I think I've been to school twice in the past two months. And it's not that I haven't shown up, there just hasn't been classes the past couple of Fridays. The semester is winding down, actually it ends this week and I am headed to the graduation ceremony of my 6th graders later today. So it makes sense that school has been somewhat of a joke lately. I didn't really know that, but the kids did, especially when I started walking towards the school in the morning and my neighbors asked "Sir you gwan whey? Dey no school todey." Right, back to sleep to enjoy my 4 day weekend. I spent most of the weekend just hanging out in my apartment lounging around. The volunteer life can be tiring, when you're not working at your site or on your project then you're working on building relationships in your community or hiking around to pick up groceries and the like. Time off to relax is much appreciated. This particular weekend I also got to play cricket for the first time. I went up on the fort with the neighborhood kids to bowl a few wickets. By the time it was my turn to bat I stepped up to the wicket and got ready to hit a few dingers. Wrong. The 12 year old that was bowling hit the wicket on the second try. I was out and so was my dignity. Not only did I just let down myself, but the rest of America as well. Essentially, I let cricket beat baseball, what a disgrace... Honestly though, swinging the bat in cricket is a lot different than swinging a baseball bat. A couple overs later and it was my turn to bat again and I wasn't going to let some punkass preteen embarrass me again, no sir. I learned my lesson and adjusted so I could hit a few before everyone lost interest in the game. We played some football and I brought an American football with me to have a little culture lesson with the kids. Success.
According to the Roman Catholic Church in Grenada, June 29 is the birthday of St. Peter patron saint of fishermen. Every year in Gouyave, our fishing town, there is a big celebration called Fisherman's Birthday. The day is celebrated with boat races, boat decorating, street vendors, lots of loud music, comedians and performers, and lots of alcohol. Sounds like a blast right? I was lucky enough to experience part of Fisherman's Birthday. But I wasn't just there for the fun of it. No, I was there with NaDMA handing out Disaster Preparedness brochures under a tent on the beach, which was actually enjoyable. We had set up at our tent around 1:30pm and by 2:30 my co-worker informed me it was time for Carib happy hour. Don't need to tell me twice. We spent the next 4 hours passing out more brochures and sipping a couple of beers while the music blared from DJ's all around us. Fisherman's Birthday was turning out to be a lot of fun, but we left a little after 6pm to head back to the office and call it a day. I'm told the Birthday celebrations lasted long into the night, so I look forward to staying longer next year.
After work the next day, Thursday, I had a nice chat with Mack. I was sitting down after a shower having just come home from practice when she told me that her friend was singing up on Fort Matthew (next to me) that night for the lead up to Carnival. Since it is free to go watch on Thursday nights I decided I would check it out. Unfortunately, I didn't walk up there in time to catch Mack's friend sing, but the concert turned out to be a lot of fun with some decent music. Along with decent music there were also a few drunk locals acting a fool, my neighbors to hang out with, a comedic emcee, and Carib. It was a nice night and I'm getting more and more excited for Carnival in August.
I did not have to go to school the next day, Friday, because the 6th graders were practicing their graduation ceremony which meant no school for anyone else. Regardless, Friday was an incredible day. The reason is because the Charge D'Affair invited us volunteers to his 4th of July party at the embassy (which happens to be named the Shangri La) along with other diplomats and dignitaries. The party was so much fun. There was a super sweet jazz band that rocked out on some Bob Marley before playing our National Anthem with a saxophone. My god if there isn't anything sexier than a saxophone playing the Star Spangled Banner. What's even better is that Mr. Link was nice enough to bust out some American food for the dinner. There was corn on the cob, ribs, meatballs, turkey burgers, roast beef, chicken and much more. Quite possibly the best thing on the menu and most ingenious things ever created were mini apple pies! Christ on a cross (as one of my favorite Pc profs would say), these pies were like crack! You should have seen the plates us volunteers had, it looked like we hadn't seen food in months--which isn't far from the truth. We all looked like fatty fatty no friends with the amount of food we ate, but it was well worth it. Oh, I also got to dance with some drunk old lady, that was a riot.
Right after the dinner party at the embassy we took a bus to Tanteen Park which is just outside of downtown (also across from the post office). Mack's friend was supposed to be singing again with her Soca band, but when we arrived at the basketball courts it was a different scenario. Instead of the Soca competition there was a steel pan band competition. Just as awesome. The bands played songs by artists like Elvis, Bruno Mars, and Marc Antony. But the greatest performance of all was by a band that played one of the greatest songs of all, that's right, one band played Thriller on the steel pan. Ah. Mazing. This band knocked it out the park and they even had zombie make up and clothes on. Oh, and they threw in a dance number in the middle. My night was complete.
I felt pretty sick all weekend, not sure what it was. We were supposed to have our first football game on Saturday, but the other team pulled a no-show. I was pretty relieved and after I pushed my way through a sloppy practice I was ready to pass out. Despite feeling sick and being extremely tired, I got the worst night of sleep ever. I feel like it is a law of nature that when you crawl into bed exhausted it ends up taking you hours to finally fall asleep. Anyone else? It felt like I was trying to fall asleep with a fever and when I woke up Sunday I felt no better so I just sat around the apartment sweating all day. Come Monday I was so ready to feel better, mainly because it was the 4th of July. I went to work in the morning until they shooed me away because they knew it was Independence Day. Although I did not get to enjoy any fireworks, my 4th of July was still great. In the afternoon, I was able to go see my 6th graders graduation ceremony before heading off to another football game. I was excited to finally play a game, but as soon as we started I felt differently. I don't know if it was bad water or bad peanut butter, but 5 minutes into the game my stomach dialed 911 and I thought I was gonna vomit out both ends. Dirty water seems to strike you in the most inopportune times here. I played the way I felt, like shit. The other players and my coaches didn't seem to understand that I felt seriously ill they just thought I was tired after 10 minutes of playing. Pllleeease. At half time I quickly grabbed my stuff and was taking my gear off when some of the other players informed me I was going back in. What??! I'm about one kick away from making the field my toilet and I wasn't playing well, why must you keep me in?? Luckily, I was able to stomach the rest of the game, that's right, they made me play all 90 minutes on the verge of death. Even though I was a lost cause, the game was not and we went up 2-0 in the second half to finish. I learned a few things from the experience. First, locals clearly don't understand the pain and agony of travelers diarrhea. Second, it's pretty inevitable that I always guard the douche-bag on the other team. Seriously, every game I end up in a fight with the guy I'm against. And it is always the same problem: they rough me up so I get pissed and do the same thing back (legally) when they get the ball, then comes the threats and big boy talk like he is somebody special which sets me off because he thinks because I'm white and therefore not entitled to anything. It's so stupid. Don't kick me in the jaw and dislocate my thumb while I'm on the ground and expect me to give you a high-five afterwards. And when I make you look bad after that, save the empty threats for your kids. Grow up, play the game, and understand that it is a physical sport. That's essentially what I told him after he whined, but with more potty words.
That's about it for now. I'm spending the next few days gearing up for my trip home, gotta pick up stuff downtown, run to the bank, set up meetings, boring stuff. BUT, I'll be stateside Thursday night until next Monday afternoon. Get excited!
Brice
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