the weekend

Hello everybody,

This weekend I headed to Belmopan, the capital of Belize, for a referee clinic.  Ostensibly, its purpose was to teach me how to be a good basketball referee.  However, the biggest lesson that came out of it was that I need to learn Creole.  Here's how it went down.
 I arrived and was of course the only American at the clinic.  However, the presenter, Jaun, spoke very clear English I thought that the next several hours would see me soaking up knowedge about the finer points of reffereeing  basketball.    This remained mostly true until lunch. (rice and beans and chicken, of which I only got the chicken)  The conversation around the lunch tabe revealed that English was not the preferred language of anyone but me, a bad omen.  We gatherede again after lunch and the presenter continued onto the rules of the game, specifically, how many feet must be in the backcourt for a backcourt violation to be called.  But about this there was far more disagreement than about how to raise one's hands on a three-point attempt.  One participant disagreed with the Jaun, saying (I think) that one foot is permitted to return to the backcourt.  Another flew to the rescue of Jaun, the instructor, saying (I think) that any contact by the ball or dribbler in the backcourt was a violation.  Soon both were speaking in raised voices in Creole, while everyone else prepared their two bits on the topic.  Eight voices clamored at once, each offering counsel, each straying farther from the topic at hand.  At this point I lost all comprehension of the conversation, and sat in silence, trying to make some sense of the language. 
 Its impossible to relate the experience exactly, but here is my best approximation of what I heard.
Speaker One: "But ghol en henz o playa maciatio es"
Speaker Two:  "No way mon.  the ball hes too fubber en ghulltion o lyning"
Speaker Three (Very loudly):  (Ooh mon,  tu sixtyn secos omee befo macceeccee ober.)
Speaker Four:  "HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
(Indistict conversation between Speaker One and Six)
Speakers 5-8: various stories, anecedotes, and opinions.
Speaker four:  "You understand what we say, mon?"
Me:  "Not really,"  (shy smile)
Speaker four: "HAHAHAHA, yah mon."

And so it went.
For two and a half hours.

Needless to say, this little language barrier obscured all discussion of controversial rules, so I flunked the exam.  Passed the physical though, so there was some consolation. 
Now I just need to wait until december to re-test; this gives me plenty of time to work on my Creole, to which I say, yah mon.

Jonathan