Back in New Zealand!

We are back to Christchurch. We landed last night and for the first time in 31 days, we saw the darkness of the night. I was happy with the smell in the air, and seeing plants again!

It’s a bitter sweet feeling to be back to “reality”, I have been missing my husband and being able to communicate with my family but the idea of not knowing when I will be back in such a special place is hard to grasp. What’s especially hard is the thought that we will never be together as the group again. Last night we had dinner together in the hotel, almost all of us, but after this morning the good byes don’t have an expiry date. The so familiar faces and personalities will once again be spread all around the world and we can only hope that we will catch up sometime in the future in a conference or otherwise.

My flight leaves tomorrow (08/Feb/2018) at 12 pm. This morning, after I re-packed all my bags, Tess came to pick me up so I could see their house and cats. I finally saw her gorgeous garden and I even ate one of her famous tomatoes. I also got to meet Jamie and they took me for a little tour of the area. It was great to see Christchurch!

We had dinner in the CBD, and I also met Tess’ friend Miguel! It was a relaxing day with great people! It will be hard to say good bye to Tess in the morning!

Thank you, Tess and Jamie, for being such amazing hosts! I hope I will get to see you soon!

Christchurch has changed since the last time I have been here in 2013. The containers mall is now closed, and a lot of the buildings have been demolished. There are still signs of the earthquake and the Cathedral, for example, is still half destroyed.

It’s weird to be back in a city again, and I think it will be even stranger to be back in Pullman. Suddenly, Antarctica now feels like a dream that I had.