Thank you for the folks that follow our blog and that have taken the time to email us. We are home, safely in Red Deer, Alberta. We have been here for over a week. It is a very odd feeling to have been walking through Christchurch and the Canterbury area not quite 2 weeks ago, given the drama that has unfolded with this intense earthquake yesterday. New reports suggest as many as 300 people may have died.
For up to ate info, please follow the NZ Herald website:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
Christchurch is dubbed the garden city. It is a wonderful city of about 450,000 people. Imagine the feel of Vernon, BC mixed with San Francisco. A small town that grew large, with small shops and perpetual gardens and parks. A very nice feel. Mix in a bustling city center that mixed old brick and mortar buildings built 200+ years ago with the new, stylish architecture that blended well with the tradition of the city. If we were to ever move to NZ, Christchurch would definitely be a major component of our lives.
We were more than thrilled to wake to the telephone ringing at 2:30 am last night. Our friends, their families, and others living outside the quake zone are all well. Serge & Sharron were sitting in a coffee shop, having just sat down when it hit. Within seconds their coffees were emptied by the quake. The building they were in is fine, though neighbouring ones were not. As they worked their way through the city, aftershocks hit, making their car jump up and down "like a kangaroo". They are safe.
It is a very odd feeling to know the region well, having spent 2 - 3 months each year there. In a perfect world, we would hop a plane next week, once things settle down, just to help even one family get their life back in order, even to help patch a roof, provide hope, anything. It just isn't sitting right with me as I type this. For as much as I am Canadian, I feel as strongly for New Zealand.
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