"Working" in Barbados

Greetings from Germany!

I know it has been awhile since my last posting...and I have no excuses. But I wanted to update you with my last journey. To start the story, we must go back to the first day I arrived in Bonn.

When I first arrived in Germany, I was asked if I wanted to sit in on a meeting with my direct supervisor and our CEO. It was literally my first day in Bonn, and I wanted to try and stay awake to rid myself of jet lag as soon as possible, so I agreed to attend the meeting. In the meeting, Andy, my supervisor, was talking about a workshop that would be held in Barbados in November. Because the workshop was so close in dates to the General Assembly in China that Andy would be attending, it was decided that I would attend the Barbados workshop. I thought I was the luckiest person alive that day..although I was ready to fall asleep in the meeting.

The workshop is for ANADO - which stands for the Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations. The IPC is an International Federation and is an observer member of the Association. As an observer member, we attend all workshops and actively participate in collaborative efforts to further the movement of Anti-Doping.

I left Germany on November 9th and arrived in Barbados later that day. It was almost dark when we arrived, but myself and two other workshop participants, Una and Christina, went swimming. The water was so warm..it was a good change to the cold I left behind.

















The workshop was very beneficial and the weather was quite nice for most of the trip. The most exciting part of the trip was that Kyle was able to come down and spend a few days with me in the tropics. This picture was taken at a Mexican Restaurant/Bar in St. Lawrence Gap - an area filled with food and nightlife.

On Friday, November 11, Kyle and I took a swim in the Ocean before I had to get ready to go to my meetings. Check out the scenery that morning:















The last day on the Island, a group of us had made reservations to go out on a Catamaran and go swimming with Sea Turtles. I was so excited (I talked about wanting to do that all weekend)! However, when Kyle and I woke up on Sunday, November 13th, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down. As we watched the weather, it appeared that a Tropical Depression has set in. Needless to say, the trip was cancelled.

Instead the group took a bus into Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. I suppose I should tell you about the Bus. The bus was the size of a mini-van with seats for 10. When the bus stopped to pick us up, it was already full and there were 7 of us. The driver insisted that there would be enough room, so everyone piled in. Sure enough. The nedxt thing I knew there were approximately 13-15 people in the van. I couldn't beleive it. We walked around Bridgetown hoping to find a open shop or two..but there wasn't any. So, we walked along the beach and back to our beach on the island.

Due to the high winds, the waves were very big as well. Kyle and I went swimming and had a great time surfing the waves. Una and Anne, another workshop participant, joined us. We rented some body boards and surfed the waves for a good hour. It was such a good time. The waves were so big. I got thrown under a few times. Seeing waves and the power, made you realize how powerful water can be. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been through the Tsunami.

Body Surfing
















Check out the Dark Sky behind us. It started to rain about 5 minutes after this picture was taken.
















After swimming all afternoon and then watching the rain fall, Kyle and I went to a bar down the road to get some food. Since it was Sunday, this bar was showing Sunday American Football on all of it's TVs. Those of you who know me and my dad know that my dad calls me Bubba. Well, you will never guess the name of the bar:















I hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day. Unfortunately, I didn't not have any Turkey this year. One, I'm boycotting poultry in Europe until the Bird Flu thing dies down. Second, my kitchen isn't really designed for cooking giant feasts. So, after riding my bike home in the rain after my German class, I cooked a Frozen Pizza.

Yummy!

~Betsy =)