On the evening that Dai and I walked around, it was lit up a beautiful green, red, and blue for South Africa. I tried to take a picture of the different colors each night though =). Dai and I had so much fun walking around and taking in the sights, consisting of numerous advertisements that read, “The World’s Here to Play,” a giant rugby ball with “100% Pure New Zealand” sprawled across it, and the official RWC countdown that had been sitting in front of the Westfield Mall (right across from my work) for a full year leading up to the RWC. It was a strange feeling to think that when I first saw the countdown it read “217” days, and that night with Daiana it was down to “2.” Where did those 31 weeks go???
Dai and I walked along the harbour and across a new pedestrian bridge that had been built. On the other side was a newly re-vamped section of the waterfront that, among other things, had these incredibly massive wooden chairs that were great for photo ops . The view of the skyline from that side of the harbour was really beautiful too. Fun night =). The next couple of days in Auckland consisted of going to work, exercising at the gym, and Skyping until the wee hours of the morning with Ricky. Then, FINALLY, it was the big day!!! RUGBY WORLD CUP OPENING CEREMONY DAY, YAY!!! Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about missing out on any RWC shenanigans until I got off work that day, for AMP was RWC-crazy.
Each team at work had previously been assigned a rugby team to represent; my section was assigned Wales. The Welsh colors are red, green, and white. So, we all had to wear red shirts to work and were also nicely asked to buy green wigs. Well, instead of spending money on a wig that I’d only wear once and then throw away, I opted to purchase a green scarf (to use as a head wrap) that would at least serve an alternate purpose after RWC. To add “a little extra” to our physical appearances, Kezia also came around and painted all of our faces. Phil was the only one who stood out from the crowd, as he was appointed to be our “Tom Jones,” of the group (Tom Jones is Welsh). Decked out in a silky black button-up shirt, tight black jeans, shiny black shoes, a massive belt, AND a pair of lacy woman’s undies hanging out of his front pocket, Phil pulled off the Tom Jones look quite well haha.
Besides decorating ourselves, we also had to decorate our ‘pods’ at work. When all was said and done, our entire section from one end to the other was adorned with leeks hanging from the ceiling tiles, along with tons of Welsh flags, and a wall dedicated to pictures of Welsh celebrities and cute little Welsh Corgis. It was a job well done. The pod next to ours, however, had a huge remote-controlled shark that was roaming around their area throughout the day! It was pretty freaking awesome, although I have no idea what it was actually doing there haha. The whole day was centered around different fun-filled activities, including team photos, trivia challenges, physical contests, and a competition to see whose team made the best food dish representing their appointed country.
Our team won best photo and best-decorated pod, plus we gained a lot of points for the trivia challenges. Then, after all the points were added up, it turned out we won best team overall!!! Woot woot! After the announcement of our triumph, we proceeded to do a victory lap around our entire floor whilst proudly waving our miniature Welsh flags =). We enjoyed it, but I got the feeling the other teams did not appreciate our victory lap as much as we did haha. The workday as a whole was heaps of fun, but it was just the beginning. The REAL World Cup festivities began as soon as we left AMP to join the thousands of people that had already begun crowding the streets below; it was no doubt one of the most memorable days of my life. For that reason alone, it deserves its own blog entry =).
Cheers,
Ash
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