What A Weekend!

This weekend was an absolute blast!

Last week Kirsten and Emily, two other girls in our group who happen to be roommates met a boy named Reece at a YSA discussion (what we call a fireside). They talked for a while and exchanged emails. One thing led to another and a group of us got together with him and 2 of his friends and did some stuff down by Mission Bay. Needless to say it was so much fun! It felt like we were all just hanging out with old friends, talking, laughing and teasing each other. It was good fun.

While we were with them Jershon, one of the boys, taught Kirsten and I how to throw a rugby ball. He was so patient with us. It’s really tricky to go from throwing a football and switching to a rugby ball. But don’t worry we finally got it down!

Then we moved to the next step, and learned how to actually play rugby. It was slightly confusing so we played a very simplified version. Rugby is sweet as! 

 Once we were starving we walked around, being completely indecisive I might add, to where we wanted to eat. We then chose to just get in the car and have Jershon, Ephraim and Reece take us to one of their favorite places. On the way we took a little detour to an amazing lookout over the city where they have a war monument. 

When we couldn’t stand it anymore we finally went to this hole in the wall burger place called Haddads. Jershon, Emphraim and Reece all love it and decided to take us there. It was absolutely scrumptious!

They taught us a bunch of New Zealand slang that just cracked me up. Here are a few things we learned: 

•   Stubbies – Short shorts (Almost all men wear them. It’s quite amusing.)
•  Far Out
• Sweet as – They use it in place of saying something is cool/awesome etc.
• Take a wizzle break – Bathroom break

There was so much more but they have seemed to slip my mind. However, as soon as I hear more I’ll make sure to post them. 

After we had laughed the night away, Reece, Ephraim and Jershon took us home. They were such gentlemen and showed us the true New Zealand chivalry and kindness that we had heard so much about. We had mentioned our home wasn’t exactly close to where they lived; all they said was “oh it doesn’t matter” and insisted on taking us home. The entire time they were driving I had no idea if they were being serious with where they knew they were going or if they were making it up as they went. Thankfully, after a series of clues and landmarks we finally made it home safely!

Saturday
On Saturday we had another treat! Phyllis took us to the zoo! 

I got reconnected with my childhood and loved every minute of it. Kirsten and I were like those silly tourists that took pictures of everything we saw. It was probably very comical for Phyllis to watch. Now Phyllis was quite the child herself, but in a different way. We never knew where she was! She had her own agenda and kept disappearing. We would be looking at the exhibits, turn around, and poof! She was gone. We would then have to play a game of “Where’s Phyllis!" It kept the zoo even more interesting that’s for sure.

Even though it sporadically poured rain, I think that Kirsten and I rock the poncho look. 

Here are some of my favorite things from the zoo:    

• Kangaroos: I have never ever seen a kangaroo in person so naturally I got super excited to see not 1, but 7!

• Birds: There were so many different kinds of birds that I had never seen before. Who knew there were so many different types of parrots. This is one of my favorite pictures. It looks like they are kissing! Tender moment.  

•  Seals: Who doesn’t love seals? They are adorable. I especially loved when I saw one of them meander/walk into the shade. It was kind of like a hop/waddle, which had me dying laughing.

• Giraffe: I love everything giraffe. These giraffes were particularly awesome because there was a mom, a 2 year old and then a pregnant giraffe. The zoo was set up in a way where you could really get up close to them and see the details on them. Granted I did have the help of zoom on my camera to get this awesome picture.

• Ice Cream: Phyllis was so sweet. She was looking on the map and we were following her, since she kept disappearing. (We thought we would play it safe and follow her instead of her following us). We thought that we were following her to another exhibit and she took us into this ice cream place and told us to pick one, her treat. Hokey Pokey was my choice and it was delightful!

• Abominable Snowman: Now this was the perfect way to top off a wonderful day at the zoo! Who knew I would be able to see a part of the Abominable Snowman in New Zealand?

Close up: 

Then we came home, relaxed momentarily and then began to fix dinner for Phyllis brother and his wife. Dinner was such a treat and I could tell that Phyllis really enjoyed having her brother there. She seems to love to entertain. Her brother was fun to talk to. Her sister in law was…different. I honestly have no idea what she said most of the night. Her accent wasn’t a typical New Zealand accent, which made it very, very, very difficult to understand. It made the night that much more interesting.