No News is Good News

It has been a while since I have last written a post so I will try and re-cap on what has been happening in NZ.
Last weekend was alright. I stayed on campus and watched rugby on Saturday afternoon. I first watched the Lincoln Colts (U-21) and the Prem side play against Otago university. It was a trial game and there were not enough spots on the side so me and a couple of other guys were asked to sit it out but were guaranteed to play the next game on Wednesday. The colts lost 13-10 in a close game but the prem side got blown away by a really fit Otago team. So far all we do every practice is fitness training, which basically consists of various sprint drills for an hour straight. The speed of game here is a lot faster than the USA and since everyone has been playing since they were young handling is not worked on a lot, atleast not right now.
On Sunday I went with Nathan and Hannah to the Christchurch flower show, and it actually was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. They had some really cool exepidtions that made you feel like you were underwater or in a pretty magical forest. Later we went to Winnie Bagoes, probably the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to. They have a lot of gourmet pizzas like Thai Honey Chicken that include sweet sauce, baby corn, peppers, onions, chicken, and although it sounds really weird is absolutely amazing. I don't think I have ever eaten pizza slowly because I wanted to savour every taste, but this and other dishes I have tried like Cajun chicken pasta are all just as good.
The school week went well, not very exciting. We had a good inclass debate in Practice and Management of Organics, where we were split into two teams and had to debate whether Organics has a postive impact on the environment. We had been working in our respective teams for two weeks before but the debate was interesting and the pros and cons of both conventional and organic methods were all brought to life using academic research.
On Wednesday we had our last trial game against High School Old Boys, a club from Christchurch. I played half the game as a winger and I had an ok game, however I need to work on my belief that I really do belong out on the field with everyone else and not second guess myself because I have not been playing as long. We lost the game 30-10 however that is mostly due to them having a huge forward pack. One of their props was 6 foot 6 inches and weighed 286- 308 lbs or 130-140 kg. Although this guy looked like a giant obese baby he was really strong and mobile getting out to the wings and centers and yeah basically it was a bitch trying to tackle him. Each of his legs were the size of my waist. Anyways it was a good game and we learned a lot as a team.
Yesterday (Saturday March 21) Nathan and Lori and I went into Christchurch and spent the afternoon walking around the shops and just enjoying the day. Later that day we met up with the majority of our group and made our way to Winnie Bagoes. This was the third time I had been there and it is still amazing. Everyone really enjoyed their meals however Nathan, Brad, and I decided that we wanted to watch the new Underworld movie at the cinema in Riccerton, a suburb of CHCH. We made it to the bus exchange with 2 minutes to go, Brad with his pizza in a box, got the the cinema, waited in a long line, got our tickets, got to the theatre and only had to waita few minutes before the adverts started. Basically our timing was perfect. Unfortunately after the movie we realized we missed the bus back to Lincoln by 3 minutes and since the next bus arrived an hour later started walking back to lincoln. We walked for a good 5o minutes before we got to a suitable bus stop and took the bus back home. Over all a really good day.
Sunday: Had a 10 am morning practice today, as usual it was fitness, but overall it went well. We did a couple new drills that I am going to tell Coach back at Cornell about but otherwise nothing exciting. We find out on Tuesday which of the two colt teams we have made so hopefully everything works out.
So that is everything from me. Let me know how you are all doing and don't forget to write.
Cheers,
Benja