Dunedin

Did the five-hour haul from Christchurch to Dunedin yesterday after Shabbat services... let me tell you, Shabbat in a place called Christchurch is kind of ironic.  At least I thought so.  The Jews there call it the "Canterbury Hebrew Congregation" I guess to avoid the obvious and amusing contradiction in nomenclature.  I would have liked going to services in a place called the Christchurch Synagogue.  Too bad.

Anyway, so I went, and I was literally one of four people there.  It looks like the Christchurch congregation, like a lot of the other synagogues I've been to on this trip, has seen better days.  Services lasted an hour or so-- it was a chazzan from Hungary, a businessman from Holland, and an elderly kiwi with the keys to the place.  And me.

So I hit the road not long after that and made it all the way down to Dunedin with only a quick stop in Oamaru.  Pretty boring drive through cow fields and sheep... could have just as easily been driving up to Colgate.  Got in here, only to find that my roommate was the sort of guy that people like me and Sean Hannity pray not to get.  Long hair, smelled like shit, cranking Jane's Addiction and playing along with his guitar (poorly).  He works for Greenpeace (not kidding) as a fundraiser for the guys who go out and wreck whaling ships and stuff.  Sweet.  Seriously.  I was still in my oxford and khakis from Shabbat services, and it was right around the time he started talking about the poetry he writes (in his leather-bound, pentagram-adorned book with "Book of Shadows" across the cover... also not kidding) that I really just wanted to shout that I would probably be voting for George W. Bush as a write-in in 2008 just to see what would happen.  I restrained myself, and went downstairs to find dinner.

Lucky I did, because I met an American girl from Colorado in the lobby named Lindsey.  We went to dinner (Mexican) and then hung out in the bar she works at.  It was a fun time-- good way to see a bit of Dunedin-- and when I got back, Rain Meadow (or whatever his name is) was already asleep.

So that's that.  Gonna do a bit of walking around the city today-- weather's sunny and warm-- and then probably do some grilling tonight with Lindsey and some girl from Oregon.

Mishka: got your text, don't know if you were able to get mine back.  I'll try you later.