Funnyquote Friday

Here's the quote:

"There's something calling me to Nevis... 

And it has a British accent."

This week's quote is a little more of an inside joke, so I'll attempt to explain here.  My friend, who is serving on the island of Nevis, uttered this on Wednesday in reference to his job placement, making light of the fact that he is the only volunteer from our class on Nevis.  And it just so happens that his new boss, who works for the Nevis Ministry of Social Development, is a repatriated Nevisian who spent 42 years in Great Britain.  Hence the accent.

Yesterday at the worksite was a grand experience.  It was a great pleasure to meet my future coworkers and to learn about my work initiatives for the next two years.  Even stepping in a hill of fire ants when we were touring the facility wasn't enough to squelch my positive attitude.  In fact, I've received quite a positive reception from the local wildlife over the past week.  Did you know they have mongooses here?  I have not seen one living yet, but I hope to – delightful images of half-eaten snakes and a certain Kipling short story come to mind.

Changing topics, for everyone wondering what a shandy is, it is apparently different from island to island.  But in St. Kitts it is basically a beer cut with soda.  Here, that means one part Ting brand grapefruit soda and one part Skol brand beer.  It's sweet and very good, as one might expect, and it's popular and kind of a social touchstone.  This is as opposed to St. Lucia, where some of us had become accustomed to ordering a premixed shandy, bottled by the local national brewery.  This caused some initial confusion, incidentally, when we were chatting with the current volunteers here.

Well, I'll miss another beatdown issued by my Yellow Jackets tomorrow, but that's okay, because I'll be joining a local group of runners that meet somewhere on the island every month.  So I'll get to meet some people and have a good time on the beach.  A little relaxation due after a challenging first week on the island!