Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Strange Morning

This morning started out like most mornings of my holiday break - waking up at 7 AM.  For some reason, I can't seem to sleep past this point in time.  Granted, while school is in session, I'm getting up every day between 5:00-5:30, so I guess in some respect, it is sleeping in.  But that is not the point of this story.

I had made plans with my friend Aaron to go find a new doubles stand that a colleague of ours claims are the best doubles in the country.  (Doubles are an incredible breakfast that are served only by street vendors and are rampant all over this country.  You usually can only get them in the morning hours and they are usually sold out by 9:30 or so.)  Anyway, Aaron had said that he would call when he got up and we would head out.  Knowing that he probably wasn't going to be up at 7 AM, I read a bit and actually fell back asleep a for a bit.

I woke again around around 8:00-ish and as I was laying in bed, I heard this really big truck drive by my apartment.  I live nearby a fairly main thoroughfare, so it's not uncommon to be awoken or to hear the traffic driving by.  But this was an usually loud truck.  

Then came this weird rumbling and my apartment started shaking a bit.  I thought there may have been an accident, but there weren't any noises of the truck hitting anything.  I ran to the windows and didn't see anything that looked like an accident.  So I thought, maybe there was an explosion.  I have no idea how the oil derricks in the ocean dig for oil and I'm very near the coast, so maybe that was it.  Or it could have been this building that is going up not too far from here (developers are taking out part of a mountain to put up these condos, so maybe they were doing some demo).  But I didn't hear any after effects or noises of the earth rolling down the mountain.

So after all this, I came to the conclusion that there was a small earthquake.  Now there was one in Indianapolis before I moved and thinking back to that, I think that's what this was.  I had no idea that earthquakes occurred down here (or in Indy for that matter), but apparently they do.  I got a call from Aaron and when he showed up, he confirmed that he felt it too (it sounded like a large truck to him also) and that they said something about it on the radio on his way over.  Now that we got that cleared up, we shrugged our shoulders in the manner of "Oh, I guess there's another thing about T&T that we didn't know about."

Ok, learning that there was no need to dwell, we moved on to our short trek to get some doubles.  The directions, which are quite common in Trinidad were as such:
"Go to Valsaynes (a town east of here) and turn left at the light by the drive in theater.  When you take a left, you're going to go up the road a bit and about 2 blocks before the stoplight, there will be a little lady with a doubles stand.  That's the one you want.  Now don't get confused with the orange pedestrian crossing lights, you want the actual stop and go lights."

Directions are given strictly by landmarks and visual clues and never by street names.  This is probably because only half the streets are labeled with street signs.  For a while, this was very confusing, because I didn't know where anything was, but now that I have a number of places committed to memory, I'm getting better at following the directions.  And surprisingly, we found this lady quite easily.

As for her doubles, I wasn't that impressed.  Aaron and I decided to do a taste test and got one doubles (always stated in the plural because you get two pieces of barra or the baked dough/bread that they put the channa or chick peas on) from the lady we were seeking out and one from a nearby competitor.  We both decided we liked the competitor a little better, but the jury is out because Aaron got the bags mixed up when we purchased them, so we aren't really sure which was which.  Either way, I still think I had better doubles at other stands, but these were still pretty good.

Now we were on our way back home - this stand we went to was about 30 minutes away.  And as we were driving down the highway (Aaron driving and me as the passenger) he blurts out "Pig".  I thought there was a cop, but the police in Trinidad don't really do much.  As I looked around, there was a huge pot-belly pig walking down the side of the highway.  Stray dogs are a frequent sight.  You might even catch some roosters and chickens here and there.  But pigs are a rarity.  Especially strays just wandering down the highway.

I can say that the rest of the day was relatively normal and lazy.  But it's not everyday that you have an earthquake, drive an hour round trip for street vendor food, and see farm animals wandering along a highway.  But that's Trinidad for you...once you think you've got it figured out, they throw something like this at you.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Darkness and Christmas

I've heard stories about the northern parts of Alaska, Canada, the U.K., where there are periods of the year when it is dark for 20+ hours a day (or something like that) and other parts of the year when it is light out for 20+ hours a day.  Apparently this can effect people adversely.  People go into long hibernating sleeps when it's continually dark and have intense bouts of insomnia when it is light out.  It's hard to get a bearing on what time of day it is when the days do not change to night or the nights do not change into days.

That's kind of how it is right now for me here in Trinidad.  I have absolutely no concept that it is almost Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, I still see advertisements on TV about the coming holiday.  The Trini's do Christmas big down here and there are decorations out.  But not having any change in the temperature has made this kind of a non-event for me. 

I know that in the states, everyone would say that I am completely nuts to say that being in the caribbean for Christmas doesn't enhance the holiday, but it's true.  I miss sitting in my house, watching the snow, illuminated by the street lights.  I miss being in a house that is dark, but only lit by the Christmas lights and maybe a fire in the fireplace.  I am anxiously awaiting the time when I can be bundled up in a sweater, and not because the AC is on at a ridiculous temperature.  The crunch of fresh snow under your feet...the feel of cold air in your nose and lungs...the joy of being in bed, bundled up under the covers...

All of these are things that we take for granted when we are immersed in them while rushing off to work or trying to get the windows of your car scrapped off or battling the drafts in our houses.  (I blame being born in a blizzard for my love of the cold and snow.)  

But this is also one of the things that I love best about traveling - that you stop taking things for granted and start appreciating what you have and what you are experiencing.  So while I still don't know if I'll truly be able to get into the Christmas spirit, I will be sure to enjoy the warm weather, the beaches, and everything else not cold.  I'll enjoy it enough for those back home cursing the cold.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Local Assistance

Normally I don't really believe in hiring people to do things that you can do yourself.  For instance, you can get a relatively cheap cleaning lady here (and many places abroad) to do your house/flat once a week or you could hire one to come every day and she will clean and cook your meals for you too.  While that would be nice, and as people say, help the local economy, it just feels a bit to bourgeois to me.  Instead I will live in filth until I find it too unbearable to handle and will then go on a two day cleaning and straightening spree (it takes me two days because I just can't clean for more than a couple hours at one time).

But recently it got to the point where I needed to call in the reinforcements.  I have a small strip in front of my house of various plants that were completely overwrought with weeds.  There was actually one weed that nearly reached the overhang above it (approximately 7 feet up).  I knew I was in deep when some pest control people came to spray for ants and they said that I should probably clean it up a bit.  I asked what was a weed, I've never been really good at identifying weeds in my native land let alone a foreign place, and they basically pointed to everything except 2-3 plants.  I kind of knew it was bad, but was just trying to play dumb foreigner.  Now that it was specifically pointed out to me, I realized that I had to do something about it.

There were a number of prickly weeds in there too that they told me to watch out for, so I figured that I would have to get some gloves.  Well, that would take at least a week of me procrastinating before I would be able to get gloves, regardless if there is actually a home improvement center a mere 5 minutes away.

I was finally getting to the point where I starting to get uncomfortable about the amount weeds when a little, old Trini man came to my door and said, "Jou need a bit of cleaning up wit d weeds here?  I work in d complex an can do it for you."  I'm trying to write phonetically so you might pick up a bit on the accent.  I said, "Umm, yeah I guess I do need to get on this.  How much would you charge?"  He said $40 (which when you convert to US, is about a little less than $7).  Being a bit of a miser about these types of things (as previously mentioned) I had to think about it for a second or two.  After thinking about weeding in approximately 90 degree temperatures, I decided that it would be $7 well spent.

In all honesty, even though I can't prove it, I think my neighbor probably said something to him to ask me because that guy is out there all the time cleaning and sweeping  his parking space, washing his car, tending to his little patch of plants, etc.  I guess when you pay as much as these folks are for the apartments, they want them to look nice.  Even though he has a tree that is planted in a cardboard box, which I never said anything about, I'll accept that my space was getting a bit out of hand.

Anyway, the little Trini gardener said that he couldn't do it that day, but would be back next time he saw my car in it's spot.  I week passed and I still didn't see the little guy.  Fortunately I didn't pay him ahead of time and I was about to actually go and buy gloves yesterday (the first day of my Christmas break) and I saw him coming into the parking lot.  I asked if he was going to be able to do my space and he said that he would do it on Sunday.  Whew!  I almost thought I was going to have to do some work there.

This morning I awoke to the pleasant hacking sounds of weeds whittled down to size by a cutlass (a machete of sorts) and the digging of pitchforks into the small swath of land I call a garden.  I feel good about helping out the local economy.  I feel even better that I didn't have to do this work in the heat.  But I feel best about being able to play up all the hard work I had to do to clean it up "from the prior tenants leaving it in such poor condition" when Angie comes down and impress her with my incredible gardening skills I inherited from my mother.  Now, if I could only prevent her from reading this for the next couple of weeks.

Busy, busy, busy

I think I can say with some fair amount of certainty, that I have never been as busy as I have since I moved down to Trinidad.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but I'm going to (hopefully) use it as a solid excuse as to why I haven't posted anything in the last month or so.  Of course, with the holidays, everyone's social calendar picks up a bit, but for me, this was a little silly.

Let's go back about 2 weeks ago, starting on Wednesday, December 3rd.  Normally Wednesday nights are "guys night" where all the guy friends who are down here who are married or living with girlfriends, ditch the girls and get together to play poker, insult each other, make bodily noises, and just do the crass things that guys do when they are together with a bunch of other guys.  This guys night was a bit different from the others because Mark, the guy who began the tradition and usually hosts, was not going to be able to make it.  To make a long story short, he asked his girlfriend to marry him.  Not something that one would typically do on a "guys night" but we all congratulated him nonetheless because Rebekah is an awesome girl.  So to celebrate, we all got messages to come meet them at this wine bar and have cocktails.

Then on Thursday, there is a standing Ultimate Frisbee game, which has become one of my new obsessions.  I love it!  It's kind of a cross between soccer and la crosse.  You try to get into an end zone to score, but you can't move once you catch the frisbee.  Lots of running and trying to get good field position.  But I'll go more into that some other time.  We (well they) tend to top off the game by sitting in the savannah where we play and drink beers.  I of course indulge in water.

Friday was our ISPS staff party.  Normally, employer sponsored staff parties are a little stiff.  But this was off the hook.  Everybody, and I mean everybody - myself included, were dancing and having a blast.  At times, it was a bit uncomfortable, as the local dance (called wining) is...ummm...basically rubbing and grinding on your partner, or whomever is nearby.  Definitely a bit of a culture shock, but when you see people of all shapes and sizes doing it, you see principals and counselors and teachers all doing it to each other, you realize that it is just a dance and that there is nothing implied by it.  An odd concept to get past, but it loosens everyone up because everyone's guards are let down, everyone is invading everyone's space, and you just have a good time.

Saturday rolls around and there is another game of Ultimate Frisbee planned, which is promptly followed by a going away/engagement/birthday party at my neighbors flat.  Going away for a student teacher at ISPS who is heading back to the states.  Engagement for Mark and Rebekah and birthday for me.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day until about 5:30 when I went over to Katie and Aaron's place and met up with Meredith (Ryan was ill) and had a mini barbecue and played a game of Monopoly for my actual birthday.

Monday I got the day off.

Tuesday was the high school staff party.  We went to this place called Sails, which is on a small wharf overlooking the ocean, some of the smaller islands, and as I've found every day in Trinidad, a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, we were back to guys night.  This one was hosted by me and only went until about 11:00 or so.  But I couldn't fall asleep until about 12:30.  Which kind of sucks because I usually get up between 5:00-5:30 to start getting ready for school.

Thursday was supposed to be another game of Ultimate Frisbee, but I just couldn't go.  I tutored some kids after school and that took me up almost to the point where I had to leave for Ultimate.  Granted since I was constantly moving, I probably could have made it, but I was just too tired.  So I took a nap instead.  I felt bad for letting my fellow Ultimate players down, because sometimes it's hard to get enough people for a good game, but it just wasn't in me.

Then came Friday, which was our last day of school before break.  Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it), it was also the day that I had to go to Immigration to get my multiple entry/exit visa so I could leave the country without having to pay every time.  So I missed a day that would have been pretty low key and filled with parties and good times in my classroom, but I also got the day off of work.  And considering it only took the 4 of us who went 2 hours at the Immigration office, it pretty much was a full day off.

Saturday (yesterday) we had another Hash.  They come around every other week and I am really loving these things.  It's fun to run through the rain forests and rivers and mud and all of that.  It let's you act like a kid, but as an adult.  And it's good exercise too.  I was also invited to go to a party at the Marine's House, which is where all the Marines who guard the embassy live.  But I was kind of burnt from the week and decided not to go.

That brings us to today, which will be filled with a pool party at a friend's place followed by a spaghetti dinner at the parent's of a student's house.  They are also the ones who held the 'misfit' Thanksgiving for all the ex-pats who didn't have someplace to go to celebrate.

I think that takes care of most of my scheduled plans now until Angie gets here on Christmas.  I'm looking forward to just hanging out around the apartment and just relaxing and enjoying my time off.

So was all that a good excuse why I haven't posted in a while?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

There's an interesting dichotomy

Today there were a mad rush of e-mails as the day started to come to a close after lunch.  There were storms coming in from the east and due to the increased traffic, those traveling east were allowed to leave early.  Other teachers should try to help cover and supervise the classes where teachers were leaving.  Parents were coming in early to pick up their kids to try to beat the traffic.

We've had a lot of rain lately.  Normally the skies open up and it pours down rain for about 10-15 minutes and then it's done.  But the last 4-5 days, it's been rain like it is up in the states.  A long steady rain over an hour or two.  So the ground is very saturated, the roads are already crappy and we live on a very hilly/mountainous island.  So there is a lot of flooding in homes, on roads, and with rivers.  Even a bridge has collapsed and was washed away.

So while those of you back in the states battle the cold and soon the snow as well, and longingly await a snow day (especially the teachers up there), we down in the caribbean await the rain day.  Seems so odd, doesn't it?

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Take a hike

This week I was invited to go on a short hike with one of the other teachers at my school, Anthony, and his daughters.  Anthony has talked about this hike a couple of times and it really piqued my interest. 

It's a hike up in the hills north of an area called Diego Marten (here it's pronounced Dago Marten).  The hike has two paths, one for the old men and one for the real men, as Anthony has put it.  And the paths are continually watched by "Claws".  Claws is the guy who lives in these hills and maintains these little shrines along the paths and also does various carvings in the trees along the path.  Claws is named as such due to his extremely long fingernails.

We decided for an early Saturday morning hike and Nick and his girls also joined in on the fun.  the day was overcast and filled with sprinkles.  We met up around 9:30 and drove off the the entrance of the path.  Of course, not being men to back down from a challenge, we took the path for real men, which essentially was hiking up a river, climbing on rocks, occasionally the bank of the river, and often through the river.  The most challenging part of hiking up this river, which really was mostly rocks and some knee (sometimes waist) deep water was making sure the girls stayed dry and didn't freak out.  Fortunately, all 4 of these girls were very adventurous and didn't mind getting their shoes wet or slipping and stumbling here and there.

We began the trek and it quickly opened to this small clearing where all these painted, wooden statues stood.  I have no idea what they mean, if anything, but it was very cool to see these things in the middle of the rain forest, which can be a very tranquil place.  After taking a handful of pictures and looking for Claws, looking at us, we decided to venture on.  Unfortunately we did not get to see Claws, so we'll have to continue to imagine what he might look like.

Shortly after the little shrine, we came across this thin path, covered with wet leaves.  It was getting kind of slick, but what caught our attention more than the wet and slippery path was the many butterflies flying about.  There is one particular butterfly that always catches my eye.  I believe it is called the Blue Monarch.  On the top side of it's wings, it is almost an electric blue color.  On the bottom side is it's camouflage to protect it from it's predators.  We found one giant Blue Monarch attached to the side of a tree, obviously a little scared of us because it's wings were closed and all we saw was it's camouflage.  These wings had to be a little bigger than the palm of my hand.

After the photo op, we continued down the slick path to the first of many river crossings.  Here we climbed on wet rocks, covered with moss.  It was extremely slippery.  And blocking our path was the largest spider I've ever seen in the wild.  This thing had to be about 2-3 inches long.  Fortunately, the web was kind of high and we were able to duck under it.  However, it was low enough that if we didn't see it, it would have been
 right in one of the adult's faces.  It was a little creepy, but that's what you get in the wild.

Shortly after the spider, I had a slightly scarier moment.  We were crossing this relatively shallow part of the river and walking across rocks that were slightly bigger than our feet.  Sometime when crossing wet rocks you have to be quick, sometimes you have to take your time.  The trick is to know when to do what.  This time, I didn't choose properly.  I lost my balance, fell on my butt and into the water.  Now I can take bumps and scrapes - not a big deal.  But the scary thing was my camera was in my pocket.  Fortunately, it was in another pouch inside my pocket, which absorbed most of the water and it didn't get in or on the camera.  That would have sucked big time.  So the next time we had a challenging rock to cross, I tossed my camera to Nick and he took some pictures of me trying to get across the rocks/river. 

We continued down the river and finally came across our final destination.  There was this big waterfall pouring into this pond.  The water was a little dirtier than usual because the night before we had a lot of rain, so there was a lot of sediment in the pond.  But Anthony said that usually the water is a clear blue.  We stayed at the waterfall for a bit while behind us three Shouter Baptists were doing some kind of baptism or spiritual cleansing.  Contrary to what you might think, they were a very quiet trio.

After our stay at the waterfall, we took the old man path back to our cars, which took us barely a 1/4 of the time as the river route.  But it definitely would not have been as exciting or adventurous if we took that path up to the waterfall.  Then we went to the northern coast of the island, which was only a short 10 minute drive.  Here all you could see was the vast ocean.  Apparently there is a great path that it about 3 miles long and goes to Chagaramas, an area that we frequent quite a bit for other small hikes.  We didn't go along to trail because Nick and I were starting to run late for an Ultimate Frisbee game.  

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

For quite possibly the first time...

...in my life, I can say that I am proud to be an American.  Now don't get me wrong, I have always felt very privileged to be a US citizen, more so now than ever as I have started to travel to new countries and see how other people live and other governments govern.  But there is a quote from a song from one of my favorite bands, Endpoint, which probably most people reading this have never heard of before.  The quote goes "I love my country but I won't close my eyes."  And that is how I have felt for most of my life.  I'm not going to ignore the faults and injustices that I see every day.

The United States of America is a great nation, but it far, far from perfect.  But now, with the election of our new president, I, like millions of other US citizens, have hope that we can chip away at those imperfections.  That we can rebuild our reputation and status across the globe, that we can come together as a people, as a nation, and do what is right.

People don't like to believe it, but there is still a considerable amount of racism in the US, both on an individual level and on a systemic level.  Think about if you clutch your purse a little tighter when a black man passes you on the street.  Think about if your heart beats a little faster if you approach a group of black male youths when you are out alone.  Visit an inner city school and look at the conditions of the school vs. the conditions of a suburban school, or talk to the students and families and see if they truly get the same opportunities and are treated the same way as you are treated as a white person.  

I'm not necessarily that if you feel different in these situations if I replace the word "black" with "white" that you are a racist.  But I am saying that our society has not created this equal state that we are lead to believe it has.  There are things, images, ideas, that are so ingrained in our subconscious by our upbringing and current media, that we still do treat people differently based on the color of their skin, what religion they adhere to, or their family heritage.  However, this election is one step in the right direction to close that gap.

As I was typing this and trying to post it, still glowing in the election of president-elect Obama, I saw the results of a handful of propositions that were being voted on across the US, banning gay marriage and banning adoption of children by gay individuals and couples.  All of these propositions passed, thus restricting the rights of citizens of the United States who want equal rights to love and care for each other and for children in dire need of a home.  So while we have progressed to the point where we are not trying to intentionally discriminate against people with different color skin than our own, we as a nation still find it OK to publicly discriminate against gay people.

Well at least I was proud for about 20 minutes.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Year of Reconciliation

Every year, the United Nations puts out themes to raise international awareness of those themes and to try to bring the different nations of the world a bit closer together.  One of this year's themes, and the theme that we used at the school was the Year of Reconciliation.  Our goal was to incorporate the theme into what we were doing in our different classes, celebrate the diversity of our student body, and come to a close with an international food festival.  

Unfortunately, I did not bring reconciliation into my classroom.  I wanted to come up with something a bit political and things to really make them think about their perceptions on things and take them out of their comfort zone.  But every topic that I could come up with seemed forced and I really try not to squeeze things into my class subject matter if it doesn't fit with what we are doing.  Authenticity and honesty with my students is pretty important to me and I think if I used some of the suggestions that I was given, they would see right through it and they would easily tell that I didn't buy into it.  And that is an issue as you are building and maintaining a culture in your classroom.  I know, I know, mathematicians and people have to reconcile bank accounts and what not all the time.  But I felt that was too obvious for my kids and again they would see right through it.  

But this is not the reason of this post.  The real reason is the ending celebration at the international food festival.  At first, I really didn't want to go.  It cost me $30 TT (which is only $5 USD) and I heard you only get little portions of food.  I also envisioned that there were just going to be these little booths like at a county fair or carnival or something and you just went up to them and tried something new.  I couldn't be further from the truth.

The food festival took up the entire gym.  The school parking lot was filled and cars were parked on both sides of the street all around the block near the school.  There was not much room to walk once you got inside and every country that was represented had their tables decorated with native fabrics, decorations, pictures, etc.  All the people working were wearing traditional clothing from their country and the vibe in there was electric.  You know how people always gather in the kitchen at parties and that's really where the party is at?  Well this kitchen was the size of a gymnasium, so it was a good party.  Lots of smiles on people faces, lots of full bellies, and if there were alcohol there, I don't think anyone would have left.

It actually was a really good thing that you only got little samples of things.  I ate so much in the 2 hours I was there, I thought I was going to burst.  I had food from Pakistan, India, Costa Rica, Panama (you have to try the Sopa de Amor if you're ever in Panama.  It's a dessert that may have won top prize in my informal dessert competition), El Salvador, Venezuela (the Tres Leches cake running neck and neck with the Sopa de Amor for dessert first place), Syria, Lebanon, Canada, Russia, China, West Africa, and of course Trinidad.  There were also some other places that didn't have vegetarian options and a couple that I found at the end of my tour of the world (the US, Indonesia, France), but there was just no room left in my tummy.  

So the theme was the year of reconciliation and at times I think some of these countries were at war in my stomach.  But after having some time to rest and think things over (a nice long nap), I think they all found peace.  If only it were that easy.  Get everyone together and share food and drink and see each other as people, not as images of ignorance, hate and anger.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

I think the Hash I just tried could get addicting.

One of the other teachers told me about it when I first got here and I was a bit intrigued.  She mentioned it to me a couple times since then, but we were never able to get together for me to experience it.  So yesterday, Katie, Aaron and I decided to try the Hash with a few other people that we know from playing Ultimate Frisbee Thursday afternoons.

We were a bit apprehensive, but curious at the same time.  It sounded like kind of a crazy idea, maybe even a bit stupid, but intriguing at the same time.  The Hash wasn't in Port of Spain, so we had to travel to Toco to do it (Toco is at the NE corner of the island - about a 2 1/2 hour drive.)  There were supposed to be a lot of people there doing the Hash too - kind of a big party, but we were a little early, so we played in the ocean a bit.  About a half hour later, people started showing up, a guy gave some quick instructions, we handed over our keys (so no one would get lost or left behind while we were doing the Hash), and we were on our way.  Allow me to explain the Hash experience a bit more...

A Hash is something that I thought was created in Amsterdam, but after doing a quick check on Wikipedia, it appears that it was actually created in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.  In a nutshell, when you're doing a Hash, someone runs goes out and creates a path either in the woods, in a rain forest, in a city, or wherever.  They leave small markers along this path (which may or may not follow along an already created trail) and you try to find your way from the beginning point to the end.  The Hare (the person laying the trail) will also leave false markers along the way to confuse people, which you then have to double back and find the original trail again.

The Hash that I was on went into parts of the rain forest on the island; went up hill and down hills, through the mud, through and up a river, and over many a fallen branch or tree.  I was part of the front of the pack, trying to find & follow the trail, until we found a false trail.  At that point, I ended up getting stuck at the end as everyone turned around and went the other direction.  I then got stuck behind a girl who was sliding down every decline on her butt.  After a while I was able to get past her, but one other girl and I were kind of on our own for a bit because we fell so far behind the pack.  We eventually caught up with a few other people and we slowly started catching up with other people.  (Don't worry, people who helped lay out the course were picking up the rear, helping the people who were really struggling).

We found our way to the end, wet, muddy, sweaty, and with grins on our faces from ear to ear.  It was so much fun.  Afterwards, most people partake in a lot of drinking (a common Hasher phrase is that they are "drinkers with a running problem").  I enjoyed a carbonated apple juice.  These apparently happen every other week in different locations across Trinidad and I have a feeling I know what I'll be doing next Saturday afternoon.  For those who are interested, there are Hashers in pretty much every country - just look them up online and you'll probably find one nearby. 

Wait, what did you think when I said I was trying Hash down here???

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Viewing TT football is a "contact" sport

After the crushing loss Trinidad received at the hands of the US a few weeks ago, the much anticipated re-match was at hand.  However, this was not just a rematch, this was kind of a clutch game for TT.  For TT to get back in the running for passing this first round of World Cup qualifiers, we had to beat the US and Guatemala had to lost to Cuba.  That won't seal it for TT to pass through, but makes it much more likely.  I could get into the why's and how's, but anyone who follows sports knows how confusing these different scenarios get, and I will spare us all of that.

The game began on a beautiful, clear evening with an enormous full moon over head.  The TT fans came out in much larger numbers for this game, in comparison to the Guatemala match last month.  We got there a little later than the last time, so we weren't in the midst of the really rowdy section.  This time we were in the equivalent of the "end zone" and across from the party section.  However the crowd in our section was still quite lively.

I won't go through the play by play, because quite honestly, I can't remember when the goals were scored.  I do know that we (we being TT - I was rooting for the underdog tonight) scored and shortly after, the US scored with at 3 on 1, the 1 being the goalie.  As expected, the crowd went wild, throwing beer in the air and down to the field, and the crowd was subsequently silenced.  Later in the 2nd half, there was a penalty by a US player near their own goal, which resulted in a penalty kick for TT.  We scored and were once again in the lead.  The minutes were ticking down and the crowd was going wild anticipating the win.  Over the loud speakers, the announcer announced that Guatemala lost to Cuba, thus nearly ensuring our advancement to the next round of qualifiers.  The Soca Warriors managed to hold off the US as the game ended and there was much celebration.

There is often talk about how crazy people get at football/soccer games outside of the US.  I kind of expected it here, even though we are a smaller country.  But everyone was in good spirits.  So there were no fights or anything of the sort.  I guess the most contact that we had was from the buzz that we all got from everyone smoking marijuana in the stands.  I swear, if there wasn't a slight breeze that night, there would have been a cloud hanging over the stadium.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Quest To Save Some Turtles - Part III: The Return

After the turtles and another walk down the beach, we went back to the guest house, had some food (turtle soup anyone? - just kidding), and chatted about what to do the next day.  There was a waterfall that we heard was near by and was supposed to have some fresh water pools that we could swim in and all were in agreement that that was what we should do.  Unfortunately, it's about a 4-hour hike and you need to start at 6 AM if you want to do it, so you can beat the heat.  We found out these minor details around 8 AM, before we even started eating breakfast.  So that was out of the picture.  Plus it was supposed to be really crowded as this was all happening over the holiday weekend.  It was suggested by the folks at the guest house that we try it again another weekend and we all agreed to do such.

Instead, they suggested that we go to a slow flowing river nearby and wade in that for an hour or two.  Not really wanting to go back home already and having our minds set on a refreshing swim on a hot day, we all agreed.  The lady running the guest house said it was only a 10-minute walk from where we were staying.  After about 30 minutes of hiking through some rather thick brush and wooded areas, being led by a guy with a machete, we came across an opening and a beautifully tranquil river.
The water was cool and refreshing and perfect after our hike.  We spent a couple of hours here, just relaxing and talking and letting the little girls explore a bit.  The rest of the trip back to the guest house and to Port of Spain was pretty uneventful.  But there was definitely a bond that was created amongst all of us as we went through this journey.  These are some good people and I'm really glad that I'm getting the opportunity to get to know them.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Quest To Save Some Turtles - Part II: The Rescue


After all the excitement, we all got back to the guesthouse in time to check in and catch the truck that was taking us to the beach.  This picture is looking down the coast of Matura Beach.  Where we ended up finding some hatchling turtles was behind me.

We all go to the beach and started walking along it, not really knowing what we were looking for.  The guides split up to use their "professional" eye to find some hatchlings.  The guide who was wandering with us, got a call on his walkie-talkie and said that the other guides found some lost hatchlings and they needed our help, stat!  Ok maybe he didn't say all of that, but he did find some and we were off to do our duty.  We hiked back down the beach and found this disgusting pool of water that was an outlet for water from the mountains near by.  But apparently there wasn't enough water in it to make it up and over some of the beach hills to get out to the ocean.

In this disgusting pond, we saw little turtle heads popping up and down.  The guides were trying to get the turtles with this long, fallen tree branch, but were not having much luck.  The little girls looked a little despaired by the situation, so Nick (now dubbed the "Hero Dad") climbed into the pond to start gathering up the little turtles and handing them to his daughters saying "girls, can you take this one for me so we can make sure he gets back to the ocean?"  "Yes papa," the girls would respond with joy and excitement.  This went on for a couple passes and fortunately for the Hero Dad, no appendages fell off as a result of wading through this pond and to date, no additional unwanted growths have been reported.

We gathered up the hatchling turtles in a small bucket and the guides began to tell us about the whole process of the mothers laying the eggs, predators of the hatchlings, where their food is stored, etc.  These things were so cute and they were just barely bigger than the size of your palm.

After our lesson on leatherback turtles, we took them to the beach by the ocean and set them on their way.  Apparently they need to feel and smell the sand, so they know where to come back in 20-30 years to lay their own eggs.  We had 22 in all.  I guess during the actual hatching season, you can find a couple hundred on a tour like ours.  But there go our 22 little friends.

I think we were told something like 1 in 500 of these hatchling turtles actually make it to adulthood (which is a staggering 1-1.5 meters in diameter), so chances are, our rescue will still end in death for all of them.  At least it was a cool experience.  And who knows, maybe one of these 22 little hatchlings will beat the odds and grow up to be president one day.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Quest To Save Some Turtles - Part I: It's the journey, not the destination.

You know that I've had internet difficulties, so these next three posts go back in time a bit.  The end of August is Trinidad & Tobago's Independence Day, so we were given a 3 day weekend to celebrate.  Looking to take advantage of a little time off, a pack of my fellow teachers and I took the time to get away for the weekend and do some exploring.

One of the things to do in TT is watching the leather back turtles lay their eggs and then after a couple months, help any misguided turtle hatchlings back to the ocean.  The turtles lay their eggs in the sand along the northern and eastern coast in April and May and the hatchlings come out in July and August.  Being the very end of August, we were told by some of the local teachers that we wouldn't find any hatchlings.  Even if that were the case, we all wanted to get out of dodge for a bit and see some new scenery.

There were 11 of us going for this two day excursion - leaving Saturday morning and returning Sunday afternoon.  Kate and Aaron left before the rest of us because they wanted to run some errands before leaving.  The rest of us (Ginger & Charlie, Mark & Rebekah, Nick & Gina and their girls, and me) were going to go up as a convoy.  Nick, Gina and the girls piled into their car and the rest of us piled into Mark's car.  I guess two cars isn't really a convoy, but we followed each other nonetheless.  We were ready for our adventure to begin.  I say that now, knowing that truer words could not be spoken.

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are driving challenges in this country.  Roads are not always in the best of shape.  Drivers are not always the most courteous.  Because of this, Mark decided to lead since he had been here for a year and had a better feel for the roads and directions.

We were driving along and we approach a single pass bridge (ie - a bridge that is only the width of one automobile) and as we get on it, we see a cargo truck approaching the bridge from the other side.  This truck was not on the bridge when we first entered the bridge, but it did not appear that it was slowing down at all.  So Mark put the car in reverse and started backing up.  Nick was not immediately on our tail so we were able to get almost all the way off the bridge, but the front of the car was still positioned on the bridge.  At this point, the truck was halfway over the bridge and still not really slowing down...that is until he started driving up on top of the hood of Mark's car.

It all happened in slow motion.  Rebekah, who was in the front seat, was actually talking to her grandmother as all of this was going down.  She started yelling that the truck wasn't going to stop and we all jerked forward from the impact and then back again when we were stopped by hitting Nick & Gina's car.  The truck finally came to a standstill approximately a foot from smashing into the windshield.  But as you can see from the picture of the aftermath, it was on top of the hood of the car.

Once we came to a halt, Mark sat there for a second in a bit of shock.  Rebekah, who is a Trini, got out of the car and started yelling at the driver, and I got out and ran back to Nick's car to make sure that they and the kids were ok (which they were).

Traffic started backing up on both sides of the bridge and people were milling about trying to figure out what happened and making sure that everyone was all right.  The truck driver backed up a bit to get off our car and we backed up to get off the road and get out of the traffic's way.  The truck driver pulled forward a bit and Nick ran and got his insurance information.  Then surprisingly, the truck drove off.  Rebekah called the police, who are not the most expedient people in the country, and i called Kate and Aaron to fill them in on the situation.  They were already checked into the guest house and were about 2 km from Toco Beach, which is about another 45 minutes past where we were going and is supposed to be a quite beautiful beach.  They turned around and started heading back to the guesthouse to wait for us and see how they could help out.

After a bit, it was decided that Nick, Gina, their girls, and Ginger would head up to the guesthouse so at least the little ones could still make it to see the turtles before dark.  Aaron was going to drive down and pick up the rest of us and the head of our security at the school, Mr. Ralph, was calling a wrecker to come and get the car and decided to come out to make sure that we were all ok.  Oh yeah, Mr. Ralph also got into an accident coming out to check on us.

A short while later, the driver of the truck came back in another car driven by his wife and some friends.  He piled our with a beer in hand and waited with us for the police to arrive.  While it was a little suspicious that he left the scene of the accident (we think he had too big a load in his truck and was scared about getting cited by the police), apparently it's no big deal if you kill time waiting for the police to show up to a motor vehicle accident drinking a beer.

The police showed up, stories were exchanged, reports were taken, and things started to calm down in general.  Aaron arrived and we all piled into his car to continue our quest.  Nothing was going to stop us from saving those turtles.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Beer here! Peanuts! Feets??

A couple weeks ago, the Trinidad & Tobago soccer team played here for the first time in over a year.  Apparently there was some political issues with the Ministry of Sports and the team over where they could play, prices, etc.  Because of this, over the last year, every "home" game was actually played in the states or at other locations across the caribbean.

But the triumphant return of the Soca Warriors (the name of the TT soccer team) was upon us.  And in their re-inaugural soccer match, they were playing the hard nosed competition of Guatemala in the first of a two match game for the World Cup pre-qualifiers.  (FYI - each team plays other countries in their region twice - once at home and once away - and the aggregate of the scores of those two games determines who won that match).

So this was the first of the two meetings of TT and Guatemala.  We were expecting a huge crowd, so we got to the stadium a little over an hour early.  However, due to the locals protesting the issues with the Ministry of Sports, the fact that this was the first of two matches, and apparently that the Soca Warriors are somewhat fair-weather fans, the stadium was barely 1/3 full.  It was still a great time though.

As the crowd was getting riled up and excited for the game to start, they came out with this enormous flag and pulled it up over all the people in our part of the stands.  There was one faithful Guatemalan fan amongst the TT fans and trouble did not ensue as would be expected based on stories that have been told about how crazy the fans can get.  Instead, he was supported by the locals, maybe it was because he had a good gimmick.  

As the game began and progressed, we were closely watching the clouds roll in.  Fortunately for us, the rain never came and it ended up being a perfect evening - temperature wise.

Almost the entire game was scoreless.  (FYI-Soccer matches are two 45-minute halves.)  Then in the 85th minute, TT scored and the place, while pretty empty, went nuts.  People were cheering and jumping up and down.  I can only imagine what it's like when the place is full.

We thought that we had this wrapped up, because scoring is not so easy in soccer.  However, shortly after the TT goal, there was a quick penalty kick by Guatemala on the far side of the field.  I don't know if the TT goalie wasn't ready or maybe wasn't aware what was going on, but it went straight in the goal without even being touched.  You could hear a pin drop in that stadium.  The game ended in a tie.  Bummer.

But that's not the thing that really sticks out from my first soccer match in TT.  Rather it's the vendors that were selling drinks, food and cigarettes.  Yes cigarettes.  Apparently the non-smoking thing hasn't invaded TT like it has in the states.  I will say that the way they were sold was enticing though.  The packs of cigarettes were carried around in a big, clear garbage bag.  Nice merchandising.

The other thing that stuck out was what people were calling out.  Sometimes its hard to understand what is being said with the thick caribbean accent and all.  I was able to figure out the beer call pretty easily.  The guy selling different types of roasted nuts was hard to figure out until I actually saw someone eating them (they're sold in small, wrapped up paper bags, so it's not as obvious as one might think).  But the last thing that I thought I kept hearing was "feets".  What the...??  But as the "feets" lady walked by me, I saw on a tray, a bunch of styrofoam cups with chicken feet sticking out of the top of them.  Apparently they sold chicken feet soup.  Hmm.  Who would have thought?

I really wish I had a picture of that.

Boy, I wish I could post a comment on these witty stories.

Well, now you can!!  If you're reading along and feel the desire to post a comment (which I love to see - it lets me know that people are actually reading this thing), then you just click on the "comments" link under any given story.  

Apparently is where it is getting tricky for some folks...

1) Type all your great comments in the big box on the right.
2) Type in the funny looking word in the box provided.
3a) If you have a Gmail account, click on the button next to "Google/Blogger" and enter your Gmail ID and password as if you were logging into Gmail.
3b) If you DO NOT have a Gmail account, you can click on the button next to "Name/URL" and type your name as you want it to appear in the "Name" box. 
4) Click the "Publish Your Comment" bar and your comment is posted.

Good luck!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

New Posts

I realize that it's been a while since I've posted last.  I have lots of stuff to write about and stuff that I've already written down, but I just recently moved apartments and I'm still waiting to get the internet set up there and my school blocks blogs, so I can't get on there either.  

So how am I posting this you ask?  Well, I'm actually sitting in my car on the street outside my apartment complex, swiping someone else's wireless signal.  Since I don't want to sit here and type pages and pages of stuff, I'm just going to say sorry that it's been a while.  I'm thinking that I should have a connection in my house in another week or so and then I'll be a bit more regular with my posts.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Your best defense is a good offense

No truer words have ever been said about the driving in Trinidad.  I thought that I was pretty well versed in driving and could handle other aggressive drivers.  After all, I lived in Chicago for a number of years and spent considerable time in Boston for work in the late 90's.  But I don't think anything can really prepare you for this place.

Basically, the only rules of the road are that there are no rules of the road.  Of course I'm kidding...sort of.  The roads are quite narrow and usually pretty curvy.  You drive on the left side of the road (which is actually much easier to get used to than I though it would be), but apparently you can part wherever you want and in whatever direction you want.  There have been a number of instances where I had no idea if I were going down the wrong way on a one-way street because every car is parked going in the same direction.  The only thing that told me otherwise was another car on the same street driving in the opposite direction of the parked cars.

Pretty much every street is a two lane street (one lane for each direction), and that is the extent of the street and pavement.  Not many sidewalks in the neighborhoods, just some driveways and usually a deep gutter to catch the rain.  Oddly, even though on many of the busy streets, people have no issues just pulling over and parking or maybe chatting with someone on the side of the road.  So there are frequently cars pulling into your lane to avoid a parked car.  They don't necessarily wait to make sure that the oncoming traffic is clear; they just dart out and continue on their way.  This is also a frequent occurrence with potholes - even if it's on a blind curve.  I fear the day that my parents come to visit because I'm almost certain this will give one or both of them a heart attack.

First week down

When i first got hired, I was told that I was going to be teaching Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and possibly one other class.  When I got here, my principal said that I was still in for Algebra 2, but my other courses were up in the air.  He finally decided that I would have 3 sections of Algebra 2 and 2 sections of Introduction to Statistics.  I guess they somehow heard about the infamous "All STAT & A Bag of Chips".

The class sizes are very small.  My smallest is 6 students and my largest is 15.  There are 3 math teachers and 2 math classrooms.  You don't need to be a math teacher to do that equation.  Being the new guy, I travel between a few different classrooms through the course of the week, but I do have my own office, which is quite nice.  Actually, I don't really mind not having my own room because that's the way it's been for me for the 2 years that I taught in Indy, so I don't really know any different.  I also had pretty small class sizes in Indy.  I think the only difference is that this is a private school, so I'm getting some extremely high achieving, very motivated students.

Our class sections are split into alternating 85-minute block schedules and the students only have 4 classes each day.  On Mondays and Wednesdays I have 2 sections that I teach and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have 3 that I teach.  Then on Fridays, we have a modified schedule where we have an extended homeroom and the students have all of their classes for just 35 minutes.  So basically, I get lots of planning time during the course of the week.

I'm still feeling out where my kids are at in regards to their skills and what they have covered in the past.  But all of that will fall into place soon enough.  I'll probably have to start a study session after school at some point for those who are struggling a bit.  But all in all, I anticipate a very good year.  Actually, there have been a few times already where I can't really believe that I'm getting paid to do this.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mr. Marbles?

I swear, sometimes I really do think I'm Dr. Doolittle.  I was a cat whisperer with Poopers, Angie's cat, Rudy (who apparently wants to kill most people) and Jane Ire's cat, Cat (apparently it doesn't have a name and generally doesn't like people much either).  I have dogs who bark and everyone, come up and start licking me as soon as I walk into a room.  These frogs that keep on arriving on my doorstep.  And then as I was typing my last post, a bird jumped up on the bar outside my window and just sat there and watched me for a bit.  As I leaned to try to get my camera, it flew up to my roof.  Then all I could hear was his little footsteps running up and down the roof.

I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth.

Anyone who has traveled a bit has probably come to realize that not everyone has it as good as we do in the states.  Lots of things are used to their fullest - sort of a waste not, want not attitude.

When I first got here, I had to figure out which bedroom I was going to stay in.  Not a hard thing to do since they both had full bathrooms attached to them, but one had more closet space.  I'm looking around, really kind of tired from a long flight (side note to those not in the loop, I had a flight from Chicago to Miami, a 10 hour layover in Miami, and then the 4 hour flight to TT, customs, etc.).  I know I should be figuring out if I should wash the sheets on the bed before I sleep in them, but after a sleepless night in an airplane and airport, I don't really care.  So I climb into bed to rest my weary head and something is poking me.  I adjust the pillow a bit and lay back down and get poked again.  Ok, what the heck is this?  So I reach my hand into the pillow and get poked about 3 or 4 more times.  I pulled the pillow out of the case and I realize that the pillow is stuffed with feathers.  However, in Trinidad, they apparently do not pull the quills off of the feather before they stuff them into the pillow.  I can just imagine frantic pillow makers grabbing the feathers at the chicken slaughter house..."This is great!  Can you believe that we're getting this stuff for free?  It will be pure profit when we sell these things!"  Needless to say that this little vegetarian went and found some other 'not so luxurious' pillows.

Now we move forward to Wednesday, getting my driver's license.  After spending 4 hours at the BMV, I'm famished.  So myself and another new teaching couple, Ryan and Meredith, decide to go to this little food stand across the street to get some roti - which is a local dish, basically various types of Indian food wrapped in a burrito like shell (utterly delicious by the way).  On the chalkboard by the cashier, today special - Cow Heel Soup.  Mmmmmm.

Now let's fast forward to the Saturday farmer's market.  How cool, lots of local fruits and vegetables.  Sounds like a great way to continue to learn what is local to the islands.  Aaron, Kate (yet another new teaching couple) set out on a little adventure to find this enormous market.  Apparently, this is such a big deal for many of the locals, that they will get there at 6:30 AM.  We opted for more of an 8:30-ish arrival.  You know, being fashionably late.  Anyway, we find this giant market, park the car, and walk into the first building, which is literally a meat market.  On the table of one of the first booths is a full, severed pig head.  A couple booths down, a stack (oh yes, a stack) of pig snouts.  Then there were some entire cow ribs (like in the first Rocky movie).  There were a lot of choice cuts of meat, just sitting on the cement counters at these booths.  I'm kind of curious how all that is sanitized (that's sarcasm if you didn't pick up on it).  There were some live ducks chilling out, probably not really realizing what was going on.  Some tiny little chicks that looked like yellow poof-balls, waiting to get executed.  And so on.  Good times.  Maybe that's why everyone gets there at 6:30.

Once we exited the meat market, and left the many, many, MANY, flies, we moved into the next building.  This was the fruits, veggies and clothing (which I'm sure isn't stolen and is authentic brand names).  The fruits and veggies market was great.  No complaint there, other than not knowing what to buy and what different things looked like.  Everyone was very friendly and helpful.  And I'm sure they didn't charge us silly Americans any extra when we had the conversation that went along the lines of..."What is this?"  "Um, that's an avocado, mon."  "Oh ok.  I'll take one of those."  Honestly, the thing was as big as a grapefruit.  I've never seen an avocado like that before.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Oh...hello.

The first few nights as I was trying to fall asleep, there were these constant sirens going off outside.  I thought maybe it was Caribbean car alarms (not the DEEE DOOO DEEE DOOO BRRRIIIIP BRRRIIIIP WAAAA WAAAA WAAAA WAAAA alarm that we are so accustomed to but more like a bunch of repetitive tweets).  I asked my neighbor Charlie (he and Ginger - his girlfriend, are also new teachers and they live just a couple of apartments down from me) and he said that he didn't hear anything and didn't quite know what I was talking about.  A couple nights later, we were out and I could hear it as we were driving home.  I kept trying to point it out to him but he couldn't hear it over the roar of the maxi-taxi.  So when we finally got back to our apartment complex, I pointed it out to him and he said that he thought they were Trinidadian crickets or locusts or something.

So the week passes and I'm getting used to the crickets (or locusts or whatever they are) and we're over at Nick and Gina's apartment for cocktails and sodas (also new teachers from Vancouver, BC, Canada with their two daughters, Sienna who is 6 and Savanna who is 4).  As we leave, I mentioned something about the crickets to Gina and she said that she believed that they were some type of tree frogs.  So as Charlie, Ginger and I are walking  home (we live only a couple blocks away from Nick and Gina) I'm scoping the trees to see if I can actually pick out a frog from the street lights or moon light, but to no avail.

However, when I get home, I see in the darkness by my front door, a little shape.  My eyes start to get adjusted and I realized that it was this little guy...


So instinctively I said "Hello" and asked him how his night was going.  He didn't say much so I told him to wait there, at which point I went and got my camera.  It was very dark and I had a hard time getting him in the frame but he didn't budge one iota when I took the picture even though the flash was pretty bright.  Of course in the back of my head I envisioned him leaping, with exposed fangs, for my jugular and ending my stay in Trinidad with a horrific, bloody scene on my doorstep.

But instead, he just sat there with that "what up" look on his face.  (This one was for you Ms. Pearson).

Maracas Beach

Maracas Bay is about an hour or two away from Port of Spain.  The road there goes up through the mountains (which consist of very narrow and very curvy) and then this bay just kind of pops out of nowhere.  Then you wind back down the road to get to the beach area.  The waves were fairly big and there was some good body surfing.  The water was as warm as bath water.  Not once was there a "brrr" or a shiver.  For those who do eat animals, there is also a place that is supposedly the best "shark 'n bake" in the country.  Shark 'n bake is basically deep fried shark fillets with lots of various toppings.  Not sure what the toppings were since I did not indulge, but everyone who did have some raved about it.  So if you're ever in Trinidad, be sure you get to Maracas Beach and enjoy the waves and the fine local cuisine. 

I was going to post a picture of Maracas Bay (or the beach) but I forgot that forgot my camera on that trip.  I guess I'll just have to go again and take pictures.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

I have arrived!! Wait a...

I thought there would be great fanfare and parades when I arrived at the airport, but the heads of state must have got the dates mixed up.

I have officially been here for one week.  My first week was filled with a lot of new experiences and a great deal of trying to get settled in to my new place.  My apartment is pretty nice and is really close to the school (only about a 10 minute walk).  It's a two story, two bedroom, two and a half bath condo and is furnished with the fine decor of an early 90's corporate apartment.  If you have been to one, you know what I'm talking about.  If not, I'll let your imagination run wild. 

My first week was also spent doing a lot of waiting.  I think the official description is "island time".  But the essence is that things don't move quite as quickly as they do in the states.  That's cool and all (and actually one of the things that I was looking forward to), but it may have gotten a bit excessive the first couple of days.  Please don't take the following as a complaint, because I'm not complaining about living a slightly slower lifestyle, just want you all to get a feel for what "island time" is all about.

We were supposed to have mini buses (called maxi-taxis) pick us up for our first meeting at school at 9 AM Monday morning.  Around 10:00, the bus picked me up.  We met all the other new hires and got a tour of the school.  After the tour, we went to get bank accounts set up.  Someone called the bank ahead of time to make sure that they could manage all 14 of us and they said that they could.  Six and a half hours later, we left the bank, accounts in hand.  We went back to our apartments and about a half hour later, we were on our way to dinner.  The place was pretty nice, but they were trying out a new menu, so they said that dinner was going to be half price tonight.  Cool.  We order.  Three hours later, we get our food.  The conversation all day and night was great though.  We all really started bonding and got a chance to really get to know each other.

Tuesday was scheduled for an 8:30 pickup but we pushed it back to 9 since we were all a little wiped out from the previous day.  I don't know why, we didn't really do anything, but we were all tired nonetheless.  So around 10:30, the maxi-taxi picks me up and we head out to Maracas Beach.  That place was awesome, but I'll get to that later.  The last bit of waiting came at the BMV on Wednesday.  Let me tell you, I don't think any country's BMV moves very quick.  We were there for about 4 hours getting our licenses, and this time there were only 6 of us.

Again, this was not a complaint - just an adjustment.  Really, after the bank, it was all a drop in the hat and we just rolled with it.