Where in the World is Janelle?: A night out with Kiwis! The walk to the bar, is never too far....if there are monkeys in the road!

Special Boat Team (SPT) is deployed here and luckily, include me in their shenanigans! On Monday night they went out on New Zealand's naval boat- NZ has bars on their ships which is an EXCELLENT war fighting strategy if I may add. Thursday night they reciprocated the generosity by having the Kiwis over to their house for a party. I went! It was insane. I got outta of the cab to 5 guys cheering/singing and hollering "you must be Janelle!" Kiwis have the coolest accents are incredibly nice and fun to be around. A lot of them play rugby, which is a very pleasant change from the shorter/smaller people I'm usually surrounded by here.

[Sidenote, a baby who I didn't even think could talk, pointed at me and said "giant" while riding the MRT. The mom looked terrified and embarrassed. I laughed it off. Someday, if my bilingual infant can point at someone and say "midget," I'd be dazzled and awestruck by their brilliance]

One of the fellas plays rugby for the All Blacks, the only rugby team I can name. (can someone please explain where that team name came from for me?) His shipmates were quick to point that he's a bench warmer. I still took pictures with him, maybe he's famous?

After a few hours at the house, we headed to a bar they said was nearby. On the way, THERE WERE MONKEYS IN THE ROAD. I will gladly, anyday, walk 25 minutes to bar if I can see a monkey on the way. I don't get why those guys were complaining.

SBT passed out t-shirts so that's why I'm matching a few of the guys in the following pictures. Also, if you want to feel really good about yourself, be the only girl at a party of 15ish guys, have what people think is "a very cool accent," and have enough knowledge of American sports that you can hold a conversation. Being "naturally awesome" as one of Kiwis called me doesn't hurt either :)