day seven - blah

day seven kind of sucked. so, we went to class like usual. and, like usual, the lecturer was late. the class was supposed to be about “the old tradition: rapso”… whatever that is. why don’t i know what that is? because whoever was supposed to teach our class didn’t show up at all. so, we sat in the room waiting for over an hour… maybe even two hours. it was kind of ridiculous. i don’t know who gave us word that we could finally leave, but when we got it, i was glad to get back to the room so i could finish packing for our trip to tobago.

i finished packing…ate the rest of my leftover chinese food (i still couldn’t bear to eat any of that “chicken.” it looked even more weird the next day.)… and hopped on the bus. we went to the ferry station in port-of-spain. it was just as miserable as traveling always is. the station was packed full of people. and it was so hot. we had to stand in long lines and my luggage was really heavy. and then, when we finally got on the ferry, some officers made me put my luggage bag on a cart because i guess i had too much stuff (the only other thing i had was my book bag -_-). so, i was worried that my stuff would get stolen. and on top of all this, lavergne gave us sea-sickness medicine at the station, but i think the medicine itself made me feel a little sick. the ferry itself was really nice though. it was the nicest ferry i’ve ever been on. it had low lighting, with lots of tables and chairs. there was food offered (although depending on what time of day, it could be crappy. it was crappy. lol). there were flat screen tvs, but they were all playing “the three stooges meet hercules”.. lame. so, i mostly just read my book, assata shakur’s biography. there was a couple of rough patches, but for the most part, the ride was smooth. i didn’t even realize we were moving at first until i looked out the window. and the view was AWESOME. i also went to the back of the ferry for even more views of the trinidad coastline.

when we got off the ferry in tobago (at about 7pm), i went down and got my stuff. what was the first thing i saw when i got off the ferry? a red shining kfc. lol. it gave me a brilliant idea… our coordinators had warned us the day before that food on tobago was more expensive because it was more touristy. my plan was to buy a bucket of chicken and sides, a family meal, and just eat on that every day. we hopped on a bus and it took us to our “bed and breakfast” (MINUS THE BREAKFAST.. which they don’t have. lol! i’m laughing now but when i found out, i was crushed. i thought i was going to save some TT$. so.. you’re a bed and breakfast without breakfast? so… you’re just bed? lol). as we made our way to our rooms… we could hear a whole bunch of random “BAAAHHHHHHHH”s. goats. there are goats in the backyard of our “bed minus the breakfast.” lol.

everyone was pretty hungry so we dropped our stuff off in our rooms (i share a room with shannon), and walked around the area to find something to eat. i saw a church’s chicken and immediately thought, “that’s the move.” instead of stopping though, i continued to walk with everyone else to see what else the area had to offer. after about 20 minutes, shannon and i went back to the church’s chicken. we went inside and stood looking at the menu. a worker gone say “y’all ordering 2 separate orders?”.. we answered yes… “well, we’re closed.” um… then why did you let us stand here, look at the menu, and ask us how many orders we had? we ended up in a little mini-market next door. i wasn’t really trying to buy anything but once shannon got this breakfast for dinner idea, i picked up some bread and bacon. we ended up saving it though. i ate a pb&j and went to bed. 

day six- disgust and deliciousness

lesson on gender/sexuality in trinidad/tobago: yesterday's lecture came from dr. charleston thomas, a young, cool rasta and he was super intelligent.

"i am me. disgusted by the world, so i have alienated myself."

he came to talk to us about gender and sexuality in trinidad/tobago. instead of just straight talking about it, he used his own life as a guide. his whole premise was that trinidad/tobago is an environment that challenges certain ideas such as a patriarchal society and the nuclear family.

"your responsibility is to prove that they have lied to us by disproving the lies."

with the concept of a patriarchal society, the notion that men run society, he talked about how in tobago, women run the society and that most leaders and prominent people in the society are women. there was even a gang of women that would steal and sexually harass people called "the dirty dozen." and within is family, his moms and aunts would make decisions. they decided if and where he should go to school, not his dad. so... how can we say there's a patriarchal society here when clearly this is not always the case? he also revealed the issues with the whole idea of a nuclear family (mother, father, and children) being the ideal. because it's called "nuclear family" in the first place, with the added word in front of family, must mean that before the word "nuclear" was added, family always meant many people/families. he said that the nuclear model was brought about during the victorian era because it is the most efficient way to produce more laborers/children... but it doesn't make sense in a non-urban space. to say someone has an absent father is a really awful and incorrect thing to say here because many work away from home. he said that the mother/father roles are basically bullshit. he described how he was raised more by his uncles than his father (who is known for raising others in the community). and he didn't find out that some people he considers his brothers/sisters weren't even related to him until he was like 15. he has people who are second mothers.. and third mothers... and he also said

"who says a woman can't do the fathering when it has been done so many times?"

so, the nuclear family idea only has external purposes... it's just for show. what matters is what each particular family needs. if the needs are being met, then who cares who is there and who is not there? he also talked about homosexuality.. about how the invention of the nuclear family was the invention of homosexuality because in the past, many societies had homo-erotic rituals. he thinks that homosexuality is a part of "body memory"... for example, he said people of black ancestry, when they hear a drum pattern, they have to move/dance or at least the drum rings somewhere in their heart. that's "body memory".. our bodies are remembering how our ancestors used drums to communicate and entertain in africa. so, he believed homosexuality was people's bodies remembering the homoerotic rituals of the past, before the victorian era. his whole point was that the caribbean is a sight to rethink a number of things. it was all quite interesting.

after the lesson, lavergne dropped jermaine and i off at a nearby chinese restaurant to get some of the alleged delicious chinese food i had heard so much about. it looked a little sketchy in there… but i got something anyways. i got noodles, rice, and chicken. the rice and noodles were okay. the chicken looked suspect. i only  ate the pieces that i could easily recognize as chicken. i saved some of it for another day… and i’m going to try to eat it all including the weird chicken cause i thought, “i’ve eaten shark and termites… so… even if it is some animal i don’t eat.. i'm past the point of no return already." lol.

afterwards.. i just chilled in my room a bit, trying to write this blog with the unreliable internet. we were supposed to catch a university student shuttle to a steelpan yard at 3pm. it's about 2:52pm. i knock on treena's door to give her her camera batteries that have been charging on my computer. she doesn't answer so i leave them by her door. i head downstairs. no one is there. i’m like “i know these fools didn’t leave me.” i go to the front lobby.. no one there. i come back to the flat, knock on everyone’s doors… no one. go down to jermaine’s door.. no one. so, i basically got left. i ask the front desk people where the university police station is because i know that that’s where the shuttles will be and i know that it's some where directly across the street from our dorm. and i head that way. i see the other students basically walking around in circles, trying to figure out where to go. “hey, danielle! do you know where we should be at?” and i basically said, “well, i thought y’all would know where y’all was going since ya rushed out the apartment and left me.” i was really pissed off… cause i have taken folks to the airport...let people use up my bug spray and anti-itch cream..  gave them change if they needed it.. helped them find stuff they were looking for.. and DEFINITELY have walked with them to places they needed to go just so they could have someone to walk with. i have done something i didn't have to do for everybody on this trip. and, i did all this trying to be a good friend (and also because walking somewhere alone is against the rules of the trip.. and it’s the group's responsibility if anyone is late or gets left behind, and i wasn’t even late, nor have i been even close to being late for anything this entire trip. not even close.). so…  what the hell was i supposed to do? what if the shuttle would have actually been there and left? what if after i was left behind.. i tried to make it and fell on a sidewalk or got robbed or raped or hit by a vehicle crossing the street? i had neither of the two cellular phones they gave us to call the people in charge. they had them. no matter how i try to look at it.. from all angles... all i see is 

"fuck danielle."  

and it's messed up because (forget about the rules) i would have NEVER left anyone behind. ever. and i would have never thought that i would get left considering everyone’s always preaching really strong activist talk and about equality and all that … but how you gone help the other man, when you can’t even knock on a sista door to say you’re leaving? can’t even help the person right next to you? disgusting. but it’s all good... cause i'm only here to have a good time and learn. 

and i'm kind of happy about it all because it makes me feel like i’m just in tune with the trinidad vibes. all the students want to leave so early.. but it’s like… why when the professor/bus driver/ lecturer/social coordinator/etc. is going to MAYBE be on time (which has rarely and possibly never has happened in all the days we've been here) and is more likely going to be 10-15 minutes late instead?? i just see it as such an american thing… rushing off to be somewhere. trinis are not this way at all. you slow down. they get there when they get there. they haven’t been an ounce impressed with us being on time. no one has been like "wow.. you guys are on time!" so.. what you rushing for? i wish everyone could feel the island vibe. one doesn’t have to be late… but dang, can we at least not have to wait outside in the heat for every outing for 10-20 minutes or in a hot room that won’t get cool until 20 minutes later when our lecturer will actually arrive? i'm starting to break out in heat bumps on my chest (ugh!) and i’d rather wait in my room where it's nice and cool. if that means i'm going to be getting left behind, i'll just have to deal with it. it's clear to me that i'm on my own which is fine. 

anyways, after about 5 minutes, a man came out of the police station and took one of the shuttles and drove us to one of the many steel pan yards in town. when we got there, we got right down to it. our teacher broke down the history of the steel pan... musical notes... and then steel pan techniques. IT IS VERY HARD. cause, it's not like you just hit the pan.. you have to know where to hit it to get the particular note that you want. you have to know how soft/hard to hit it. and, really you're not hitting it.. it's more like you're rolling the sticks over the pan really fast...multiple times for each note. and those little sticks are hard to hold. the whole process is difficult but i think i did a pretty good job. i was on the soprano pan and i really loved the sound it made.

our class seemed to end a lot earlier than we expected. we didn't even get to learn a song. :-( we left the yard and then chilled in our rooms. later, lavergne came to pick us up to go to dr. turley's apartment to eat. dr. talley and dr. turley cooked us a trinidadian feast! it was so delicious. like, i cannot stress enough how good it was.  you know how it is when you're eating and your stomach says "that's enough!" but your tongue is like "more more more!"? that's how good it was. goat curry.. spicy mangoes.. chickpeas and potatoes.. rotti... chicken... and more. it's was all delicious. and the rum punch was good too (20% alcohol :-D ). we also had coconut and rum raisin ice-cream. i had both of course. then i chilled and talked to lavergne and her family about some aspects of the trip and played with her adorable son, liam. we all caught "the itis" (you know, where you eat and want to go to sleep. they have a word for it in trinidad too but i can't remember what it is that they say) and headed back to the dorm for sleep.


we're going to TOBAGO today (day 8). i'm really excited. i can't wait to lay out on the beach.

day five - mas and MORE LIMING, MY NEW FAVORITE THING!

day five's lecture was taught by kenwyn, our social coordinator. it was a lesson on carnival (he was late, of course.) carnival is maybe what trinidad and tobago is best known for. but kenwyn's entire lesson was about the fact that their are many misconceptions about carnival. 

brief lesson: carnivals aren't just a trinidad thing... nor a brazil thing... nor caribbean thing... nor new orleans. there are many carnival around the world and some trace its origns to somewhere in africa (i can't remember where), not in france like most of us think. kenwyn feels that people don't drift towards carnivals to be deviant (with all the sexual energy). he thinks that having sexuality and spirituality separate is a western idea.. carnival combines those things and thus people naturally gravitate to them because that's the way things were before the victorian era and european conquest. carnivals happen before lint usually.. so it acts as a rebirth and a celebrating of life. then he brought down the scope a little further to say that the trinidad carnival is special because of the concept of "mas".. which is a play off the words mask and masquerade. it's a concept of improvisation.. a concept of mastery or dominance. the idea is you're concealing yourself behind a costume to reveal some message (but if someone says you're being an "ole mas," that means your being a spectacle... the negative kind. lol.). so, in that way... carnival acts to reveal trinidad ... it's trinidad's mouthpiece. and it's been revealing how special a place trinidad is. trinidad has a mystical way about it because it has this carnival and because there's so much trauma in the country's past. i mean, he really broke it down and made it sound beautiful to me. like more than just eye stimulation. i really wanna come back for it. he described different costumes and what they really meant, like they used to have these really horrible barracks that men used to have to live in (i didn't catch why).. and a horrible case of rabies broke out because the place was just unsanitary and the men were being bitten by bats. so one group dressed up bats. and they also had men dress up as a women with a big butt and breasts... to make a commentary on the fact that rich men were going down to the barracks and soliciting young men. in the latest years though.. it's mostly participated in by women and they are slick very naked... no one can tell if this is a good thing (sexual freedom) or a bad thing (a consequence of commercialism). but, he said he had one student who said she would cry if she didn't get to be naked during carnival. dang. lol. it was a great lecture. i enjoyed and i felt so special for getting to come here and pick up the island vibes.

kenwyn had to cancel our workshop though... we were supposed to make our own mases some how. but he canceled so we all went back to the dorm and chilled. later on (they were super late!), he, his friend, and his fiance came to pick us back up for some liming!!! i love to lime. they were late, of course. so, by the time we got going, we had no time to stop and get something cheap to eat or we would have had to pay to get into the cafe. the place was called woodford cafe... it is this apple bee's type place that had a bar and a stage. the place was super expensive. i ended up having to pay 113 TT$ and all i had was 1 small ceasar salad, 1 side of mashed potatoes, and a BOOTY JUICE! lol! how could i not get it? it was called "booty juice"! if there's something on a menu called booty juice, i gotta go for it! lol. it was a shot of some kind of mixture of alcohol. 

the great thing about this woodford cafe was that they played music really loudly. it was dance music. some britney spears, nicki minaj, rihanna... and then a whole bunch of stuff that sounds vaguely familiar (i haven't gone out dancing in a while.) some trinidadian music was played too. too many good songs started coming on. i don't like britney spears. but i do like a few of her songs. i like "dance until the world ends" (because it always reminds me of arielle's recent birthday where sarah almost got arrested... lol. tyner academy 2005!). so, it came on for the second time and i couldn't let it pass me by. i had to get up so i did... i just couldn't help but dance. that was already the longest i've ever sat while music was playing without dancing or doing something. it's my weakness. lol. i think dancing is fun.. so it's like "why don't you want to go have some fun?" i don't understand it.

 i was the only person dancing on the dance floor. and when i got up and started dancing, i realized that there was another side of the bar where lots of people were. and they were ALL looking at me. i had EVERY EYE. i hate to swear BUT I DO.. i swear! they were looking like "wtf is she doing?" lmao! every man and every woman was looking directly at me. if i would have known  all those people were over there, i might have thought twice before getting up to dance but it was too late.. i had already gotten up.. couldn't turn around! i'm glad i did it though... nice to set the mood right away. the mood i was trying to set? i'm not from here and i'm swagging hard on you AND on your own territory! HA! lol. after a few songs, the rest of the girls joined me and we danced for hours, just us, alone together on the dance floor. there's probably pictures of it floating around on the internet somewhere because we had some paparazzi's constantly taking pictures of us.

then finally, the band we came there to see, a trinidadian band called "karma", took the stage. they were amazing. they had me "wining" (you know.. ? the dutty wine... but not as wild & "dirty". wining is not jamaican by the way. trinidadians claim to have given it to them. lol. they have been mad because they keep seeing people on BET [yes.. "black evil television" lol] thinking it's jamaiccan.).  the band was so close and calling us out when they saw us getting down and just really interacted with us.. because we were basically the only fun...dancing.... "crunk" (what a great, descriptive word when you really know what it means!) people there. we were getting down! 

towards the end of the set, i started to get tired. everyone made a move for the table. kenwyn got the message and we left as the show ended. i love to lime. and i slept so good.

day four - "young woman vs. wild"

before coming to trinidad, i was looking forward to going to class because i’m just a nerd like that. but, after dr. turley informed jessica and i that class would run from 9am to 5pm, with a lunch break in the middle, i was dreading it. that’s too damn long. so, when i woke up yesterday morning for class, i wasn’t in the best of moods. i went to go wash my face and what do you know? the door knob i had expressed concern about on the very first night we were here was broken and i was trapped in my room. “OH.. GUESS I’M NOT GOING TO CLASS!” lol! so much for trying to be on time too. after 15-20 minutes of the other students trying to rescue me, jermaine was finally able to get me out. i had decided to wash my face with a wet wipe and put my clothes on while they were trying to get me out so as soon as the door was opened, i was ready to go.

we made the short walk to the creative arts building and figured out which room our class would take place in. in past years, other visiting students would be in class with us. but this year, it’s just our group. our professor, dr. regis, was of course a little late (trinidad time never fails). his lesson was over “the peopling of trinidad and the festive calendar.” and, as much as i didn’t want to be there at first, i actually enjoyed the lecture! it helped me understand the population. remember before i said that everyone was some kinda shade of brown… to be more descriptive, i’ve been seeing some people who look like indians… some look hispanic.. some look african… i saw some chinese people… and everyone’s features look mixed up … like, this place is the real melting pot! i even saw some white people at the beach and they weren’t tourists. they all have the trinidadian accent. the lecture basically explained how all these different people came to call themselves trinis.

trinidad history lesson (i'll make this brief):

he began the lesson with 1498, when christopher columbus, on his 3^rd voyage, “discovered” trinidad. of course there was a small population of natives here already. but, because there was no gold or silver here, the settlement the spanish had here was lethargic and not really important.

“they must tell it like it really was. christopher columbus was a pirate, a hustler.” - dr. regis

(but can you spot columbus's ships--the pinta, nina, and santa maria-- on trinidadian money?.. it's above the phrase “together we aspire. together we achieve.” that's kind of problematic.)

at first there was tobacco grown here, but the people of virgina complained that it was undercutting their business … (first time the USA played a part in the politics of the islands). when the Dutch brought sugar cane to the islands though, the sugar revolution would start. i could spend a whole day learning about the sugar revolution. sugar back then was like oil is today. a “hot commodity” doesn’t even remotely get close to how important it was and what nations would do to get it. to keep this brief, eventually you get a handful of spanish… a few native americans…. a few white and black french planters… masses of black slaves (some from other islands already)… white british planters and black english slaves… in 1806 the chinese started coming.. after the british ended the slave trade, they would capture other nation’s slave ships and send the africans to trinidad. after the war of 1812, african-americans who had fought on the side of the british came to trinidad and started “company towns...” in 1813 slavery ended in the british islands.... and to get needed labor in 1845 the indian migration started. in the late 19^th/early 20^th century syrian and lebanese people began to migrate here. venezuela is closer to trinidad than tobago is .. and migrants have come from venzuela to live here as well. after world war 2, spatial segregation began to disappear and people began mixing (sexually and culturally [culturally through events and food]). and this is why i see a whole different mixture of people here. and they all call themselves trinis. i think that’s beautiful. tobago has a really different history though. many european countries owned the island over the years… many more than owned trinidad. however, the population is still 95% african. i can’t wait to go there on thursday!  

after class, i took a short, sweet nap and then we took a long drive to the asa wright nature center in the rain-forest of trinidad. we took a guided hike. and just like with the beach, i can show you better than i can tell you.

crazy tall bamboo... bright plants.... beautiful birds... i felt totally in my element! some people didn't enjoy it though... the outdoors isn't for everyone i suppose. but i loved it. what i didn't like was there was a group of kids in our tour group. i just wanted to spank all of them. they were so rude. and their guardian was rude too! he was talking on the phone while the tour guide was trying to give us information about certain plants and birds. how triflin!

the highlight was that i got to eat a termite!!! check out the video! 

after the tour was done, we all kind of ran back to the center on our own. about midway through, it started to pour down raining! this couple passed us... and then the guy slipped and fell on some rocks. LOL! like momma always says, "slippery when wet." lol. i was almost to the center when i saw a big long lizard (i think a tiger lizard) on the ground walking around. i got up those stairs and into the center so fast!! lol. the picture really doesn't do him justice. he was at least 3 feet long.

after our rain forest adventure, we headed back to town to get something to eat. i had a double (remember? spicy and filled with chick peas) and a really delicious local soda called "solo." i thought i was getting orange, because it was colored orange... but the flavor was actually banana and it was quite good. i still haven't had anything disgusting here yet. everything is just really delicious! 

day three - maracas beach

we got up early to catch our taxi-bus to maracas beach, which is located in the northern coast of trinidad. it's a very mountainous drive. ups and downs and tight curves. about two-thirds of the way there we stopped at this area on the side of the street to take pictures of the scenery and stop at a independent vendor stand that sold "treats" such pickled mango (spicy!didn't really like this that much).. pickled pineapple (spicy n sweet. i liked it), tree nuts (was similar to grapes but with a rind and pit).. and sweet cakes (some kind of delicious coconut and sugar concoction).

 as for the beach... i can show you better than i can tell you.

 after a while though, the clouds that were beautifully drifting across the mountains began to drop rain on us so i went to go eat lunch. while there were many options, hamburgers and such... the thing to eat at maracas beach is the "bake and shark." no one knows why it's called "bake and shark" because it's actually fried. the bread and the shark are fried. it tastes DELICIOUS though... like your everyday fried fish sandwich. i didn't know it at the time, but the guy from the show "bizarre foods" went to the same exact place we did today to eat the "bake and shark." and even he called it "the best fish sandwich" he's ever had and said it was one of his favorite foods ever!

he kind of disses me in the video though.. because i definitely ended up putting mustard on mine. lol. i tasted all the sauces... but the first one i tasted was so spicy that all of the sauces i tried after it tasted spicy too.. lol. so i just put mustard, cole slaw, and a pineapple on mine. it was definitely delicious though. i still can't believe i ate shark today!