Home Sweet Home….

After a month and a half it was finally time to say good bye!  The trip was a success over all, i got back into shape, and got some cricket out of it.  Even though my time in T&T is over, must say i made friend for a life time. 

I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Gaitri and her family.  Her mom treated me as i were her own daughter and not once did she give me the chance to miss my own mom, so…..thank you mum Anna!  Thank you uncle Krish for all the support and good times, Anand for always being there to entertain and look out for me!  And thanks to the whole extended family for making me feel like a part of it.  As for my friend Gai…..thanks a million for sharing your family, friends and home with me.  I feel blessed to have a friend like you! 

Hmm so back home now and what better welcome back gift than a snow storm from mother Nature!  Well, that’s all for now so until the next trip or tournament it good bye!

Brushed Death by Seconds!!

With this weekend being Carnival weekend and having Carnival Monday and Tuesday as holidays, drinking is clearly in full effect here.  And as most people go to the beach here on Carnival Monday, so did we, only to have the experience of a life time.  We visited “Chaguaramas Beach” up Port of Spain side.  We arrived to a beautiful sunny morning with the water looking as blue as ever!  We set up base and went for a few dips in the water.  Come 3 o’clock Gai’s mom, baby niece and I went for a walk along the beach.  The beach is right off a main road with little concrete pillars acting as car/safety blocks.  As we were heading back to our base, taking our time enjoying the cool summer breeze we hear a loud bang right behind us.  A Nissan Maxima is halfway over the concrete wall and a huge white truck is through the concrete onto the beach running over people and speeding at us.  I had the baby in my arms and Gai’s mom was right behind, as we saw the truck come we ran off to the side, behind a tree.  The truck finally came to a stop and abt 6 men jumped out and ran for it.  As people ran to see the damage and help the injured we were in utter shock!  Gai’s mom fainted and her cousins came running out of the water to help out and calm her down.  As things calmed down and i gathered my thoughts and went to scene of the accident.  Hats off to the emergency services as the police, ambulance, fire trucks, and a few army officers arrived at the scene within minutes.  As i walked closer i could see a smashed Nissan Maxima half way over a two foot concrete wall.  I get even closer and see a young girl on the ground. She’d been run over!  Her leg looked smashed and bent like something out of a movie.  Beside her was her mom, scratched up and trying to keep her daughter calm.  Minutes later we see her dad with scratches and bruizes all over his shoulder, arms, back and torso.  As they got taken to hospital we packed up and decided to head straight home.  Thankfully no one was killed considering the beach was packed with people.  Oh and they did catch the driver who not suprisingly was drunk!  Lesson of the Day….DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!

hmmm it’s Carnival Tuesday today, and im debating going to see some of the action knowing the drunken drivers will be present!  But who knows, i might gather up some courage and head down for a few minutes.

In other news i have my first 40 over game this Sunday and as usual i’m hoping to do well.  Training’s been good and i’m positive i’ve lost some fat loll.

Well until next time….stay safe!!!!

The Nastiest/Scariest thing ever!!

Ever wondered what it would feel like to have hundreds of ants crawling on your face?! ….I do!  Tuesday morning started just as any other morning.  Took my stuff and headed for a shower.  A cold cold shower later, i reached for my towel to wipe my face, only to feel a million little things crawling on it.  I took the towel away from my face and looked at it….OMG HUNDREDS OF ANTS ALL OVER IT!!!!  It was the nastiest most scary thing i’ve EVER experienced!!  Arghhh cricket is great, training is great but the bugs of Trinidad need to stop bugging me!!  If it’s not ants, it’s spiders, if not spiders, it’s mosquitoes!!  To sum it up, im covered from head to toe in mosquito bites. Ohh and i’ve never been this sun burnt in my life!!  My whole face is peeling and literally catches on fire every time i put sun screen on!

LOL enough venting! On the positive side, the weather’s been really mild lately thanks to the on and off rain showers.  And training is going really well.  I actually feel like i’m getting fitter.  unfortunately i’ll only be getting one 40 over game before my time here ends.  This weekend is a bye and next week is Carnival weeked, so no games till next to next weekend.

There was a special request by Gai’s bro Anand to name the crew that we lime with so here are their names….dodoman a.k.a Great Guy (Anand), long neck, one egg, furr, sima, and Monali loll.  Well, that’s all for now ciao till next time!

Games….Finally!!

After a nice cool day at the zoo Sunday was finally game time!!  The day started early….around 6 30 am.  A quick shower and breakfast to go later, we were at Chaguanas to catch the team maxi taxi (mini bus) to the ground.  We were playing in “Arima”  on a school ground.  We got there bright an early around 8 am, only for an 8 30 am start to be delayed to a 10 am….Trini time start.   But as they say here….tha is small ting (that’s no big deal).  With a total of 6 teams there, a full day of super sixes games was organized.  Our club “Phoenix” had the second game of the day and played a total of 5 games.  Each side got 4 overs and each bowler could bowl a maximum of 2 overs.  Though i didn’t bat, in a way today was a great start for me since i was bowling spin instead of pace.  I played four out of the five games and bowled in three of the four i played.  The first game I bowled one over for 4 runs and 2 wickets.  Second game one over 2 wickets for i think 3 or 4 runs.  Third game i got a tad smashed up loll but still ended up getting a wicket.  I bagged 5 wickets for the day and was apparently the second highest wicket taker in the tournament.  Our club ended up winning the tournament in great style!!  I’ve been very fortunate since our club coach Mr. Trumpet agreed to coach me on off spin bowling.  Hope i can get the jist of it by the end of this month!  It’s off to club training tomorrow and ohhh might i add….cant wait for CARNIVAL next week!!

Training in full Gear!

hmmm a little insight to the Trini lifestyle from the past weekend….when people say Trini’s like their alcohol, music, and liming….they really mean it!!  Saturday night was a “lime” (hang out) night.  I got the opportunity to lime with Gai, her brother, and their friends.  it was an interesting night to say the least lol….plenty of alcohol….sry “medicine” as they call it, and a lot of random drunken talk.  Since i dont drink, i just enjoyed the free entertainment and a night to remember!!  Sunday morning i woke up to LOUD music blasting from Gai’s massive speakers.  Apparently you can play loud music here (loud enough to be heard 5 houses down the road)  and not have a single neighbour get upset.   A really good weekend over all!!

Run down of the week’s events….

After a good club training on Monday, Tuesday was the hottest day since i’ve been here.  The temperature reached a scorching 38 degrees Celsius with barely any breeze.  Since i was up at 6 30 am i decided to go for a jog….bad idea!!  As i start to jog, 2 minutes into it im being followed by 3 street dogs!! Haha first instinct was to run as quick as i could, but i held my nerve and turned around.  Took some effort chasing them away but definitely learnt not to go jogging alone on trini streets again!!  The afternoon was like most others, just take my books, go outside and study. Thankfully it cooled down a bit in time of training that evening with the T&T national side.  It was a decent practice with a lot of catching, batting and fielding drills.  After a super hot Tuesday the weather’s made a total change.  It’s been raining on and off for the past three days and the temps have dropped to a comfortable range.  With nice cool weather Wednesday’s training was with Gai’s men’s club….”Valley Boys.”  It was my first time batting on turf since last year’s America’s, and took some getting used to.  But not a bad start! After batting and bowling it was time for some serious fielding, followed by the best fitness session i’ve had in a week and a half.  Today was a moderately warm day with rain on and off again.  Come evening though, i had the chance to go up the road to the ground and work out.  After a 7 laps, upper body strengthening with a tension cord, crunches and push ups, i probably lost a bucket of sweat!! And now as i rehydrate i’m feeling super good about the session.  Tomorrow it’s off to the Zoo….yayy!!  and Sunday, finally some games!!  It’ll be a whole day of super 6′s and 40 over games starting the following weekend.

A week already!!

Wow the past week went by fas (trini way of saying fast)!!  Having my mom here for a week was absolutely wonderful.  We had a great time site seeing and soaking in the Trini culture.  Ever wonder where the raw materials of roads come from?? Well the answer is right here in Trinidad, from a place called “Pitch Lake.”  A very appropriate name since they call the roads “pitch” here.  It’s a huge open space where tar bubbles up from underground along with small pools of methane rich water.  Along with pitch lake we visited a temple with an 85ft Hanuman (Monkey God) Idol, the always amazing Maracas Beach, and sunny Crown Point Beach in Tobago.  Maracas was warm and the waves were nice and big.  I hade some bake and cheese (Trini dish) and Chutney music, to make the day just perfect!  But the best day was when we visited Crown Point Bach.  It’s undoubtedly the best beach i’ve ever been to.  There was soft white sand and water clear enough to see the little fishes.  The waves were calm and just right to relax.  Come Saturday it was time to say good bye to my mom and off to watch a local T20 game.  Apart from the home side losing it was a good game of cricket and there was more to follow the next day.  After a decent loss the day before, the home team got absolutely smashed on Sunday.   Thanks to a few National players on the opposition team we got to see some real sixes!!  This week the real work begins….

I had a quick visit to “Chaguanas” for Gaitri’s  hair cut and the chance to see how hair dressing was done in Trinidad.  A rather interesting experience!  I saw a non-electric straightening Iron and various curlers which happened to look like old coal clothes Irons.  I’ll post a picture for those who want to know what they look like.  After going to “Chaguanas” during the day for Gaitri’s hair cut, i had my first training with my club team.  I’ll be playing with the Phoenix Cricket Club which happens to be captained by the Trinidadian and West Indies Captain Merissa Aguilleira.  The practice ran very smoothly.  We started with a warm up and half an hour of fitness, followed by batting and bowling, and some more fitness to finish.  The Club coach (whose name i’ve yet to catch) was extremely helpful as were the girls.  I got some good tips on off spin bowling and batting against spin.  Over all, a very productive session.  With some goals in mind and a full month of cricket left, i’ll be getting there in no time!  A quick run down of a typical week here is…. Monday-club training, Tuesday-National training, Wednesday-National training, Thursday-club training, Friday-relaxing, Saturday and/or Sunday Game.

That’s all for now, but will post more later.

Welcome to Trinidad!!

Hey Everyone!!

For those who don’t know, I’ll be calling Preysal, Trinidad home for the next month and a half.  The main purpose of this blog is to keep my friends and team mates in the loop and motivated for the extremely important tournament ahead of us this summer.  I’m staying my good friend Gaitri and training with her national and club team.  The weather is very warm and the complete opposite of Kitchener, Canada.  I’ve been here since Monday and just trying to get used to the thick Trini accent and cold water showers!!  After some doubles and Aloo pies it was back to business with my first training session today. It was a good two hour session with the Trinidadian National Girls Team.  Training was at Barataria ground, close to Port of Spain.  We did an hour and a half of batting and fielding, and a half an hour of fitness.  It’s off to Maracas Beach for tomorrow with training in the evening.  Once i get in the rythm of things, i’ll be posting some Trini cricket and fitness tips for those who would like to try.  Should be putting some pics up soon too!! well that’s all for now but will post more later this week.