LLB: Lime Like A Boss

Yesterday was a fairly normal Thursday. I went to school as per usual, proctored my biology exam, marked my biology exam, did a bit of planning for next semester and then went off to play frisbee with Paul on the savannah. The game was fun, and we were able to play 6-a-side until darkness set in at about 6:20pm. After the game someone mentioned going for drinks at a nearby bar. For once I was feeling social and being all caught up with my grading, I decided to go.

Well, going for drinks in Trinidad is NOT like going for drinks after a game in Canada! I imagined a quiet little pub, where we'd rehash the game, have A beer, and then skedaddle home. Um, not in Trinidad. You see, when we arrived at the "pub", there were probably 100 people flooding into the street in front of the place. Music was blaring and people were "liming" (the Trini word for hanging out and of course drinking). I felt pretty cool in my sweaty frisbee clothes, but as a Canadian in another country I figured I'd play the foreigner card that says you can wear whatever you want. We wove through the crowd and stepped inside the iron gated front stoop of the bar, to find a table laden with several bottles of rum, beer, and mix. I was unclear who exactly belonged to all the beverages, but we sat at the table anyway.

Shortly after as the street began to fill with people (like there were probably 400 people by 9 pm), I realized that we had stepped into a pre-carnival street lime. It doesn't get any more Trini than that! There was no time to rehash big plays from frisbee (like we could hear each other talk anyway), there were carnival costume dancers to watch, soca music to understand (or at least try) and a drumming band to hear.

So I was trying my best to blend in, dance a little and not appear too white, when I spotted a woman in the crowd handing out t-shirts. If you know me, I love free stuff and I really love free t-shirts. So I made eye contact, motioned that I'd like a shirt, flashed some pearly whites and...she threw me a shirt! Score! Off came sweaty tee and on went free tee! The funny thing was the shirt said, "Lime Like A Boss." I guess it's official - I can lime like a boss and I have the t-shirt to prove it.