Soccer, Rugby, Surfing, Carnival

Been keeping pretty active and busy lately. Started playing soccer with some co-workers at lunchtime on Mondays and Wednesdays to keep active and get in some exercise. My legs are starting to feel stronger (and sorer) from running around at ultimate frisbee and now soccer. Also I went to my first Rugby game ever... it was the local new zealand team "The Hurricanes" versus Australian "Brumbies" (wild horses). It was quite the experience, a bit short, but cool. We got some good seats and watched as the Hurricanes won at the last possible buzzer second by one point (11 to 10). It was quite exciting as the whole stadium pretty much exploded. A weird thing we learned was that the goals they score are called tries. So this little girl was holding up a big yellow sign that said "TRY!!!"... We totally thought the sign was being pretty lame and disheartening, until we found out a try is the best thing you can get in the game. Anyways, here's some pics from the night and then the belgian pub we went to afterwards, where they rocked the 80's hits on the keytar, guitar and keyboard!

The next morning, I got up bright and early, cooked myself an egg mcmuffin sandwich (minus the Mc and the sausage patty), and got myself psyched up on learning how to surf in Lyall Bay (over in Tom's hood). Mark was kind enough to let us borrow his boards and Kev and I headed over to the bay at around 10:30. The waves were kind of flat when we got there but at around 11:30 some decent sized waves came through - they weren't too big, but perfect for learning. Kevin had surfed a year ago before, but he was pretty new at it, and he actually stood up 5 or 6 times. Tom was a good instructor but Kevin the snowboarding master is a natural. I managed to finally understand body surfing by the end of our run in the water. Couldn't actually stand up but that's what next time is for! Also my ribs were sore as hell the next day from lying on the board and paddling. Well let's just say my "abs" were sore. Because I have so many of them. And they are so defined. Ha. Ha ahaha.

Later that night, the Cuba Street Carnival was well under way and we cruised over to Jose's apartment via bus because we knew the parking would be horrendous in town from the carnival (closed streets for the parades and concert). The sad thing was the first bus driver, we'll call him Grumpy McGrumperson, rejected us because we had brought coca-cola cans onto the bus when we walked on. He said "No drinks on the bus" and just as we walked off to put our drinks away, he drove off. Just like that. Coke! But no matter, we caught the next one and the bus driver was nicer. It was great because the carnival rates for the bus was one dollar. When we finally got there, we were stunned by Jose's dead center view of the concert stage from his flat. It was a good night, finished it off with an awesome kiwi breakfast at Floriditas. Poached eggs on toast with sausages and "rocket fuel sauce"...strange, not like tabasco, like I thought it'd be...but sweeter. Here were pics from that night.