Miss S had her first ballet lesson last Saturday. I was afraid that she would arrive and be overwhelmed with shyness, or decide that it wasn't her cup of tea. You can get a sense of my reticence in the fact that she is wearing old, black dance slippers. I refused to shell out for proper slippers until I was convinced she'd do this more than once.
As you can see, I needn't have worried. Her teacher, Miss Amy, was wonderful and the 30 minutes flew by. You couldn't wipe the grin off of her face. Except, that is, when she was imitating an alligator, or practicing her face for her "sad toes."
At the end each girl stood in the hula-hoop, put their hands on their shoulders and one leg on the other knee, and balanced. Some more successfully than others, but they all loved it. We're hooked!
Later that day we went on a great adventure, to Mangatinokoa, pop 200. Also the home of the famous Tui Beer Brewery. They had arranged for the Wellington Hurricanes to play the Christchurch Crusaders in a stadium built on a paddock, with seating for around 8,000. To give you an idea, this is akin to asking the Washington Redskins to play in your front yard. These guys are "bloody legends" around here, not least because many of them are All Blacks, and just came off of a successful Rugby World Cup campaign. In fact, the guy carrying the Tui keg-shaped trophy is none other than Richie McCaw. Wow...
