The Deep Dish* On Chicago

*Get it? I made a pizza joke. An ironical pizza joke. Nothing? I made a funny. Wow. Tough crowd.

If you have been following along, you'll know that the final stage of my trip was Chicago for the slaughtering of the USA Eagles rugby team by the New Zealand All Blacks. I don't want to dwell on this too much. But I will. It was a disaster for America. A tiny nation nailed you to the wall. Personally, I'm a little mortified that we let you score 6 points. But then we scored 74 so I felt better. Even better than us kicking arse (well equally as good), I got to hang out with a friend and made her deny her American-ness so she could be on our side. I was surrounded by Kiwis which only ever happens to me in New Zealand and I made friends. I just don't remember them. 

That's not the sun behind me.  It's more of a halo...the halo of winners

But this is about Chicago. I would post pictures but you can't see anything because it's TOO DAMN COLD. That's right, cold affects pictures** so I took some mental ones. Damn, I look good. In my new gloves. How do people live in this? No one*** looks good (except me) because you're all bundled up in layers - you have to wear flats because you don't want to fall over in the snow and then once you get inside, you start baking. So you start to take layers off and then you reach that one layer that shouldn't be shown in public, that you thought you wouldn't get down to. So you have to try and replace that layer with a layer you took off and now you have dislocated your shoulder. Chicago is dangerous.

The Magnificent Mile looked impressive, I hit a Magnificent Meter of it.  I got side-tracked with warm cafes.  I should probably go back in the Summer.  Summer is more my thing. 

I did experience some of the Mid-West hospitality. From New Zealanders. This very nice man bought me my Shepherd's Pie. I met up with a school friend that I hadn't seen since high school. On second thought, no big deal cos that was only a couple of years ago. He also bought my dinner. Then this other guy bought me a drink and paid for my taxi back to my hotel. I basically spent no money in Chicago. It's true, the people there are very nice. And generous.

**I took a great picture of the Wrigley Tower, leaning back to get all of it in. What I got was hot tea in my face. I forgot I was holding my cup. See what the cold does to you?
***I did see a couple of girls who thought it more important to wear a mini dress with no sleeves and no coat. When you take warmth over looks, it's a sign that you're getting older. And sensibler.

Things That Are Coming Up.

You should feel very lucky - I have a surfing lesson on Sunday so that should ensure an endless number of blog posts about how good I am at it. Or not. But I find that hard to believe, what with being born in Hawaii and all. Pretty sure surfing is like golf, super easy to pick up the first time. The hardest part is going to be getting into the wetsuit - I can't decide whether to get all greased up first so I slide on in or try the powder method. Either way, whether I look greasy or covered in white powder, it's not going to be attractive.

Then there's the end of October* where I will be going to Harvard for a negotiation course. You know how you tell your mother you got accepted to Harvard and it kind of gets blown out of proportion when she's telling her friends at coffee, when the reality is your company paid Harvard to take you. It's a 3 day course at the end of which, there will be no degree from Harvard but I have high hopes for one of those sweatshirts...the best part about this is that I get to go to Boston and Cambridge which were on my sub-bucket list**.

But wait, there's more - I'm also tagging a trip to Chicago on the end of my Harvard education. Never been, was on the sub-bucket list but even better, I'm going to watch the New Zealand All Blacks play rugby***. Which is on the main bucket list. Sounds like quite a few Kiwis are going - I'm going to be friends with all of them. I hope someone will bring mince n cheese pies.

You don't know about this, America but there is nothing better than a meat pie when you're walking home after a night on the turps.  Just stop by your local servo (gas station), get a pie out of the warmer. Blow on it first for goodness sake.

If you don't know about blowing on the pie, you're liable to get seriously hurt...

*I know, not exactly soon but there seem to be some gaps in my social calendar.
**You know, a list of places to go and things to do that are not exactly top priority but are achievable as opposed to the things on your bucket list like visiting the moon.  That way you can die happy knowing you completed your bucket list.  No one needs to know it was the sub-bucket.  Except the people that read your blog and that person might die before you.  So, you're good.
***Against the US Eagles.  Which is not really playing Rugby - it's schooling America...