I've been doing exciting things most days but it's hard to report on them when your living a (moderately) normal life.
So here is a smattering of anecdotes and what I've been up to.
Firstly on the rugby front I've done my initiation. I took it like a little girl!
The initiation was to eat a spoon of cinnamon. You may be thinking the same as me; what a piece of piss! I've done much worse, this is neither degrading, disgusting or physically dangerous.
Incorrect.
I strutted up to the back of the bus on the way back from Blenham. I'd just finished eating a mc-ice cream and I'm not going to lie, I was feeling pretty confident I was going to look pretty hard in a few moments time. As I took the heaped tablespoon, amid the jeers, lads were shouting at me to chew it. I've been around rugby lads for a while. Hey, I am a rugby lad. So I assumed they were trying to screw me over for their amusement. So I tried to swallow the whole heap in one go.
The powder congealed in my throat instantly. I coughed and blew it out of my nose. Then the bike came, ah what a lovely taste! As I choked, puffing orange smoke like an asthmatic dragon I threw up and swallowed it. Then I sucked myself tall, tears in my eyes and swallowed the whole lot (again).
Somehow I had managed to fully line my sinuses with cinnamon. I had to sit quietly full two hours blowing reddy brown grunge out of my nose!
Then I had a bad sinus headache the whole next day. So I spent my only day off in bed achey while Jack enjoyed rabbit island and ultimate frisbee on the beach.
To make matters worse the Jackson uploaded a video of the sorry attempt so all the lads who weren't there could bully me too.
The other two new guys chewed it like they were told and ate it with no more than a hiccup!
I also went paddle boarding with a friend from work. It was great fun. I took to it pretty well and after a while I was plowing through the mirror calm Nelson sea with enthusiasm. I even stopped to have a bit of a yarn to Suze. Bad idea. A boat drove behind me and the swell turned my bored into a bar of soap. Squirting out from under me. I hit my arse on the board and slapped backwards into the freezing winter ocean. I wasn't even wearing a wet suit, just my rugby gear.
Freezing I got straight back on and got back into the swing of it.
We swapped boards on the way back, which was fun. As the tallest, and least confident, I slid along the floating boards like a soggy manatee with a paddle.
The pub after that one was a welcomed respite!
I also went mountain biking in Kaiteriteri today with Mike and Sara from work. It was brilliant. Trudging up Candace's massive hill back home after work has paid off. I was flying up the tracks. I really enjoyed whizz ing up and down though the woods, over little jumps and out on cliff faces with stunning vistas.
I've also moved house. Out of the Donovan's luxury lodge and into a small room in a private block out the back of a hostel in town. It's pretty nice, I've put some photos up on the wall and feel quite at home. My housemate Dave, a chef from Canada, is really really nice and we went out with a couple of other lads for a few games of pool on my first day.
I've been a bit of a recluse though as I've been doing a lot of extra work at a national multi-sport tournament going on over the last fortnight.
Well, aside from a few pub quizzes and judo - I'm getting a bit worse at the former and better at the latter- I'm working a fair bit and just generally enjoying the New Zealand lifestyle, running, cycling and getting in the great outdoors!
