Abe and Erin’s travels

The plan today was to go for a scuba dive off of Island bay with the dive club associated with Splash Gordon Dive Shop.  Unfortunatly, the time changed from noon to 9am and I was out of the loop!  The guy was nice and offered to take me out on the weekday if the conditions were good – o well.  Time seems to be running short – and I havn’t spent nearly enough in the ocean!  More reason to return!

I love Saturdays!  We slept in, and went to a favorite cafe, where I had the salmon eggs benidict. 

Rashmi took us to a Hindu Temple, which was very beautiful.  Inside the temple are different statues representing some of the Hindu Gods.  Outside of the temple, but in the building was the busy preparations for an Indian wedding.  Flowers and all kinds of symbols adorned the center area of the building – I wish I could be a fly on the wall for the actual ceremony (it would be cool to see all the traditions and festivities).

We changed gears big time and piled onto a crowded bus that was heading into town for the Rugby game.  The Wellington Hurricains versus the Chiefs.  A very nice High Schooler chatted with us and tried to answer our questions about the game.  We were a little nervous about finding out where the stadium was, but it really was as simple as following the huge mass of people. 

Here are some shots of the stadium going into the game and comming out:

      

Carrie and Rashmi scored some great seats – we were 1st row right on the mid line.  You could hear the pop as these beohmiths collided with each other.  Gotta love the brutality of rugby! 

     

I quickly bought the “4 beer max per person” carrier and proceded to chow on a stale hamburger and tastey chips. Carrie wasnt far behind and we were soon ooohing and aaahing with the crowd with gusto.  I ended up badgering the poor guy behind me and asking what was going on.  Admittatily, I have no further understanding of how Rugby is played then before the game – but I had a hell of a time!!

One thing that was radically different than the usual American football or baseball game is the complete lack of announcer commentary in the stadium.  The stadium gets hushed waiting for a play to happen and erupts in noise when something does happen (if you blink you could miss a big play).  Those moments of quite intent in a stadium full of people is different that what I am accustomed to.  It was cool.

THe Hurricains handed the Chief’s asses to them – the game was a blow out.  On the bus ride back I was sitting with a group of Chief’s fans (face paint and Tui sombraro’s to boot).  Their mood was festive and everyone was pretty loose and having a good time.  The Hurricaine and Chief’s fans were giving one another a hard time (I was asked who I was for and had to commit to the Hurricaines – incurring a large amount of razzing from the last 2 rows Chiefs fans on the bus). 

On a side note: I got called a “stupid American” by one of the drunk Chiefs fans (much to the embarassment of some of her friends and the small group of folks sitting around us).  It was the first time since being here that I had been generalized as just another narrow minded stupid American (this happened when I traveled Eruope in 1998).  I was more suprized at the other people’s response in the bus – they were genuinly embarassed.  I know that American’s reputations abroad have deterioated in the last 6 years, and I expected to recieve more anti-american prejeduce than just the one comment in over 6 weeks.

I certianly hope that I have been the kind of traveler that is open minded and welcoming of new experiences that a different culture/nation has to offer.  I think I am that kind of traveler – If not I’d like to know. I’m just thinking the most simple solution is the most likely – she was probably just pissed that the Chiefs lost so bad!!

 

 

I finished up with Hutt hospital today - I really enjoyed meeting the folks at the hospital.  They are the nicest group of people! 

Richard and Robyn took me out to dinner with a group of health care workers (some retired ... [Continue reading this entry]

Uneventful day - work was good.  Just a mellow evening with pasta and internet!  The twins are at their first yoga class.  I pretty sore from running to Fisherman's Table last night so I sat this one out.

I had my tatoo consult with Manu today.  He did a rough outline on my calf - the piece is going to be REALLY big!  I'm so pumped!      [Continue reading this entry]

Rashmi jinxed us with the prediciton that because we had today off it would rain all day (yesterday was perfect).  And yes it has been raining all day.  I've had a chance to catch up on the blog and the ... [Continue reading this entry]

After work went to Little India for our favorites: Malai Kofta, Bengali Fish and scrumptious Naan.  We stopped by Espressoholic (were they serve beer too) and enjoyed some drinks and great conversation. A trip to Wellington wouldn't have been complete without ... [Continue reading this entry]

Richard was kind enough to pick us up and give us a indivdualized Kiwi tour of the Wiarapa!  We started at 9am and did a quick drive around Miramar.  Before we left Wellington we stopped by parliment and took some ... [Continue reading this entry]

It was Erin's NZ Birthday today - I slept in and chatted with her for a little while. We went to the Ocean fRestuaraunt for a wonderful lunch - Don wasn't there but the food was great as usual.  We made ... [Continue reading this entry]

Work was going fine until I checked my email  - Erin discovered that someone got a hold of our visa #!!  They charged $800 to a Wallmart in New Jersey.  We don't know exactaly how they got the info but ... [Continue reading this entry]