Arriving back in Wellington

Last Tuesday, after 40 hours of flying around the world, from Orlando to Miami to LAX to Melbourne to Auckland to Wellington, we made it home to where our lives and friends are. As we rounded the corner there was a huge lineup of Kiwis clad in black and waving banners : a most radical welcome for us, their beloved heroes.

Turns out it was for this guy, the captain of the All Blacks who led the New Zealand rugby team to the Rugby World Cup title just 2 days earlier and had nothing to do with the 2 exPats after an awesome week holiday.






We went to the USA versus Australia Rugby match and right as we entered the TSB Arena in Wellington, the crowd erupted with cheers and waving of Red White and Blue. Now, perhaps it's that i think i'm more the center of the universe than i am or i flashed back to university days and my social experiments conducted in crowded cafeterias and packed study rooms that drew rooms full of staring eyes, but my natural reaction to the cheers was to raise my arms and turn to the adoring fans. To my surprise, USA had just scored a 'try' against the favorite Wallabies, pulled the game within a single touchdown and the NZ crowd was hoping for an upset.

Weelllll, USA is really just a club team compared to the juggernauts of The Pacific and Europeand we never scored again, final score 67-5. But it was great to be amongst fans cheering for Old Glory in a sport half of America doesn't know exists.