Windy With a Chance of Games

26 September: The days are finally becoming more routine, which is probably a good thing. I met with my supervisor, Chris, for the second time on Friday. We discussed the project and whatnot and he gave me my second assignment, due the following week. All afternoon was spent researching and I finally began reading my French book...which is really hard considering I don't read French! In the evening, we tried to go to a postgrad event, but nobody was really there so we fled. What an experience! At least I'm still on track with my book articles.

27 September: Saturday was our first big social event: a game day. After stopping at a garage sale, we went with Sam, our host, to a local Baptist Church where Sam's friends were running the first of a monthly board game meetup. There were probably around 50 people there throughout the day and Kara and I played eight games, which is pretty impressive. We even both lost spectacularly in a Carcassonne tournament (we were at separate tables). A friend of theirs also operated a reduced-price game store for the event with hundreds of games to choose from. We didn't do much else that day, but it was fun. Still on track with book articles!

28 September: Sunday was a bit of a blustery rainy day, but we still went out to see sled (or rather chariot) dogs at the Hagley Park, the large park beside the city centre. It was fun, though nothing super exciting. Afterwards, we went to the Canterbury Museum and checked out the first three exhibits. We decided to save the rest for another time and went downtown to Re:Start, a nice container city built on the former site of a mall that was damaged in the earthquakes. We returned home, did a bit of work, and then got some Dominos pizza for dinner. Oddly, Dominos here only has one size of pizza, which is a size slightly larger than US-small. Fortunately, the pizzas were cheap, tasty, and pepperoni was included (it costs $3 more at Pizza Hut). Afterwards, we played two games with Sam. Still on track!

29 September: Monday was an utterly boring research day. We worked for hours. I wrote another article (still on track!) and that was pretty much it.

30 September: Tuesday was equally dully with more research, a bit of grocery shopping, and a game of Airlines: Europe before bed. Sam brought his kids over so they were providing diversions, but that was pretty much it. Still on track!

1 October: Wednesday, we went to see a speaker from the University of Adelaïde in Australia...she was Scottish writing about Ireland. Go figure. Kara also had her second meeting with her supervisor, which went well. We came home early so I could read some more French (not getting much better) and then we entertained the kids for another night. It was a bit long. Still on track, and today's article was huge!

Common Occurrences:

• The wind in New Zealand can be terrifying. It's not hurricane force, but it sure can feel like it. And it is persistent and frequent. It began winding Sunday night, and by Monday morning the entire cinder block building was lightly shaking and the windows howling and rattling. Even the sliding glass door opened a bit. Very weird.
• On Sunday, we were surprised to find a rooster prowling the yard. A lady downstairs was shooing it off. It was quite vocal in its disregard. It then charged a Maine Coon cat that was watching the entire thing. Later that day when we were getting into the car to buy pizza, the rooster came back and began heading toward Kara. We left in a cloud of dust, never to see the rooster again.
• Weather forecasts here are so inaccurate that they make Santa Cruz forecasts seem downright prophetic. Seriously, the weather predictor on Weather.com changed by the minute, switching between clouds, sun, rain, thunderstorms, wind, etc. It can't be trusted! Sam says that events are scheduled for rainy days because they usually end up being sunny. I'm tempted to agree with him.