USA v Italy match
The week started out on the right foot when Monday morning the big bosses’ office at City Council was decorated floor to ceiling in red white and blue…everyone was preparing for the USA v Italy match on Tuesday night. No, John and I were not the decorating culprits – it was another American couple who work at council that took on the mission (we think). To this day star confetti is found strewn about the council building. If that didn’t get you in the mood for some good old USA cheering on Tuesday night, I don’t know what else could have. Shannon promptly headed down to the dollar store to pick up some costumes for the match the following night. See below.
Yes, we were head to toe 100% American Rugby fans running around Nelson in our American flag capes and painted faces. When we were done eating our BIG American burger and fish & chips pre-match, we looked at the clock and realized if we didn’t book it, we were going to miss the opening ceremony and the national anthem. Well, we missed it, however – we wouldn’t let our tardiness deny us the right to hear the star spangled banner sung on New Zealand soil, so…as we ran (capes waving in the breeze) through the deserted streets of the CBD, we serenaded (mostly ourselves) by belting out the USA national anthem (poorly we might add). We’ve never felt so patriotic.
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| The closest John had to a patriotic shirt. |
We finally made it through the gates at Trafalgar Park to see a very exciting game of well-fought international rugby. The crowd, who were for the most part comprised of Kiwi’s, dressed up in either US or Italian colors rooted mainly for the Italians in the first 20 min. Supposedly Nelson has the largest percentage of people with Italian heritage, thus one of the reasons Nelson was host city to the Italian team. As the game went on the crowd swayed in favor of the US team (not just because American’s are awesome) but because the Eagles put on a damn good show. They played tough through the first half, 40 min, and in the second half Italy proved to be the better team and defeated the Eagles. After the game we headed out to have drinks with what seemed the whole stadium of people and enjoyed chatting up the locals while wearing our stars and stripes proudly.
The next day we had off (well planned) and enjoyed the beach, sun and warm weather.
If everything in Kiwiland wasn’t already fantastic enough…Scallop Season is upon us and it is a delicious time of year. John made friends with a guy during his ski trip who has a boat he takes out and dredges for scallops, each person in the boat can harvest 50 a day. After skiing John rightly told him how much I love scallops and offered to trade him for some beer from the brewery, he said for sure, beer is a great tradable commodity. We took the opportunity to make a great seafood linguine with scallops, monk fish and a variety of veggies. In NZ they eat their scallops (pronounce scOllops, not scAAlops) with the orangish roe sack still attached, much better idea, great flavor.
Russia v Aussie Match
The rest of the week flew by as we were preoccupied with anticipation of the Russia v Aussie match on Saturday. The match was fun and exciting but not as thrilling as the US match. The general rule in New Zealand is that you’re born and bred an All Blacks fan, and if you aren’t cheering for the All Blacks, you’re cheering for the team that’s playing the Aussies. There were plenty of Russian supporters, who despite the showing on the field, cheered them on happily. Aussie routed Russia and should have called in the 10-run rule several times. We were able to pack in a great lunch to the game and sit on the grass embankment. It was a fun time until the rain started in the second half, at which point in time we headed for shelter in a bar connected with John’s work, free beer, wine and food, what could be better.
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| Trafalgar Park - Russia v Aussie |
We celebrated the next day with a lazy College Football Sunday in NZ. Yes, we get ESPN here and are able to watch College football on Sunday, Sunday night football on Monday and sometimes Monday night football on Tuesday. We also get to see the MLB postseason, which the Dodgers are going all the way this year. This is Shannon’s favorite time and looks forward to it every chance she gets. It’s hard to pull her away from her American sports, especially the BSU highlights. (This was obviously a John paragraph).
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| One of the large format art installations for RWC - a Maori Warrior, Council clock tower to the left. |
The following week was a little bittersweet at Council, as Saturday was the last match scheduled for RWC in Nelson. The team was a mixture of relief, accomplishment and exhaustion but at the end of the day everyone felt great about how well the sunshine capitol of New Zealand was able to put on 3 seamless matches for the third largest tournament in the world. A job well done. Thankfully for me, there’s plenty more to do to wrap up the project and on top of working on the final reporting for RWC, I have been asked to develop the scope and budget for the FIFA U20 World Cup Bid that is planned for New Zealand in 2015. A very exciting opportunity that 1. keeps me working a little longer than originally planned and 2. keeps my budgeting skills sharp! All in all the Council job has proved to be a wonderful part of the New Zealand experience, one that I am sure to remember for a long time to come.
The week seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye and before we knew it, it was the weekend again. With so much rugby and shenanigans having taken over our lives the 2 weeks prior, we decided to stay pretty low key, enjoying some on and off nice weather and a day trip to Rabbit Island, complete with cribbage, a walk along the beach and the last bag of Goldfish crackers we had left from our care package. However, the biggest, most exciting part of our weekend, was booking plane tickets home for Christmas! No, your eyes don’t deceive you, we will be arriving in Bozeman on December 13th and staying through the new year, heading back to Kiwiland on January 1st. As excited as we were to spend Christmas day at the beach, there’s just something not right about summertime Santa Clause. As most of you are probably aware, booking a flight internationally is difficult enough, but when your travel is planned around the holidays it takes the challenge to a whole different level. It took a good 5 hours of back and forth research between websites, and of course, some spreadsheet cost analysis courtesy of Shannon…but we were able to get it figured out, booked and are very excited to be with family over the holidays.
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| Meet our flatmates...Rose and Simba (in the background) |
That’s about it for the past two weeks…coming up for us, Oktoberfest (John in lederhosen...yes Bayern Crew, photos to come), FIFA budgeting for Shannon, concerts, barbies (not the dolls), fanzones and RWC wrap parties – including the final…here’s to hoping for an All Black win!
Cheers,
John and Shannon
Some awesome Kiwi phrases painted on a barrier wall at an art exhibition running for the Arts Festival.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Barz...wanted to give a shout out to my Daddio for taking such good care of the Xterra while I'm away. I just found out she has a garage for the winter! Thanks Daddio xoxo
