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.
Saturday, 4 October 2014
Friday, 26 September 2014
A New Take On Hashing
Wednesday was Republic Day, a national holiday. The local hash club organized a special fundraiser "Red Dress" hash.
Aside from a short run in the woods, this was more of an urban hash in the streets and back allies of Diego Martin. The local folk were mesmerized by our fine costumes and questioned us often as to what we were doing. We definitely went places we would never have gone. Also smelled a few things we'd never like to smell again.
The pictures tell the rest of the story!
Aside from a short run in the woods, this was more of an urban hash in the streets and back allies of Diego Martin. The local folk were mesmerized by our fine costumes and questioned us often as to what we were doing. We definitely went places we would never have gone. Also smelled a few things we'd never like to smell again.
The pictures tell the rest of the story!
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Sunday, 21 September 2014
Some Recent Photos
Click here to see some recent photos and videos: https://picasaweb.google.com/110227165490703273900/September212014?authkey=Gv1sRgCIXX19-j-7bcVQ#slideshow/6061611201364605986
A week in Trini
Here is a little insight into our normal day to day lives in Trinidad.
Paul went biking with another teacher on Sunday morning for a solid and sweaty 2.5 hour ride. I did not. Instead I went to the air conditioned gym and ran on the treadmill, while watching some shows on Netflix. Life is tough.
Monday was a normal school day. Paul jogged to the gym for a workout before school. I left our apartment at about 6:30 a.m. and drove the 2 km. Depending on the two traffic lights, the drive might take 5 minutes or 10. School starts everyday at 7:40 with morning announcements, and no national anthem. We both have period 1 as our prep, and then teach 80 minute classes. The classes are slightly longer here to compensate for multiple holidays during the school year. Lunch is 35 minutes, followed by period 4. This last class of the day ends at 2 p.m. Typically we've been working at the school until 4:30 or 5:00 pm but due to high volume of traffic, many teachers leave shortly after 2.
On Tuesday we headed down to the Savannah after school to watch our under 16 "footballers" (that would be soccer players) play a league game. By 5 pm swarms of sandflies had invaded the field, looking like columns of haze and tasting a lot worse. The game was postponed as breathing and sight was tough with bugs in your mouth and eyes. It was really gross. Apparently this happens sometimes in the rainy season. Lucky for us the flies were not on the grass for frisbee so we were able to play a fun pick up game. As a reward after frisbee, with dead flies stuck to our legs and necks, we trundled off to McDonalds for $9 ($1.75 Can) chocolate sundaes!
Speaking of the rainy season, the weather is consistently HOT and HUMID. Like I'm talking 32 degrees C during the day and "cooler" at only 25 at night. And when it rains, it RAINS. Sometimes it comes with thunder and lightening. But usually it will rain hard for 30 minutes and then be done within the hour and come out hot and humid. Paul has been soaked only once so far during phys ed :)
After school on Wednesday we drove out to Chagauramas as Paul is planning to take his phys ed classes to do some orienteering. We biked around a bit and managed to see a momma howler monkey and her baby over us, climbing around in bamboo. We got a few pictures, but the cell phone camera makes it look a little more like a blob in a tree.
Thursday was an exciting day at school with a school wide assembly to launch Maple Leaf's 20 Year Anniversary. It came complete with cupcakes for everyone, so I was happy! That night we attended the PTA Wine and Cheese back at the school. This catered event provided a nice way to chat with teachers and parents while drinking a glass of wine or juice at the school!
The student council election assembly happened Friday morning (we like having assemblies) with speeches and then voting after. The rest of the day was all a buzz with talk of the 2014-15 StuCo. After school Friday was our first volleyball practice. We have an EA that is a national volleyball team player (how cool is that!!!) so I'm working with her to coach some volleyball.
Seeing as Paul is teaching phys ed and has already had a couple of first aid situations (a fainter and a sprained ankle), the school suggested he re-cert first aid. So off we went on Saturday for a Red Cross CPR and First Aid course. Trini's are a little edgy and funny, so the 8-4 course went by quickly and we got a little more insight into Trini vocab and culture.
Now it's Sunday and school work is on the agenda. Although Wednesday is a national holiday - Republic Day, and a day off school for us so it is a short week. We have plans to do another Hash on Wednesday - complete with red dresses. Should be a good photo opp!!!
Paul went biking with another teacher on Sunday morning for a solid and sweaty 2.5 hour ride. I did not. Instead I went to the air conditioned gym and ran on the treadmill, while watching some shows on Netflix. Life is tough.
Monday was a normal school day. Paul jogged to the gym for a workout before school. I left our apartment at about 6:30 a.m. and drove the 2 km. Depending on the two traffic lights, the drive might take 5 minutes or 10. School starts everyday at 7:40 with morning announcements, and no national anthem. We both have period 1 as our prep, and then teach 80 minute classes. The classes are slightly longer here to compensate for multiple holidays during the school year. Lunch is 35 minutes, followed by period 4. This last class of the day ends at 2 p.m. Typically we've been working at the school until 4:30 or 5:00 pm but due to high volume of traffic, many teachers leave shortly after 2.
On Tuesday we headed down to the Savannah after school to watch our under 16 "footballers" (that would be soccer players) play a league game. By 5 pm swarms of sandflies had invaded the field, looking like columns of haze and tasting a lot worse. The game was postponed as breathing and sight was tough with bugs in your mouth and eyes. It was really gross. Apparently this happens sometimes in the rainy season. Lucky for us the flies were not on the grass for frisbee so we were able to play a fun pick up game. As a reward after frisbee, with dead flies stuck to our legs and necks, we trundled off to McDonalds for $9 ($1.75 Can) chocolate sundaes!
Speaking of the rainy season, the weather is consistently HOT and HUMID. Like I'm talking 32 degrees C during the day and "cooler" at only 25 at night. And when it rains, it RAINS. Sometimes it comes with thunder and lightening. But usually it will rain hard for 30 minutes and then be done within the hour and come out hot and humid. Paul has been soaked only once so far during phys ed :)
After school on Wednesday we drove out to Chagauramas as Paul is planning to take his phys ed classes to do some orienteering. We biked around a bit and managed to see a momma howler monkey and her baby over us, climbing around in bamboo. We got a few pictures, but the cell phone camera makes it look a little more like a blob in a tree.
Thursday was an exciting day at school with a school wide assembly to launch Maple Leaf's 20 Year Anniversary. It came complete with cupcakes for everyone, so I was happy! That night we attended the PTA Wine and Cheese back at the school. This catered event provided a nice way to chat with teachers and parents while drinking a glass of wine or juice at the school!
The student council election assembly happened Friday morning (we like having assemblies) with speeches and then voting after. The rest of the day was all a buzz with talk of the 2014-15 StuCo. After school Friday was our first volleyball practice. We have an EA that is a national volleyball team player (how cool is that!!!) so I'm working with her to coach some volleyball.
Seeing as Paul is teaching phys ed and has already had a couple of first aid situations (a fainter and a sprained ankle), the school suggested he re-cert first aid. So off we went on Saturday for a Red Cross CPR and First Aid course. Trini's are a little edgy and funny, so the 8-4 course went by quickly and we got a little more insight into Trini vocab and culture.
Now it's Sunday and school work is on the agenda. Although Wednesday is a national holiday - Republic Day, and a day off school for us so it is a short week. We have plans to do another Hash on Wednesday - complete with red dresses. Should be a good photo opp!!!
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