today we got up bright and early, because the sun rises at 5:24 am (it sets around 6pm). i just cannot sleep with the sun blaring. 4 of us girls share one apartment, called "flats" just like they were called in south africa. we each have our own room but share one toilet and one shower. bathrooms are called "washrooms." the toilet is intense! so much water gushes out. you can't be courtesy flushing or you'll get sucked down in there probably or end up with a soaking wet bum. lol.
one of our "social coordinators" (aka baby sitters.. but they're really cool) met us for breakfast at a place on the campus of the University of the West Indies. her name is lavergne and she's a sweetheart. i only had an blended iced chai tea. the rest of the menu featured fresh fruit smoothies, bagels, and paninis, all stuff i could get in america. trinidad seems really westernized... the #1 restaurant here? KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN. i'm serious. they love it. it's not just my observation. it's a fact our professor told us. mcdonalds couldnt survive here. she told us there are none on the island but kfc is everywhere. i've begun to take pictures of them because i think it's so funny. jermaine, one of the students on the trip, said
"we makin it down here! i ain't never been so proud of kentucky in my whole life."lol! i mean, it's everywhere. i haven't had any yet because before i left, i had some for the first time in probably a year or so (we should have gone to taco bell david!), but i heard it actually tastes different here... the chicken is less greasy and more spicy. it should be interesting. they have all the sides too! yum. after breakfast, we took a tour of the campus. the campus seems very small but very beautiful. everything around here seems to be in bloom... colors like i've never seen. trees with bright reds.. yellows... and blues. and it's sheltered by the mountains. it's quite beautiful.
after we were done, we were met by our professors who came down here with us. they won't really be around too much. most of the work is left to our social coordinators, lavergne and kenyen. one of our professors, the director, recently lost her husband. and one of the main reasons she's coming here is to spread his ashes on the island (she is from here. i think he was from guyana but loved it here). it was cancer but something that came on suddenly and spread fast. so, she's still very much in pain. she seemed to be crying a lot on the way down here (this study abroad trip was their yearly joint project). so, she definitely has a lot on her mind. with that in my mind, i'm going to try to be on my best behavior. i don't want to add anymore stress on her. it's not worth it, you know? our other professor will probably be the one checking in the most and she's really nice. she thinks she's going to beat us in gin rummy and spades... not happening! lol.
the campus is squeezed between two towns. ?st. joseph? and tuna puna. we caught a taxi-bus (vans but way nicer than those death trap mobiles of south africa!) and headed to tuna puna. there were so many small businesses and shops and people! the people here are from a racial standpoint, nothing like i've ever seen before. i see people that look indian... blacks... some mexican type people... and like everything in between. all these shades. there are very few white people though. other than the two white students here with us, i've seen maybe one... and who knows? he might not consider himself to be white. it's been a different environment for them though. they felt discriminated against when we went through immigration because the immigration officers seemed to ask them a lot of questions and tried to follow up on their answers with phone calls while our professor, who is a native, and jermaine, who is black, went through a lot faster. i think jermaine got through faster because he was flirting with the officer though. lol. but hey, you know that feeling when you're being discriminated against. also, when we were walking through the market, one guy rolled down the window and yelled at shannon
"hey whitey!"but, i don't think he meant anything by it.. he was trying to get her attention to romance her.. the men here cat-call just like the guys in south africa... whistles and blowing kisses and making kissing noises and just generally yelling stuff at you. our professor warned us about it before we came. shannon didn't seem to mind though. she and jessica, the other white student on the trip, were warned repeatedly that they would stick out. they said it was an interesting sensation. and i understood the feeling. i also found being in the majority an interesting sensation. with my braids, i blend in pretty well with the locals. all of the mannequins in all the shops in tuna puna have really big butts and hips. and just everything and everybody is some shade of brown. it's an interesting sensation. new image for my eyes. after looking in all the stores at the clothes (really cute dresses here. i wanted to buy something but i'm on a strict budget.), we stopped in the tuna puna open market. fresh.. and not so fresh fruits and vegetables were being sold buy farmers. there was also dried fish. i also saw something really really weird. i was staring at it for a while and a random guy (people are so friendly here) walked up to me and asked, "do you know what that is?" my response...?? BULL PENISES? lol. he didn't even laugh or seemed shocked. he was like "no.. it's pig tails." i still don't believe him though. look at the picture!!
after the market, we stopped in one little shop for water. again, i stress, it is SO HOT. treena had to take a break. the place happened to sell "creole" food. lavergne and my professor said the "pies" were really good. And the price of these pies was so cheap that I was like "oh yeah! that's the move!" i got the potato one. the pies remind me of fruit pies but with beef, chicken, or potatoes inside instead of fruit and without icing. The crust was flaky and delicious and the potatoes were flavored with curry. It was really good, filling, and cheap. 5 TT$..so less than 1 american dollar! i have a feeling i'll be eating them often.
after this, we headed back to campus and waited around because it was about an hour until our tour of the library. i went with jessica to subway so that she'd have company plus she's pretty cool (subway has grilled fish, bbq shrimp, and something called "seafood sensation" here. lol) and then we chilled out with everyone else. lavergne was busy buying us 2 cellular phones to share, so we just waited. now... let me tell you something about time here. be flexible! everyone is so relaxed when it comes to time. if you have a meeting at 3pm with someone, don't expect it to start until 15 minutes after or maybe later. i mean, i know the joke is "colored people time"... but apparently they take it to a whole new level. we ended up being late for our library tour because the cellular phone place (called "b mobile".. lol) took a very long time, but it really didn't seem to matter. i was so tired too by this point and the library tour was so boring. it really wasn't a tour... it was more like us getting told the rules of the library.
after this, i was thinking, "nap time!" but we were back in a taxi bus headed to the mall. the mall was pretty big.. about the same size as any other mall that i've been to. we walked around for a while... stopping in a couple of shops to look for jessica a new digital camera. but i wasn't really looking for anything because i stay thinking about my budget. i knew we were going to the mall but i forgot that we were also going to the grocery store, which is attached to the mall. so, i idiotically forgot to bring lots of money to buy my cereal and things. all i had was 71 TT$, so basically $11 US dollars. i got a couple of things and then i realized i didn't bring enough so I started putting things back and trying to crunch the numbers. it was hard because some things didn't have prices on them. I got in the 10 items or less speedy checkout, but it still was taking a long time. so... folks are taking a long time in front of me already... and what do you know? she starts ringing stuff up and I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY at all... I'm like 27 TT$ short. I told her to put the milk back because that was really expensive (although the store had everything from "fruit by the foot" to "golden grahams," they didn't have a large milk section... that was cold. i think they keep their milk on the shelves and not in a refrigerator. i didn't understand what was going on so i went for what i knew). after she got her manager to put a code into the register, the cashier took the milk off. I WAS STILL 50cents short. ALL OF THIS WAS SO EMBARRASSING. the line was already so long. i looked in my wallet because i had found 25cents in TT$ on the ground earlier. i couldn't even find that. a woman a few people behind me said that she would pay for it. she gave the cashier a dollar.. and i just thanked her. i clumsily helped the cashier put my stuff in bags and rushed away from there. so embarrassing.
after this, we went back to the dorms and just hung out.. told stories about our best vacations and worst hangovers. i'm looking forward to tomorrow because we have a free day. we're going to go back to the mall and go to the movie theater to see the new harry potter film AND MAYBE I'LL BE ABLE TO GET THAT MILK FOR THESE HONEY NUT CHEERIOS!
"good night"
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