Eid, Vegetarian Expo and Other Events

We keep finding lots to do in Christchurch.  Last Sunday we planned to go to the Vegetarian Expo, but then we found out about an Eid celebration happening at the same time.  So, we decided to go to both, taking the bus first to the Eid gathering, and then on to the Vegie Expo.

Eid ul-Adha is the Muslim holy day that concludes the act of pilgrimage to Mecca.  When we got to the Eid celebration, young children, prodded on by their elders, were re-inacting the pilgrimage, with lots of parents filming the action.  Pretty cute overall.  We bought some tasty food, looked at exhibits and continued on to the veggie expo.

Sibgha gave Cindy a piece of candy

Muslim food stalls from many different countries in Asia and Africa

The Vegetarian Expo is a yearly gathering with food and information stalls, movies, speakers and cooking demonstrations.  We know some of the organizers from our last visit to Christchurch.  Here we listened to some talks, again bought food, and watched some cooking demonstrations.  We had signed on to help clean up afterwards – a huge task but with lots of people helping out, it went quickly.

Chef Budhsamudra from the Lotus Heart Vegetarian Restaurant

Earlier in the week we heard that Mark Gilbert, the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, would be speaking on campus, and the University was encouraging U.S. exchange students to attend.  We attended (they let in visiting U.S. faculty too) and enjoyed listening to his speech.  Mark is a former professional baseball player who obviously uses the teamwork, hard work ethic, and other skills that he learned in sports in his ambassador work.  The students appeared interested and asked good questions afterwards.

One of the nights we attended a performance by Jolt Dance – a dance group for disabled and non-disabled dancers.  We were really impressed by the choreography and the inclusion of all dancers.