The picture to the left is of three women's national team members: Metric, Latisha, and Rechelle vs. 3 men's national team members: Nigel, John, and Arnold at Bathway Beach. The picture to the right is of the self-proclaimed Beach Champions!!! Kimme (Kimon) is on the left and Shaq is on the right.
Today is a national holiday in Grenada. Everyone is off work and most stores are closed. It
reminds me of our Labor Day holiday in the U.S. To celebrate, the Men's and Women's National volleyball teams set up a food and drink booth at Bathway Beach today to try and raise money for uniforms, travel, etc. It was a beautiful day and there was not a large crowd, but a good crowd at the beach. There were several other groups that had set up booths and were selling food and drink. Our booth sold beer (Carib, Heiniken, Guinness, Stag...not our stag), juice, soda, and water. For food, we sold barbecued chicken, fish, rice and also made a huge pot of soup.
We also set up a volleyball net. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. At first, everyone was just kind of bumping the ball back and forth. It was a very sunny, hot day, and the sand was deep and blistering hot! We started out with doubles, but after one game to 25, I was exhausted. Because we had so many people that wanted to play, we decided to go with 3 man teams and only play to 10. It was great fun and pretty intense. I have not played volleyball in many many years, however, today, was different. Today I felt like Karch Kiraly! My team was Shaq (Dominic Pierre 29) and Kimmee (Kimon, 20). And after loosing our first match to an overrated team of Greg, Burke and Underdog (stroop), we went on to win 35 consecutive matches!!! (maybe 7 straight...but it felt like 35). We finally had to walk off the court or else I was going to have a heart attack.
It was really a great day. My feet are still sore though!. The sand was so hot, people were running from the court to the sea in between points to cool off their feet. We poured water on the sand but that cooled it off for only a little while. Players also would walk over to a vine-like plant that grows along the beach and rub their feet on that to cool them off. But, despite the heat, the games never stopped. Adam has a tremendous sand game as does Arnold. They were the two best hitters. Donovan Burke, Greg, and even Underdog have good games. :) Richard Britton plays great for a track-guy, Alex doesn't like hitting the sand, Nigel is a terrific sand player as is John, Solomon has the best one-liners, and of course my partners were the best. For the women, of course Metric played and was great as usual, Rechelle is an incredible athlete and moves like she's on a hard court, Jenny brings some Dominica spice to the game, and Latisha (17) is going to be a great one if we could get her to focus more time on volleyball.
Guys working the booth and not getting to play were Andy, Peter, and Patrick, to name a few.
Observations:
I believe I've found the fountain of Youth! I cannot tell anyone's age here. People in their 30s look like they are 20. Is it the diet, lifestyle, or maybe the Caribs....well, I'll know if it's the Caribs by the time I leave.
I don't have bad morning breath here!! Back home, I scare myself with my breath in the morning. Here, my teeth seem whiter and my breath is good, even in the morning. Hmmm.
I must learn to Stroop!!! That is a noise everyone makes here with their mouth. It is kind of a saliva-sucking sound that is appropriate for many occasions. I have found it to mean, "What an idiot," "that's rediculous," "unbelievable," "what an a@#," etc... I'll have to keep practicing.
In Grenada, people don't swim, they "bathe."
Last night I found out many people in Grenada cannot swim. I believe it is the Dad's job to teach their kids to swim.
Bathway is probably the most beautiful scenic beach I have been to in Grenada. The rocky barrier, the rougher surf, the way the ends of the beach curve around and form a sort of cup shape, the high rocky cliffs, and the small islands visible from the beach all make it majestic.
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