New Zealand: Day 2

DAY 2
   Crawled out of bed around 7 am and did a little exercise in my room before heading to breakfast at 8 am. Remember how I said their dairy products were amazing? Well I had their yogurt with some delicious granola and have definitely found y breakfast of choice for this trip.
   So they are an English speaking country but have different names and meanings for things. For instance, coffee:
          Short balck = shot of espresso
          Long black = espresso + water
          Flat white = espresso + water + milk not cream
               Very confusing!
   After breakfast we headed to the Commerce Building for our first lecture. First, Neil Gow gave us a quick overview of NZ discussing government, market environment, similarities and differences compared to U.S., a briefing on its ag, anfd some challenges they face. It was an intersting way to start and learn how globally focused they are in knowing what is happening in the U.S., EU, and China. Why is it so important to be keyed in? Well, considering that exports are their life blood, especially ag and tourism, they need to keep a competitive edge.
   They focus the market on value adding and productivity. By using technology they can disregard the distance factor i.e. chilled containers for dairy and meat. 90% of dairy products are exported!
   Moving onto the agriculture sector they look at productivity by utilizing low cost ruminant based livestock systems. By that we mean they utilize their year round pasture grass to harvest the sunlight in turn for a protein source rather than grain. Also, due to their climte, there is no need to house animals. There are enough trees and hedges (P.S. trees galore, such variety and all intermingled) to shelter the animals and homes from the wind and weather.
   There is one thing chaniging how pastures are kept and that is irrigation. We havea later lecture that will go into further detail of this topic. It is interesting because its not for crops like us because 3/4 of the farming land is grassland.
   He left us with these challenges NZ is facing: exchane rate, productivty and income equality (min. wage =$13.75, there us no tipping and sales tax is inluded), productive land use especially dairying, meat industry, water, energy  and oil, sustainability and "greening", and dealings with China. All of these will be discussed throughout our trip. During his lecture and just in observation, ag is HUGE here and the citizens are aware of its importance. Wish that was the case back home.
   Next, Dr. Greg Ryan gave us a quick overview of New Zealand history.  He discussed how it was first influenced by Polynesians and the Maori were the natives. They hunted a lage, docile mammal bird type animal called the Moa to extinction. This is a culture that still exists and one we wil havd the opportunity to experience. The Maori soon became outnumbered by Europeans and NZ really took off during the gold rush period of 1852-1868. Gold and wool were major exports in its early years.
   After Dr. Ryan's lecture we had a quick lunch before heading into Christchurch. Our bus driver Ted gave us a bus tour on our way into town and pointed out the main attractions in the City Centre (CBD= city business district).
   The Feb. 22, 2011 earthquake really rocked the city centre's world. It is heartbreaking seeing all of the condemned buildings still standing with continuous construction.
   The unique thing is how the locals tried to make the best out of the disaster. Groups started "greening the rubble" to help keep the memories and be optimistic about the future they would take old, recycled materials and make like statue gardens out of it. These are in areas where buildings used to be.
   As I mentioned, there are a lot of buildings still standing from nearly 3 years ago and it us because it is such a long process to tear down. Since buildings are so close here that they can't simply bulldoze or blow them up like we do. They have take to take them down, piece by piece.
   Christchurch sure has some stories to tell. The Cathedral was a building destroyed in the quake where many lives were lost. Shortly after the quake, a young architect wanted to help and try his new idea. He built what is called the "cardboard cathedral" as a temporary replacement. The structure is made completely out of cardboard that will last for roughly 20 years. How cool! I plan to visit it during a free day along with the world's ONLY container mall. Yes, it is an outdoor mall made out if refurbished shipping containers.
   Ted dropped us off for 2 hours if frer time by the city musuem and botanical garden. Katie. Kinsey, LaNae, and I roamed around the gardens. It wad a huge park withq a duerse display of trees and flowers. Baiscally everything is in bloom right now and I captured a bunch of great photos. It was simply breathtaking all of God's and nature's magnificent creations.
   Us four decided that at every major stop we would take what we coined a "boy band" photo. Yeah, we are weird but it will make for a fun and interesting photo book with many stories.
   At 4 pm we headed to the Riccarton mall for an hour. It is owned by Westfield, same company as the O street mall in Lincoln. How ironic! Didnt recognize many of the stores but good fashion!
   We arrived back at LU around 5:30 where I went to Wi-Fi and uploaded a few photos and visited with friends. Ate dinner at 6:30 and have been journaling since. Weny to bed early at 9:30 in preparations for the New Year's Eve festuvities in Hagley Park.
   Oh a few last observations I have made. Tyre = tire and there are a lot of vehicles running around also driving on the left side instead of the right, but there are very few pick up trucks. We drove by a Ford dealership where typically we see trucks and trucks but we only saw a few.
   Very intersting in comparison to how we all have been brouhgt up and how similar yet very different each country can be.