The next decade....what's in store?
Musings of a yamfooted traveller still trying to shake off those last 20 pounds as she treks across the Caribbean
The resort had a drumming and dancing group called the Tivoli Drummers tonight for two hours. Normally, the entertainment is very stade....ladies singing ballads, a reggae band here and there and a steelpan group. Once a year they get the Tivoli Drummers.
It was the first time I was seeing them. Boy, they got my skin jumping. And the guests loved it. Shoulda seen them doing the limbo. No fire eating though.
A good time was had by all and I showed some of the employees the Yamfoot dance moves. I don't know why people think that I can't do these things. After all, I'm a black woman you know and proud of it. I took some pictures. If they come out good, and my computer decides to recharge, I will post one tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow....
...isn't it amazing that the end of the year 2005 is already here? I just can't believe it.
Tomorrow will be more entertainment here with the steel band who are very good, and a band called Aliens. Admidst working, I shall be having another thumping, pumping whale of a time.
Do you know on my first New Year's Eve on duty at the hotel in Jamaica, I had to deal with a bomb scare? Imagine having to go in the ballroom with over 500 people and announcing that everybody had to leave the room so the fire department could check the ballroom for the bomb. Of course, we knew there wasn't going to be a bomb, but we had to follow procedure. Now if you were in Jordan, or Iraq, or Israel or one of those places, a bomb threat is no hoax!
Anyway, enjoy however you ring in the New Year. For much of my adult life, I have spent it working. This year will be no different.
I called a male guest today to check that everything he had sent out to the laundry had been returned.
He said "I don't do laundry. If there is any problem, my wife will let you know".
Talk about living in the past where the wives took care of everything.
In 2003, I got a red and black flared long skirt made while I was working in Trinidad. I wore it that year Christmas Day to a family get together in Jamaica. I think I might have worn it once after that. Tonight when I put it on, the waist was swimming around me, twisting all over the place.
Big Smile!
A friend of mine here invited me to lunch today at her parents' house. Her mother had two sisters and their friends or relatives over as well, since they were on a cruise which called at St George's today. They are 50+ and 60+ women (and one male), who were riotous! Kept me in stiches all afternoon.
Food was splendiferous. My vegetarian diet was observed even though there was chicken and ham and real Guyana pepperpot which I would have dived into prior to 28th August. The callaloo was divine. Probably the best I have tasted in Grenada.
Lunch was from 1:15, and I got back to where I am staying (am back up the hill) around 5pm. I had a glass of white wine, which knocked me out. Slept for an hour from 5:30, then got ready and came to work at 8pm.
A great day, but it still doesn't feel like Christmas Day.
A spicy Christmas to you all, from the beautiful, peaceful island of Grenada
For the fifth time in my life, I am celebrating Christmas in lovely Grenada. I have to say, without the hustle and bustle of the traffic on the roads in Kingston , I am not feeling the Christmas spirit at all. And I don't think I will feel it. Maybe if I had gone into St George's I would get the vibes.
I am going to a friend's house for lunch tomorrow, then working in the evening.
Maybe when the fireworks explode on New Years Eve (which they call Ole Years here), I will feel like the year is really coming to an end......
....and then my 40th year really starts in earnest!!!
Merry Christmas, a blessed Christmas and prosperous 2006 to all who pass this way.
I am so happy I don't have to do that. I dislike shopping for other people. I would rather invite somebody to a nice meal, or have people over. But this walking from shop to shop to try and find something for family and friends.....I don't do very well at all.
I will attempt to buy gifts when I return home next year.
Happy Shopping!
Any of you watched the final of The Apprentice last week? From Randall and Rebecca were the two finalists, Randall was the sure pick.
From after his second time managing the task, I picked him to reach the finals. The only thing I was concerned about was whether he had enough "umph" to get the job. But he did. A perfect record in the tasks he managed. He also had the respect of all the other candidates.
It teaches a lesson, that has been taught by many business gurus. You have to be nice AND get results. One or the other won't cut it.
This is the Christmas tree in the lobby of the resort. Pity I don't feel the Christmas vibes at all....but it's beautiful isn't it?
Variety is the spice of life, so I try and do as many things as I can do. Well, this is really in the last 4 or so years. Here's how it went......
1. Did a Hotel Management degree a loooooong time ago. Worked at a hotel in Jamaica for 8 years, then worked at this same hotel I am writing from now for 4 years.
2. After that, left in order to do a Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Education, because I felt that I wanted to concentrate on people development. Spent nearly 2 years in England because I started another Post Graduate degree.
3. Now it was while I was in England doing my second degree that I started the cricket writing. My very first piece for the website was a call to rally around the West Indies team when they were playing Australia in Port of Spain in 2003.
4. When I got home in May 2003, the editor of the website (bless him!) asked me if I would do some off-the-field cricket stuff when the Aussies came to Jamaica. Sure! So did that.
5. I should have gone to start my PhD at Virginia Tech in August 2003, but a Grenadian person I know said a hotelier was looking for a trainer. So I deferred my PhD, and took that contract which lasted three months. Worked between Trinidad and Grenada (not at this hotel).
6. Did some odd jobs in the first part of 2004, and then came to this hotel to conduct some training, then was to return the week of Ivan....well....you know what happened. Was fortunate to get a contract in St Kitts/Nevis for two months.
Now in and between all of that "proper job", I still do cricket stuff. The mandate given to me by the editor in 2003 was to do profiles and Q&As with the players. The public only knows about what a player does on the field, but doesn't really get to know them. The cricket stuff is very voluntary, however out of that I have been fortunate to get some paying pieces.
Then I also started writing some hospitality pieces for The Jamaica Gleaner.
Ok, I think that should un-confuse you?
Time to go home. I wore high heel shoes today for the whole day....and they were new shoes. You can imagine how the yamfeet are feeeling!
Well, we receive our first guests on Thursday, a family of five. Let's hope all goes well. The resort looks stunning. One day (can't say when!), I will post some pictures. The owner only does things in style and it shows.
Sorry, really sorry that I haven't been able to read your blogs....don't see that happening before early January. Yeah.....it's a BIG shift in gears for the resort right now. But when you have that lovely view of the sea and the city across the harbour...maaan, all worries disappear.
Lovely, beautiful Grenada.
Remember I told you some time ago, perhaps in several blog entries, that I grew up believing that I would live to be about 40? Well I am 39 now, so every ailment that afflicts me, I think seriously "but really, what if tonight were my last night on Earth?"
Tonight is one of those nights. Last night, I couldn't sleep because of a headache, and also it's party night in Grenada so cars were going up and down the road since the nightclub is up the road from where I am staying. The cars all chose to play their stereos as loudly as the nightclub. It was not appreciated.
What also wasn't appreciated I suspect, is the call I made to the Police station across the road, to complain about the noise. The officer, a Constable Josephs, was very courteous in asking me what he thought should be done. I told him to put one of their vehicles in the road, and stop people as they were passing and warn them about the loudness of the music.
"Pardon me miss, but can I ask you something? Have you ever seen them doing something like that in your country?" Well ah couldn't answer that yes, but anyway, that kept me awake until after 3. So I am operating on little sleep, and now I have a royal headache. I took two Paracetamol at about 6pm and that has not budged the headache one bit.
I am going to therefore have to take a sleeping pill tonight, or else I won't fall asleep. I will be thinking that the headache is the result of a burst blood vessel (which it really could be), and death is imminent. If I take the sleeping pill, I will therefore just sleep this life away, and the last record from me would be this blog entry.
I'm not being dramatic. This is really how I think. I know, I probably shouldn't think that way, but you just never know, do you. I was telling a colleague that I was thinking about taking a taxi to the hospital at about 2am. He said only a CAT scan could confirm the aneurysm, and that you couldn't get that at the hospital. Where could you get it? In Trinidad, or Barbados, he said. Yikes! It better be only a lack-of-sleep-and-after-effects-of-having-to-walk-up-Market-Hill-today kind of headache!
I just went on the internet and saw that Terri Karelle Griffith placed in the top 15 out of 105 contestants. She was one of two chosen from the Caribbean region. The other was Miss Puerto Rico who went on to win the MIss World Caribbean crown. There was another Caribbean beauty in the top 15 - Miss US Virgin Islands who got a fast track into the final 15 by winning the talent competition.
See......I told y'all, Miss Griffith was going to make her mark. Coming in the top 15% is no easy feat for a real black beauty, when beauty seems more and more to be defined by the European standard.
Go dey Terri Karelle! I'm sorry I wasn't able to see it on TV.
Just a note to say hi, am still alive. No time for frivolities such as blogging, not for a few weeks, but will check in from time to time. Unfortunately can't read other blogs for a while.
Kami, I see that your PM got back in. The people have spoken. Did you vote? I have NEVER voted, ever.
The hotel here in Grenada will open next week Thursday. We have started serving dinners however, since last week Tuesday, so I eat there every night in order to do some evaluation of the service. I try and dress up, since I don't get out much! What a ting!
Ok, I need to do some catching up tonight. For some reason, the fish that I had from the restaurant last night hurt my stomach. I didn't have any "funny tummy" as the British like to refer to it as, but a piece of pain lick me late, so I stayed up and watched CSI NY until midnight. Then got up at 6:30am.
Yesterday, I was very proud that I exercised after leaving work. I haven't exercised in a couple of weeks......but the clothes still fit!