The Games People Play

 

People, the world over, love to play games … usually competitively. Games that are popular in one country are sometimes unknown in another. Folks in Fiji rarely play hockey. Folks in the US rarely participate in banana relays. Traveling from country to country as we do, we get a chance to witness games that are different and many that are the same.

Football is an interesting sport. What we call football in America is not the same as Australian football. And actually, to most of the world, football is soccer and not at all like football as we know it in the USA, or Australian football for that matter. Then there's rugby, of course, which isn't like either American or Australian football. Soccer is certainly played in the US, but it's nowhere near as popular here as it is in the rest of the world.

Baseball is played in other countries, but its roots are here in America. Whitman said it's “America's game” and it's hard to find someone who doesn't have a favorite team. Oh, they play it in Asia and Europe, but it's nothing like the Americas (both of them). Little League is big here and if you grew up in the States you probably played sandlot baseball when you were a kid. On the other hand, we have no explanation for cricket. The bat is odd, the games last a long time and we don't understand the rules.

Basketball, both men's and women's, is played in several places throughout the world although the rules seem to differ depending upon the country. One fond memory was a group of young Embera men in the Darien Jungle of Panama playing basketball in loincloths in the middle of their village. It's an image that stays with you.

We've watched polo, a rich man's sport, but it's definitely not a team sport that most folks will ever expect to play.

Chess, checkers, backgammon and dominoes seem to be popular worldwide games. Cruisers in Mexico and the Carib were crazy for Mexican train dominoes, but we never caught the fever. We especially love those huge chess sets in downtown city parks where people have to move human size chess pieces from square to square.

In the Amazon, we played Sapo. Sapo in Spanish translates to frog and the object of the game was to throw a disc from a measured distance into a golden frog's mouth or into specifically marked holes with numerical values assigned to them. The person with the highest point score wins. There's some skill involved, but the novelty wore off rather quickly.

In French Polynesia, we participated in traditional Polynesian games which included stone lifting, banana relays, coconut husking and outrigger races. Needless to say, though the locals provided instruction and encouragement, we were a sad-looking bunch. It was fun nonetheless.

Re-enactments are popular in many countries. Here in the US, we attended several Civil War re-enactments. Depending whether we were north or south of the Mason-Dixon Line determined who won the particular battle. In Vanuatu, we witnessed a different kind of re-enactment where a century ago locals had attacked arriving missionaries … and subsequently eaten them. The re-enactment stopped just before the “having missionaries for dinner” part, but the attack was definitely authentic looking.

On board, we play lots of card games. Cribbage and gin rummy are two of our favorites. We play backgammon on occasion and Speed Scrabble whenever I can talk David into it. As uncompetitive as we are between us, we still keep score and have been for years. At last count, David was ahead 5,345 to my paltry 5210.

We regularly watch young folks in their tiny Optimist sailboats racing through anchorages and adeptly maneuvering around the big boats and the race markers. Though we always claim we are not interested in racing, it is said that whenever two sailboats are heading the same direction, it's a race. Quite honestly, we truly are not racers and we don't care … but we do like to arrive first.

A Different View of Education

 

One place we tend to visit wherever we stop is a local school. There's a reason for this beyond curiosity about educational systems in other countries. It's a wonderful introduction to the community. Both kids and teachers are usually outgoing and pleased to see visitors and they welcome us warmly into their classrooms. There's a lot of pride is showing what kids are learning and what they've done. They happily perform songs, dance and generally entertain without hesitation.

In Trinidad, we participated in a Kids'n'Cruisers program where cruisers went to the local schools to help tutor local kids in the basics … math, writing, reading. In most places, however, there's nothing quite so formal. On one of the San Blas Islands of Panama, for instance, the school master rang the bell and all the kids came running. I was asked to take a group picture of all of the school kids … and the teachers … which we printed on plain bond paper and which was proudly displayed on the community bulletin board for the whole village to see. We were quite popular after that and were invited to sit and chat with many of the locals.

In Ecuador, we were invited to judge a talent contest at the Interamericano School. These teens worked at speaking English and trying to be very hip and American when quite honestly, they were better off as Ecuadorian teens.

As we ventured further into the South Pacific, we made it our business to visit the small island schools. Matamaka,Tonga was a delight. We visited the two-room schoolhouse and had quite the performance from the kids.

When we learned that John, the schoolteacher, hadn't had an electric light in his hut for over six months, David offered to fix his solar panels and shed some light on his evening hours. Word got out and before you know it, David was fixing lots of solar panels and generators. We met lots of villagers that resulted in being the guests of honor at the school graduation feast and David attending a kava circle with the local men.

In New Zealand, we visited the local school in tiny Opua as part of a fundraiser. Later, the kids performed a “haka”, a traditional Maori dance, for all the cruisers. This school was more akin to a small, rural American school, except for the Maori influence that is.

Probably the most memorable school visits, however, were in Vanuatu. People here live at a subsistence level, but take pride in their community and educating their kids. The country does not provide a school building. That's up to the community to build and maintain for their children. Teachers are trained in state schools, but the cost of all supplies and books, as well as teacher's salaries must also be borne by the community. We contributed lots of baked goods and attended many a fundraiser during our stay there.

I met Natu, the first grade teacher in a little village on the island of Aneitym (Anatom), shortly after we arrived in Vanuatu. We spent many hours together talking about teaching English, improving parent participation in the education process, life in Vanuatu and just life in general. While David went with the men to repair generators and solar panels, I spent time at Natu's house, learning more about her and her way of life. As fascinating as her lifestyle was to me, my lifestyle was just as interesting to her and it was easy to spend hours comparing those things that were so different between us, but also those things that were so much the same.

Whether you're traveling on a boat or just traveling the countryside, if you're interested in learning more about a community, check out the schools. Beyond the cultural exchange and experience, we also succeeded in lowering the waterline by unloading most of the school supplies we carry aboard. Glue sticks and colored markers were never so popular!

Looney Lawn Ornaments

 

We haven't had a lawn in about 15 years, so perhaps we're behind a bit on lawn ornamentation trends. Just like everything, you can underdo and overdo. We always thought a lawn looked good with some landscaping, a berm with some flowers, shrubs. The usual thing. The boat has a foredeck and an aft deck … no lawn and no ornamentation. No grass to mow either, though we do have to scrape the grass off the bottom once in awhile.

We've been land-bound for the last few months and I've started to notice people's lawns and the ornaments they add, beyond the natural, to enhance their lawn experience, as it were. For instance, there are those metallic balls that sit on pedestals. I can't figure out what they're for. I must admit my parents had one at one of our houses when I was growing up and at age 11, I thought it was beautiful. Even then I was easily distracted by shiny things.

I've seen mini-wishing wells (wishing someone would mow the lawn?), Virgin Marys housed in bathtub halves, Buddhas surrounded by pansies, all manner of animal statues and even a bicycle with a scarecrow rider wedged in the V of a tree.

The most bizarre display, however, is not far away. Lin and I were looking for yard sales one morning and came across this spectacle quite unexpectedly in the midst of a rather nice neighborhood. It's a cross between “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “The Griswolds Do Lawn Ornamentation”. It's over the top. A stately Statue of Liberty stands in a cement pond with a large American flag backdrop. Very patriotic until you see the elephant spouting water, the King Kong statue and the alligator. Exactly what were they thinking?

Roman statues adorn other parts of the lawn as well as fountains adorned with angels, frogs, turtles, cranes and dogs. It's pretty visually intensive.

Then there's the huge Jesus statue midst a herd of deer just in front of the basketball backboard.

When we were in California last year, we came across Poor Man's Bronze, a place that specialized in large, unusual lawn art. There's obviously a market for this stuff. I really should put these people in touch. It would be a marriage made in heaven.

I've been looking for lawn gnomes, but haven't found any on display yet. I did find a Lawn Gnome Superstore on-line which not only boasts the world's largest collection of lawn gnomes doing all manner of gnomish things, but it also offers motion-activated talking gnomes. How good is that? David has indicated that the chance of us selling the boat and having a house with a lawn on which I place talking gnomes is probably nil. One can only hope. By the way, one of the biggest garden gnome displays? Canberra, Australia. And I thought Yanks were the only crazy ones?