Anna's Volleyball Post...part 2.

Team uniform to go to Nationals.

To take a shower you first had to draw water from the cistern, which was deep and wide, with a hole easily fallen through. You had to throw a small container in and haul it up by its cord, pour it into a bucket, repeat. Most people shared a bucket between two people. My friend and I carried the bucket back to the showering place, in the back corner of the property. It had two solid walls facing the buildings, and a third made of window blocks (as in, there were big square holes throughout the whole wall) The fourth wall was nonexistent and faced the back corner, and its small gate. The bathroom/shower facilities are the main disadvantage of going on these excursions. When it was almost dark, they gave us each a plate filled with rice.

Rugs and coarse blankets were spread on the floor, along with a few thin mattresses. There were probably about 20 girls in the room. The guys sleep on the balconies. A few of them were very talkative, and despite knowing that we would be woken at 4 a.m. talked until close to midnight. Luckily, I figured out how to open the windows; although the mosquitoes were a nuisance, the occasional breeze was worth it. Although the others were used to it and slept under sheets, I couldn't stay under the sheet for long.

At about 4:30 we woke up and got ready, though due to a few incidents, we didn't leave untill six something. A very disgruntled group sat/stood on the ride to Ouanaminthe

. I don't remember when we arrived, but we all sat at a few tables in the large school. They had two inside volleyball courts. Eventually, we changed into our uniforms, and watched our minim boys play, since they hadn't played their second game the previous day (for unknown reasons) Sadly they lost, and afterwards we all squeezed into the tables for lunch. (I had to scrunch my shoulders) One banana, and a plate of spaghetti with half a boiled egg.

Afterwords our minim girls started to warm up, and then my team. We lost the first match (played to 25), mainly due to the different ball's weight. In Haiti there are no standard balls, since we were used to a heavier one, our spikes went out of bounds; our serves were off, and our setter kept getting her sets called. By the second game, we were used to it, and won. I finally managed to do some good back row spikes, and also dived, even though I didn't have knee pads. The tie breaker match was only played to 15, and we won 15-12 (I think, the one side of the score thing was broken, not quite sure)

It was one of the best games I have ever played, and I liked being against a worthy opponent. Our Minim gals won part way through our set, which also gave us a boost. The cadet guys played next, lost their first match, won the second, lost the third. It rained the whole way back, and it was extremely crowded beneath the leaky tarp.

Final injury count: two bruised knees, sore hip, bruised elbow, and badly sun burnt shoulders. That night I slept a delightful 14 hours. The two girls teams head for the finals in Port au Prince, and we leave for it on this Friday, play Sat/Sun, and return on Monday. (I have been assured we will have knee pads) Mean while I am very busy with school, and trying to heal as fast as possible.

Cory went to a parent meeting on Tuesday and heard from the coach how Anna had to stay in the game and could not be allowed to rest because the team would have lost and not been able to go on to nationals. She was the 'back-bone'.

Written during school but posted after Anna left about 3:30 a.m. this morning. Smiling as you can see in the picture above. She should return with the team on Monday; May 1st is a holiday in Haiti, Agricultural Day so no school missed for the team.