From the land of Marmite and Mordor

Greetings form Christchurch, New Zealand

Made it into town yesterday afternoon and am now also a day into the future.  (That is right, it is already thursday here, and I can tell you that the Phillies Win!  woo hoo).

The flights were extraordinarily long this year as we were routed all the way through Sydney Australia.  This meant a 14+ hour flight from LA....all while sitting next to TWO small infants.  You can guess how that experience went.

I fought off the jetlag successfully and stayed awake until about 8:30 pm before crashing, so I feel pretty good today.

Christchurch is beautiful.  I truly feel home when I'm here.  I would absolutely love to live here one day.  Everything about this city just feels right.  All the reasons that I didn't want to leave last year came back in full force this morning.   In fact....as I write this I'm now realizing that I should be out in the Botanical Gardens right now going for a run.

so ...

a parting, and poignant quote from the Robert Falcon Scott statue in downtown Christchurch:

"I do not regret this journey which shows

that Englishmen can endure hardships,

help one another, and meet death with

as great fortitude as ever in the past"

..and now off to run