Sunday June 18, 2006 – Number One Fans

We had our first (and probably only visitors) to Cyprus this past weekend. Krystal and Curtis (along with seven other volleyball players) from the States came to participate in the World University Beach Volleyball Championships. I have no idea how Cyprus of all places managed to finagle hosting the event, but it was wonderful getting a chance to see familiar faces from home. We spent Friday afternoon through Sunday, commuting to the fabulous newly constructed state of the art, worthy of showcasing your nation in an international event, volleyball facility (hope you sense the sarcasm here) in Protaras (about an hour and 15 minutes from Limassol). Although Cyprus knew about their hosting status for two years, they only began a majority of the construction progress two and a half weeks prior. The resulting engineering marvel produced freshly graded dirt, non landscaped grounds, minimal shade, and an all together “we through this together at the last minute” feel.

We had a great time cheering on the U.S. teams and quickly earned the status of the number one U.S. fans. Not only did we (unintentionally) wear red and blue on Saturday, sport our USA Volleyball pins, and provide usage of our Cyprus mobile phone, but we were the only people from the U.S. there... making the esteemed title somewhat easy to attain. Krystal and her partner Leanne earned an impressive 5^th place finish out of 22 countries participating. One of the U.S. men’s teams finished 3^rd in the world.

During the afternoon volleyball siesta, we would join (sneak) into the volleyballers hotel buffet lunch and lounge by the pool. At one of the pool sessions, I was cordially invited by Dale (a British 9 year old) to play ball in the pool. Little did I know that my answer of “yes” would lead to 45 minutes of catch and sunburned shoulders.

In the evenings following the games, we had several enjoyable meals with Krystal and Curtis – introducing them to them to the tasty Cyprus meze gorge fest. On Saturday night, we were even invited along to join the international collection of volleyball players for dancing the night away (OK just ‘til 1:30) at an Agia Napa night club. All in all it was a great weekend and such a wonderful random surprise having friends from home here.