Aotearoa 10 - Small Town

Jan. 28, 2007: Franz Josef Glacier

Today was a nice, relaxing day for me. The Poons left early to go climb on the glacier. Unfortunately, I had a *very* tight budget, and had to choose between that and other activities. You had to have a guide to go on the glacier. It was too dangerous without one. Apparently it's really hard work to be a glacier guide - you have to cut the trail, literally....with an ice pick. When they got back they said it was really neat, lots of fun and definitely worth doing.

While they were away I stayed in the room a while just reading and relaxing. Around lunch time I decided to walk into town. It's so safe here, I wasn't afraid of walking alone in a strange place. I passed the community school, which was a tiny one-room (maybe two?) school house. At any rate, you could tell that they fit several grades into the same room. They say they're always looking for more teachers, though. :)

In town I first found the two local churches. The community here is so small (and probably so few people go to church) that they don't have services every week. So this Sunday, instead of going to church, I only go to see the insides of these churches - one Catholic, and one Anglican. I said a prayer in each, and "played" a little on the small bellows organ. It worked! :) While I was inside the Anglican church it started raining a little, so I left.

I passed a trail on the way back to town, so I decided to see where it led. It was called the "Terrace Walk" and it was nice, but more of what I'd already seen (beech forests). By the time I got back to the trail head it was raining a little more, so I ducked into a book shop. I found this very interesting: there were no Bibles in the whole store. It's okay to sell books that say there is no God, but not okay to sell Bibles? Is there something wrong with this picture or is it just me?

Went next door to a little cafe to get lunch. It was either this café next door to the book store, or walk out of my way to an Indian restaurant. I would've liked the Indian restaurant, but the café was closer and it kept raining.

I tried to wait a little for the rain to die down, but eventually decided I had to just go. I walked home in the rain, which I usually love, but this was a cold rain, which isn't as much fun. Oh well, I still enjoyed it. :) It actually got a lot worse after I was back at our room where it was comfy and warm inside.

I think one of the things that I liked a lot about being in a "western" country was the music selection. I was tired of hearing the same Chinese songs over and over and over again on the radio. It was nice to hear the selection at the grocery stores, even if the music was a little dated. Still classic! (and still sweet music to my ears after only Chinese pop for so long)