Diwali

Diwali is a Hindu holiday, and is celebrated with food and decorating your house and yards with dias. Dias are oil-filled lanterns, and they give off a beautiful light. I went to an outside festival to celebrate Diwali with a friend. There was tons of shopping and great food everywhere!

The Eastern Tip

I drove out to Toco, the eastern-most part of the island a few weeks ago with some friends. It took about 2 1/2 hours one way, and the roads were somewhat perilous, but not as much as other places on the island. There are many resorts in this part of Trinidad.

New Equipment for DRETCHI

The Ministry of Health is "storing" equipment at our facility. I have a new booth, audiometer, ABR, OAE, and visual reinforcement audiometry equipment. We had a ceremony where the Minister of Health handed over the equipment.

Tobago

Haven't had internet access for a few weeks; more to come on that later.

Here are some pics from Tobago. I went for a weekend, and met up with Shawn and Hannah, a couple I met at work (Shawn is a patient). We took the ferry with my car over, stayed at a guest house, and spent the weekend visiting beaches and driving around the island. The weather wasn't that nice, but it was still fine for bathing.

The lab guys

Nicholas and Christopher make all the earmolds for our clinic. They are both deaf, and have taught me to sign with plenty useful (and non-useful) signs. They are really fun to lime with, and we all enjoy lots of laughs everyday.

Dead dogs on the road count

6

I'm Legal

I got my driver's license! It's no more flattering than any I.D. I got in the States.

San Fernando Hospital

Subway

We have Jared, they have some female bodybuilder who says she eats Subway for "lunch, breakfast, and dinner."

Gulf City Mall

I found a new mall; very big for the country. It has an arcade where we spent much time (and money), and Nicholas kicked my butt 2-1 in air hockey (it was his first time playing)

The ride to San Fernando

The terrain changed from the mountainous one that I'm used to seeing, to a hilly one with much less people. It was a nice ride: About 45 minutes, which the Trinis consider (far)

South to San Fernando

On my day off, I went to the mall in San Fernando with a co-worker where we met up with his girlfriend and then went to the hospital to visit her sister who was about to have a baby.

New Booth

They are constructing a new booth that the Ministry of Health is storing at our facility. Since the project was a noisy one, we had 2 days off from work.

If you ever have to travel with an octogenarian in Trinidad...

offer to drive. I allowed the Catholic priest to drive to his neice's house for a quick visit. He wanted to get home before dark, but unfortunately this was not the case...and it was a bit rainy. We made tons of wrong turns, and he told me, after missing another road that leads to the highway, that he'd rather take "Lady Young Road." I knew, from experience, that this road is full of hairpin turns and I was practically dangling off a cliff many times. If a religious experience is what he was shooting for, I certainly converted to some religion as I was praying for my life.

Eid

Eid was fun. I went to a home where about 40 people were invited. We had an Arabian menu, with some excellent Indian desserts, and the night was finished with Sawine, and traditional soupy dessert served on Eid ul-Fitr. It has vermicelli, tons of condensed milk, and raisins. It was really good. I ate too much, and was sent home with a huge doggy bag.

Sorry, Allah

Mosque started an hour earlier than expected, so I chose to sleep instead of sit on the floor in the back of the Mosque with the women. It happened to be a good choice, because there was a situation at work and they needed my keys to get into my office. If I had gone to pray, the day would've been lost.

I am a God magnet

Recently, I helped a patient, who also happens to be some kind of Christian figurehead...not sure the denomination, and I forgot his business card at work. I believe he is Canadian, and the other day he asked if I was willing to meet his niece, because he thinks I'm a good person, and doesn't want me to slip out of his life. He is a very sweet grandfatherly man, and I'm going to meet his niece this Sunday afternoon. I guess she has 5 children, but is around the same age as me.

So, maybe all this religion is divine intervention or something, but at least I'm attracting the good instead of the evil (I leave that up to my friends back home).

Eid ul-Fitr

I will be celebrating Eid on Saturday with a Muslim family. Eid marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. I'm going to a Mosque (have to wear clothes that cover my elbow and butt), to check it out. It should be interesting. Not interesting in becoming a Muslim, I don't think, because it seems to be a rather sexist religion, but I'll try [almost] anything once.

Dead dogs on the road count

3

Muslim Thanksgiving

I celebrated a "Muslim Thanksgiving" with Basha (a Rotarian) and his family on Saturday, September 29th. This is the month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast from sun-up to sun-down. They will get up at 4 a.m. for breakfast and have nothing until 6 p.m. (not even a sip of water). Before the meal, there was prayer for 45 minutes and some songs, and then everyone went around the table to say thanks for something. The family all gave thanks for the passing of exams of 2 younger boys (16 or 17), and one of the boys said thanks for the food we were about to eat (they were HUNGRY). They asked me to say thanks in whatever way I wanted, in whatever religion I observed. I told them, "I'm a clean slate."
The food was delicious! Tacos, roti (a flat bread that you use to scoop up all the curry) with curried goat, these delicious crushed up pea balls with some yellow-ish creamy sauce, curried channa (chickpeas), fried chicken, rice, lo mein, pineapple upside-down cake, banana bread, and other candies. They packed me a big "doggy bag" and I went home and watched TV and laid on the couch (like the American Thanksgiving).

P.S. on the cake

It didn't stay frozen that long. It was so good right out of the microwave!

A new fruit

A patient gave me this fruit, called Chenet. It is a green pod with a creamy, sweet pulp around the seed. You crack the pod with your teeth and then suck the pulp away from the seed. I was told the juice stains clothing, so I ate it over my sink when I got home.

Liming with new friends

The man, Shawn, is a patient of mine from Tobago. He came into the clinic with his girlfriend, Hannah (who is hearing), right after I started. He spent 15 years in Oklahoma in a deaf school, where he received some great speech therapy, but is now back in T&T. They came over for a few days and spent a night at my place liming (listening to music, playing online, talking). They are both wonderful people, and it was interesting to speak with Shawn about his life. He shares some of the same thoughts as the two Deaf young men I work with...that his family didn't learn to sign and doesn't really bother with him. He told me that sometimes he doesn't feel like his family is really his family; his friends are his family.

Starlift Panyard

Pictures from the Military Parade

Independence Day

The 31st marked T & T's 45th Independence Day. I went to the military parade, and then to the Starlift Panyard for a brunch and lots of entertainment. It was really fun, but Felix was coming through the area, and we got tons of rain.

Impromptu Birthday Party

The two boys (Romeo and Andre) were invited over to swim, and it turned into a small b-day party for myself, with dinner and a homemade black forest cake included! That was the night I ate gizzards. On the left it's Bunny (the big man), Andre, Me, Romeo, Maylene, and her sisters Lynette and Janice (Janice is married to Bunny). Look at that cake! I ate it for dinner for a week, and still had to freeze 1/4 of it. On the right, Maylene is taking the picture, but Simon, her husband joins us for the picture. I just got out of the pool, so please excuse the "lactation."

"Ladies Night" at the Rotary Club

I was invited to attend, and speak at, a Rotary Club of St. Augustine meeting a few weeks ago. "Ladies Night" is when the spouses are invited to attend so they can see that the men don't sit around playing poker and telling dirty jokes all night. It was a very nice evening, and actually ended with some jokes (unfortunately about stuttering).

This picture is of Almarie (the Director/Co-ordinator of DRETCHI), and Indar Ramnath (current president of that chapter of the Rotary, whose wife is a kick-ass cook), and myself.

Trini sayings

"One time;" immidiately, now. As in, "if I win the lotto, I'll quit my job one time."
"Just now;" soon. As in, "you can use her computer just now." (Very confusing)
"Walk with;" carry. As in, "are you walking with your i.d.?"
"Bathe;" swim.
"Easy;" quiet. As in, "he says the tv is easy, but it's too loud for me."
"Vex;" angry.
"Please God;" as in, "Please God, I'll see you tomorrow." At first, I was flattered that someone would pray to God to see me again, but it's a very common phrase, kinda like "I hope."
"Giddiness;" dizziness. I will first ask about dizziness, and if they look puzzled, will inquire about giddiness. I feel like I'm speaking with a girl from junior high, but they know what I'm talking about.

Strange things I've eaten...vegetarians may not want to read on

Cow skins--Ya, they were as gross as they sound, and slimy, and in a broth. I agreed to "try" it at a creole place across from the clinic (after having some TGIF beers), and he brought me 8! I had 1 1/2, and a coworker gobbled the rest up! Gizzards--they were jerked. I don't even know what a gizzard is! I just looked it up and knew they were gross, but didn't know how gross. It was okay, but that was because of the seasoning. Starfruit (called 5-fingers here) soaked in water, salt, Shado Beni (AKA Mexican coriander, a leafy, spicy herb), and garlic. It's called "chow" and they make it with mango and pineapple, too. Saltfish--Just had saltfish accra, which are small breaded and fried chunks...very good! A coworker today told me that curried iguana is good, and he and another coworker caught a big one and ate it. I said I'd try it another time. Bake and Shark--A bake is a biscuit, as large as the palm of your hand to a whole fist. It's hollow in the middle, and you put whatever you want inside. Bake and shark is with fried shark pieces. It's sooo good.

Pictures from Gary's visit

A view from road to Maracas. Golfing down below. Maracas Bay from above.



Again, view of Maracas. Maracas beach. We ate Bake and Shark. North Coast Road.


Blanchisseuse.Baby Sea Turtle didn't make it, but there were broken eggs everywhere! And beach dogs.




Driving home through the rainforest. It was beautiful and treacherous. The roads were awful!


Gary and I had breakfast at "The Breakfast Shed." It serves local foods, and was established in 1936 (but since has moved) to feed fishermen and sailors. I ate smoked herring and plantains, Gary ate eggs and sausage (they were hot dogs).



The view from the airport is much better when you're picking someone up than when you're dropping them off.