NZ 4 Rugby Life

Welcome back!

This episode has everything: Action, romance, adventure, comedy, tragedy...what else could you ask for?!

The action was fishing.
The romance was with a pizza.
The comedy was the romance with a pizza part.

Once again, I've taken a while to put together a blog and video. I'm pretty busy these days, so it's a little trickier to find time to knock these out. We can't sit on a beach in the Philippines forever...

This one was written/recorded over the six week span since my last entry, so some of it is a bit dated.  (For instance, this video shows me on crutches 5 weeks ago. I'm fully healed now.)
I hope to make future entries shorter and more frequent, to avoid the mammoth writing/reading effort these long ones require.

Plus it's kinda awkward if someone asks you, "Hey, how's it going out there?" and you say, "I jumped on a trampoline 4 weeks ago!"

Video Recap

Things that happened since last time:

• Played three rugby games!
• Jumped on a trampoline
• Helped remodel the clubrooms.
• Sac State Rugby is going to playoffs!
• Got in a car accident. I'm fine, Mother. It was a fender bender in a parking lot, and not my fault. It was a lousy tourist's fault. Damn foreigners!
• Got a flat tire on my motorcycle.
• It's officially Autumn.
• Helped some people move.
• Fell off my motorcycle. I'm fine, Mother. This time it was my fault.
• Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl.
• Got my forklift license.
• Went camping with the team.
• Drove a forklift.
• Seen way too many of my friends on the toilet via Snapchat.
• Mixed lots of cider.
• Read 1948, by Orwell. Some of his predictions are...frighteningly accurate. The NSA probably took some hints from this book.
• Got a new position at work.
• Moved 2200 pounds of sugar by hand in an hour.
• Asked really stupid questions.
• Ankle is healed enough to play again.
• Getting a reputation for eating a lot.
• Called one of my work tools a pig.
• Lost internet for 2 weeks.
• Stole internet from downstairs shop for 2 weeks.
• Gained more weight!
• Grew my bushy ginger beard out a bit.
• Shaved my ginger beard into handlebars.
• Hung out at a mansion.
• Earned a new nickname at work. "Muscles"
• Went to a wine and food festival.
• Still haven't played a video game since 6:25 pm, September 13th, 2015. Not counting or anything..
• Bought a nonstick frying pan.
• Learned how to push start a motorcycle.
• Cleaned my room. 
• Haven't returned my crutches to the hospital yet. 
• Killed a bug with my bare thigh cruising at 40mph.
• Went fishing on a Wednesday.
• Moved a spa.
• Helped break up a dog fight.
• Went spear fishing.
• Learned "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on the piano.

Rugby!

Trafalgar Park, in the heart of Nelson

As of this moment, we've had 1 preseason game and 2 regular season games, and have won all three!

Preseason game: We won 42-7. I started and played the full 80 minutes. Not my best showing, but it wasn't bad.

After my first 80 minutes of Kiwi rugby
It's a big jersey...

1st Regular Season Game: We won 33-22. I came off the bench for the last 20 minutes. I improved from the week before.

Gotta look sharp after the game

2nd Regular Season Game: We won 45-0. I started again, and got to play a full 80 minutes under the lights. Starting to get more comfortable - my best performance so far. Also got my team tie.

Team Tie

All three games I've played #6, the blind side flanker, and I also jump in the lineout.
I've made a few steals, tackled some people, hit a ton of rucks, and have a couple carries under my belt.

The rugby here is awesome! It's so fast and clean - the way the game is meant to be played - and it's a blast just being a part of it.

The offense we run is similar to what a lot of Super Rugby teams run, which is real exciting to learn.
These boys are all really good at what they do, and their skills are top notch. Everyone takes their role seriously and works hard to fulfill it.
I've only played about 180 minutes of rugby here, but it's already been some of the most fun I've had in the sport.
I am a ways off from playing to my full potential yet, and I still have a ton to learn, but I'm loving it.



Rugby is going well, but it can be hard sometimes. I'd like to say it's been all sunshine and rainbows, but that wouldn't be 100% accurate.

I won't lie to you, it's kinda tough coming into an entirely new club in a foreign country, with an entirely new system, with different terms for everything, where the level of play is much higher, and everything is faster.
After being in my comfort zone at Sac State for so long, this is a bit of a shock for me - in a good way.

I went from being the captain and 4 year MVP of a team, to being the new guy who screws up the drill because he doesn't quite get it. Athletically I am keeping up, but the pace of their rugby skills is what's going to take some time to match.
Back home my skills are pretty good - here, they need to be quicker.
These boys play on instinct, so their reactions are instant and without hesitation - it's quite impressive. They've mastered so many of the game's little intricacies - many things that are simple habits for them are complex and brand new to me.
And as usual, I'm overthinking everything - can't help it.

It's all SO fast paced - half the time I'm just trying to take it all in, let alone actually participate in the drills.
It can be rather frustrating at times because I expect a lot from myself and I know I can be better - the trick is putting my ego aside and reminding myself that I came here to LEARN, and that it isn't going to happen overnight. Patience, young padawan.

For those of you ruggers out there: You know when a new guy shows up, and seems like he may have potential, but doesn't quite have the skills the other guys have, so you put him at flanker and just tell him to tackle and ruck?
Yeah, that's me.

Our home field

Probably the toughest thing is that I'm not playing with my usual confidence I had back home.
I don't trust myself to carry the ball well enough yet, so I've shied away from it a little. I'm under enough pressure trying to make sure I do everything else right, I don't want to worry about the ball quite yet.

Don't get me wrong, this type of environment is definitely going to elevate my game and make me better, and I believe I'm exactly where I should be - it will just take time.
Growing pains are a part of life, and there's no sense in getting down over them.

Again, this will all work out in time, and I am not overly concerned - like a bratty child, I just have to put my ego in the backseat and tell it to shutup from time to time.
Just in the few games I've played, I've already made significant improvements and gotten much more comfortable on the field.
In the meantime, I'll keep doing what I know how to do, and work my ass off to get better - the rest will come.


The good news is that I have a lot to learn, and by the time I am done here, I'll be a heck of a lot better. These guys are REAL good. A few of them get paid to play for the regional semi-pro team, and some are being scouted for professional play in Super League.
Learning from people like that is a fantastic opportunity.



In all, this has been a fantastic growing experience for me so far.
Last week was the first time I haven't started in a rugby game in over 5 years. I'd forgotten what it was like to come off the bench with 20 minutes left and have fresh legs - I felt like a gazelle!
More importantly, it was humbling.
And yeah, I'm learning to deal with adversity and persevere through hardship, blah blah blah, and all that fancy, cliche crap people use to describe everyday maturity.

Lost Internet

We lost internet in our apartment for 2 weeks.
And like the show, Lost, it was a convoluted, confusing process that took place in purgatory.

There's no cause for alarm, I am safe and relatively unharmed. It was a trying two weeks, but we managed to get by. I thank you for your thoughts and sympathy.
Luckily I have the entire series of Seinfeld on my hard drive, so I was able to weather the storm in relative safety.
However, the crisis was not entirely averted.
I had no way to download the latest Marketplace podcasts from NPR. How else am I going to stay on top of the crazy oil market and know which companies are standing up to the FBI? (As much as I hate to say it, props to you, Apple.)
I need my sweet bass lines!


Question: What's the #1 cause of internet/TV/utility service interruptions?
Answer: Roommates.

Our last roommate managed to miraculously keep our internet connection alive for the past 2 months without paying the bill, unbeknownst to any of his flat mates - flat mates is the cool foreigner way of saying roommates.
I'm sure everyone's had a roommate that didn't pay the bills, so I'll spare you the unnecessary details.
Long story short, our account owed $220 in unpaid bills, so I created a new one and asked for immediate installation.
I explained the situation to the cable company, bent the truth a little in hopes of winning some sympathy, then remembered that I was dealing with a cable company - hahaha, sympathy...

My exchange with the cable company went a little something like this:
(Imagine the cable company voice sounding like a creepy fat man in his mid-forties working the late shift on an 'anything goes' phone-sex line)

Me: "Is there any way to switch our account and put it under my name, instead of our roommate who moved out? He didn't pay the bill and now we are stuck without internet."

Cable Company Rep: "Ooooh, sorry nooooo. We're gonna need you to pay the $220 due balance before we can continue rendering service to your connection on that account.

Me: "Okay, can we just cut his account off and start fresh on a new one then? We'd like to get our internet connection back ASAP."

Cable Company Rep: "Oh yeeaah..? You want your connection enabled as soon as possible? Awwww man, that's too baaaad. We're gonna have to contact your old roommate and get his permission to terminate his service. Awwww yeah, that's gonna be so HARD!! We'll try contacting him with the info from our records, but that could take 4-6 business days. Awwwwwwwwww yeaaahh!"

Me: "But my roommate has left the country and we cannot get in contact with him."
Cable Company Rep: "AWWWWW REAAALLLY?? AWWWWW MAN, THAT'S TOO BAAAD! AWWWWWWWWWWWW!!

Me: "Is there any way you can just disconnect his service without his permission? Surely you've dealt with this situation before."

Cable Company Rep: "Oh man, I'm sooooooo sorry, it just gets super complicated when there are multiple parties involved. We can barely handle it all at once."

Me: "Sir, can you please stop rubbing your nipples while you talk to me?"

Cable Company Rep: "Awww maan, sorry nooooo I can't, it's company policy to take as much pleasure in your disappointment as possible. Oh mann, I'm gonna have to bring my manager in on this!"

You get the idea. If you've seen that episode of South Park, it was JUST like that.

In the meantime, we managed to get the wifi password to the shop below us and were pirating some of their bandwidth. We were able to get our internet fix if we went outside on the balcony and held our devices at just the right angle to receive the signal. I even downloaded a song illegally just for the sake of double piracy.

The Third Hog 

Yep, I'm writing updates about my motorcycle - it's not douchey though, since it's a vintage bike. Huh, Zatchy. Elbow.

Suffice it to say, the Third Hog and I are...hopeless. A hopeless duo far away from home, just tryin' to make it in a foreign country.

The bike got a flat a few weeks ago. It happened while we were roaring down the highway at a killer speed of 40 mph - I know, I should be careful, I don't want to break the sound barrier.
Someone out there was jealous of all the pavement we've been chewing up as we rip and race around town, and left a nail in our path to ease their own envious heart.
Third Hog, fearing nothing, took that nail head on with zero hesitation. She ate it up. Unfortunately, as with any animal, a broken leg will take its toll until it's tended to.
Despite her injury, I tell you this: she would have taken me all the way to work if I asked her to.
Heart of a lion.

The biggest downside was that I was 30 seconds late to work, which invited ridicule towards myself and my super awesome motorcycle.

Just so we're clear, Third Hog is a courageous and wonderful machine. She'll take on 10,000 nails if she has to. You better get that straight.

Out for a stroll

Hyperbole aside, I got a flat tire. And when I took the bike in to get it fixed, something went wrong with the electrical system so I couldn't start it up.
I tried charging the battery, jumping it from a car, I checked the fuses, I cleaned the spark plug - nothing.
I even tried push starting it, which means you run run run along side the bike, jump on, pop the clutch, and hopefully start the engine.
After an hour of trying this in the dark of night, under pouring rain, I gave up.
Eventually I took it back to the mechanic and they fixed it. They didn't even know what went wrong, they just took stuff apart and put it back together again - sounds like a lame excuse just so they could charge me $200.
For the better part of two weeks I was borrowing cars, bumming rides, and hitchhiking my way to work - always fun.

Third Hog's Heart problem

Remember when I said the Third Hog has the heart of a lion?
Well, this lion heart needed a transplant. So, it may be more fitting to say she had the SPIRIT of a lion, until we got her a new heart.

The bike's battery was SO weak, that if I had my headlight on, turned on my blinker, and tapped the brakes, the battery died on me. So when I slowed down to make a turn, I had
to switch the headlight off real quick, make my turn, then throw the light back on - otherwise I'd stop dead in the middle of the intersection, which is super embarrassing after the 3rd or 4th time.
It was not ideal, but the Third Hog trudged on.

Heart transplant surgery

Two days after I got her back, I hopped on to start her up and go to work and...she didn't start. This was not good, because it was 5:30am, and my shift at the cider brewery started in 30 minutes.
It's not like I can just go wake up a neighbor and have them take me to work at 6 in the morning - that's pushing neighbourly kindness.
I tried switching everything off and back on, flipped the choke, swore at her a few times, apologized for swearing, gave the starter another kick and...nothing.
Damn it, after all this time and work, no luck. I swore once or twice more.
Then, as a last ditch effort I thought: Push Start!
I lovingly shifted her up into 3rd gear, gave her a pat on the gas tank, made sure I had a clear path in front of me, and took off running with the bike.
There I was, awake before the morning sun, running through the dark apartment parking lot with motorcycle in tow, hoping against hope that it would roar to life...
Remember when I said the Third Hog has the heart of a lion?

Well that lion certainly roared - and she almost roared me straight into a fence.

This fence

This was the first time I had successfully push started a motorcycle, so I didn't quite know what to expect - the other times I had tried, the battery was so dead that it wouldn't start no matter what.
Since she was already in 3rd gear, the Third Hog took off, with me desperately clinging to the handlebars and trying to hop on and join the ride.
Once seated on the great beast, in my victorious elation, I almost didn't take note of the rapidly approaching fence directly in front of us.

Third Hog has no fear of fences, but she sometimes forgets that I'm only flesh and blood, and that metal fences are not a healthy addition to that delicate balance - can't fault her for tenacity though.
Luckily we were able to swerve clear, narrowly missing the fence and continuing down the road, pretending this little dance was actually intended - like a water skier who unintentionally hits the beach, flips out of his skis, lands on his feet, and keeps right on walking.

Fortunately, all she needed was a push start and she roared to life. Sadly, she now required a push start every time to get started. I was also 1 minute late to work after this ordeal...
I was also getting pretty sick of running through the parking lot at work, right past the break room window, trying to get my bike started so I could go home - I don't think my coworkers got sick of it though..

It's very likely all my "electrical problems" were just due to a weak battery, and I probably could have avoided the $200 mechanic bill by just getting a new battery.
Oh well, lesson learned.


Okay so, flat tire and some battery problems - not ideal, but both are fixable and there is still plenty of hope.

Guide me, spirit of McQueen

Later in the week, while turning off the highway on my drive to work in the early morning, I performed my normal routine while making a turn - switch off the headlight, turn on my indicator, brake, turn the indicator back off, and pop my headlight back on.
Again, this is because my battery is too weak to support a headlight, brake light, and indicator signal all at the same time.

Do you see the problem with this little routine? I have to momentarily turn my headlight off just before I make my turn. Normally this would not be a huge issue,
but it happens to be very dark at 5:30am while I am riding to work, so flipping off the headlight is not super ideal.

So, I am in the middle of my little "turn routine", my headlight is off for a brief second, and I am starting to lean into my turn when -

WHAM, Third Hog's front tire slides out from underneath us and we slam onto the pavement.

In the second when my headlight was off, I didn't see the small patch of gravel sitting in the middle of the road.
It wasn't there the day before when I came home from work, so it must have fallen off a truck or something between my last ride.


Luckily I was able to ditch the bike before we met the pavement, so my ankle didn't get crushed - it would have been on my bad ankle too.
My hands took the brunt of the fall, which was fine because I was wearing my nice thick gloves - thanks Dad.
I was wearing pants and my All Blacks jacket, both of which protected my knees and elbows from taking much damage.
I also had a backpack on, which acted as a nice cushion and prevented me from rolling too much.

After about a full second of wondering whether this was a dream or real life, I realized it was real life - oh shit! -  and hustled to get myself and my bike off the road.
I flipped on my phone's flashlight and gave the bike a quick lookover - headlight pointing up into the sky, mirror facing the wrong way, gauges cockeyed, gear shifter bent to hell, and handlebars pointing a good 30 degrees different than where my front tire was pointing.

While this may sound bad, it actually wasn't all that bad
No major leaks, nothing crucial was broken, and no big fires/explosions - a win in my book!
When quietly I asked Third Hog if she was alright, she stubbornly responded, "Just a flesh wound!"

Front blinker hanging on for dear life

After cataloging my minor scrapes and bruises, along with Third Hog's, I hopped back on, gave her a push start, and she took off down the road like nothing happened.
I drove nice and slow, being mindful to keep my handlebars turned a solid 30 degrees left so I could drive straight, and using my left heel to move the gear shifter.




When I arrived to work, I was only 2 minutes late!

Before driving home after work, I did the old bicycle trick where you stand with the front tire between your legs and jerk the handlebars until they line back up with the tire - worked like a charm.

Can't say enough about the Third Hog - she took the beating like a champ, and kept right on chuggin'. What a trooper.

Back blinker didn't make it...

That very same day I received a call from the shop saying my new battery was in.
After transplanting one lion heart for another, Third Hog started right up with no fuss.
So now I no longer need to perform a little song and dance every time I want to use my blinker and headlight at the same time.


Okay, so a flat tire, some electrical problems, and a small mishap on the road. Sure, hope may be waning, but it's not completely hopeless yet.

Here comes the hopeless part.

The next Wednesday, a mere 5 days after my little scrape along the pavement, I ran out of gas on my way to work.
Not 200 meters from where I crashed 5 days prior.

Hopeless is probably the correct adjective to use now.



Third Hog doesn't have a gas gauge, and when I shook her to feel how much was in the tank, I thought we could make it - apparently she was extra hungry that morning.
After confirming I was out of gas, I pulled out my phone to call my manager to tell her I'd be a few minutes late. However, instead of hearing the phone ring, I hear a message saying, "Sorry, you do not have enough credit to make this call."
My phone was out of credit.
Seriously? Right now? Bite me!
RAGE!

I use a prepaid plan for my cell phone, and it just so happened that my monthly credit ran out at midnight the previous night.

What luck, huh?

After a few minutes of fumbling around in the dark, I managed to top up my account using my credit card.
So now my phone is working again.
I start dialing my manager and then remember that she's been out sick all week with pneumonia.
Not to worry, I gave my number to another co-worker, so I'll just call them - wait, shit, I GAVE my number to my co-worker, but I didn't TAKE theirs.

MORE RAGE!

Lovely. Here I am on the side of the road, with no gas, a phone that finally works, and now I can't even call ahead to work and let them know what's up.

Hopeless. Utterly hopeless. Devoid of all hope.

I called my roommate, Gus, who promptly picked me up and took me the rest of the way to work. I arrived 8 minutes late.
Without me even uttering a word, my shift supervisor laughs and says, "It's that damn bike again, huh."

I smiled sheepishly, donned my protective work gear, and ran out onto the production floor to start my shift.

Fishing

Ant took Vancy Pants and I fishing - and I ACTUALLY enjoyed it. I know, crazy right? And when we cooked up the fish we caught, rather than politely finishing my dish and feigning satisfaction, I
actually wanted seconds!
Two firsts for me!

Ant owns a house out in a popular bay roughly an hour and 30 minutes away, and took us there for the day. Between spectacular views, great banter - as always with Ant - and some good luck with the fish, it was a great day.
Within 10 seconds of dropping his lure for the first time, Ant had a fish on the line and was already hauling it in.

I have gone fishing 4 other times in my life, all of which were unsuccessful and demoralizing. The closest thing I'd had to success was using a net to reign in my brother's catch once.
This outing was much different.
Within 45 seconds of dropping my lure into the water, I had a fish on the line. I brought him up, looked him in the eye, and using my best Mike Meyers Fat Bastard voice, I said, "I'm gonna eat ya!"
After about an hour we had caught our limit for the day and had to start chucking fish back - which is alright, because more than anything, I just want the fish to know that I could have eaten him if I wanted to.

We went and had lunch on a deserted beach, milled around for a bit, saw a stingray or two in the water, then headed back for our fishing spot.
This time we had a different aim - SPEAR FISHING!

I was stupid and forgot to bring all my snorkeling gear, but luckily Ant had enough gear for two of us to get in the water.
The spear is basically a set of barbs on the end of a long pole, about 3 feet long, with a stretchy rubber hose attached to the back of it.
While holding the stretchy rubber cord, you "choke up" on the harpoon - yeah, I said harpoon - which stretches the cord real tight. When you release, the spear shoots out
and bounces back once it reaches the end of rubber cord. Anyway, it's awesome.

Unfortunately, the fish had all decided to go home, and there weren't many for me to hunt with my awesome harpoon. I saw one good sized fish, but I didn't have the spear ready, so he got away.
I managed to catch one fish on the tail with the barb, but he wriggled free - fair enough.
Regardless of my failure to catch a fish with the harpoon, I still had a blast. Next time I'll get one.
I also failed to GoPro this part of the day.

After spear fishing, we stopped at a mussel farm on our way back in. Basically there are a bunch of buoys lined up in these long rows, all with ropes attached to them that descend deep into the water.
All along these ropes you will find a bunch of gross seaweed stuff, and TONS of mussels. In a space of 15 minutes we collected just over 100 of them.

After "hunting" with a spear, and "gathering" mussels, I felt like a super cool, prehistoric tribal badass - you know, hunter-gatherer! Forget the fact that I didn't actually spear a fish, that's beside the point. I still hunted. And gathered!

Cooking the Mussels

My daily life

I've been getting quite a few people asking me what I'm up to during my days here.

Well, the general structure of my week is fairly similar to any other person's - but it's in New Zealand, so it's way cooler than normal life.

I work anywhere between 3-5 days a week, depending on my schedule any given week. For instance, after working Monday and Tuesday this week, I have today (Wednesday) off, and I'll be back at work Thursday and Friday.

Weekdays

A typical weekday goes as follows:
4:45am - Wake up and get ready for work.
5:30am - Ride Third Hog to work in the dark.
6:00am - Start work
2:30pm - Finish work and ride home on winding country roads through vineyards and green rolling hills.
3:00pm - Arrive home, and try my best to resist taking a nap. Some Facebook and Snapchatting occurs here.
4-7pm  - Rugby training, either in the gym or at practice.
8:00pm - Cook/Eat dinner, and ready for bed.
9:00pm - Try to fall asleep


If I don't have work on a particular weekday, then my day looks a little bit more like this:
4:45am - Don't wake up and get ready for work.
5:30am - Dream of Riding Third Hog in the dark.
6:00am - Don't start work. Still sleeping
8:00am - Wake up and lazily start my day. Chores/errands, reading, eating, exploring, writing bits of my blog, Seinfeld, etc.
2:30pm - Finish chores/errands/exploring and ride home on winding country roads through vineyards and green rolling hills.
3:00pm - Arrive home, and try my best to resist taking a nap. Some Facebook and Snapchatting occurs here.
4-7pm  - Rugby training, either in the gym or at practice.
8:00pm - Cook/Eat dinner, and ready for bed.
9:00pm - Try to fall asleep


Weekends

Weekends are obviously a bit different and random.

Friday nights I watch the Super Rugby games - at someone else's house, because we don't have cable TV in our apartment. Plus, our TV isn't HD so....why bother?

Saturdays are often filled with some sort of activity, be it rugby related or just because. Two weeks ago we all helped a mate move his parents out of their house. See that? I said "mate". So cultured.
Last Saturday I went hitchhiking around Nelson dressed like Hulk Hogan.

Conga line in the middle of a Saturday market

Hulk Haugen and Bret the Hitman Hart

Tell me you wouldn't pick this guy up...

Beach days sometimes occur on Saturdays. So do barbecues.
If I partake in any drinking during the week, it is most likely done on a Saturday. There is a pub less than a block from me that makes a killer cider, so I may run
down there and fill up a 2 liter bottle and bring it back from time to time.


Sunday's usually the lazy day, but not always.
A few weeks ago we helped our coach move into his new house.

Just moving some furniture

Three weeks ago I tagged along with Ethan to go pick his mom up in another city 2 hours away. Just 'cuz.


Two Sundays ago we camped as a team out at our sponsor's cabin.

View from the cabin

Believe it or not, Sunday is a pretty useful day when you aren't hungover.
Now that I'm pretending to be an athlete and not going out very much, I've almost cleared up an entire day of my week.
I also use Sundays to do some cleaning around the apartment (sometimes). For some reason, the only tornadoes that hit New Zealand seem to only come through my room and nowhere else, so I have to clean up after them. Crazy weather...

Somewhere during the week I will usually bum a meal or two off someone who cooks a lot better than me.
This is a very nice change of pace from my signature rice and chicken dish. Or my pasta and chicken dish. Or my chicken dish.

All in all, I'm still having the time of my life, living and working in a country across the entire world, playing the game I love most.
No matter how many times my motorcycle and I run into trouble, no matter how bored I get at work, no matter how many times I want to scream at myself during rugby practice, it all melts away when I remember where I am and what I'm doing.

No matter how you look at it, my life in New Zealand is pretty damn good.

Thanks for reading, as usual. Even though it takes me a while to put these things out, I do enjoy writing them.

It may sound strange, but these blogs are therapeutic for me in a way. It serves as a sort of journal, but also, in a removed way, it feels like I'm having a conversation with you folks back home.
Mostly one-way, yes, but for those of you who (whom?) I know are reading these, it almost feels like I'm talking to you in person.
I can very easily imagine peoples' reactions to what I'm doing and writing about - whether it be Mom's worry, Ty catching my subtle jokes, Zatchy's jealousy, girls rolling their eyes at my toilet stories, and so forth.

Anyway, this is the long-winded way of saying thank you for reading, especially those of you who keep coming back for more.



Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

Yes, everyone asks about Donald Trump.
I haven't seen any Hobbits - not yet.
Nope, no Kiwi girl has stolen my heart and convinced me to stay.
Yep, we drive on the left side of the road here.
No, I have not seen an All Blacks game. Planning to see them in August.
The restaurant food here is pretty average, nothing particularly new/special. The home cooking is FANTASTIC!!!!!
Haven't bungee jumped yet.
Yes, they all know I'm a nerd.
I plan to hike Mount Doom sometime in September, after rugby is over.
Nobody cares about American accents.