Cup Match 2017

Quick intro - so this blog endeavor has been a bit more than I anticipated. I now have over a month (yes, it's been that long!) to catch you all up on, but I'm afraid if I don't start posting the go-forward, it'll be several months before I actually do catch up. So please pardon the "out of order" nature of the next few posts.

And back to Cup Match - a Bermudian version of Thanksgiving, well sort of. This past weekend, we experienced our first Cup Match holiday. While the Cup Match messaging is all about family, friends, and food, this two day public holiday revolves around a rivalry cricket game (in lieu of college football), camping (you read that right), gambling (Crown & Anchor), and a whole lot of drinking. So maybe it is a lot like Thanksgiving after all (minus the camping) with a splash of July 4th. In order to properly take in our first Cup Match, we hired a babysitter and prepped to take in the first day of cricket. It was the West - Sommerset against the East - St Georges. And as luck would have it, it rained most of the day. So we didn't see much cricket, but we did partake in the food and alcohol and the gambling. From what I gather, during Cup Match, gambling is legally permitted and the game of choice is Crown & Anchor. Basically a dice game where you put money down on one of the suits (heart, diamond, spade, club) or on the crown or anchor. The house rolls a 6-sided dice, you place your money/bet under these metal rings, and if your suit/symbol comes up, you win a multiple of your bet. If your suit/symbol doesn't come up, you've lost. Seems like a game of chance, but I'm pretty sure the house is favored to win by heavy odds. The Crown & Anchor tables were set up under a big tent, sheltered from the rain. There was lots of hootin' and hollerin' - and loads of fun. 

The cricket match, which I still do not understand but hope to some day, ended in a draw, and we spent the rest of the long weekend exploring the island. 

It is still a bit unreal that we live on this beautiful island. We were itching to get the boys out late afternoon on Friday, so we hopped in the car to go explore the West side of the island. Hoping that the crowds were occupied in St. Georges for the second and last day of the cricket match -- which also turned out to be a beautiful, summer day.  Words can't adequately describe this place, so I'll just post a series of pictures. 

Astwood Park

Warwick Long Bay

Simply unreal views and crazy that this is just a short drive away. 

Until next time...

🇧🇲 BERMUDA SHORTS 🇧🇲 

Cup Match - A History

The following is a great article if you're interested in learning more http://bernews.com/2010/07/cup-match-history-behind-the-holiday/ but the cliffs notes version is Cup Match can trace its origins back to August 1, 1834 - Emancipation Day - and has evolved into a two-day public holiday, complete with a proper Cricket match between the Somerset Cricket Club and St Georges' Cricket Club. Quite a Bermudian evolution. 

The Arrival and First Week

On Wednesday, June 21st, I left my two boys in the care of their loving grandparents and said "So Long" to Atlanta to join my husband on the lovely island of Bermuda. If all were to go to plan and after booking and rebooking this one-way trip three times, I would arrive Wednesday evening, our belongings would clear customs, and we would move in to our new Bermuda home Thursday morning with the goal of having everything settled the following Thursday for the boys to have a seamless transition into their new home. Totally achievable right?!? I'd have time to get organized, launch a blog in an effort to "stay connected," and maybe even read a book. And then God laughed...out loud!

So back to Wednesday, I landed on another beautiful day in Bermuda, cleared immigration as a "new arrival," was picked up by the hubs in our new car - a white sporty hatch back that looks like one of my three year old son's V-Tech Wheelie cars, dropped off my suitcases, and headed to get my cell phone activated. Success establishing my new Bermuda digits and then it was time for dinner. So what do two adults with young children who happen to be 1,139 miles away back in Atlanta do on a Wednesday evening you ask? Go to a nice, quiet (emphasis on the quiet part) dinner, just the two of us. Brian has been on the island since April 7th and come home for two weekends - Easter and Mother's Day (the latter of which we spent the entire time moving furniture around Atlanta). In that span of time, I finished getting our Atlanta home ready to rent to the sweetest tenants, packed for an international move, and got rid of A TON of things that we didn't need (that's another entire blog post in itself), moved in with my parents, lived out of a suitcase for three weeks, wrapped up and said farewell to my coworkers of seven years, tried to see as many friends as possible, and eat at Chick-fil-a and Houston's as much as possible. Back to our child-free evening and Bermuda - we enjoyed a lovely night dining al fresco at Huckleberry Restaurant, at the Roseden Hotel and then called it a day with no word as to whether our belongings had cleared customs or not.

Reunited and it feels SO good! Delicious and quiet dinner at Huckleberry. And totally and utterly exhausted behind that smile. 

We knew we needed to be out of Brian's temporary apartment Thursday (the next day), but we didn't quite expect the 7:15 a.m. knock on the door so that the apartment could be cleaned. So about 15 minutes later, we were out of the apartment, and headed to go enjoy a lovely breakfast at Devil's Isle. While not technically homeless, since we could move into our townhouse, we felt that way just a bit. And then the email came through that our containers cleared customs, and the movers should be at the house around noon! 

Next stop was to take my computer based driving exam to obtain my learner's permit. Off to Transportation Control Department (TCD) we went, and about two hours later, I was officially licensed to drive a vehicle in Bermuda, on the left side of the road, and with the proper supervision of another licensed driver of course. Maybe my best picture ever!

And then about 1:00 or so, the unloading, directing, unwrapping, unpacking, arranging, organizing, etc; that would last the rest of Thursday and most of Friday began. The crew from Best was great and in addition to the normal moving and re-assembling furniture, they helped us out tremendously by putting together kitchen chairs, a desk, a media console, mount a flat screen tv, and most importantly, a pirate ship water table for the kiddos. The IKEA sleeper sofa appeared to be missing the parts box - so that was left to us.

What we didn't expect was not being able to connect to wifi (which was our backup means of communication) and ironically, we picked a really bad spot cell phone reception wise. Little did we know that this would be our situation for the next several weeks, hence the delay in this whole blog thing. 

Clockwise from top left: This truck shuttled to and from our containers - took 3 trips, me in the disaster of our kitchen, our sleeping arrangements the first night - mattresses were first items out of the truck...the next morning, and front yard full of empty boxes.

And then after all of that unpacking and organizing and unwrapping and cleaning, we spent Saturday and Sunday taking in the America's Cup. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, the 35th America's Cup was held in Bermuda. Teams from six countries competed for the coveted trophy. The Defenders, Oracle Team US would take on Emirates Team New Zealand (the Kiwis) in the finals. We were fortunate to catch races 5 and 6 on Saturday, viewing from the water and then races 7 and 8 on Sunday, viewing from the America's Cup "Village". While Team Oracle pulled out a win for race 6, it would be the Kiwis who would go on to win the coveted Cup. Although I caught the tail end of about a month of races, I can say that Bermuda was at its finest for this event, and it was definitely a very memorable experience.

Our view of US Team Oracle vs. New Zealand Team Emirates Americas Cup races on Saturday...not to shabby...and yes, that is an official America's Cup beer can in my hand and the Gosling Rum Party boat behind us. 

Saturday views from the water. Clockwise from top left: Uber fancy boat racing - US and the Kiwis, fancy boat, fancy boat, view of the Americas Cup "AC" Club, and artsy shot of flags blowing in the wind.

Clockwise from top left: US and the Kiwis, Team US and Team Japan's training, view of the AC Village, the blue boats in charge of constantly pushing back boats like ours from entering the race course (you could not anchor), and more fancy boat racing.

Sunday views from the Village. USA USA! Bottom picture is taken from underneath a twin haul catamaran. These boats are ridiculously fast, ridiculously engineered, and ridiculously expensive. 

And I think that's a wrap for my inaugural blog post. More to follow.

🇧🇲 BERMUDA SHORTS 🇧🇲 

I plan to include some quick facts about Bermuda at the end of my posts - starting with some basics. 

Where is Bermuda? 

Bermuda is an island located in the North Atlantic Ocean - 32 degrees North and 64 degrees West - it is 918 miles due east of Fripp Island, South Carolina, 1,139 miles away from Atlanta, Georgia, and 719 miles away from New York City, New York. Contrary to popular belief, Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, near Jamaica, or near any other Caribbean island, and is actually 976 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is an island just shy of 21 square miles - basically a rock - in the grand ole North Atlantic Ocean. And this rock is our new home.