Day 22

Today we were supposed to do a service project. At first I was really excited to help rebuild Christchurch. Then I got bummed, because I learned we were painting pianos and shoveling gravel, which has nothing to do with my image of rebuilding houses. And then I got excited again, because I learned what those pianos were for. When Christchurch had it's big earthquake, lots and lots of the building had to come down. This leaves just empty lots everywhere in the city. So they're doing this thing called "Gap fillers" where they put gardens and whimsical activities in the lots. One lot has a refrigerator full of books that people can take for free. Another has a large dancefloor and laundry machine. When you put in a dollar coin and the dance machine will light up and project music. The pianos were going to be weather treated and put outside, and the gravel was for a gap filler garden.

But the weather had other plans.

The Snow!

That morning we woke to snow. The third time there has been such a snow fall in twenty years. The city shut down, along with our service projects. Instead, we watched a documentary about the earthquake and took a tour of the city. We had a review session for our final the next day.
We made a snowman.

We named him Sean. He had a mohawk.

I ate dinner at the accommodations, then walked to town and had a lovely lemon tart while the rest of my group ate dinner.

It had a nice berry compote.