"In 2015, I'd been living in Vanuatu for a year, coaching the Vanuatu women's beach volleyball team as they aimed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. I was a volunteer through an Australian government program, and a new intake of Australians were arriving in Port Vila one afternoon in February so I went to the Australian High Commission to meet them. I got chatting with this gorgeous and bubbly girl called Kath, who'd been volunteering in Indonesia."
"I thought we were meeting for the first time, but as I introduced myself, Kath explained that we had in fact met before, walking across Pyrmont Bridge in Sydney during our training weekend. I'm still not sure how I didn't remember her, as she was very attractive. She was also witty and easygoing. We chatted about volunteering, and how we were both keen on the outdoors and keeping fit."
"Sweaty and enjoying each other's company, we borrowed a paddleboard from my neighbour and took it out on the water in the secluded bay. We spent a good chunk of the morning paddleboarding, chatting away about our families, what we wanted to do after volunteering and things like refugee rights and social justice."
By 2015 the narrator had been living in Vanuatu for a year, coaching the Vanuatu women's beach volleyball team while volunteering through an Australian government program. A new intake of Australian volunteers arrived in Port Vila; the narrator met Kath at the Australian High Commission and realized they had previously crossed paths in Sydney. They exchanged numbers, ran together to the beach, and spent a morning paddleboarding and discussing families, future plans, refugee rights and social justice. They shared adventurous spirits, compatible worldviews, and clear chemistry. Later at a social barbecue the narrator and Kath sat together, held hands, and declared love.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]