A Day of Rest, Relaxation and Reflection

After one week on the exchange we were given a day of rest. It was nice. It gave us time to catch up on washing and the little items we had not been doing. We spent the day with our host families and joined in on individual activities.

Serge, my host, was hosting the whole team and some locals for a 'Pig Pickin' in the evening so we organized that and started cooking the pig at about 10am and relaxed. 'Pig Pickin' is like a pig on the spit. It is very much like our BBQs but it is classed as a traditional southern meal. IT was fantastic.

Serge the super cook, with the scrumptious Pig Pickin' BBQ.

The other team members went on hikes around Eno River and jet skiing. The experience so far has been wonderful and all of our hosts, and everyone we have come into contact have been absolutely beautiful people who will do anything to make you feel comfortable and welcome.

The people of North Carolina are very hospitable and friendly, whenever we open our mouths people want to talk to us because of our accent, but I keep telling them that they have the accent.

Today we are going out to Sportsplex and around Chapel Hill, this is where the Tar Heels basketball team are from and they are playing the championship game tonight, which is exciting. The basketball fans are fanatical here and if they win they will go absolutely crazy. Franklin street will be set alight with bonfires and people spraying blue paint everywhere we are told. On Saturday night when they reached the championship game, that was exactly what happened. So 'GO HEELS'.

I must say that the rivalry that Aussie rules fans have between their teams is similar but at times the Carolina people's rivalries between University of NC and Duke University is very fierce. You are born into the team and if you choose to swap alliances you will be disowned from your family. Maybe not to that extreme but pretty close.

It has been a lot of fun being involved in the whole lead up to the play-offs with basketball and ice hockey. It had given us a real sense of what sport means to the American people. It is very much a way of life here. I like that they really do love the team and their town.

Scott