This last week has been pretty uneventful. Life is settling down into more of a routine now, although lectures and excursions will be starting up again soon. Last Saturday some of us went to the Trincity mall to go see a movie. Trincity mall is a maxi and taxi ride away, and we had another interesting taxi driver. Taxi drivers always like to chat and ask lots of questions. This one gave us his phone number and told us to call him if we ever needed a taxi. He told us he could take us to Port of Spain to go clubbing, or he could take us to Maracas Beach. He was really eager, and was ready to take us to Maracas the next day, and he wanted to give us a ride back to the lodge from the mall. We didn't end up calling him, but if we ever need a taxi we have his number. His name is Raymond, "like Everybody Loves Raymond".
The mall was pretty similar to any American mall. Lots of clothing stores, two food courts, movie theater. It was a pretty standard mall. Several people had told us there was a Mexican restaurant in the mall, so we went on a search for it because Mexican food is impossible to find here and it is so delicious several of us have been craving Mexican food. We searched through the mall and looked where people had told us it was. All we found was an Italian restaurant, so we asked some of the cleaning staff if there was a Mexican restaurant. They again pointed us to the Italian restaurant. Apparently Mexican food isn't big here, and I guess Italian food is similar to Mexican? We were disappointed, so we got ice cream instead. I eat so much ice cream here, because it just always sounds so good! It's been getting up to 95 degrees here the last few days, so it has been kind of ridiculously hot.
We saw Dear John at the mall. I thought it was a pretty good movie. However, the girls who had already read the book were disappointed. There's a reason I try not to read the book before I see the movie. I am usually disappointed with the movie if I read the book first. I hadn't read the book, so I thought it was decent (now that I have read the book I know that it is so much better, but I still liked the movie). It was interesting to note how the audience's reaction to the movie was so much more vocal than in American movie theaters. The audience was talking at the screen, and some of the acting wasn't very good so in scenes that were supposed to be really sad the audience would just start laughing, which was entertaining.
On Monday I went to UWI to run some errands. I walked to TTPost to mail some postcards, and then looked in the bookstore because I hadn't been there before. TTPost is on the completely opposite side of campus from the street that leads to the lodge, so I got to see more of campus than I usually see. I discovered the pool. It's a small outdoor pool, and I'm assuming students can swim there. It just looked so amazing because, like I mentioned before, it has been so hot here! The bookstore is tiny, but I guess most students don't buy many of their books for class. It was kind of like what the PLU bookstore was before it moved to Garfield Street, so I didn't look around for long. After the bookstore I went to the library to check out Silent Spring for my religion class. You're not allowed to bring bags into the library (actually, you're not really allowed to bring bags in anywhere: the library, the grocery store, any other random store you might want to go in to) so I just grabbed my wallet, phone, and keys out of my purse and left it outside in the giant pile of backpacks sitting outside the doors into the library. The security guard checked my ID before I was allowed into the library. It was really easy to find my book once I looked it up in the catalog, they use the same call system as PLU, so it took me about 2 minutes to find my book, which was really convenient. However, when I got to the desk to check out the book my card wouldn't work for some reason. So I had to stand at the Help Desk while they tried to figure out why my card was blocked, make a copy of my ID card, and then make it so I was able to check out the book. Then, when I was leaving the library the security guard checked my book to make sure it had been checked out and I wasn't just taking it out of the library. So much different than any other library I have ever been in. After the library I went to Rituals (Trinidad's version of Starbucks) to get a delicious banana chocolate chip muffin! They are so good, although I was waiting in line for a long time, but at least there is air conditioning! Later I went to Hi-Lo to do some grocery shopping. That was my exciting Monday of errands to run.
On Tuesday I stopped at the market on my way to Mt. St. Benedict for my religion class. I bought onions (for chicken fajitas!), mangos, and portugals (kind of like clementines or satsumas), and then caught the Mt. St. Benedict shuttle. I ended up being the only person on my shuttle, so I had an interesting conversation with the driver. I think it's the same driver I've had conversations with before, he started talking to me, and eventually ended up telling me how to know which fruits are good fruits to buy, and how to tell when portugals and mangos are ripe, which is definitely useful information. Then, when we were most of the way up the mountain, he just stopped the shuttle to point out a cashew tree. Cashew trees not only have the nut, but they also have a fruit which is edible (although apparently not very good). He also told me about the poui tree, which is flowering right now. It has pretty pink blossoms, similar to cherry blossoms, but the tree is bigger and greener. The trees will also probably flower again in April, so I will get to see the blossoms again.
My religion class is always interesting. This week we talked about the relationship between science and faith, which inevitably led to a good natured debate about the nature of God. The Catholic church established in Vatican I that science and faith cannot be irreconcilable, but one woman in my class always brings up questions like, "how can science explain the Eucharist?", "how does science explain healing miracles?", and "God can always do whatever he wants, though, which can go against science". To this my teacher responds with something along the lines of "God does what he wants, but he has established the laws of nature and acts within those", and I guess the original idea of the bread and wine changing to the body and blood of Jesus comes from an old scientific idea, so even that fits with science. I don't understand all of it, but their debate is always entertaining, and I usually start to laugh at it (and I'm not the only one either).
As usual I got a ride down the mountain with Delmar, the woman who always starts those debates in class. I asked her a few questions about Mt. St. Benedict and the seminary and the academic block because I still don't really understand what the relationship between them is. Anyways, after she told me that students from all over the Caribbean, and a few from the rest of the world, study at Mt. St. Benedict, Delmar mentioned that the seminary is closing after this semester, and the academic block would only remain open until the current students finish their studies. This news made me kind of sad, because I'm starting to realize what losing the seminary would mean for Mt. St. Benedict and the Catholic church in Trinidad. I am also sad for the future PLU students who will come study in Trinidad, but who won't be able to take a class at the academic block. I have felt so welcomed there, and the library in the academic block is one of my favorite places to sit and do homework, and I love my walks home from class, and it's just a great, small, friendly atmosphere. Those students who will come here but not be able to take classes at Mt. St. Benedict won't even know what they are missing because, while everything in class is from the Catholic perspective which can make it more work for me, this class has been so fascinating and such a great experience.
Part of the Caribbean Culture and Society class is a service-learning component. For the rest of the semester I will be volunteering 4 hours a week at St. Mary's Children's Home. St. Mary's has kids who have been neglected or abused and have been taken there by the state. There are about 120 children from 0-18 who live there. I think we will be working with the younger kids, but I'm not sure yet. On Wednesday we went to St. Mary's to meet the woman we will be working with. While we were waiting in the administrative building one of the women who had worked at Rosalind Gabriel and played mas with us was there, and she definitely remembered us. She had been so friendly at Rosalind Gabriel, and she works at St. Mary's, which just makes me more excited to start volunteering next week. As we were walking to another office one young boy, maybe age 10, walked over and, without saying anything, just put his hand in mine and walked with us through the compound. He asked me if I was American, and then asked, "Do you know Mr. Donald Trump?". This question kind of made me laugh, and I just had to respond that I had never met Donald Trump. I'm so excited to get to start working with the kids!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
CARNIVAL
Carnival was amazing! It was a busy time here, but it was a lot of fun.
2/ 10
5:00 pm: Lecture on traditional Carnival characters: Some Midnight Robbers and a Pierrot Grenade came to the lodge to perform for us and give us some background information on their characters. It was really interesting to see the characters perform up close and then to get to ask a lot of questions about the characters.
8:00 pm: Leave for Traditional Carnival competition: This was a competition in Port of Spain with all of the traditional Carnival characters. We didn't stay for too long, but we got to see Dame Lorraines (including one who had come to do a presentation for us the week before), Baby Dolls, Clowns, and Moko Jumbies. The Moko Jumbies (guys on really tall stilts) were exciting because they had awesome costumes, and danced a lot, and they were the tallest Moko Jumbies I've seen so far.
11:30pm: Back at the lodge, sleep to prepare for Canboulay
2/11
3:15am: Leave for Canboulay south, in San Fernando: Canboulay is a re-enactment of the Canboulay riots of the 1880s. The British tried to outlaw Carnival, but the Africans rebelled because it was such an important part of their cultural expression. Part of our group was in the Governor's Ball, where they got to dance a variation of the waltz, pretending to be the British preparing to go crush the riot in the morning. The rest of us were members of Captain Baker's troops, who were supposed to quell the rebellion. We had to paint ourselves black (to fit in with the rest of the troops who were African, it's not offensive here like it would be in the U.S.), and then marched into a giant mob of people armed with sticks and fire, where we did a choreographed stick fight for about 30 seconds before we retreated. The re-enactment started at 5 am, and then we got food afterwards before heading back to Tunapuna, where some people still had class to go to. I didn't go to my mas class because I had only been able to sleep for 2 1/2 hours, but I found out later it had been canceled. I ended up sleeping for several hours, and then being lazy for the rest of the day.
2/12
4 am: Leave for Canboulay north, in Port of Spain: This re-enactment was exactly the same as the one in San Fernando, but we were better prepared for what was going to happen, and we were closer to the action so we could see what was going on better. The location for this re-enactment was on the actual location of the riots in Port of Spain, and it was cool to be there and realize that we were in a historical site. Downside to this re-enactment is the soldier next to me got a little overly enthusiastic with his stick fighting, and he kept hitting me in the head, which was painful. I was excited to retreat to get away from the end of his stick. We got back to the lodge earlier (around 7), so I was able to sleep for another few hours.
1:30 pm: Leave for Traditional Carnival parade in Port of Spain: Some of the members in our group joined a group of Candice's friends and played with the Blue Devils for the parade. We went later to watch the parade, and got to see them all painted in blue. The Blue Devils get completely covered in blue paint, and then get red food dye in their mouths which makes them drool, so they look like blood is coming out of their mouths, and they are supposed to scare the crowd to try to get donations of money. We also saw several other traditional Carnival characters, including one of the Midnight Robbers who had been at our lecture.
8 pm: Leave for Soca Monarch: An optional trip for us was to go to Soca Monarch. Soca Monarch is the biggest soca music competition in the world. All of the artists with the most popular soca songs get together and compete to see who was the best performance and song. (Maybe compare it to if the most popular musicians on the radio in the U.S. got together into one stadium to perform their songs, with extreme amounts of special effects, to compete to see which song is the best. There is absolutely nothing in the U.S. to compare it to.) There were two competitions, the Groovy Soca Monarch and the Power Soca Monarch, and it took place in the cricket stadium in Port of Spain. It was completely full, and the music was loud, and there were huge special effects (more fireworks). It was similar to the Chutney Soca Monarch, except with more people, more musicians, more effects, and more bars. It was fun for a while, but I didn't enjoy the music as much as I had enjoyed the Chutney Soca. We ended up not leaving until around 3 am, so we didn't get back to the lodge until around 3:30, and the people in our group who went were all falling asleep in the maxi on the ride back. But the song that won was Palance, which is the best dancing song and is a lot of fun.
2/13
9 am: Junior Parade of the Bands in Port of Spain: The Junior Parade of the Bands is the children's Carnival, so it if just junior bands parading through the streets. We saw lots of amazing costumes, and took lots of pictures. I especially enjoyed getting to see Rosalind Gabriel's band, since they are the band we play mas with, and they won the junior Carnival last year. It was fun to watch the parade, but at that point a lot of us were exhausted, and I was getting a headache from the sun and the music.
6:30 pm: Leave for Panorama Finals: We went to the Panorama Finals at the Savannah, where we got to sit in the stands this time to be able to see and hear the bands better. Panorama is the large steel pan band competition, where bands from all over the country perform to try to be the best band. There are different categories based on the size of the band, and the music is amazing. It's also fun to watch the performances because the players get really into their music, and dance around a lot, and really live up their moment of fame because for the performers there is no guarantee they will ever make it to the finals again, so they have a lot of fun. The bands were amazing to listen to, but there is a lot of down time between each band because it takes so long to move each band on and off the stage. Some of the group chose to go to Insomnia from Panorama, which is an all-night fete, but the rest of us left around midnight.
2/14
Sunday was a lazy day for me. I slept in, and then made brownies and watched a movie to celebrate Valentines Day by myself. I am getting so much better at lighting our gas oven now! I used up so many fewer matches making brownies this time than when Nina and I first made brownies in January.
4:30 pm: Leave for Dimanche Gras: Dimance Gras is a big culmination of the competitions of Carnival, and it takes place at the Savannah in Port of Spain. We got there really early so we could get good seats, and there was a calypso band playing some older calypso to entertain us. The first song had a Big Band sound, and it made me really want to swing dance, and then I got sad because I don't know anyone in Trinidad who swing dances. The show started around 6:30, with the national anthem played on the steel pan. The first competition was for Kings and Queens. Most mas bands have a King and Queen who compete to try to become the King and Queen of Carnival, and the winner is the one with the most elaborate costume. Most of the costumes are supported with wheels, and are around 25 feet high, and 20 feet wide and 15 feet deep, they are so amazing it's ridiculous. However, some of the performers support their costumes all by themselves, which is impressive because some of the costumes can weigh around 150 pounds. Unfortunately, the wind was really strong, and several of the costumes tipped over or collapsed, including my favorite ones, which was really sad. Thankfully all of the performers are ok, but they lose a lot of points for that. My two favorite costumes didn't do so well, though. My favorite one for Queens was a Dame Lorraine on stilts, and it was so amazing! I had no idea how she could walk like that. But then part of her skirt fell apart, so that was the end of that. My favorite for Kings was a huge dragon, and without wheels, it was incredible, and was the favorite to win, but then it tipped over in the wind and was destroyed.
The next event was a big performance, it wasn't a competition. It was a choreographed dance with amazing costumes, so there were dancing flowers and trees and clouds, and a huge puppet of a dancing girl, and a large multi-person caterpillar and snake. It was a great performance. After that was the Calypso Monarch, which is the big calypso competition, with 15 people performing their best song and trying to win the Calypso Monarch title. I don't like calypso too much, and we had already seen some of the songs when we went to the Kaiso House, so I was kind of bored for most of that. At the end of the night they announced the winners of Kings and Queens and the Calypso Monarch, and then performed a finale dance to Palance, so that song played over and over again for around 20 minutes, which was a little ridiculous.
2/15 Carnival Monday
9:30 am: Leave for Port of Spain to play mas with Rosalind Gabriel: We didn't get to participate in J'Ouvert this year, instead we played mas on Monday and Tuesday. Monday was kind of hectic because we didn't know what to expect, and Candice wasn't around for the first couple of hours to help us figure out what was going on. We played with Rosalind Gabriel, who's theme this year was "Love Your Country", so each section portrayed a different aspect of Trinidad and Tobago. We were the section representing the Chagaramas Sailors, and we had a choreographed dance planned, but our music/dj truck didn't know about it, so at the first judging point we just did whatever in front of the judges and felt ridiculous. Rosalind Gabriel was a medium band this year, and traveled with a music truck (a huge truck with even bigger speakers which was our music for Carnival), and truck holding all the extra costume pieces people didn't want to wear all day, only at the judging points, and an ambulance. It was interesting to have our own little caravan, and some of the other bands had way more vehicles traveling with them (some bands had traveling bars, and food trucks, and trucks with several port-a-potties to use along the parade route). We played mas for about five hours on Monday. When Candice finally joined us she straightened out the whole thing with our dance, so we performed it at the other two judging points. The whole day was hot and exhausting, but we got lots of free water to keep us hydrated. It was fun, but exhausting to be expected to dance in the streets for five hours. We finished earlier than anticipated, so we had to wait at the mas camp for our maxi for about an hour. The people at Rosalind Gabriel saw us sitting in the yard looking so tired they felt sorry for us, so they took us inside and fed us pelau, which was delicious! Their hospitality was so typical of how we have been treated all trip. The majority of the Trinis I have encountered on this trip have been so welcoming and friendly, and it was so nice of them to take us in and feed us, even when they had been playing mas with us all day too and were probably also tired. After we got back to the lodge I was asleep by 8:30 because I was so tired.
2/16 Carnival Tuesday
6:30 am: Leave for second day of playing mas in Port of Spain: Tuesday started early, we met the band at 7:30. We first met up with Mr. Fullerton and his Malik entourage (they travel everywhere together and know everyone: they performed at the Malik performance we went to, and were in Canboulay with us, and then played mas with us), where we got the flags we were supposed to have on Monday, and little wristbands (which I got a tan line from just from that one day) and hats which didn't fit anyone, so we didn't end up wearing them. Mr. Fullerton also gave us drinks and food, which is always nice to get. Tuesday was way more intense than Monday. There were a lot more bands, and more people, and as a result we were stuck waiting at the judging stages for a long time. At the last stage at the Savannah we were waiting to perform for probably around 3 hours. But the whole day was similar to Monday. Hot sun, lots of dancing (my feet and hips are so sore!), drinking lots and lots of water (I'm pretty sure I had the equivalent of 5 nalgenes of water on Tuesday). But it was a lot of fun! I wish we could have seen more of the other bands, but we are pretty isolated within our band, so we really only saw the bands in front of an behind us. The song Palance won the Road March easily (award for most popular song played on Carnival Monday and Tuesday) so we danced to that all day (it's still stuck in my head), but it's an awesome song to dance to. We performed our sailor dance with our new flags three times on Tuesday, and I think we kept getting better. By the time we finally got the last stage we had been trying to be energetic and had been dancing to Palance for so long that by the time we finished our dance, I was so tired and just walked down the road. I had absolutely no energy to try to dance down the road. Thankfully, we were finished then and went to Mr. Fullerton's office (Ministry of Culture) and got to sit, and eat food and wait for our maxi. We had to walk a little ways to our maxi, but it's way easier and less tiring to walk down the road than it is to chip down the road (chipping is a kind of rhythmic walking which we had been doing all day, so tiring!). We finally got back to the lodge around 7:30, and it felt so good to just take a shower, and then I sat down and watched the new episode of Lost, which was confusing as usual.
2/17
We went to Maracas Beach on Wednesday to just relax after the craziness of Carnival. It was so nice to just sit on the beach, and go in the water and play in the waves. The beach was really crowded, a lot more crowded than the other times we were at Maracas, but the waves were amazing. We also got a spot in the shade, and I remembered to keep putting on sunscreen so I didn't even get sunburned. Hannah and I split some pholourie after lunch, which was delicious. Definitely a relaxing day at the beach. The water made me feel less sore, but then I got stung by a little jellyfish which I couldn't even see. It didn't hurt too bad, but I got out of the water for a while after that. It was also interesting to note how soca music is not on the radio anymore. Soca was playing 24/7 from when we got here in January through Carnival, and then the music switches and soca isn't really played until next Carnival season. It was so weird to walk into Tunapuna and not hear soca anymore.
2/18
I had a make up class for my missed theology class on Carnival Tuesday, so I was up at Mt. St. Benedict for most of the day, finishing my homework and going to class. Two people were missing, so class was only 4 students, which is still taking some getting used to. It's really interesting though. Rosalind Gabriel placed 2nd for medium bands on Tuesday, so there was a party at the mas camp we went to. There was a buffet with delicious food, and they had decorated with some of the costumes from Carnival. It was interesting to get to talk to several people who were in our band. People kept asking us if we were coming back for Carnival next year, they really seemed to enjoy having us there.
Carnival was a lot of fun. It was really exhausting, but it was an experience I will never forget.
2/ 10
5:00 pm: Lecture on traditional Carnival characters: Some Midnight Robbers and a Pierrot Grenade came to the lodge to perform for us and give us some background information on their characters. It was really interesting to see the characters perform up close and then to get to ask a lot of questions about the characters.
8:00 pm: Leave for Traditional Carnival competition: This was a competition in Port of Spain with all of the traditional Carnival characters. We didn't stay for too long, but we got to see Dame Lorraines (including one who had come to do a presentation for us the week before), Baby Dolls, Clowns, and Moko Jumbies. The Moko Jumbies (guys on really tall stilts) were exciting because they had awesome costumes, and danced a lot, and they were the tallest Moko Jumbies I've seen so far.
11:30pm: Back at the lodge, sleep to prepare for Canboulay
2/11
3:15am: Leave for Canboulay south, in San Fernando: Canboulay is a re-enactment of the Canboulay riots of the 1880s. The British tried to outlaw Carnival, but the Africans rebelled because it was such an important part of their cultural expression. Part of our group was in the Governor's Ball, where they got to dance a variation of the waltz, pretending to be the British preparing to go crush the riot in the morning. The rest of us were members of Captain Baker's troops, who were supposed to quell the rebellion. We had to paint ourselves black (to fit in with the rest of the troops who were African, it's not offensive here like it would be in the U.S.), and then marched into a giant mob of people armed with sticks and fire, where we did a choreographed stick fight for about 30 seconds before we retreated. The re-enactment started at 5 am, and then we got food afterwards before heading back to Tunapuna, where some people still had class to go to. I didn't go to my mas class because I had only been able to sleep for 2 1/2 hours, but I found out later it had been canceled. I ended up sleeping for several hours, and then being lazy for the rest of the day.
2/12
4 am: Leave for Canboulay north, in Port of Spain: This re-enactment was exactly the same as the one in San Fernando, but we were better prepared for what was going to happen, and we were closer to the action so we could see what was going on better. The location for this re-enactment was on the actual location of the riots in Port of Spain, and it was cool to be there and realize that we were in a historical site. Downside to this re-enactment is the soldier next to me got a little overly enthusiastic with his stick fighting, and he kept hitting me in the head, which was painful. I was excited to retreat to get away from the end of his stick. We got back to the lodge earlier (around 7), so I was able to sleep for another few hours.
1:30 pm: Leave for Traditional Carnival parade in Port of Spain: Some of the members in our group joined a group of Candice's friends and played with the Blue Devils for the parade. We went later to watch the parade, and got to see them all painted in blue. The Blue Devils get completely covered in blue paint, and then get red food dye in their mouths which makes them drool, so they look like blood is coming out of their mouths, and they are supposed to scare the crowd to try to get donations of money. We also saw several other traditional Carnival characters, including one of the Midnight Robbers who had been at our lecture.
8 pm: Leave for Soca Monarch: An optional trip for us was to go to Soca Monarch. Soca Monarch is the biggest soca music competition in the world. All of the artists with the most popular soca songs get together and compete to see who was the best performance and song. (Maybe compare it to if the most popular musicians on the radio in the U.S. got together into one stadium to perform their songs, with extreme amounts of special effects, to compete to see which song is the best. There is absolutely nothing in the U.S. to compare it to.) There were two competitions, the Groovy Soca Monarch and the Power Soca Monarch, and it took place in the cricket stadium in Port of Spain. It was completely full, and the music was loud, and there were huge special effects (more fireworks). It was similar to the Chutney Soca Monarch, except with more people, more musicians, more effects, and more bars. It was fun for a while, but I didn't enjoy the music as much as I had enjoyed the Chutney Soca. We ended up not leaving until around 3 am, so we didn't get back to the lodge until around 3:30, and the people in our group who went were all falling asleep in the maxi on the ride back. But the song that won was Palance, which is the best dancing song and is a lot of fun.
2/13
9 am: Junior Parade of the Bands in Port of Spain: The Junior Parade of the Bands is the children's Carnival, so it if just junior bands parading through the streets. We saw lots of amazing costumes, and took lots of pictures. I especially enjoyed getting to see Rosalind Gabriel's band, since they are the band we play mas with, and they won the junior Carnival last year. It was fun to watch the parade, but at that point a lot of us were exhausted, and I was getting a headache from the sun and the music.
6:30 pm: Leave for Panorama Finals: We went to the Panorama Finals at the Savannah, where we got to sit in the stands this time to be able to see and hear the bands better. Panorama is the large steel pan band competition, where bands from all over the country perform to try to be the best band. There are different categories based on the size of the band, and the music is amazing. It's also fun to watch the performances because the players get really into their music, and dance around a lot, and really live up their moment of fame because for the performers there is no guarantee they will ever make it to the finals again, so they have a lot of fun. The bands were amazing to listen to, but there is a lot of down time between each band because it takes so long to move each band on and off the stage. Some of the group chose to go to Insomnia from Panorama, which is an all-night fete, but the rest of us left around midnight.
2/14
Sunday was a lazy day for me. I slept in, and then made brownies and watched a movie to celebrate Valentines Day by myself. I am getting so much better at lighting our gas oven now! I used up so many fewer matches making brownies this time than when Nina and I first made brownies in January.
4:30 pm: Leave for Dimanche Gras: Dimance Gras is a big culmination of the competitions of Carnival, and it takes place at the Savannah in Port of Spain. We got there really early so we could get good seats, and there was a calypso band playing some older calypso to entertain us. The first song had a Big Band sound, and it made me really want to swing dance, and then I got sad because I don't know anyone in Trinidad who swing dances. The show started around 6:30, with the national anthem played on the steel pan. The first competition was for Kings and Queens. Most mas bands have a King and Queen who compete to try to become the King and Queen of Carnival, and the winner is the one with the most elaborate costume. Most of the costumes are supported with wheels, and are around 25 feet high, and 20 feet wide and 15 feet deep, they are so amazing it's ridiculous. However, some of the performers support their costumes all by themselves, which is impressive because some of the costumes can weigh around 150 pounds. Unfortunately, the wind was really strong, and several of the costumes tipped over or collapsed, including my favorite ones, which was really sad. Thankfully all of the performers are ok, but they lose a lot of points for that. My two favorite costumes didn't do so well, though. My favorite one for Queens was a Dame Lorraine on stilts, and it was so amazing! I had no idea how she could walk like that. But then part of her skirt fell apart, so that was the end of that. My favorite for Kings was a huge dragon, and without wheels, it was incredible, and was the favorite to win, but then it tipped over in the wind and was destroyed.
The next event was a big performance, it wasn't a competition. It was a choreographed dance with amazing costumes, so there were dancing flowers and trees and clouds, and a huge puppet of a dancing girl, and a large multi-person caterpillar and snake. It was a great performance. After that was the Calypso Monarch, which is the big calypso competition, with 15 people performing their best song and trying to win the Calypso Monarch title. I don't like calypso too much, and we had already seen some of the songs when we went to the Kaiso House, so I was kind of bored for most of that. At the end of the night they announced the winners of Kings and Queens and the Calypso Monarch, and then performed a finale dance to Palance, so that song played over and over again for around 20 minutes, which was a little ridiculous.
2/15 Carnival Monday
9:30 am: Leave for Port of Spain to play mas with Rosalind Gabriel: We didn't get to participate in J'Ouvert this year, instead we played mas on Monday and Tuesday. Monday was kind of hectic because we didn't know what to expect, and Candice wasn't around for the first couple of hours to help us figure out what was going on. We played with Rosalind Gabriel, who's theme this year was "Love Your Country", so each section portrayed a different aspect of Trinidad and Tobago. We were the section representing the Chagaramas Sailors, and we had a choreographed dance planned, but our music/dj truck didn't know about it, so at the first judging point we just did whatever in front of the judges and felt ridiculous. Rosalind Gabriel was a medium band this year, and traveled with a music truck (a huge truck with even bigger speakers which was our music for Carnival), and truck holding all the extra costume pieces people didn't want to wear all day, only at the judging points, and an ambulance. It was interesting to have our own little caravan, and some of the other bands had way more vehicles traveling with them (some bands had traveling bars, and food trucks, and trucks with several port-a-potties to use along the parade route). We played mas for about five hours on Monday. When Candice finally joined us she straightened out the whole thing with our dance, so we performed it at the other two judging points. The whole day was hot and exhausting, but we got lots of free water to keep us hydrated. It was fun, but exhausting to be expected to dance in the streets for five hours. We finished earlier than anticipated, so we had to wait at the mas camp for our maxi for about an hour. The people at Rosalind Gabriel saw us sitting in the yard looking so tired they felt sorry for us, so they took us inside and fed us pelau, which was delicious! Their hospitality was so typical of how we have been treated all trip. The majority of the Trinis I have encountered on this trip have been so welcoming and friendly, and it was so nice of them to take us in and feed us, even when they had been playing mas with us all day too and were probably also tired. After we got back to the lodge I was asleep by 8:30 because I was so tired.
2/16 Carnival Tuesday
6:30 am: Leave for second day of playing mas in Port of Spain: Tuesday started early, we met the band at 7:30. We first met up with Mr. Fullerton and his Malik entourage (they travel everywhere together and know everyone: they performed at the Malik performance we went to, and were in Canboulay with us, and then played mas with us), where we got the flags we were supposed to have on Monday, and little wristbands (which I got a tan line from just from that one day) and hats which didn't fit anyone, so we didn't end up wearing them. Mr. Fullerton also gave us drinks and food, which is always nice to get. Tuesday was way more intense than Monday. There were a lot more bands, and more people, and as a result we were stuck waiting at the judging stages for a long time. At the last stage at the Savannah we were waiting to perform for probably around 3 hours. But the whole day was similar to Monday. Hot sun, lots of dancing (my feet and hips are so sore!), drinking lots and lots of water (I'm pretty sure I had the equivalent of 5 nalgenes of water on Tuesday). But it was a lot of fun! I wish we could have seen more of the other bands, but we are pretty isolated within our band, so we really only saw the bands in front of an behind us. The song Palance won the Road March easily (award for most popular song played on Carnival Monday and Tuesday) so we danced to that all day (it's still stuck in my head), but it's an awesome song to dance to. We performed our sailor dance with our new flags three times on Tuesday, and I think we kept getting better. By the time we finally got the last stage we had been trying to be energetic and had been dancing to Palance for so long that by the time we finished our dance, I was so tired and just walked down the road. I had absolutely no energy to try to dance down the road. Thankfully, we were finished then and went to Mr. Fullerton's office (Ministry of Culture) and got to sit, and eat food and wait for our maxi. We had to walk a little ways to our maxi, but it's way easier and less tiring to walk down the road than it is to chip down the road (chipping is a kind of rhythmic walking which we had been doing all day, so tiring!). We finally got back to the lodge around 7:30, and it felt so good to just take a shower, and then I sat down and watched the new episode of Lost, which was confusing as usual.
2/17
We went to Maracas Beach on Wednesday to just relax after the craziness of Carnival. It was so nice to just sit on the beach, and go in the water and play in the waves. The beach was really crowded, a lot more crowded than the other times we were at Maracas, but the waves were amazing. We also got a spot in the shade, and I remembered to keep putting on sunscreen so I didn't even get sunburned. Hannah and I split some pholourie after lunch, which was delicious. Definitely a relaxing day at the beach. The water made me feel less sore, but then I got stung by a little jellyfish which I couldn't even see. It didn't hurt too bad, but I got out of the water for a while after that. It was also interesting to note how soca music is not on the radio anymore. Soca was playing 24/7 from when we got here in January through Carnival, and then the music switches and soca isn't really played until next Carnival season. It was so weird to walk into Tunapuna and not hear soca anymore.
2/18
I had a make up class for my missed theology class on Carnival Tuesday, so I was up at Mt. St. Benedict for most of the day, finishing my homework and going to class. Two people were missing, so class was only 4 students, which is still taking some getting used to. It's really interesting though. Rosalind Gabriel placed 2nd for medium bands on Tuesday, so there was a party at the mas camp we went to. There was a buffet with delicious food, and they had decorated with some of the costumes from Carnival. It was interesting to get to talk to several people who were in our band. People kept asking us if we were coming back for Carnival next year, they really seemed to enjoy having us there.
Carnival was a lot of fun. It was really exhausting, but it was an experience I will never forget.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
happy day
A Carnival update is coming soon!
Today I had one of those moments where I absolutely know I have chosen the right major (and the major I’m referring to here is religion, not history). I was doing one of my readings for my theology class, Theology of Creation, and it was from Pannenberg’s Toward a Theology of Nature. Now, Pannenberg and I have a sort of love/hate relationship. His writing is so difficult for me to get through, and he uses lots of big words I have to look up and I always have o re-read sections multiple times to even start to understand what his meaning is. But once I understand his writing, I absolutely love his ideas. So today I was reading a chapter called “Theological Questions to Scientists”, and it was all about looking for the link between science and religion, and the links between scientists and theologians and their works. Anyways, I was reading this chapter and Pannenberg lists the questions he is going to deal with in his chapter. The last question he introduced I had to re-read several times to comprehend what it was asking, but when I finally figured it out I couldn’t help but smile, because I found the concept so fascinating! I figure if the questions posed in a reading make me so happy to ponder, then I have to be studying the right subject.
The question that made me so happy:
“Is the Christian affirmation of an imminent end of this world that in some way invades the present somehow reconcilable with scientific extrapolation of the continuing existence of the universe for at least several billions of years ahead?” (Toward a Theology of Nature, 18)
This whole chapter was looking at questions like this one which attempt to find a way to reconcile the traditional differences between science and theology.
Today I had one of those moments where I absolutely know I have chosen the right major (and the major I’m referring to here is religion, not history). I was doing one of my readings for my theology class, Theology of Creation, and it was from Pannenberg’s Toward a Theology of Nature. Now, Pannenberg and I have a sort of love/hate relationship. His writing is so difficult for me to get through, and he uses lots of big words I have to look up and I always have o re-read sections multiple times to even start to understand what his meaning is. But once I understand his writing, I absolutely love his ideas. So today I was reading a chapter called “Theological Questions to Scientists”, and it was all about looking for the link between science and religion, and the links between scientists and theologians and their works. Anyways, I was reading this chapter and Pannenberg lists the questions he is going to deal with in his chapter. The last question he introduced I had to re-read several times to comprehend what it was asking, but when I finally figured it out I couldn’t help but smile, because I found the concept so fascinating! I figure if the questions posed in a reading make me so happy to ponder, then I have to be studying the right subject.
The question that made me so happy:
“Is the Christian affirmation of an imminent end of this world that in some way invades the present somehow reconcilable with scientific extrapolation of the continuing existence of the universe for at least several billions of years ahead?” (Toward a Theology of Nature, 18)
This whole chapter was looking at questions like this one which attempt to find a way to reconcile the traditional differences between science and theology.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Trinidad Update
Finally, time for a long update on the last couple of weeks. We got back from Tobago on January 17, and then had a week to get settled in at Tunapuna and UWI before classes started. We registered at UWI, which was a long process and took several days, and then had a short international students orientation at UWI. There aren't very many of us! We got a short tour of campus, which wasn't very good but at least I got to look around campus some, and figure out where my class is. I'm taking one class at UWI, Steel Pan History and Development, and one class at Mt. St. Benedict, Theology of Creation. Each class is about 3 hours once a week. I haven't had my steel pan class yet because no one else showed up for class last week. But my theology class is really interesting. Mt. St. Benedict is a monastery, seminary, and Roman Catholic church up on one of the mountains, and I'm taking my theology class at the seminary. My class is only 7 students, which is kind of nice. The focus is on the relationship between God, nature, and humans, and what the church's response to the environmental crisis should be. At our first class we watched An Inconvenient Truth, and we've been discussing all sorts of ecological problems, and discussing the church's views. I've read documents by some of the recent popes on what the Catholic Church should do in regards to our problems. It's been really interesting, and I know I will get a completely different perspective than I could ever get at home, because I'm being exposed to both the Catholic response to environmental problems, along with the Caribbean response to these same problems.
We've also had a lot of interesting cultural events. We've visited a lot of different mas camps and panyards, which are fascinating to look at for a little while. The costumes the mas camps are creating are so elaborate. Watching them make the costumes, it's hard to imagine what the streets of Port of Spain will look like on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. As part of the Caribbean Culture and Society class we've had lectures on rapso, soca, and calypso at the Caribbean Lodge, which have been interesting. We went to the Kaiso House on 1/23 to watch a calypso performance, which ended up being four hours long! Our lecturer, Chalkdust, was one of the biggest people performing there. Another highlight was going to see the Malik Folk Performers. There we got a small taste of many of the traditional dances of Trinidad and Tobago. There are different dances presenting some of the different influences on culture, including the French, African, and East Indian influences. Our group got to participate in some stickfighting and limbo, and some of the people got a great video of Barbara dancing!
Our dance class for Carnival started upon our return to Trinidad as well. We are playing mas as sailors, so we have a dance we have to learn to perform in front of apparently thousands of people in Port of Spain. We are also participating in a re-enactment of Canboulay (the 1881 riots against the British when they tried to ban Carnival), so we have to learn our part as soldiers. During a lot of our classes I just feel like an idiot trying to learn the moves, but apparently we're starting to look really good. We also got a tour of Port of Spain. It was the first time I'd seen much of the city, besides driving to the Kaiso House and mas camps at night. There are so many beautiful historic buildings and churches! The Financial District down by the water is also pretty. We stopped at the Botanical Gardens, where we learned all about many of the plants there, some of which are native to the Caribbean, but a lot are also native to India and Africa. The Governor's House is right next to the gardens, so we got to see the outside of that, as well as the Red House (their Parliament building).
We took our first trip to Maracas Beach on January 22. It was amazing! Probably the softest sand I have ever felt, long wide beach, swaying palm trees, the Northern Range surrounding the beach, and delicious bake and shark. While the water in Tobago was nicer for swimming, I don't think you can beat Maracas for the beach. You couldn't do much swimming because of the current and the waves, but the water was still nice. We will be making several trips back later this semester, which I am looking forward to. The beach was actually fairly empty when we were there, but I heard that it gets really crowded on weekends and after Carnival, which is when we're next going.
Last Saturday we went to the Chutney Soca Monarch in San Fernando. Chutney Soca Monarch is a big music competition for chutney soca music. It was amazing! The showiness of the performers was incredible to see. Everyone at the very least had background dancers with elaborate costumes, but some went completely over the top. There was a fireworks show at the beginning, mini fireworks ON STAGE while they were performing, and some big torch things, and lots of confetti, and one guy got rolled onto stage on a couch, and a different guy started riding a horse on stage. It was just amazing, and the music was fun too. Plus, my favorite performer of the night won, which was pretty cool (even though we didn't stay until the end). But some of the guys in the crowd were kind of creepy. Some of them just tried to dance with you, but would leave pretty easily. But there was one old guy who just stared at Nina for about an hour, even when all of us moved with her and were surrounding her. He was a creeper.
Then on Sunday we went to the Panorama Semi-Finals at the Savannah (big park) in Port of Spain. Panorama is the big steel pan band competition, and the bands are amazing. But, we got there at 1 pm, so it was ridiculously hot, and it was so loud it was hard to hear the bands. But it was a good experience, and when we go to the finals we will be in the stands where it will be a little less of a party and more focused on watching the bands and hearing the music.
The next two weeks are going to be pretty busy, leading up to Carnival. But everything should be fun, as long as I have the energy to really enjoy the experiences!
We've also had a lot of interesting cultural events. We've visited a lot of different mas camps and panyards, which are fascinating to look at for a little while. The costumes the mas camps are creating are so elaborate. Watching them make the costumes, it's hard to imagine what the streets of Port of Spain will look like on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. As part of the Caribbean Culture and Society class we've had lectures on rapso, soca, and calypso at the Caribbean Lodge, which have been interesting. We went to the Kaiso House on 1/23 to watch a calypso performance, which ended up being four hours long! Our lecturer, Chalkdust, was one of the biggest people performing there. Another highlight was going to see the Malik Folk Performers. There we got a small taste of many of the traditional dances of Trinidad and Tobago. There are different dances presenting some of the different influences on culture, including the French, African, and East Indian influences. Our group got to participate in some stickfighting and limbo, and some of the people got a great video of Barbara dancing!
Our dance class for Carnival started upon our return to Trinidad as well. We are playing mas as sailors, so we have a dance we have to learn to perform in front of apparently thousands of people in Port of Spain. We are also participating in a re-enactment of Canboulay (the 1881 riots against the British when they tried to ban Carnival), so we have to learn our part as soldiers. During a lot of our classes I just feel like an idiot trying to learn the moves, but apparently we're starting to look really good. We also got a tour of Port of Spain. It was the first time I'd seen much of the city, besides driving to the Kaiso House and mas camps at night. There are so many beautiful historic buildings and churches! The Financial District down by the water is also pretty. We stopped at the Botanical Gardens, where we learned all about many of the plants there, some of which are native to the Caribbean, but a lot are also native to India and Africa. The Governor's House is right next to the gardens, so we got to see the outside of that, as well as the Red House (their Parliament building).
We took our first trip to Maracas Beach on January 22. It was amazing! Probably the softest sand I have ever felt, long wide beach, swaying palm trees, the Northern Range surrounding the beach, and delicious bake and shark. While the water in Tobago was nicer for swimming, I don't think you can beat Maracas for the beach. You couldn't do much swimming because of the current and the waves, but the water was still nice. We will be making several trips back later this semester, which I am looking forward to. The beach was actually fairly empty when we were there, but I heard that it gets really crowded on weekends and after Carnival, which is when we're next going.
Last Saturday we went to the Chutney Soca Monarch in San Fernando. Chutney Soca Monarch is a big music competition for chutney soca music. It was amazing! The showiness of the performers was incredible to see. Everyone at the very least had background dancers with elaborate costumes, but some went completely over the top. There was a fireworks show at the beginning, mini fireworks ON STAGE while they were performing, and some big torch things, and lots of confetti, and one guy got rolled onto stage on a couch, and a different guy started riding a horse on stage. It was just amazing, and the music was fun too. Plus, my favorite performer of the night won, which was pretty cool (even though we didn't stay until the end). But some of the guys in the crowd were kind of creepy. Some of them just tried to dance with you, but would leave pretty easily. But there was one old guy who just stared at Nina for about an hour, even when all of us moved with her and were surrounding her. He was a creeper.
Then on Sunday we went to the Panorama Semi-Finals at the Savannah (big park) in Port of Spain. Panorama is the big steel pan band competition, and the bands are amazing. But, we got there at 1 pm, so it was ridiculously hot, and it was so loud it was hard to hear the bands. But it was a good experience, and when we go to the finals we will be in the stands where it will be a little less of a party and more focused on watching the bands and hearing the music.
The next two weeks are going to be pretty busy, leading up to Carnival. But everything should be fun, as long as I have the energy to really enjoy the experiences!
Monday, February 1, 2010
New Perspectives on Pirates of the Caribbean
This weekend, I've been watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and I have gained a new perspective on them due to my experiences here in Trinidad and Tobago. Yes, I realize this posting shows my nerdiness, and most of you probably don't care about my changing views of some of my favorite movies, but here they are anyways!
1. The water really is that blue. Before, I always watched these movies and thought the scenery was beautiful, but I did not think it was possible for the ocean or the sky to be that blue or the landscape so beautiful. It really does look like the pictures. Looking back at some of my pictures from Tobago, I realize that the landscape is truly amazing. It may look fake, but it is real.
2. I know what an obeah is. Tia Dalma is called an obeah at one point, and I now know what that is! (An obeah is kind of like a witch doctor, they practice voodoo)
3. It's weird to see a movie about the Caribbean with so many white people. Here, I am a member of the very small minority. Especially in Tunapuna, there is such a low white population that I stand out everywhere I go. The situation is much the same in the rest of Trinidad and Tobago. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies really only focus on one small segment of the population, and disregard the rest of the people. The colonial experience is depicted, but all of the colored people are left out from this interpretation. I realize that this is a fictional movie, but there is some historical background, and it romanticizes the roles of the whites while ignoring how they treated the classes beneath them.
1. The water really is that blue. Before, I always watched these movies and thought the scenery was beautiful, but I did not think it was possible for the ocean or the sky to be that blue or the landscape so beautiful. It really does look like the pictures. Looking back at some of my pictures from Tobago, I realize that the landscape is truly amazing. It may look fake, but it is real.
2. I know what an obeah is. Tia Dalma is called an obeah at one point, and I now know what that is! (An obeah is kind of like a witch doctor, they practice voodoo)
3. It's weird to see a movie about the Caribbean with so many white people. Here, I am a member of the very small minority. Especially in Tunapuna, there is such a low white population that I stand out everywhere I go. The situation is much the same in the rest of Trinidad and Tobago. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies really only focus on one small segment of the population, and disregard the rest of the people. The colonial experience is depicted, but all of the colored people are left out from this interpretation. I realize that this is a fictional movie, but there is some historical background, and it romanticizes the roles of the whites while ignoring how they treated the classes beneath them.
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