Of Crusaders and Hedgehogs

"KAHN-A-BREE!" apparently, is the correct thing to shout when you're watching the Christchurch Crusaders (from the "state" of Canterbury) win a rugby match. Unfortunately, I did not have that privelage. Instead, we watched our Crusaders get royally trounced by the Wellington Hurricanes.


On the bright side, I went to my first rugby match, and really only the second pro-sports game I've ever been to (in the fifth grade we went on an awful field trip to see the Brewers play). I liked it! I think I have the potential to become a rugby hooligan. I don't fully understand it, but Gordon and Sue love rugby and they're helping me quite a bit. I already know that it is a thousand times cooler than football, not just because they don't wear pads, but because the game doesn't stop every five minutes. In rugby, people pile on eachother and--get this--keep going! It's pretty great. The half-time entertainment involved the local harley club doing a lap around the green and the Crusader cheerleaders doing a less than impressive pom and dance routine--it was more endearing than anything.

Before the rugby game, we wandered into town and managed to find a really cool little cafe called "The Honey Pot Pizza Bar" where I had good pasta for the first time in a very long while--and not on toast for brekkie. Just around the corner we found a little alley with all sorts of cool art and really funky little shops. I bought a lime green pseudo leather coin purse with a neo-primitive semi-art deco modern pukeko (a kind of rail, often confused with a Takahea) on it. That probably doesn't mean anything to any of you, but just know that I like it and was excited to find it.






We also found an antique store called Chaos Collectibles. While I don't need, can't afford, or have the ability to transport most anything from the store, it was the coolest, most visually stimulating place that I've ever seen. Canoes hanging from the ceiling along with sundry light fixtures, a giant wooden flamingo, drawers upon drawers of type for printing presses, window panes, mirrors, bottles, jars, signs, door frames, a giant swiss army knife--it was like a convention of grandma's attics had a contest, and this was the result.








We made it back to the bus exchange from the rugby match just seconds before my bus left. Walking home from the bus stop, I was startled to see something biggish and loaf-shaped moving just off the sidewalk. I stopped and my first thought was, "What a goofy looking raccoon," closely followed by "CAMERA!" I was right next to a real-life, vicious, wild hedgehog! Fortunately, they are slow, bulky, and not vicious at all, so I was able to get a few pictures of it. I know that they're invasive and can do some significant damage, but if I had to wish for any non-native to invade Wisconsin, I would pick a hedgehog. They're pretty great. I made it back to tell Sue and Gordon about my encounter--they laughed and thought it was endearing that I was so excited. Fair enough.