The Last 30 Hours

Hi all,

It's time for another update from Trinidad.

The last 30 hours have been jam packed for us. Our Friday started as normal - up at 5:40, to school by 6:40, classes beginning at 7:40. Our teaching day was a short one with 40 minute classes, ending at 11am. There is currently a high rate of illness from chickenguna, a painful viral infection that causes vomiting, diarrhea, fever and joint pain. So it was decided that the school would be sprayed to kill mosquitoes, and everyone had to be out by 11am.

Off we trundled at 11am, bound for the blood donation bank downtown in Port of Spain. A colleague from school and fellow Paul has been biking with developed a serious bacterial infection in his leg and needed blood for a surgery. Here in Trinidad they encourage friends and family to donate blood for specific people in need. It seems like a smart plan, making blood donation more personal. By 1:30 Paul had donated (I'm a bit of a fainter so decided against donating) and we headed off to pick up our Red Cross First Aid certificates from the course we took two weeks ago.

We arrived home by 2:30, vegged out and watched Catching Fire.

At 6 pm with yummy mashed potatoes, green beans and salad, we headed off to our Principal's home for a Canadian Thanksgiving potluck dinner with about 30 people from school. Let me tell you, cooked turkey and a full spread including pumpkin pie and apple crumble was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Still full from Friday dinner, we crawled out of bed at 6 am (this is unusual for me as I kind of like to sleep in on Saturdays) and drove downtown to meet for a 7 am hike. There we met up with 3 ex-pats and headed up a steep road into Hololo, a small little community with big, growlly dogs that were luckily behind fences. As we summitted the mountain to the end of the road (literally), it started to sprinkle, and then downpour! The rainy season strikes again. Our wet adventure eventually dried as we headed back down the road and ended with doubles, or deep fried breads with a chick pea sauce.

Tonight we are taking in a dance performance, with tickets we won (not through trivia). Perhaps it will be blog worthy.