Christchurch

I made a surprise trip to Christchurch for my Dad's birthday. You can read about my adventure getting to the airport over at Cycling in Auckland.

Here is the moment of surprise!

intense moment of wishing

The next day I joined the student army for seven back-breaking hours of shoveling liquifaction out from some backyards in a badly hit neighborhood. This pile alone took four hours to collect with 13 people working nonstop! This stuff is as heavy as concrete. Very sore shoulders and hands for the next few days.

I also accompanied by brilliant sister Naomi on a scientific reconnaissance mission to document the impact of the raw sewage flowing into the streams. She made me feel very important!

We also took a day trip up past Hanmer Springs. Here's an extremely successful attempt to look happy:

Here's my dad trying to skip a stone, but I only see one splash....hmm.

Because my shoulder was already sore and strained from my day shoveling, I somehow managed to pull my shoulder even worse skipping stones. A very manly injury.

Back in Auckland I had three days spending time with my old teacher from Boston, Daniel Katzen. Lessons, masterclasses, sectionals, and smiles all around!

My fantastic horn section in the APO: Nicola, Emma, Simon, and David. This was lunch after our final sectional with Danny. Why are we all smiling so nicely? Because the photographer said a dirty word. Funny every time!

-Carl