Rugby and the Zoo: November 18-19

Saturday: November 18

Saturday afternoon was pretty uneventful. I spent most of the day updating and uploading photos to my blog. I also got to hang clothes on the outdoor clothesline. I had been talking about doing it for four days so needless to say, I was pretty excited to try it out. Marie got a kick out of it.

Saturday night Marie, Romain, Lasse, Raoul, Marcel and I went to a rugby game. My very first one! New Zealand Kiwis vs. Fiji. The Kiwis lost, but it was still a fun event to go to.

I loved the friendly sportsmanship between both teams. There were several Fiji fans there, in fact a group of them were in front of us. A guy out of the group got really excited and swore a bit. Right after his episode, he turned around and genuinely apologized to everyone behind him that may have heard. Then at the end of the game, after the official loss, EVERYONE clapped. Even the hardcore Kiwi fans behind us. Sure they were disappointed, but it didn’t stop them from clapping for both teams. I thought it was respectable.

Sunday: November 19

Today was another lazy morning, but I did play some ping pong with Raoul and Lasse. I may have pulled a muscle or two.

Later on, Marie, Franzi, Lasse, and I went to the Wellington Zoo. They have various animal feeding times throughout the day that are pretty intimate. We saw a penguin (thought of you Tiffy), lion, and red panda feeding.

We also went to a section of the zoo that is dedicated to “friendly neighbors” which are animals from Australia. It was neat because most of the animals you could get up close and personal with. I got a shot with an emu and a kangaroo! I think I had a connection with the emu. I also thought kangaroos were supposed to be aggressive, but these guys were friendly.