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Daniel Zomparelli's Blog

Rum Punch, Karaoke and Celine Dion

Earlier this week I was in Barbados with a few friends, and right at the end of the trip I became a little homesick, that was quickly remedied. It was 9:15 in an overly packed bus in Barbados when I finally found a piece of Canada in this Caribbean Island. We were being pressed in, one after the other, and just as soon as we thought the bus was full, two more girls squished on. It was an ordeal getting off the bus as a man was squished against the bus door so it couldn’t open.

While this was entertaining, it was not the highlight of the bus ride. Ten minutes earlier on that same bus, my friends and I were imagining the delicious Mahi Mahi we would be eating when a familiar song came on. It was Celine Dion. We started laughing and unexpectedly a second Celine Dion song followed and finally a third. We quickly realized it was her CD. After large amounts of giggling we calmed down, wiped a tear and the sounds of singing rose from all corners of the bus. Not only was the bus playing “My Heart Will Go On,” but the locals were belting it out. By the end of the song the entire bus was filled with Karaoke stylings of Celine.

The locals took the song very seriously and for a moment in a small bus in the middle of the Caribbean, being squished against a woman’s butt with a man’s elbow against my face, I felt at home.

The trip was filled with sun burns and rum punch, but needless to say, our hearts still went on.

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