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Other entries in Sydney

Touch Ruggers Matches and Love-Ins

We're still at nelson's place but today we're moving up to Bondi to stay with David's friend from university, Danny. Happy Valentines Day and all that jazz by the by. Yesterday was a fun day filled with fixing Visa issues with the Vietnamese embassy, walking up and down hills in downtown Sydney, playing two touch rugby games with Nelson's mixed squad, and then going to a Love-in party at night that gave us a unique hippy experience filled with beatnik poets, acoustic guitar solos, and buffet filled with various dips and near spoiled food.

The visa thing was a cinch, no problem at all. We walked in, told the lady our problem, and were out of there in 25 minutes. We were already downtown so we decided to walk and explore. We found a park and practiced some ruggers for good measure but mostly so I would have a mild idea of what to do later that night. We found some really nice areas of downtown that reminded me of Brooklyn with ancient brick homes with curved metal railings guarding the shadowed second floor balcony. Really some beautiful houses. We caught a bus back home and got ready for the rugby games.

It was the standard after-work, ill-do-this-cause-I-cant-do-anything-else-anymore-and-this-is-more-fun-than-running-anyway affair. The first team we played is in first place in the league and Nelsons team is in last. It was the classic story of david vs. goliath except this time, the realistic thing happened and we got our butts whooped. At one point, Nelson intercepted a pass and was streaking for the goal line, then passed to david who was open. David saw glory and wanted to show everyone he knew what he was doing so despite the fact that he was getting chased down from behind by a guy we later discovered was a professional ruggers player, he selfishly tried to make the score even though there were three teammates of his screaming for the ball. He got caught a meter or so before the goal line and we proceeded to not make the score. At halftime he got the polite, "you should have passed" but later Nelson told us they were being nice because he was a friend of a friend. If he were on the team, they would have let him have it. We ended up losing terribly to the all-star team. They seriously did have three guys that were stacked and built like pros. I think I saw one of the guy's faces on a billboard on the way home. I tried my best to pick up the rules and contribute and I think I did all right considering my complete lack of experience. We played two consecutive games and actually won the second game because we were playing another group of misfits but they were slightly less fit than we.

After that we joined up with Nelsons girlfriend and her friends and went to the party. We got there late and found the owner of the house on a microphone reading poetry. It was a telling omen for the night. Everyone was sitting around the front yard intently listening to him and then the musicians and stage performers that followed. Apparently there was a famous blonde aussie singer who got up and did a number but ive never heard of her. But the bugger only played one song despite audible pleas for more. We weren't having a great time because we had to be quiet and everyone was in their own circles. So we just decided to get drunk. But by the end of the night when the show was over, the crowd broke up a bit and people started to mingle. The original stage poet came up to us and declared us wild cards. So he turned out to be a nice guy and we thanked him for his hospitality and good will. Then we walked home as it started to rain.

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