Week 7- The Wright way to finish up for Spring break

First, I must apologise for my three-week absence. I have been quite busy and very much away from civilisation the past two weeks which you can read about in the next few posts. This week was the last week before the mid-semester break meaning that I have now completed one quarter of my lectures here in New Zealand! Thankfully my midterm tests were all in week 6 so I was able to have some fun before breaking up for more holidays. I had my last two coaching sessions with St. Peter’s College for the season as they headed to their week-long tournament where they finished 3rd. On Tuesday I was invited to the coaches’ dinner in the school. It was a meal put together by the parents for all the players and coaches across the school. It was wonderfully intimate with each captain giving a short speech and I had the opportunity to speak with some of the parents. I also discovered that I am the first person the school has hired externally to coach hockey. Hopefully they’ll want me back next season!

On Wednesday I ventured out to Eden Park, home of the All Blacks, for the first time. This match was between the Auckland Blues and Waikato, however. I went with a group of American students who had a spare ticket to see the provincial match. I found myself having to explain most of the rules as the game progressed. Come the first penalty I was explaining how if it went between the posts it was three points, wide or under and it was nothing but if it hit the post and game back it was fair game and that they could catch the ball and score a try. Believe it or not, the Blues kicker hit the post and someone caught the ball and scored a try!

The lesson of the week this week is that the first ‘wind tunnel’ was simply the Wright brothers cycling their bikes with two model fans on the front and observing how they compared to one another! They then went onto to develop a proper wind tunnel and then the first airplane. Finishing up this shortened week I went to see ‘The Engineering Revue’ which is a show directed and performed by engineering students. The show was a series of stand-alone comedy skits, singing, dancing and a general story line about engineering spy, James Brond. It was very entertaining and very professional, especially considering how busy engineers are. On Friday afternoon, I caught a flight to Christchurch for the University Nationals for Ultimate Frisbee with my Frisbee gear, ski gear and camping gear all in my hand luggage. Fortunately, I didn’t have to resort to putting my ski suit on to make the weight allowance. I was a little surprised that there was no security and no ID to be shown for this domestic flight but I was underway for my next adventure. You can read about it here.

You can see the other photos from Eden Park here.