May 9, 1010

Off Day. The pictures are of my friend Nanan and his 'garden,' and of the view from my porch where I update my journal every morning. The view overlooks Grand Anse harbor. His garden is about 4 acres and he tends it with a friend. He grows tomatoes, squash, carrots, beets, cabbage, bananas, mango, cocoa, yams, green beans (they hang from a tree), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some others. He provides food for his family and also sells his vegetables to the markets, restaurants, local vendors. The other day, he had two bushel baskets full of tomatoes and sweet potatoes and was paid 250 EC for it. The exchange rate is 2.67 EC per 1 U.S. dollar. Nanan's annual salary is approximately $7,300 US equivalent. This is considered a pretty nice salary and he has a nice job working for the government and the ministry of sports. He owns a home, a car, has property, and basically works two jobs....Volleyball Coach and Farmer. When he retires from coaching, he said he will farm full-time. He has a small savings, which is not typical of all Grenadians.

Day off on Sunday. I spent the day at the beach swimming and working on lecture outlines and my practice outlines for the week. My landlord came down with a large bowl of Oil Down...which is the national dish (food). They prepare this for all foreigners and it is something they are proud of.

Guess what's in it?????????? Ya....pig tail and pork snouts! Along with yams, young green bananas, carrots, dumplings, beans, calicou, and several other things I could not identify. The best way to describe it is if you put a lot of food in a bucket, stirred it with a pitch fork, poured some kind of gravy on it, and served it in a bowl. I must admit though, excepting the tail and snout, this was the best oil down I've had.

This week will be hectic. We have a coaching clinic from 9am-3pm every day for secondary and national team coaches. We then have Men's National Team training on Monday and Wednesday from 5-8pm and Women's National Team training on Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8pm.

Respect.