

Monday 7 June 2010

Today is the Queen's Birthday, so no work for me today. It is kind of a bummer since I only have two days a week, but now I only get one day this week. Hopefully I will get more days somehow.

On Saturday, I actually encountered a demonstration. There was a group of people in front of the Cathedral chanting:
"1, 2, 3, 4" "Occupation no more!"
"Free, free Palestine!" "Free, free Palestine!"
One person would chant the first part, and then the crowd of people would chant the other part. They had signs up and were screaming at the top of their lungs. I am not exactly sure what it was all about. No one else seemed to know about it when I asked.

Later that evening, I went to my co-workers birthday party at Cafe Valentino. It is a fancier restaurant in Christchurch. I got the cheapest thing on the menu. I was among very unfamiliar people, so it was quite uncomfortable at first. I did get to meet a couple people, so that was good. I started getting really hot (which was interesting as I was freezing before on my way there). I just figured it was the room.

I asked for a box, and they were a little confused. I came to find out that they call it a doggy bag. I know in the States, it used to be called that. I felt like I was going back in time.

Well, it started getting really cold again that night, so I went under the covers, even though it was quite late enough to go to sleep. We did some researching on Australia before going to bed. When it was time for bed, we realized one of us would have to get up to turn off the lights. I am always the nominated person, because I am closer to the switch. So I was thinking of every way not to get out of bed. I got my toothpaste bottle and threw it at the light switch. I didn't make it. So then I threw my flip flops. I was way off. Since I threw my flip flops, I didn't have any shoes to walk on the carpet with, and I refused to touch the carpet with my socks. The floor is really gross. So what do I do? I started leaning on my night stand (where the knobs are attached to the drawers). Well, I almost reached the flip flops and light switch, when I felt the knobs move. Before I could react, two of the knobs fell off the draws and I landed on the floor. So much for my brilliant ideas. So I grabbed my flip flops, turned off the light and ran into bed to get warmed up.

On Sunday, we went to Church. We had quite an interesting time getting to Church, because there was a marathon going on. We literally had to run through all the runners to get to the other side. We had to go through the runners twice to get to the Church. After Church, we went to get some lunch. In order to do that, we had to use the shuttle. The problem was, the shuttle was not doing it's regular stops, because of the marathon. So we were at a stop and saw the shuttle. We ran to the other stop and found out the shuttle would not stop there. So we ran to another stop. We ran, because it was raining. We finally got the shuttle and waited for the stop to get off. At the stop before we wanted to get off, everyone but us got off. Then the shuttle driver started looking at his door. He was taking so long that we asked if we could get off. He let us, so we walked the rest of the way. In the restaurant it was actually getting cold, so we went back home to try to get warmed up. We, again waited for the shuttle. It picked us up, but at one of the stops, the driver actually left the doors open and left the shuttle. We found out later she went to get a coffee. It would have been nice to at least close the doors. We finally made it to our room, but what an adventure. Inside the room is freezing, but under the cover helps. No matter where we are, we can always see our breath, at any time of day.

We spend the rest of the day talking, reading, and researching. At dinner, I ate the rest of my leftovers. I started getting really hot again. My cheeks were really red, and I realised, it has to be something in the food. I felt that way each time I ate. It actually was an uncomfortable heat, which is strange with how cold it is. It wasn't until late in the night, that I actually felt cold and had to put another layer on. So, I can have no more food in Cafe Valentino.