is what one's guaranteed to enjoy in Trinidad. Doubles and roti are sold on the side of almost every road so you'll never go hungry and chutney music is so chilled you'll never be stressed. In other words I had a great time in Trinidad. Getting there however was a mission and a half. My first flight from DC decided to leave without me, changed gates whilst I was sitting right there! I kept waiting for boarding time that never came. So they put me on the next available flight but that obviously made me miss my connection flight in Miami to Port of Spain. I had to wait an excruciatingly painful 10 hours for the next flight. Didn't check in to my hotel til midnight! Whilst at the airport breezing through my newly acquired state of boredom, I made the mistake of encouraging a conversation the ginger man next to me started about Mark Twain, the surrealism of satan's ideology and human inferiority. He must've been waiting to get that off his chest for decades! I felt my brain close shop almost immediately. So I made some sort of excuse to escape only to go to the boarding queue to find another weirdo, this time in the shape of the female species. This woman was queuing behind me and granted the line was slow moving, but she kept rubbing herself against me for what seemed like forever all happening whilst kissing her teeth and huffing and puffing! I move away for her to follow me, being uncomfortable would be a severe understatement!
I was relieved more than anything else once I got to the hotel. What I almost immediately observed was trinidadians' hospitality. People were so welcoming.
As the days went by Jen and I cruised the island's streets, restaurants, beaches, volcanoes and plantations. I noticed the vast diversity amongst Trini's. They are a blend of South Asians(mostly Indians), blacks and white dating back to integration that occured and continued since slavery days. Ironically some of them actually look like Somalis. What was interesting to see was that the further south you travelled, the darker the population became. Most of those that live in the south are primarily fishermen spending most of their time by the coast, which is where the sun is at its hottest. The nightlife was superb, far more chilled than the party scene in the UK or US. People would be limin' outside on the streets blazing music and having cool conversations. Nobody shows up to the club til after 1.30am. The only thing that was somewhat disappointing was folks standing on the corners of the dancefloor rather than dancing on the dancefloor. I was told it is 'a posing ting'. Interesting. Anyway all in all I had a blast, made some great friends and will definitely be going back.
Coming back to DC was hardly something to look forward to afterwards, especially since I came home at 1am only to be at work for 6am! It was good to be back in familiar surroundings though. I have a friendly stalker who works at the construction site in between my workplace and my apartment building. Everytime I come passed he would have something to entertain with ready, a hymn, a poem, a joke. lol As weird as he is, he does make me laugh. Americans are made up of all sorts of folks I suppose.
Speaking of weirdness the lift on my floor has taken a habit of opening its doors without being called for everytime I approach. I can't really complain but it freaks the living daylight out of me!
Moving along today at work was diversity day, celebrating the diversity among the VOA. Several keynote speakers such as the head of CNN and VOA were there as well as folklore dancing and cultural exhibitions. The head of CNN made a particularly interesting point, where she explained how language used can be a contributing factor to the lack of women in upper level positions. Ofcourse other contributing factors are lack of experience, qualifications etc but she said when women are given recommendations by their bosses, they are usually referred to as hardworking, loyal, dependable whereas men are portrayed as having leadership potential and managerial skills. Interesting food for thought.
She was followed by a Haitian man that played the flute whilst his story was narrated by a Mexican lady. He had the audience clapping and enjoying themselves until the narrator disclosed his passion for 'blonde women' upon which most of the audience walked out to the exhibitons instead. You guessed most of the audience were angry black women right lol!
The artefacts displayed at the exhibition were breathtaking, especially since they represented so many different parts of the world from Japan, China to Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
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