Narsapur Volleyball Tournament (Oct 27-30)

We left bright and early Thursday, October 27^th for the trip to Narsupor. Uncle William Moses Enjati in his SUV picked up Zach and me at the hospital gate and we struck out to our destination 3 hours away. Zach and I had unwisely stayed up too late the night before so we quickly fell asleep in the back seat in spite of the honking and curvy roads. Our driver was the same driver we had had on the way to Machilipatnam a few weeks earlier so it was good to see a trusted driver behind the wheel.

We sped along back roads for the first half of our trip. This was the part where we were napping in the back. All of a sudden though we pulled onto an on ramp that looked very similar to one in the US. Evidently the fastest route to Narsapur is to drive on small country roads and then get on the Chennai-Kolkata highway and follow that north along the coast to Narsapur. The Chennai-Kolkata highway is 4 wide and is extremely well maintained. It was really a sweet surprise to be driving along at 60 mph with little honking and hardly any swerving. The road was still open to everything from herds of cattle to huge trucks so it wasn’t exactly like an American highway but still quite close! We turned off the highway about 20 km away from Narsapur and drove along a river all the way to the school. Uncle was telling us that when he went to school here back in the 50’s and 60’s the only way to travel up and down this stretch of river was by boat but now roads crisscrossed all over India and the use for the boats was obsolete.

We finally arrived at the school around noon and first went the dorm where the rest of the guys from Nuzvid were staying. We noticed right off the bat a plaque on the new girls dorm with the names of Ron and Janet Wilkinson. It was pretty cool to see names we recognized! Right after that we went to the main area where the tournament was going to be held. There was a huge multi-colored tent next to the dirt court with flags on 10-foot poles encircling the court. Evidently they take this tournament very seriously!

When we arrived there were a few people milling about, messing with the sound system and chatting. We got out and realized we knew a few people there including our friend Vara Jacob. It was nice to hang out and chat to people while we waited to head over to George Kaligithi’s house for lunch.

Around 12 we headed over to Uncle George’s house to eat lunch. We sat down in plastic chairs under the palm trees and were served coconut water straight from his trees. It was nice to relax and sip on a coconut in the shade. Lunch was served right after we finished introductions and our coconuts at a table that had been brought out where we were sitting. It was nice and cool since it had rained earlier in the day, which was a welcome change from the squelching heat of Nuzvid!

Lunch was the usually rice and curry but this time most of the curries were fish curries…Now I haven’t ever liked the taste of fish, but this meal was prepared specially for us and I didn’t have the heart to say I didn’t like fish in front of our hosts so Zach and I begin picking through the pieces of fish looking for bones. It was probably my least favorite meal we’ve had here in India so far but the vegetarian dhal was quite tasty! I ate a lot of that and graciously took the smallest portions I could of the fish curries. It was a memorable meal for sure!

Now the games were supposed to start around 2 with the first game starting at 3 so we walked back over to the school. In fine India time frame the opening ceremony didn’t start until 2:45… But once it did start it was quite the ordeal. All the teams were lined up in front of the large tent with all the players in matching jerseys and flags. Nuzvid’s jersey baby blue and for the first time I was kinda happy not to be playing for them…Kidding, but we definitely didn’t not get lucky with the color for our team’s jerseys.

The opening ceremony lasted over an hour since every important person had to be honored with garlands and everyone who had even the slightest importance had to say a few words. The teams stayed standing throughout the ceremony with their flags. Also, it had rained quite heavily since lunch and so the court was soaked. There were a few ladies with buckets and sponges attempting to dry the court, which we found to be pretty hilarious!

The ceremony ended with all the teams gathering together in front of the table with all the trophies and having a prayer and right after the first game got underway.

The obvious favorite with the crowd watching was the local Narsapur team since they had the support of all the students who had the tournament days off. All the students watched the games and it was fun to get to know some of the kids while the games were going on. The questions they asked us never changed…”what is your name? Where are you from? and How long are you here for?” We eventually did have so

These children have been there at the school with few vacations or visits home so it was cool to hear about their homes and families. One kid I will always remember was Abushek. He was one of those kids who just wanted to hang out and chat and joke as much as possible. His smile is forever imprinted in my memory! He was from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which a state in India located east of the mainland in the Bay of Bengal. It was fun to hear about his home and family and all sorts of other things.me really fun conversations with some of the younger kids who were super friendly, which was really fun.

Now since we couldn’t play in the tournament Zach and I played a couple exhibition games but it wasn’t the same as competing. However, the next day that all changed when the father of Ravi came up and asked us to play on his team. Now Ravi was a younger guy we met from Spicer College who was an incredible hitter on the Spicer team. His dad (who’s name I can’t remember) works in Kuwait drilling oil and was back in India on leave. We jumped at the chance to play competitively in the tournament but we didn’t realize the other 4 guys on our team couldn’t play to save their lives…Needless to say we lost every game we played on Friday, badly. It was fun but also very frustrating, but more about that later.

That evening we headed to vespers where Zach was asked last minute to do closing prayer. He tried to pawn it off on me but I’ve spoken 3 times for stuff and he’s sneaked on by, so I was able to get off the hook this time. He did a good job and the service was actually pretty good.The games continued all day Friday up to sundown and then we had dinner in the café. The food there was positively amazing! They had some of the best curries and dhals I’ve had from a cafeteria anywhere. I think it was one of those times where they make extra good food when there are guests, but hey, I was totally down with it!

The next day we headed to the Kesanapalli church about an hour and a half away from Narsapur. We rode with Uncle William Moses in his SUV and got there around 10 when we thought Sabbath school was just finishing. Turns out it was just starting! Church ran until 3…longest church service of my life! But on a positive note all the seats in the main part of the church were full so Zach and I sat in the balcony and caught a little nap. It was a good service though and they called us up and garlanded us along with Uncle William and his wife who coincidently donated all the money to build the church. It was a nice service but I was definitely ready for lunch!

Lunch was at the estate of a church member next door. And when I say “estate” I really mean it. He had two huge houses in the middle of a coconut grove on a pretty big piece of land. This guy worked in Abu Dhabi working for a construction company. He was on leave for a few months and he was a really gracious host. It seems like there are a lot of people who work in the Middle East either drilling oil or as construction workers. Also at lunch were most of the volleyball players from Lowry Memorial College, which is the Adventist college outside Bangalore.

After lunch we headed out to the beach, which was only 10 minutes away. We didn’t do much there. Here in India going to the beach is exciting in itself so everyone basically walked around a bit and then we headed back to the estate for fresh coconut water! The owner served us all coconuts on the front porch by using his sickle to put little holes in each one for us to drink straight from the shell. It was a good way to end the Sabbath before heading back to Narsapur and the volleyball craziness that awaited us there.

We hopped in a different car going back to Narsapur since Mrs. Enjati had come from Nuzvid and met us at the church so she road with Uncle in their SUV. We made it back to Narsapur around 7 and watched the rest of the evening’s games until it was our turn to play. Now like I mentioned above, Zach and I had been placed on a team with guys who meant well but couldn’t play at all. Also, our next game was supposed to be against the best team at the tournament, Spicer College. It was going to be an absolute decimation but Zach and I were looking forward to it. Evidently the rest of our team wasn’t feeling the fun vibes because they informed us they were all quitting and we wouldn’t play our last game. We objected and argued we shouldn’t just quit but the rest of the team had made up their minds.

With that in mind Zach and I were determined to still play and so we set out finding new players among the new group of friends we had met over the last few days. Vara agreed to play with us as well as Pamu, a guy whose parents live in Nuzvid and we had met at the hospital. Pamu had a friend from Hyderabad join us also. When it was all said and done we actually had a fairly good team!

We started off against Spicer with a lot of enthusiasm but little team cohesiveness since we’d never played together before but we quickly remedied that. We barely lost the first game of the three game set but came back and actually beat Spicer in game two! It was quite fun to see the fear in their eyes at the thought losing to a team of misfits! During the second game the Spicer team began getting angry with the ref and with each other and we simply let them bring themselves down. It was a great win for us and the crowd certainly loved a good match!

Unfortunately for us, the Spicer team rallied in the last game and beat us. But for us it was still a win because we didn’t even think we were going to score 15 points per game! In the end we all were still friends with the Spicer guys and it turned out to be a great competition!

We finished the evening out with an exhibition game before heading back to our guest room. The guest room we stayed in was actually supposed to be for another bigwig who didn’t end coming to the tournament after all so we took it. It was in the same apartment that Vara was staying in so it was nice to be right next door to him. Also, an optometrist who worked in Nuzvid for 35 years stayed on the extra bed in the living room of our apartment. His name is Dr. Rani Gy and he is a pretty hilarious guy! He carries his video camera and still camera with him everywhere videoing and taking pictures constantly. He is also the nicest guy and we really enjoyed having him stay in the guest apartment with us.

The only downside to the weekend were the mosquitoes…they were awful! We actually had to put up our mosquito nets in the room with some plastic twine Dr. Rani Gy had with him. We hadn’t put them up the first night and that turned out pretty bad, but after that I slept great! Zach on the other hand didn’t tuck his net in completely and he woke up with three amigos that had enjoyed his tasty blood all night. Finally on the third night we both slept well and were mosquito free.

Sunday we slept in and still made it to the semi finals and finals since everything in India runs about an hour and a half late, except for trains buses and church services…those start on time, most of the time. Anyway, we watched Lowry Memorial College beat Spicer College and then we watched our home team from Nuzvid win the finals in their league against the Kadapa team, which ironically is where Brooke, Trevor, and Sid are teaching this year, sorry guys… The games ended with the usual jumping around and cheering and all that fun stuff but Zach and I slipped away with Mrs. Lillie Kaligithi to see the “Sweet Home” orphanage.

Sweet Home truly lives up to its name. It is everything an orphanage should be and more. As we walked down the road through the campus it was truly beautiful and you could tell the kids who were their enjoyed there “sweet” home! After we toured the entire campus and met many of the children we headed to Mrs. Kaligithi’s home for lunch. It was fantastic! All the food we’ve had at people’s houses has been amazing and I actually get excited when we get invited over because you know the food will be tasty. We ate with her and then it was time to head back to Nuzvid.

We crammed into Uncle Enjati’s SUV and set out for Nuzvid. We actually ended up catching the bus and switching over to that because Uncle had to meet someone in a nearby village. It was fun to ride back with our friends who had won the cup and for a bit the bus was pretty crazy but eventually we all fell asleep or road along listening to music or reading. We were all pretty exhausted but it was good because the weekend was amazing!

This weekend was great for so many reasons. We were able to get away from Nuzvid and see another amazing school and orphanage that has so many amazing people running it. Also the students were really fun to get to know and I would love to go back! I think we both would love to return to Narsapur and the Sweet Home Orphanage.

It was a weekend of good times!