Bonus Vacation to Hilton Head, SC

My new friends (other ID fellows in attendance at the conference) and I used our free afternoon on the first day to explore the picturesque Shelter Cove, where we chatted, enjoyed the sun, stopped to smell the flowers, and where I daydreamed about sailing on my very own yacht.

The next day, we used our four-hour break to go an a Gullah Heritage Trail Tour. The Gullah (also known as Geechee) are African-Americans who live in the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia. They have preserved their African cultural and linguistic heritage more than any other African-American community. The tour guide was a Gullah man n his 60s. His accent sounded like a mix of Jamaican patois and Liberian pidgin. He also spoke Gullah creole to us. I couldn’t understand it, but the translations of some of the proverbs were quite funny. My new favourite lines are “E mout na know no Sunday”, which translates into “His mouth doesn’t know Sunday” or in other words, “his mouth never rests”. Hilarious. I know a few people I can use that on. I like this one too: “E teet da dig e grave” – essentially someone who eats so much that their obesity will be the death of them.

I would love to learn more about Gullah culture. Our tour guide told us about what it was like growing up as a child back when the Gullah had the island to themselves. He spoke of a meal he called “red rice” which I swear is just jollof rice. He took us to his elementary school as well.

The tour was more than just an introduction to Gullah culture. It also exposed me to the natural habitats of the island. I could certainly come back for more of this! I sense a blossoming hobby of bird-watching!

On our last night, we decided to be adventurous as we were not having lectures the following morning. We went “clubbing”. That was actually fun! About 15 of us stuffed ourselves in a 9 seat van – yes very smart – to get from the hotel to wherever it was happening. The consensus seemed to be a place called Monkey Business. Now I don’t know if the Verizon Heritage tournament had anything to do with the demographics of the customers there. Actually, I think they were all locals. But it was weird seeing 20-year-old people in the usual club attire alongside senior citizens, and even weirder to see the latter couples “racing” to the dance-floor for a Vanilla Ice or Britney Spears song. They were “cute”.

🙂