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Craziness in Christchurch

Greetings everyone! Haha. First off lets talk about the happy things in life. I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH ESSAYS! Yaaaaaaaay. Now all I have to do is re-read everything for the semester and I’ll be good for finals… and traveling in the meantime. Stay tuned.

I decided to start off my newfound freedom by going on a road-trip with some friends up to Christchurch for the South Island Salsa Competition. My friends Katerina and Andy are competing in the under 1 year and Intermediate brackets (respectively) so the three of us, plus our friend Keith, decided to come up early and dance away the weekend. We had a blasty blast. The dancing in Christchurch is pretty good. It’s not Steven’s Steakhouse, but I mean, lets be honest, who can top Steven’s Steakhouse, much less Break on 2’s USC Salsa Nights? That bar really is too high hahahaha. Sooooo let me break it down for ya, starting with Thursday.

Thursday

• Start road-trip at around 2.30. Kate and I are in and out of consciousness in the back seat because we are so tired from life in general. We get to Christchurch around 7, and get to our “apartment” which is in between a hostel and a really nice hotel. Check in, then go find a kebab place to eat at because I am on the verge of killing something I am so hungry. Then we get ready for Salsa dancing at Base, which, if you are ever in Christchurch, you HAVE to go to on Thursday nights. It was so so so much fun. They have salsa in the main room and zouk in the smaller room. It started off kind of slow but then really picked up. I danced with Reuben, an instructor who owns a studio out here, and he was a great lead. If I weren’t so tired (because I’m out of shape) it would’ve been better. But we danced Pantera mambo and another really good song together. He is shorter than you are in flat anya haha but the man can dance! And I also met Andrew from Czech Republic who was a very good dancer, Maya you would LOVE his style of dancing. I kept thinking of how well you would dance with him if you were here. And there was also Gael from France, who is actually one of the best bachateros out here, and KeAndra your style of dancing would go well with his, he just loves to have fun with the beat in salsa, and he is easily 6’2” or taller, which is really nice. And I danced the coolest/ most amazing/ phenomenally styled cha-cha of my life (if I do say so myself) with the “Leading Bachata Dancer in New Zealand” aka the guy who represents Bachata dancing abroad for NZ, Malrico. Because my cha-cha was so amazing with him, and everyone kept talking about his bachata skills, I thought the bachata would be good, but I was pretty disappointed. Gael was a much better bachata lead. But I was invited to Malrico’s potential Bachata Festival at the beginning of November, so we shall see. I might go if I can teach so I can cover the cost of a trip back up here. But anyways, there were a few other dancers that were good but I don’t remember their names/ they weren’t amazing enough to be blogged haha. Just kidding! Everyone was really nice and I had a blast.

Friday

• We wake up at a decent hour and head out to Cathedral Square where Kate (a.k.a. Loca) and I connected to the Internet and took care of some business. Then Kate had to go meet a friend of hers for lunch and the guys and I headed to Andy’s aunt’s farm, which was really nice, and his aunt and her two little boys were hilarious. Before we headed up though the guys discovered that if I don’t eat within a certain period of time I get snappy and irritating/ed hahaha so they rushed to a grocery store where there were delicious samples to eat and I bought an orzo/chorizo/spinach salad, which was delicious… I really want some right now actually. Oh, and chocolate was on sale so I bought three 85% bars. But anyways! At Andy’s aunt’s farm we talked about the earthquakes and how everyone was getting old. Except me of course, because I am always the baby in the salsa scene hahaha, and Iam very happy to be young and 21. We start to head back because we plan to go see Reuben’s Salsa Latina Dance Studio, but on the way back he texts us and tells us to stop by later. I think it’s because he was getting some of the flooring or mirrors or something delivered. So anyways we head back to the hotel, and I figure I’ll take a nap before we head out because we have like 2 hours. I ended up passing out for a good four hours!! Haha. I woke up just in time to get ready for salsa. Kate had come back to the room sometime during my slumber and we woke up around the same time and started to get ready. I didn’t put much effort in because I was still waking up and let’s be honest, no one to really impress over hurr. Loca took a good 30-40 minutes though. So we finally get to Hotel Ibis, which is about 3 blocks from our hotel, and it’s a $5 entry fee (LAME!) but whatever we get in there and start to dance. Its ok, but for the most part the music selection is not great. HOWEVER, about ¾ of the way through the night there is a Jack and Jill contest to win tickets to the South Island competition the next day, and you have to dance it with someone you have never danced with before.I don’t want to spend money, so I get in the middle of the dance floor and another guy walks out and asks to dance with me, and 5 other couples slowly make their way out to the floor. So the music starts and I am a totally show pony, dancing the flashiest LA style salsa that I can. Then the music stops and my partner and I make it to the next round. So I figure I have to kick it up a notch if I really want this ticket, and pull out basically all of the styling I have ever learned. I was EXHAUSTED after this dance. And we won! J See mom, salsa comes in handy… it saves me money hahaha. So I was very happy and I go to put my ticket in my purse and girls form the kids team that is scheduled to compete the next day, all crowd me and start freaking out about my dancing, which was very humbling ironically, and I literally almost cried because they were so cute and excited about my dancing and I seriously don’t think I’m that great of a dancer (it’s kind of hard when you are best friends with one of the cockiest Italians in LA that also happens to be one of the best lead and follows in the salsa/ bachata scene haha) so it was very very sweet of them. ANYWAYS! The night continues to be kind of uneventful, but I was so happy that I had won the ticket that I had such a good time.

• Then Loca wants to head back to Club Base, because they are playing some version of techno/ drum&bass/ electronic music (I can’t distinguish the difference, sorry kids), and because she is competing the next day we all decide to go along with it so that she can release her nerves. Gael and Pipita join us, and we all just kind of hang out as we are not electronic enthusiasts, but Loca has a GREAT time on the dance floor, which is what mattered. Then we headed to BK, I think, to get food because we were starving, where I met Gael’s friend from Mexico. So I was eating a post Salsa snack with a Russian, Frenchman, Kiwi, and a Mexican. Can you say…. Diversitaaaaay? Haha then we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday

• We get up later, have a mini breakfast (If you can even call it that, it really was more of a snack) and head out to Cathedral Square to meet Jethro (Kate’s dance partner) and Josie.. It is here that I introduced the group to “flash salsa,” aka turning on your own salsa music and dancing wherever you are, usually in a very public place. So I start to lead Kate and I have Jethro take over. And we all just have a blast. Tom and Sarah got into town around this time and so we all head back to the hotel and get everyone situated. Then we start to go shopping for outfits, because Jethro needed clothes for the competition, Josie wanted shoes and I needed something to wear, and I also had to get to a salon. While we are out I find an awesome dress for $15, which is unheard of for NZ. A decent and cheap dress here is like $30 if you’re lucky. So I was super happy, and I found a good salon/ spa close to the hotel. The group dropped me off and I had a nice stroll back to the hotel when I was done. Photo evidence below.
• Then we all crash and Kate, Jethro, Andy, and Sarah all get ready and leave around 6. And the rest of the group leaves around 7.30. When we get to the competition, the ushers sent us to the wrong auditorium so we completely missed Kate and Jethro’s competition!! I was pretty bummed. And then Andy and Sarah’s heat of competitors came on and they did great. But aside from seeing my friends compete, the competition in general was torture, especially the “pro” round. However the man that I won the J&J competition with the night before, won the pro-section of the competition for the whole South Island. So that was cool to know. But they just had amazing songs and horrible routines. It was pretty sad. But Kate and Jethro came in 3^rdand Andy and Sarah should have placed, but because of salsa politics (yay our favorite! Haha) they did not. So Lame. But whatever! I had to go back and put on shorts because my dress was ok… until I started dancing in it. Shocker! Then we all head to the after-party and dance the rest of our energy out. It was fun, but I think Base on Thursday nights was by far the best night. So then we head back to the hotel, keep dancing, because we are hyper zombies, and then Loca wants to head out to the club again. Do you understand why she has her nickname at this point? So Jethro and I head out with her to the club at like 3.30/ almost 4 AM and there is a cover charge. Really? So they walked me back to the hotel (after we seriously tried talking our way out of the cover) and then head back out until 7AM.

Sunday

• So we “wake up” really exhausted because we have to check out by 10, and are throwing all of our things into our bags. Then we have a nice “farewell brunch” for Tom and Sarah because they were headed off to live in South Carolina. (Best of luck guys!). And then Andy, Loca Kate and I walked around Christchurch which was very nice and sunny and got to see some of the art and a nice market and then Keith finally came to pick us up and we headed on back to Dunedin. We all stopped at Andy’s parent’s house and his mom made us the most amazing fresh scones I have ever eaten in my life. And pasta, and chicken, and salad. Basically it was phenomenal. And then we really got back to Dunedin where it was all rainy, compared to sunny sunny Chch.

Ultimately, it was a great and hilarious weekend that I am so glad I got to share with new and crazy friends haha. Sorry it took so long for me to post this! Hopefully I’ll be more up to date in the near future. Love you all! Happy Birthday week to my beautiful mother, mi primo Ramiro, Alberto, Carina, Catherine, Ismael, Kelsey and everyone else I am too tired to remember. Have a great weekend! Please pray for fair elections in Sudan in the near future, the miners in Chile, the Troops, and many other things going on in the world right now.

♥ 2 Corinthians 5:7