Kiwistopher: Rugby World Cup!

As you may know, today was the opening of the Rugby World Cup. The opening ceremony started at 3pm down at the water front. The police closed off the streets with blockades. There were people running around everywhere, wearing flags as capes and being ridiculous. The most intense people were the Tongans. They were terrible at Rugby but they definitely had the most spirit. Chanting and screaming their national anthem as well as taunting other team fans!

At the beginning of the ceremony, each team in the cup has a waka. Waka is the maori word for canoe, so each team had a representative canoe for their country. This ritual was to welcome the other countries to New Zealand and to wish them luck. About 600 maori warriors rode in the wakas and afterwords, they did the Haka on the street. I couldn't really see the haka because there were too many people in front of me but I tried to take a few pictures and videos.

After the haka we to a thai restaurant that had just opened. It was perfect timing. Other than the comfy seats to rest my tired legs, the food was alright at best and the service was not great. After that, we walked to a pub to hang out and chill by the waterfront. There, we had one beer and then chatted until the fireworks started at 7pm.

The fireworks were amazing. They were shooting off of the Tower in Auckland city as well as over the water. I got some good photos of that and I hopefully plan on putting some online tomorrow afternoon while at a cafe or something, seeing how the internet at home isn't very fast.

I cannot tell you how many hammered people, as well as ambulances, I saw tonight. People who had no idea where they were or probably who they even were!

After the fireworks, we found a small bar along the water that was showing the game on a large projector. There I met some Americans who were actually teachers at local schools! It was a young couple who had just been married out of the peace corps and moved to Auckland. They were representing USA in the rugby cup even though they know that they are going to lose. The guy (adam) was wearing an american flag as a cape haha. He was quite cool. His wifes name was Sarah and we talked about how different the education system is in New Zealand compared to at home. She told me that students get to pick the classes they want to study in high school, the same way we get to pick what we want to do in college. It was insane!

So we watched the game. The game was Tonga vs. New Zealand. New Zealand beat the Tongas 41-10. It was a blow out!! It was fun to watch on a big screen too. After the game finished, about 10:30ish, we started to head home. I had to grab my bag from rachels homestay. We began to walk but Brett came and picked us up and drove us there. Brett is business partners with rachels homestay day, so it made the trip home quite easy.The roads were very busy.