My goodness it's been a while.

I guess it's been a good 4 months since I last posted. Holy smokes! Where has the time gone? Well, not much has happened, but at the same time, quite a bit has happened.

In the category of not much happening...In my last post (back in August), I was training for Coast 2 Coast, an adventure race that consisted of running, biking and kayaking across the entire northern coast of Trinidad. I was in a 3 man team where I was going to be doing the running legs of the race. However, during the training, I was out on one of the trails that I would be running in during the actual race, and as I was coming down off a rock that was in the middle of the trail as we were going downhill. I jumped down at a slight angle to try to slow myself down and some rocks under foot came loose as I landed and I sprained my ankle pretty bad.

It was swollen for a little over a week or so and I finally went to an orthopedic doctor who took some x-rays of it. He confirmed that it wasn't broken, but it was a Type II sprain. I don't know what that means, but there there are only three types of sprain and I was in the middle. Ultimately, I had to start going to rehab and here I am, 3 months later, still with a swollen ankle and still going to rehab to try to rebuild my ankle strength.

The byproduct of this sprain has meant no ultimate frisbee, no hashing, no running (or training for the half and full marathons down here in Trinidad), no yoga, no hiking, etc. etc. etc. My days have been quite inactive, although I am slowly able to start running on a treadmill now. I'm still in physical therapy and expect to not be fully back to into all of my activities until after Christmas (at the earliest) and most likely later than that.

So what has been keeping me busy is my class load. This year I am teaching two new classes: Pre-Calculus and AP Statistics. Pre-Calculus thus far hasn't been too bad, but in the coming month or two, we will be getting into topics that I was never very fond of when I was in school. So this will be quite the challenge for me, to re-learn it and be able to make it more engaging for my students than it was for me when I was in school. AP Statistics is a very in depth statistics class, and I have been told is more in depth than most college introductory statistics classes. This too has topics that I haven't taught before, but I am really enjoying teaching this class as I find it incredibly applicable to every day life. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy teaching my other classes as well. I think AP Stats just offers unique content and a unique challenge for me. So it stands out as far as topics and research.

The other thing that has been keeping me busy the last few months is organizing and sorting out my resume and job search. My contract is up this year so I had to get all of this together. I never planned on trying to extend my contract here. As a matter of fact, I had intended to go to some South American schools for a few years, then jump over to Europe (hopefully the UK), and then possibly head back to the states. But some of these plans changed in the last 4 months as well.

As it turns out, when I was back home this summer, Angie and I spent a little time together (and I mean a little - something like 2-3 days). And through the course of those 2-3 days and numerous phone calls and e-mails, we realized that we needed to try to move this relationship forward instead of continuing to put it on hold. So now my plans (and job searches) are focused on England. Angie just started a 3 year contract doing social work in Essex County in England, which is just outside of northeast London. I'll be trying to get into one of the international schools in England. But if that doesn't work out, I'll look to get into one of the local schools. Fortunately for me, there is a shortage of maths teachers in England right now and we are in high demand. So hopefully the job search will be a short and prosperous one. I knew that getting a maths teaching certificate was going to be useful in finding jobs. Here's one time that I actually had some good foresight.

So that's a quick nutshell of what I've been up to. Sorry for those faithful followers of my Gouda Life and who have been really bugging me to update my blog (you three know who you are) and all those other people who also check my blog regularly but haven't been as vocal to me to update. I am hopeful now that I have broken my dry spell of not writing that I will get back into the groove again. We'll see though. It's hard to write and post things when I'm not actively participating in them (Coast 2 Coast, half-marathons, etc.) but rather supporting my friends in them.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Be on the lookout for pictures and stories from my trip to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving. If you don't hear from me before then, you will definitely hear from me when I get back from that.

Oropuche and Pitch Lake

As I mentioned, I've been doing a little swimming and snorkeling since I got back to Trinidad (as well as running, hiking, yoga, and ultimate frisbee). Aaron, Katie, myself, and a few other folks from school are also training for this event called Coast to Coast. Coast to Coast is where individuals or teams, Aaron and I are a team, run, bike and kayak across the entire northern coast of Trinidad (more about that in a later post).

Neither of us have really done much kayaking in the past, so we have been looking for ways to break ourselves in. Aaron, always being the source of our many, many adventures, found an eco-tour on the south part of the "bite" of Trinidad. So off the three of us went, along with a friend from ultimate frisbee, John and his girlfriend, Anika.

We got to the southern coast around 7:30 AM and after going over some quick tips, we were off. The kayaking was just the means of going on this eco-tour, which took us down the Oropuche river, to the Oropouche Lagoon, which was kind of like a swamp. As we were heading towards the swamp, there were two paths that we could take, the easy way and the slightly more difficult, but interesting way. Not fearing a little challenge, we took the difficult way.

This path was quite scenic and also a bit foul smelling. It's down in one of the large industrial corridors of Trinidad, where a lot of mining of natural gas and oil takes place. The water was definitely not the cleanest we have seen either. But that was not the difficult part. The difficulties were that the river got very narrow and there was also a bit of overgrowth where we actually had to chop through branches to get the kayaks through. The end result was that we got to this somewhat secluded place and got to see some interesting birds. Aaron has become quite the bird watcher, and I can kind of see why. We saw some pretty cool and colorful birds - a couple were photogenic, others not so much. Katie took these two pictures.

After checking out the birds for about 20 minutes, we had to head back, as the tide was going to start rising and would cause some additional complications for our return. So on we went. Getting through the overgrowth was a bit easier, although there were some hiccups here and there. The interesting part was almost immediately after we cleared the overgrowth and the canopy that it provided, because it started to rain. Now it is rainy season here, so we shouldn't have been too surprised to be caught in the rain. But the thing that was a bit surprising was the type of rain that we were caught in. Thunder and lightening is not all that common here, at least not in the north where I live. But this was a pretty hard and steady rain with both thunder and lightening. The fact that it was lightening and that we were in a river was not really my concern. Rather the fact that I was holding an aluminum rod/paddle was.

Needless to say, our kayak back was a bit more expedient than our casual drift into the swamp. But it was without incident, which we are all pleased about. No one capsized (although there were a couple near misses). We got the kayaks loaded up on the truck and headed back to the tour guide's house to drop off the kayaks off, change clothes and went and got some food.

After lunch, we went for a short hike, to try to see some toucans, macaws and red howler monkeys, but it was too hot and none were out to be seen. We parted ways with the eco-tour guide and since we were in the south, we decided to go to the pitch lake. This is essentially a natural opening where pitch (the stuff used to make asphalt and fill cracks in roads) comes up from innards of the earth. It doesn't look like much as you look at it from a distance or as you try to take it in from a wider point of view.

But as you get closer, it actually becomes quite interesting. You can walk on it, because the outer layer has "hardened" a bit. I say that in quotes, because during the day, when the sun is out, if you stand in a spot for a minute or two, you can actually feel yourself sinking a bit. Not a lot, but you definitely leave indentations where you stood. Another really cool thing is that there is a lot of different minerals coming up in the pitch. There are sulfur pools that people soak in for healing purposes, there are spots of iron, where the pitch has a slightly redder tint to it, and there are spots where natural algae form. But all of it comes from these cracks in the pools that you can see in this picture.

These pools are sometimes shallow and sometimes very deep, depending on the cracks in them. It was very cool to be right there and be at a place where you are basically seeing the opening to the inner layers of the earth. I've been to two volcanoes before (Mt. St. Helens and one in St. Vincent - which I should post some pictures from now that I think of it), but those are such huge openings and because they are not currently active volcanoes (in the sense that lava is flowing from them) there is a lot of hardened lava/rocks and growth so it doesn't really feel like you are looking at the openings that you are.

Every once and a while, our guide at pitch lake, would direct us to not work in a particular place and tell us to follow his path because he didn't want us to fall into a weak spot. It sounds like most of the weaker spots were around the far outside edge, but better to be safe than sorry. We did find one spot where there was an opening to some actual liquified pitch, and our guide was nice enough to show us what it looked like in it's natural state.

Kind of cool, huh?

Snorkeling in Macqueripe Bay

Among the things that I have been doing to fill my time during the last couple of weeks before summer break is over is that I have been swimming and snorkeling in a small bay about 20 minutes from my house called Macqueripe Bay. Sometimes Aaron, Katie and I go here after a hike to cool off and do a few laps and sometimes we just go to see if we can see any marine life.

From what I have been told by some locals and people who have lived here for a few years, Macqueripe used to be one of the nicest beaches in northern Trinidad. It's a very small beach & bay, but as they say, size isn't everything. But then some brilliant politicians decided that it would be good to develop some of the area around Macqueripe, as long as there wasn't a lot of clear cutting of the trees around the bay. Contracts were handed out to a company and the first thing they did was clear cut a bunch of trees, which then caused a considerable amount of run off from the land into the bay, thus dirtying up the water and reducing the visibility considerably. But sometimes you get some good currents and you'll get a day with somewhat decent visibility.

Anyway, the first time that we all went to Macqueripe after we got back from our trips to the states, Aaron, Katie and I went out to snorkel and see if we could spot anything cool. Unfortunately the visibility was quite poor and my mask kept fogging up. So as it got harder and harder to see, I would have to pop my head out of the water, wash out my mask and then go back in.

One particular time, I couldn't tell if it was the visibility or my mask starting to fog up, but I came up on this really big rock that was a little fuzzy. I was about to pull my head out of the water to clear my mask, when I noticed this huge (about 5 feet wide) white thing slowly rising up from behind the rock. I stopped kicking and just froze. My heart started racing because I had no idea what it was. Then it leveled out and swam down below and in front of me and I realized that it was a spotted eagle ray. In my snorkel, I said out loud "uhlh grnnp". It's hard to talk with the snorkel in. What I actually said was "holy crap" and the noise of my grumbling voice must have startled the eagle ray and it shot off.

This is a picture of what I saw. Not a picture that I took, but one that I found on the internet. As you can see, the bottom of manta and eagle rays is all white. This is because if predators are below them, as they look up, they will blend in with the light that the sun reflects off the surface of the water. And if predators are above them, then the spots (or other patterns on the different types of rays) will blend in with the surface of the ocean floor or coral or whatever.

I can't even begin to tell you how cool it is to see this stuff in person.

End of Year One

I have officially finished my first year teaching internationally. What an incredible year it has been. I have done and experienced so much this last year that I can only imagine what the next year will bring. But the end of the year does not bring all good things. As this year wrapped up, I discovered something unique about teaching in an international school - the mobility of so many staff and students.

This is probably pretty obvious to anyone who has given it an ounce of thought. I mean, I know that I'm only going to be here for another year and then I'll be moving on as well. But what I saw on the last days of classes, was not a celebration of the coming of summer and 6 weeks of no studies, no tests and no homework. Rather it was a mourning of the loss of best friends, boyfriends and girlfriends as their families move to another part of the world.

I had three guys defy the dress code by dying their uniforms black in tribute to their friend who was moving to Rio. I had the dream couple that everyone knows and loves see their relationship go from a few miles between them, to having the entire Pacific Ocean part them. I consistently saw tears flowing in the hallways and on the last day of school, one of my most vocal, confident and outgoing male students had to leave the awards ceremony because he was having an emotional breakdown from seeing all his friends for the last time.

I also felt this a bit. While the majority of my very close friends are the ones that I started with at the beginning of the year (thus will see them again next year), one of my good friends left the country for her new job in Africa at 6:00 AM the day after the last day of school.

What this made me realize is that in an international setting like this, bonds are formed very quickly. I think everyone involved knows that we are in a mobile setting, so there is always a sort of feeling of isolation as they move from continent to continent, country to country. But having these bonds form quickly helps ease that blow a bit, even with the knowledge that the time together is limited.

I believe that everyone has a "home" that they will always identify with. Mine of course is and always will be Chicago. But I also believe that home is wherever you make it. Right now, my home is Trinidad. And as much as I love it here, I realized today that I don't think I would love it as much if my mobile "family" were not here with me.

Krav Magouda

Amongst the many, many new things that I have been trying since moving to Trinidad (hiking, yoga, ultimate frisbee, hashing, scuba diving...), I have also recently taken up Krav Maga.

Krav Maga is a self-defense technique that was started in the ghettos of Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930's by a man to help protect the local Jewish community against the Nazi militia.  It has since been adapted by the Israeli military and police as the preferred method of hand-to-hand combat.  Because of the effectiveness with the military and the police, it has now spread world wide and is being taken back to it's roots to help civilians protect themselves against the unsavory elements that are found in most cities.

I have always wanted to learn a martial art for self defense, especially as I started working in schools.  I wanted to be able to know that while I have never been in a fight, if something went down at my school between some students (or by a student against me) that I would be able to protect those involved until more help could come along and get the situation settled.  I don't know if Krav Maga actually counts as a martial art, but it will definitely help in a bad situation.  The main point of Krav Maga is react to a threat, control the situation, counterattack (if necessary), and disengage from the situation - all within 3-5 seconds if possible.

I realize as I start to travel more in less developed countries, that I am a bit of a target.  While I am learning how to fight (for the sole purposes of getting away from an attacker) it has made me so much more aware of my surroundings and has started to prepare me for a possible attack.  I see the possibility for situations turning bad much easier and I'm much more aware of not putting myself in bad situations.

The great thing about Krav Maga, at least with the group that I'm learning with, is that when we learn new techniques, we are then put into fairly real situations to see how these techniques work.  I've been accidentally hit in the jaw by people in class, kicked in the junk, and I almost always come home with new cuts and scrapes.  But tonight was probably the most "real" it has ever been in class.

After we learned some techniques for breaking a choke hold that someone might put you in, we were put in a real situation, repeatedly, so we knew how it would really feel if it actually happened to us.  The situation was that someone knocked us to the ground and as we were lying on the ground, they were trying to get a choke on us while we were on our back.  We were to fight it and they were to do their best to get the choke hold on us.  Now they weren't really choking us, but they were holding our necks fairly tight, so we had to really fight to get out of the situation.

No one really got hurt, but I actually felt like what it would be like to be attacked by someone, because no one was holding back.  I have never been in a fight and I hope to keep it that way, but I'm starting to gain the confidence that I would know what to do if something did go awry and that I would get away and not become another statistic. 

Fusion 2009

This last weekend, a bunch of friends and I participated in something called Fusion 2009, which was sponsored by the Port Authority here in Port-of-Spain.  Fusion is something along the lines of an adventure race.  Adventure races are done either individually or in teams (in this case teams) and it requires multiple events and multiple disciplines (running, biking, etc.).

It all started about 2 weeks ago.  Aaron saw an ad in the paper talking about this race and sent out an e-mail to a bunch of us asking if we wanted to give it a try.  We were all intrigued, as last year's Fusion apparently started with a run where teams were tied together, followed by a 17 mile run, followed by a 2 hour hike, and finished with a quick 5k run around downtown.  That is all that we knew about Fusion and had no idea what it would be like this year, because with these races, they tell you what will happen on that leg of the race about 10 minutes before you start the leg.  So we really had not idea what we were getting into.

We did a crash course in getting ourselves ready for this by scheduling hikes, yoga, runs, and what not for the 10 days leading up to the race.  Yes, we only trained for 10 days after hearing what last year was like.  We split ourselves up into two teams based on the anticipated pace that each person would match up with and away we went.

The race started in the NE of Trinidad at 5:45 AM Saturday morning (with an informational meeting at 5:00 AM).  We stayed at a little guest house about 30 minutes away from the starting line, so to get ourselves a little breakfast, and get to the start on time, we were up by 3:30 AM.  As we were driving to the start, we literally woke up some roosters.  It was a nice payback for once.

As we were milling about the starting area, we looked around and we noticed that we were the only two teams who were not in matching uniforms.  We also noticed that we were the only ones without a lot of gear with them.  We were just a couple of rag-tag teams, thrown together at the last minute, completely unprepared for what we were about to get into, and it showed.

The first event was called "Divide and Conquer".  Every team had to split in half and send two people to a mental challenge and the other two to 'get wet'.  My team consisted of me, Nick, Charlie, and Tara (a friend of ours from ultimate frisbee who filled in for another friend at the last minute when he found out that he was going to be traveling for work.  Tara only trained with us for about 4 days.).  We decided that Tara and Charlie would do the mental challenge and Nick and I were going to do the 'wet' leg.

The whistle was blown and we were off in opposite directions.  Nick and I started running up the road and within about 5 minutes were directed into the woods, where we were immediately greeted with someone passing out life vests.  At this point I thought "oh crap!" and apparently Nick was thinking "YES!".

The trail was pretty straight...downhill.  The ground was wet from some early morning sprinkles and I slipped a handful of times.  It was a little worrisome because I really didn't want to start out with losing my balance so much.  And I'm sure that Nick was rolling his eyes as well.  We wound our way down the hill and hit a shallow river.  Fortunately this isn't anything too bad now that we've started hashing.  However, the shallow river got deeper and deeper and the life vests started to come in handy, especially if you have every tried to swim with shoes on.

We kept going, slowly passing people and we hit a checkpoint where they gave us a red rope to signify that we got to the checkpoint and told us to go back to the starting line.  So back up the river we went and up that long, steep, wet hill that was so slippery coming down.  It wasn't much easier going up either, especially with this guy who was running by us, constantly yelling at his partner, telling him to hurry up, this is what we trained for, where are you boy? etc.  The last statement was probably the most accurate, because the only people in sight were me and Nick.  Fortunately, this guy finally figured out his partner was no where to be seen and went back for him. 

Nick and I soldiered on, running down the road and as it turned out, we finished in 4th place out of everyone who went on our leg.  And then, as it turned out, Tara and Charlie were the first to finish their puzzle and second to finish their leg.  We were quite shocked that we finished so well.  All in all, this first leg took us about 1:30.

After about an hour rest, waiting for the other teams to finish, they sent everyone on their way to the next starting point, about 45 minutes away at Las Cuevas beach (actually it was on a road above the beach, but anyone looking at a map can now orient themselves a bit).

This next leg was the hard leg.  It was basically a hike up a mountain on the north coast called El Tucuche.  Apparently this mountain is the second highest peak in Trinidad, with a summit height of 3071 ft.  Giving a rough estimate that our starting point was bout 70 ft above sea level, we hiked up 3000 ft in this leg.  Now to give you some perspective, a story in a building is generally 10-12 ft.  So this would mean that we were about to hike roughly 250 stories (and it felt like it).

This leg started with a "burn" (a steep climb that makes your legs work so hard that the lactic acid buildup feels like it's burning in your legs), followed by a long climb, followed by a flat river run to a checkpoint where we would have to answer some puzzles/mind benders, followed by another burn, another shorter climb and then a 3-4 mile flat run to the end of this leg of the race.  It was not pretty and it was a little intimidating.

Since we all didn't have this great gear, like hydration packs, we had to put all our water and some trail mix into a backpack and trade off from person to person throughout the hike.  Keep in mind that unlike marathons, mini-marathons and what not, there were no water stations in this race.  You had to provide everything for yourself.  And considering that it was around 90 degrees and we were carrying water for 3 grown men, we had the odds stacked against us because someone was going to be carrying all this extra weight.  

We started out and our goal was just to keep a steady pace.  We jogged along until we got to the first burn and just kept going at a slow-to-medium pace.  We slowly passed teams and after about an hour and 15 minutes, we came across the quiz checkpoint. 

Here the questions each had a time penalty attached to them.  If you got a question wrong or skipped a question, the time penalty would be added to your finishing time.  There was one question that consisted of finding the next letter in a sequence, a logic question sorting out information about people's names, ages and places that they got playing chess and scrabble, a question about a ladder during high tide, and a fill in the blank to write out a word.  We felt very comfortable about all except the logic chess/scrabble question.  They all had 9 minute penalties and the logic chess/scrabble had a 7 minute penalty.  We thought we would spend more than 7 minutes on that question, so we just filled in an answer and were on our way.

After the questions, the burn and the steady climb were tough, but not as bad as the first burn and climb.  Then before we knew it, we were on a flat straightaway.  As we were going, we had to occasionally take 5-10 seconds to stop and look at the view, which was just incredible.  We looked out onto valleys of trees surrounded by mountains, on a clear day.  It felt like the valleys went on forever even though they were surrounded by mountains.  The colors were so rich and vivid.  I haven't seen constant shades of green like that since I arrived on the island.  The sky was cloudless and was such a rich blue.  Nick had said at one point that 'it was nearly a religious experience' and I would tend to agree with him.  I wish I had my camera with me.  Maybe I'll find the trailhead and try to hike back there some day.

So after taking the moment to take in the view, we were back on our way.  Fortunately, it remained a nice flat path and we quickly approached a bend.  As we rounded the bend, we started a slight descent.  Then before we even knew it, we heard clapping and cheering.  There had to only be 30 people waiting for us, but it sounded like a thunderous applause.  It reminded me of finishing a marathon, with the feeling of incredible accomplishment, pushing myself harder and farther than I have before.  And to top it all off, we again came in 4th place.

We went straight back to the car and were talking with Tara and Katie (she didn't run for her team on this leg) and they were shocked at how quickly we finished.  They were the ones to tell us that we finished 4th and that they had only arrived to the finish line about 30 minutes earlier (our finish time was about 2:27 minutes or there about).  

As we were chatting, we made note when the next team came across the finish line and it was more than 7 minutes after us.  So we were thinking that if the first 3 teams were not the first 3 teams from the first leg, that we would actually be in 3rd place overall.  Only time would tell.  The other teams came rolling in, some strong, some looking quite tired and weakened.  But everybody got a lot of applause, cheering and support.  It was definitely a challenge to remember.

After a bit, we were told to meet at the savannah for the final leg of the race.  This last leg would be a run around the savannah (a little more than 2 miles) and then down a few streets of Port of Spain, to finish at the port authority offices. 

As we were waiting to start, we killed the time by stretching and discussing the questions on the quiz during the second leg of the race.  The other team of my friends answered one way (the same way we originally answered - but then we changed our answer).  So now the question was who was right and who would get the time penalties.  Also, as we were waiting the organizer of the race was walking around from team to team, telling them the standings.  He didn't give out times or anything of the sort, but confirmed that we were in 4th place.  He pointed out the team that we needed to beat in this last leg if we wanted to take 3rd and also told us that 2nd place was out of the question for us.  So we set our sights on that 3rd place team.

This leg our entire team ran together and they told me that this was "my leg" since I was the road runner and that I was to bring us home.  They told me, "set the pace and we'll be there."  So that was my job - to have us finish strong, but not burn us out.

The horn was blown and we were on our way for the final leg.  We started out a couple people behind the 3rd place team and I noticed that one of their team members was already falling behind their front runners.  So I increased the pace just a bit, but not too much, knowing that we would get them in the long run.  We quickly passed their slowest person and were slowly gaining on their fast team members.  Nick kept pushing me to go faster, but I had to hold him back because I knew we would lose Charlie and Tara as well as the 3rd place team. 

About one-third of the way around the savannah, we passed the 3rd place team.  After we got to approximately the 2/3 mark, the 3rd place was no where to be seen and we were still holding strong as a team.  We rounded the savannah and started down the final stretch on the streets of POS to the finish line.  We stayed fairly close as a group and we rounded a couple corners and there was the finish line.  Nick and I turned around and started running back to make sure that we all finished together.  Charlie and Tara were with us in a matter of seconds and we all sprinted to the finish.  Our eyes were focused on the finish line and our friends and family waiting for us and our ears were filled with cheers and clapping from the crowd.

We finished 3rd out of all the teams in the race.  The 3rd place team that we had passed came across the finish line about 4-5 minutes later and now it was just a matter of whether we cut down the time difference enough to make it into 3rd place overall.

After a short bit, Aaron, Katie, Mark, and Karen came running across the finish line and they too were greeted with great fanfare from the crowds and friends and family.  We filled them in on the finish situation and we all anxiously awaited the final results.

So here we are...the moment of truth.  The race results began with Team Spirit and the the winner of the all female teams and then they started the slow countdown from 9th place on up, each of which received a prize package for their efforts.  So it comes down to the 4th place team announcement, and at 4 hours 37 minutes, the 4th place team was...The Ultimate Frisbee Players (my team).  It was kind of a bummer, but we felt like we did really well considering this was our first time.  They then announced the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place teams, all of whom received not only a trophy, but also one of those big checks like they always show on game shows and Publisher's Clearing House commercials.  How cool would it have been to actually get one of those big checks?

Anyway, as we were listening to them announce the top 3, Mark leaned over and said that if he heard correctly, we only lost by a little over 1 minute.  WHAT!?!?  That can't be!!  So after all the announcements were done and everyone was on their way, I went up to the organizer and asked him the times and he said that we finished in 4:37:57 (hrs:min:sec) and that the 3rd place team finished in 4:29:21, which was a difference of 8:36.  Ok, that wasn't as bad as 1 minute.  But wait a minute...that question from the second leg of the race that we were discussing...we got that wrong (actually both our teams got it wrong).  So that means we had a 9 minute penalty tacked on to our final time, which also means that if we did not miss that question, we would have made 3rd place by 24 seconds.  24 SECONDS!!!  Nick reminded us that there are olympic athletes are beat by fractions of a second, but I'm no olympic athlete and this was a hard pill to swallow.

So this little rag-tag group, thrown together at the last minute almost pulled off a decent upset.  We learned a lot from this experience and all of us have ranked it in the top of all experiences since we have moved here.  Next year though, watch out.  Because we're going to train hard and we'll get that big check.

Oh, and here is a picture of our 4th place prize basket.

Yes, those are boxes of Uncle Ben's rice, aluminum foil and cake mix (along with outdated warm yogurt, canned sausages, and Nutella - at least we got Nutella).

Modern Marvels

I believe that I have stated in the past that Trinidad driving is something a little different from other places.  You need nerves of steel and have to have a lightening quick reaction time to avoid potholes as wide and as deep as your tires or to avoid cars swerving into your lane to avoid potholes in their lane.  And on top of that, many of these cars are driving at excessive speeds.

With all of this also comes an incredible amount of traffic and congestion in the streets.  The rules of the road are really just guidelines.  Cars will cross into the oncoming lane, in traffic, to park on the wrong side of the street because they see a parking spot.  On streets where there is a steady flow of traffic and cars are driving along at 50 km per hour, someone will come to a complete halt, nearly causing a pileup, so another car can cross the street, even though there will be a break in traffic in a matter of seconds.

While I'm becoming adjusted to it, and just accept that this is the way that it is, there are still times when you get completely frustrated and there are times when you have to take a look at around and realize what is going on.

On May 1st, Trinidad completed what I believe is the first flyover in the country.  For folks in the states, a flyover is basically an overpass on the highway.  There is one point going from Port of Spain to San Fernando, a city south of POS, where there is always backed up traffic.  To alleviate the problem, the government started building the flyover.  I believe that it took 5-7 years to build (I have not confirmed that timeframe), but do know that it was extremely over budget and 2 years past the initial deadline.

Here is a picture of this incredible feat of modern engineering, taken from a video that I found on YouTube of someone driving on it.  That's how big a deal this is.

So some friends and I were going to a hash near Chaguanas, which is between POS and San Fernando, and we had the pleasure of driving on this new modern marvel for Trinidad.  We approached the flyover and expected to continue to zip along to our destination.  However, once we actually got on the flyover, the traffic came to a screeching halt.  

What caused this?  Well, along the shoulder, there were a string of cars pulled over with everyone out taking pictures.  And then we saw the flashing lights.  We approached a police car, which was also pulled off on the shoulder and a big black, tinted SUV stopped in the left lane.  We were all diverted into the right lane and as we passed, we saw that the police were also standing on the shoulder looking around at the view, and the SUV had a police light on the top of it, with no one in it.  

So in a nutshell, this great innovation of traffic flow was stopped so people could take pictures, including some police officers, who couldn't be bothered to pull onto the shoulder, but instead decided to park in the middle of a lane on a highway.  Only in Trinidad...

I love me some Canadians

Let me tell you about the weekend I had last weekend.  I do realize that I'm going out of sequential order, because I still need to tell you about the great weekend I had diving with my students, but last weekend was so much fun and so chill, that I wanted to get some pictures out of where I stayed.

I guess it all starts with a (non-student) diving weekend about 4 weeks ago.  The usual crew, plus one - our friend Roshan who works for the Clinton AIDS Foundation down here, went back to the Manta Lodge to see what we could see underwater.  When you are not diving, you are basically hanging out in the dining area, near the pool, because there are no TV's or internet access at the Manta Lodge.  After dinner, we met a couple teachers from the Maple Leaf Academy (the Canadian International School here in Port-of-Spain) who were there with one of their students from their school's SCUBA Club.  We were playing cards after dinner and Christal, one of the teachers, tells us that a whole group of them are going to Toco (northeast corner of Trinidad) to see the turtles lay their eggs (a natural phenomenon that occurs here).  Aaron, Katie and myself have all been wanting to do this, so we jumped at the offer.

Christal told us they all rented a house up there that sleeps 25-30 people, so we thought it was going to be a big guest house, which aren't always the greatest accommodations - usually a bed, a small sitting room and maybe someone there cooking for you.  If you get a fan in your room to keep you cool, you're kind of lucky.  As it turns out, we were the lucky ones, but not because of getting a fan.

Here is what we rolled up to...This giant corporate guest house that was built by some company to entertain it's employees (or executives) on the weekends, which is also rented out to the public.

It rests on about 9 acres of land and is on the edge of a cliff looking out to the Atlantic ocean.  It has access to two small private beaches as well as a larger public beach that is within walking distance.

Here is the view of the backside of the beach house.  On the right of the picture (not shown) is a large manicured lawn with a large open BBQ pit.  On the left is another small field and the paths to the private beaches.  Behind me is an outdoor, covered dance area, complete with sink, a place to serve drinks and bathrooms.  This was not really used, but it's nice to add to the impressive list of things that this place had to offer.

Here's the picture of the inside of the beach house.  The backyard/pool is out the doors on the right.  There is obviously enough space to sit and feed the entire group and there is a pool table just peeking out of the corner of the picture.

So it's obvious that the amenities were great.  But what made the weekend one of the best weekends since I arrived in Trinidad was the people that I was around.

Just like when I first met my ISPS family, there was a lot of bonding and everyone was welcoming with open arms.  And meeting another large group of people like that just made the weekend so great.

We did get to see one turtle laying it's eggs, but that was actually the most depressing part of the weekend.  We had a large group with us (20 people went) and we were merged with another group of about 10 people.  But then there was another group of 20-30 people out on the beach also looking to watch the turtles lay their eggs.  So the only one we saw had close to 60 people surrounding it and the magic of mother nature was lost amongst a bunch of people not so in awe of what was happening around them, flashing pictures that was more like paparazzi than capturing memories, and just inconsiderate people.

So I choose not to remember the weekend as the weekend of watching turtles, but rather the weekend of meeting some more incredible people.  

Oh, and also some good times playing Super-Spectacular-Catch in the pool.  Here's my favorite shot of one of my catches.  A great shot, but let me tell you, the landing was not so great and it ended my afternoon of catches.  

Here's a quick video of Aaron and Katie trying to do a double catch.  They never quite got it, but it was fun watching them try.

This video also reminded me of one of the other really cool things that happened during this weekend.  The woman floating on the purple noodle, Pierett, didn't know how to swim, but she had a waist floatie on while she was in the pool.  She also played Super-Spectacular-Catch, but that wasn't the cool thing. 

Before we went to see the turtles, we hiked up to this waterfall.  It was around 5:00, which gave us sunlight, but when we got to the waterfall, the tree cover was making it kind of dark (hence no pictures).  You could climb to the top of the waterfall, maybe about 20 feet up and jump into the pool, which I did a couple times - it was so much fun.  But the really cool thing is that Pierett really wanted to join in on the fun.  So she climbed up and with myself and one other person waiting in the pool below the waterfall, jumped in.  She landed right between us and we took her back to dry land.  It was really cool being a part of her literally taking this leap of faith.  In hindsight, this may not have been the wisest thing to do.  But then again, life is about taking risks and trying to overcome fears and I think Pierett did that this weekend.

More Excuses

I realize that I have been shirking my duty of posting lately, but I am hoping that over the course of the next week or two, that I will get myself all caught up.  Pretty much since Carnival, I have been going non-stop again.  But not in a bad way.

The weekend after Carnival was a weekend of catching up with my rest.  The next two weekends I was in Tobago diving, once with friends and once with the SCUBA Club that I helped with at school.  Then last weekend I was in Toco (the northeast part of the island), hanging out with the teachers from the Maple Leaf School, the Canadian international school and seeing some leatherback turtles lay their eggs.  I feel like I've been on vacation for the last month and a half, and in a mere two weeks, I will officially be on vacation, back in the states. 

I have lots to show and tell, but I need to get it all sorted out first.  So keep an eye out.  Hopefully a few more posts will start popping up a bit more frequently.

Carnival Tuesday (long overdue)

I realize that this is now quite outdated, but I also realize that I owe people some pictures of me in my Carnival costume.

First off, I want to try to explain what Carnival Tuesday is really like. However, my friend Nick put it best when he posted to his experiences on his Facebook page, “no matter what I say, you will never fully understand what Carnival Tuesday is like until you experience it for yourself.”  There are no truer words than those.  But let me try.

On Tuesday, everyone comes out in his or her full costumes and one of the highlights is when they pass the stage.  The stage is basically a big set of bleachers set up facing the road on the Savannah that we all walk by.  We were supposed to be at the starting point at 6:30 Tuesday morning.  But after a long day Monday, Andrea and I decided to try to get there about 8:00 or so, figuring that we wouldn’t miss much.  As we drove in, we got a call from some of our other friends and ran into even more looking for parking.  I guess all our bodies felt the same way.We found out where the band was at and we started walking in that direction, when we got word that Harts (our band) had just crossed the stage.  So there we have it, we missed the biggest event of the day.  Who would have thought that it would happen so early?  But then again, now knowing what came next, it did make some sense.  Because as everyone started drinking and dancing, the extravagance of the costumes was slowly stripped off to essentially what we were wearing on Monday.

Even though we missed crossing the stage, we still got there to see everyone in their costumes.  The music that is played all day long is called “soca” which is a mix between dance and calypso, and they tend to play the same 10 songs over and over and over again.  By the end of Carnival, I had had my fill. Yet oddly, by Thursday, Andrea and I were both looking for a little soca music on the radio.  I guess it just gets in your blood a bit.  The music was starting to pick up and got progressively louder.  The alcohol started flowing a little more and the dancing was starting to pick up.  At this point, it was about 9:00 AM.  So here are a few of those pictures that everyone was looking for.

So what is Carnival Tuesday?  It’s a day filled with drinking.  Some to excess, although most people realized that it was a marathon and not a sprint and paced themselves accordingly.  I saw very few people completely sloppy drunk, even at the end of the day.  But more than drinking, it was a day filled with dancing, laughter, smiles, and some of the most beautiful people in all of Trinidad.

 

It’s also a time where people let go of all their inhibitions and there is incredible safety in numbers with that.  In these skimpy, tiny, ridiculous outfits, there were all body types.  There were tall, short, thin, not so thin, and those that would fall in the “overweight” category.  There was every skin color under the rainbow and everyone was dancing with everyone.  So while we may look like total tools in these pictures, you didn’t feel that way walking through the streets because everyone was dressed up.  Actually, those people not dressed up stood out and looked more awkward then we did.  And really, if this is a ll I have to do to see and dance with all those beautiful women, I’m ok with it.

So here is me and Andrea in our gear at the beginning of the day and then more what I looked like as the day progressed.  Although the best part may be that we are wearing our trainers with this get up.

And I have a bright, shiny quarter for anyone (who wasn't in Trinidad for Carnival) who can guess who this guy is with Andrea and my friends Gina and Rebekah.

Oh, I almost forgot, if you want to see some more, really cool pictures from Carnival, my friend Sam (one of the English teachers at ISPS) is also an amateur photographer and she took some great pictures, which are posted on her blog.  On the right side of my blog, under my Profile, there is "My Blog List".  Under that is a link for "3Limes".  That's her.  Just click on the link and then look for the posts with Carnival in the title and you'll see her pics.  They're great.  You'll love them.

Update: The bright, shiny quarter has been claimed by one of my former students in Indianapolis.  The man in the photo is Lennox Lewis, a retired heavyweight boxing champion (41-2-1), who had defeated the likes of Ray Mercer, Evander Holyfield, and Mike Tyson.

Carnival Monday

Yesterday, I picked up my cousin Andrea from the airport.  She's been teaching in Brazil for 5 years and decided that she wanted to see how to really celebrate Carnival.  Ok, maybe she didn't say that.  But it will be interesting to hear her comparison of Carnival in Brazil versus Trinidad.  I know there are some differences that make each one unique, but it will be cool to hear from her after all is said and done on how the compare and contrast.  Maybe I'll have her write a 2 page report that will be due by the time she leaves.  If we can dish it out every day, we should be able to take it too.  (She's a former teacher and current co-principal for those who don't know her).

FYI - the things that were most exciting for Andrea since she has arrived is the fact that we drive on the left side of the road (complete with the steering wheel in cars on the right side) and all the things that we have in our grocery stores that they don't have in Brazil.  I've never seen someone so excited to see Ragu before.

Anyway, today was the first official day of Carnival, although the celebrations have been going on for weeks.  We didn't don our full costumes today, so it was really more like a dry run.  I just wore my shorts and she only had her sequined top and bottom on.  The full headdresses, hats and other accessories come out tomorrow.  So no pictures today, but definitely some for tomorrow.

We basically walked up and down the streets of Port of Spain with incredibly loud music being played.  There are about 5 tractor trailers pulling flatbed trailers with stacks and stacks of speakers.  And as you would probably expect, they are turned on full blast.  But that doesn't really bother anyone too much because everyone is busy dancing in the streets and enjoying lots of water and various adult beverages.

The temperature was probably in the upper 80's and it was overcast for the first half of the day.  It did rain for a bit, but that was actually quite a relief because it was so hot, the rain was actually quite refreshing.  However, with heat and sun, there comes sunburn.  We cut our afternoon a little short because the skin was starting to get a little too red and we wanted to be able to participate the entire day tomorrow.  

But here's a little tidbit for the family members who are probably rolling their eyes at us.  We had sun block on before we left and reapplied 2-3 times throughout the day.  The other thing that I feel I should point out, is that I was NOT the one one to get sunburned this time.  Maybe I built up a bit of a tolerance or my skin has become some kind of thick, leathery substance.  Or maybe Andrea is just not quite used to the sun a bit closer to the equator.  Either way, even though I know she's hurting just a little bit, I am still gloating a bit that I didn't succumb to the sun and that I don't have funny tan lines the shape of my hands.  Of course we all know that I've just sealed my fate for tomorrow.  Oh well.  It was nice while it lasted.

Kings and Queens

As previously mentioned, probably the one thing about Carnival in Trinidad that stands out from the rest is the costumes that the revelers wear.  But that is just for the commoners; the peasants.  The REAL costumes come out for the King and Queen competition.

I still haven't figured out exactly what makes a contender for King and Queen.  I believe that each band competes.  Bands are the different groups that you sign up to walk with in the parade - which is what most people believe is the only way to celebrate Carnival.  But I also think that there is a competition open to the public to submit their costumes for judging as well.  However, as with most competitions, those entrants with deeper pockets and sponsorship from bands are over the top and tend to take the top prize.

Here are a few of the highlights...

Believe it or not, this is one of the individual costumes which are much smaller than the sponsored costumes.  This particular one had an underwater theme.  She was dressed as a fish and there is a giant fish on her head, with very large fins.

Here are a couple more of the smaller costumes that I liked.  Not sure what their themes were.

The sponsored costumes also consist of things worn by the individual, but they are also usually wrapped or pulling some kind of cart which brings the rest of the costume.  Some of these bigger costumes range in size from 20' x 20' ft to the biggest that I recall from the night, 30' x 35'.  Here is one of the smaller of the sponsored costumes, also an underwater theme.

This last one was one of my favorites.

Aaron, Kate, Meredith, and I went to the semi-finals for the kings earlier in the week and are hoping to make it to the finals tonight.  Kate took all of these pictures except for the blue one, which I took.  She asked if she could go up to the front of the stage and take pictures with the rest of the press photographers, and they let her.  That's why all of her pictures don't have heads in front of them.  She was standing with this group when she took all her pictures...

The anticipation builds...

Those who know about Carnival, know that it is one giant party.  Whether you are in the states (New Orleans), Colombia (Barranquilla), Brazil (pick any city), or Trinidad, the party is well known.  However, Trinidad has one thing that sets it apart from the other Carnival celebrations, and that is the costumes of the thousands of revelers.  

Some of you may have been privy to e-mails and links from me, giving you a hint of my costume.  Some of you may know from other sources.  Some of you may have no idea what the costumes are like.  All I will say at this point is that the theme this year is Persian Empire (not quite sure what that has to do with Carnival, but when in Rome...or Persian...or Trinidad for that matter...) and that I picked up both mine and my cousin's outfits today.

The interesting thing about the costumes at this point, is that they were given to me in two shoe boxes.  Have you ever tried to fit one of your outfits into a shoe box?  I didn't think so.  Not much fits in there and you will have to wait to see pictures of us in our get up.  But I will provide you with a glimpse to whet your appetite.

Panorama 2009

There are many kick offs for Carnival in Trinidad.  There are fetes (large parties that usually go from 10 or 11 PM until 3 or 4 AM) pretty much every weekend after New Years Day.  Some say that is the beginning of Carnival season.  I never made it to a fete (although I did try but my ticket got stolen) so for me the kick off has been Panorama.

This is an event where steel pan bands from across the country, and Tobago, come to compete to claim top prize as the best pan band.  Steel pan drums are one of Trinidad's claims to fame.  It is the only instrument that has been invented in the last 100 years or so.

There are small bands, which are bands with less than 50 players (called pannists), medium sized, which is 50-100 pannists, large bands, 100+ pannists, and single pan bands, where each pannist only plays one steel pan.  The small, medium and large bands, a lot of the musicians play more than one pan at the same time.  It's really quite impressive seeing all these pan players playing in unison.

Here's a link to a quick history of the steel pan if you are interested.  

The vibe of these steel pan bands is enough to get anyone ready.  Here's a short video that I took of a medium sized band practicing.

For Panorama, most spectators just hang out and watch the bands practice in the fields around the savannah instead of paying to watch them being judged.  I actually got up to the fence by where the judging was happening and the stands were completely empty, but the fields by the bands practicing were packed.

I have had some apprehension for Carnival because it's an event that consists of a lot of drinking and a lot of wining (a dance that is a lot like bumping and grinding on complete strangers).  Neither of these are my cup of tea - not to mention that I'm sure I will look like a complete tool in my Carnival costume.  But after going to see the semi-finals of pan a couple weeks ago, and stopping by the savannah tonight to see some of the finals, I am full on ready for Carnival.

Focus people. Focus!

I wish I could say that Phase 3 of my root canal came and went.  But it came and it's kind of stuck with me.  Allow me to explain...

Everything was pretty similar to Phase 2.  My dentist dug out the temporary filling and then started to fill it my tooth with the permanent filling.  I don't know why they couldn't just put the permanent stuff in the first time and make this a 2 part process.  I'm sure there are reasons, but those were not fully explained to me.  Of course I didn't ask either, but I will next time I'm in there.  Yet I digress...

I'm in the chair and all is going well.  He's digging out the temporary stuff and after that is all said and done, starts filling the tooth in with the permanent stuff.  Now it's important that all the spaces are filled, otherwise there is opportunity for decay from the inside again.  So he has to make sure that he gets that filling all the way up in the roots.  Basically, from what I can tell, this consists of putting the filling material on something small and needle like and shoving it into the empty spaces (ie - the roots) of my tooth.  All is well for the first 3 roots.  Ah, but I am one of that lucky 10% who has the 4th root.

Since the first 3 roots went so well, the conversation between the dentist and the dental assistants increased.  They were talking about carnival, who's playing and who's not, internet phone services (Skype vs. something called MagicJack), and the cost of various office items (gel tip pens) in Trinidad vs. the cost of the same item in the states.  All very stimulating indeed - although I will say that I was a bit intrigued about that MagicJack thing.

So Dr. Dentist starts packing the filling into the last root.  He went a little too deep and I winced.  There was pain but at least it was quick.  Unfortunately, I don't think he saw the wince because the next little pack of filling went too deep.  This time there was A LOT of pain and it was not so quick.  From what I can gather, or at least what it felt like, was this needle thing went a bit too deep and really felt like it went through the bottom of the root into my gums.  The pain was fairly intense and my hand shot out to the arm rest of the chair and my back arched up as all my muscles tensed up and as I tried to not jump out of the chair.

He says "Oh, oh.  Ok, it's all right."  But really it wasn't because whatever he was working with came apart in my mouth, with the needle jammed into my gums and him still holding on to the tool.  So now he's trying to get it reattached or dig it out with some kind of tweezers or something.  I don't honestly know how he got it out, but it did come out after a couple quick attempts.

Now, when I said in my last post that the root canal is kind of like digging the marrow of a bone out of your tooth, I think I was only partially correct.  The other stuff that is getting dug out is all the nerves.  So while this did hurt, it wasn't the kind of hurt that you have when you have exposed nerves or a chipped tooth and air gets on it.  This is more like you have that piece of popcorn or apple that gets stuck between your teeth so far that it hurts and you can't get it out.  Except that the popcorn, or apple if you choose, has a needle attached to it and actually imbeds itself into your gums for a minute or so.

I didn't really think that this was going to be eventful enough to have another post about my dental work.  But after that little mishap, I just felt the need to share the final phase.  Next comes the crown.  That should be uneventful.  We'll see though.