Yesterday morning, we worshiped at Esperanza, or Hope Mennonite Church, our last to visit of the 6 Mennonite Churches here in Trinidad. It was really nice to get to do that, especially since Olivia and I have been involved in Hope through the youth group. A lot of the Churches here, we noticed, seem to have really good youth groups that meet regularly and have a lot of people, but when we go to those Churches, none of these youths seem to really come! At Hope, though, we noticed that they had a larger age range than the others, from small babies to fairly elderly folks. Hope is in the process of building a church building, so right now it is fairly open, but when it was raining, it was open enough to keep us cool, but not wet! It felt nice. When they do finish, and if they achieve all their dreams, they will have the largest building of all the Mennonite Churches here! When we got there, Daddy asked us where we usually parked when we came to youth group, and we told him just somewhere on the grass. But we had already driven past the patch of grass we usually parked on, and little did we know that we were parking in a drain that one couldn't see from the road! So when the service was done, it took a long time, a long rope, help both from people from the church and some people passing by, and a plank of wood to get the car out. While we were trying and not getting anywhere, the wheel was spinning like crazy trying to get itself out of the ditch, and it made mud fly everywhere! Luckily once we got it out, we borrowed a hose from the people next-door to the church (who are also members) and we got help cleaning the car. So after all that, the car was looking better than it had since we'd first seen it.
~Roxy
Each of the churches has its own uniqueness and personality, but they all share some things too. All of the churches begin with lots of singing. On our visits, only Charlieville had any accompaniment other than percussion - they had a guitar. After singing and opening prayers, it is time for offering. Then there is a time for testimonies when people from the church may share anything from a prayer request to a song or a scripture that has been meaningful over the week. All of the churches have had lay people as music and worship leaders. Finally it is time for the sermon. The person presenting it (often the pastor but not always) comes up and reads scripture and then begins to preach. The sermons are a little but not a lot longer than at home. When the sermon ends there may be a closing song and some announcements.
The fact that these elements are present in worship consistently is not surprising. What is more surprising is that they are present in many gatherings. All youth group functions seem to follow the same basic template, although the sermon is more of a devotional. Yes, you should always come with offering even if you are a youth. We were at a small group that was the same basic order. Of course some youth group meetings and small group meetings include food as well. Even special events like birthdays that end in a 5 or 0 or big anniversaries are shared with friends in and out of the church but follow the same pattern. They are called Thanksgivings, and I'll let someone else tell more on that subject.
~Barb
Last night, we went to a Thanksgiving celebration for someone's 25th anniversary. There was a church service type thing, and about 4 people or groups of people were invited to do music during it. Our family was one of the people doing that. We sang Love the Lord Your God, with me and Mommy on one part, Roxy on the second, and Daddy singing the third part. There was a point during the service where they cut the cake, and I played some hymns on my flute during that time. There were lots of people there, many whom we knew from the churches. At the end, after the service, we ate a meal. They had 2 tables, one of which was for vegetarians. But, that wasn't enough room for everyone, so they had a group of people eat first, and then a second group, and it went on until everyone had eaten. We were noticing how even at a nice event in which everyone was all dressed up, people still ate with their fingers, using the roti to scoop up the other foods.
~Olivia
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Happy Republic Day
Today is Republic Day in Trinidad & Tobago--not to be confused with Independence Day, which was celebrated a few weeks ago. Independence Day marks the day in 1962 that the islands gained their independence from Great Britain. Republic Day is the celebration of the day in 1976 when the parliament met for the first time under a new constitution that, among other things, created the office of President to be the head of state. This means that, unlike many other former British colonies like Canada, Australia and Jamaica, Queen Elizabeth is not queen over Trinidad & Tobago. The nation is, however, still a member of the British Commonwealth. In fact, in just two months, the biannual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will take place in Port of Spain. The prime ministers and leaders of more than 50 countries will all be here, including Queen Elizabeth herself. Many people here are quite proud of the fact that this small country is hosting both the Summit of the Americas (attended by President Obama and many other leaders in April) and the Commonwealth Heads of Government in the same year. Others, however, are concerned about how much it is all costing and the strain that it puts on an infrastructure that is already stretched quite thin.
~Richard
Yes, this is the second holiday this week. The girls had Monday off school for Eid, then 2 days of classes, then today off for Republic Day, then class tomorrow. Since neither of the holidays fell on our teaching days, we still our full class load this week. However, our numbers of students were down. I only had 5 in class last night instead of my usual 8.
As our lives melt into routine here, there is perhaps less interesting to write about. Here are some random thoughts.
~Barb
If you are wondering what the buss up shut that Mommy mentioned is, it is a kind of roti. It apparently comes from the words bust up shirt, see the similarity? Apparently, you eat so much of it , you bust up your shirt, or something.
The other day at school, I mentioned that I play piano, and people were very excited about that. There is a keyboard at the school, and in the morning before classes, we have chapel. During chapel, there is lots of singing, so the principal invited me to play piano during that time and I said I would. So, then, yesterday morning, she had someone carry it up the hill from the office to the classrooms. When I saw it, I asked if there was any sort of sheet music, or if I just was supposed to figure it out by ear. Apparently, I was supposed to figure it out by ear. When I told the principal that I read music, and not play by ear, she seemed surprised, but said she would try to find some sheet music. People were very disappointed that I wasn't playing piano, and seemed to think it was a little strange to read music.
~Olivia
PAWI High School is actually on the campus of WIST, West Indies School of Theology (not where my parents teach, that's WITC, West Indies Theological College) and I think the college is pretty good sized...all of our classes are in one building (which is not used by the college at all) but the Technology classes have to be in the lab, which is in a building where the lab is the only room we use and we're not allowed to be in any others (but people are all the time). The campus is built on a hill, and so the main building is up the hill from the office, the cafe, and the building with the lab. And the basketball court scares me! Because it is on a hill, but the basketball court has to be flat, when the basketball court starts, it is even with the ground around it, but on one side, there's a drop off of about 3 feet! So when people are running really fast near the edge, they have to jump off sometimes and it's scary! Many schools here in Trinidad aren't co-ed, but PAWI is, and EVERY school in T&T has a uniform! Even public schools.
The main building has 5 classrooms--3 on the bottom floor, and 1 on the top that has 2 huge whiteboards in the middle, and so is used as 2 classrooms. You can't get from any one classroom to another without going outside, except the 2 with the big whiteboards in the middle.
~Roxy
~Richard
Yes, this is the second holiday this week. The girls had Monday off school for Eid, then 2 days of classes, then today off for Republic Day, then class tomorrow. Since neither of the holidays fell on our teaching days, we still our full class load this week. However, our numbers of students were down. I only had 5 in class last night instead of my usual 8.
As our lives melt into routine here, there is perhaps less interesting to write about. Here are some random thoughts.
- One nice thing about being in Trinidad is that Richard's sense of chivalry seems greater here with him opening my car door more often than at home. However the longer we are here, the less I find him unlocking my side of the car first.
- The ICC tournament is going on here, so we can watch lots of cricket on TV. Why are they running back and forth?
- We prepared our first batch of chana aloo this week to go with the leftover buss up shut that was given to us when we were invited over to our neighbors' for a Trini pumpkin cooking lesson earlier in the week. I'm anticipating roti lessons soon.
- The school lunches here are free to everyone even in private schools. And, the girls report that they are better than the lunches at home - imagine replacing the pizza and processed chicken pieces in various shapes with chicken and rice.
~Barb
If you are wondering what the buss up shut that Mommy mentioned is, it is a kind of roti. It apparently comes from the words bust up shirt, see the similarity? Apparently, you eat so much of it , you bust up your shirt, or something.
The other day at school, I mentioned that I play piano, and people were very excited about that. There is a keyboard at the school, and in the morning before classes, we have chapel. During chapel, there is lots of singing, so the principal invited me to play piano during that time and I said I would. So, then, yesterday morning, she had someone carry it up the hill from the office to the classrooms. When I saw it, I asked if there was any sort of sheet music, or if I just was supposed to figure it out by ear. Apparently, I was supposed to figure it out by ear. When I told the principal that I read music, and not play by ear, she seemed surprised, but said she would try to find some sheet music. People were very disappointed that I wasn't playing piano, and seemed to think it was a little strange to read music.
~Olivia
PAWI High School is actually on the campus of WIST, West Indies School of Theology (not where my parents teach, that's WITC, West Indies Theological College) and I think the college is pretty good sized...all of our classes are in one building (which is not used by the college at all) but the Technology classes have to be in the lab, which is in a building where the lab is the only room we use and we're not allowed to be in any others (but people are all the time). The campus is built on a hill, and so the main building is up the hill from the office, the cafe, and the building with the lab. And the basketball court scares me! Because it is on a hill, but the basketball court has to be flat, when the basketball court starts, it is even with the ground around it, but on one side, there's a drop off of about 3 feet! So when people are running really fast near the edge, they have to jump off sometimes and it's scary! Many schools here in Trinidad aren't co-ed, but PAWI is, and EVERY school in T&T has a uniform! Even public schools.
The main building has 5 classrooms--3 on the bottom floor, and 1 on the top that has 2 huge whiteboards in the middle, and so is used as 2 classrooms. You can't get from any one classroom to another without going outside, except the 2 with the big whiteboards in the middle.
~Roxy
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Eid-al-fitr
Eid Mubarek!(which means "Blessed Feast") That is the greeting that is being heard all across the island today. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Islam. Muslims don't make up a particularly large segment of the population of Trinidad, but Charlieville has one of the highest concentrations in the country. We can see two different mosques from our living room, and a third is under construction just up the street. We also hear the call to prayer up to five times every day, although we usually are able to sleep through the first call that comes at about 5:00 am. For the past month, our observant Muslim neighbors have been fasting during daylight hours--nothing to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Each night, there have been big gatherings at the mosque where many have gone to break the fast together. Today is a day of feasting and celebration that the fast is all over. We've been hearing quite a number of fireworks as well.
The government of Trinidad & Tobago recognizes the major holidays of a number of religious groups represented here. So tomorrow (Monday) is an official public holiday. All schools, government offices, banks and many other businesses will be closed. One of the interesting aspects of the Eid is that it cannot be officially declared until the moon is sighted on a particular night marking the end of Ramadan. So while it has been known for some time that the feast would be held sometime around now, the government didn't publicly declare that tomorrow would be the holiday until last Monday. The Hindu holiday of Divali is similar. We know that there will be a public holiday sometime around the middle of next month, but will have to wait until a week or two before it occurs to find out the exact day.
~Richard
Happy Eid! Since today is Eid, tomorrow is a public holiday, so we have a long weekend and therefore done some fun things. We had heard that the ministry of health was doing a health fest, and part of it was a 5 kilometer run/walk around the savannah in Port of Spain. Olivia had been a little out of practice running, but still interested, and me and Mommy decided to try the walk. It felt good to walk, and I'm really glad we did it, but there was a little problem. Last year, they had about 2,000 people show up for the walk/run. So they planned for 3,500 this year, thinking that they would end up with extra t-shirts, water, and medals (the things they hand out to the participants). But they think that 10,000 showed up this year!! There were 3 places they were supposed to hand out water (2 stops and the finish line) but by the time me and Mommy got there, there was no water anymore, so we were really thirsty by the time we finished!
~Roxy
As Roxy just explained, there was a health fest yesterday and we decided to go. I joined the 5k run. The registration was from 1:00 to 4:00, and we got there around 3:00 or 3:30 but by that time, there weren't any registration numbers, but they let me run anyways. Around 4:15, we went out into the street and the people in the front were at the starting line. I looked, but in front of me all I could see was people and behind me all I could see was people, so I wasn't sure how far I was from the starting line. We stood around for a while and then all the sudden there was a horn, and I realized it had started. There wasn't any sort of warning. But then it was at least a minute or two before I got to the starting line since there were so many people in front of me and some were walkers, and it was hard to get past people, but then I was able to run. I'm not used to running in this humidity. It was hot, but the humidity was worse than the temperature. They handed out water at a few places, which was nice, but it meant that I had to stop and walk a few times, so I could drink, and I had to carry my water with me which made it heavier. My time wasn't very good, but I haven't run in a while and it was really humid, which made it harder to breathe. Plus there were so many people sometimes it got jammed up, and I stopped to drink water a few times. But I was at least in the top 3500 (out of around 10,000), because I got a medal, and they had planned for 3500 people, so they must have gotten 3500 medals. But the 10,000 also included walkers. It was nice to run again, even though I'm pretty sore today!
~Olivia
Today we visited a 5th out of the 6 Mennonite churches here. It is Sangre Grande Mennonite Church. It has a very different history from all the other Mennonite churches on the island. About 3 or 4 years ago this church was not a part of a denomination. The pastor was good friends with one of the long time Mennonite pastors here. When the pastor of the church was unable to contine in his ministry there, he said that the only person he could imagine being the next pastor was his Mennonite frined. So the Mennonite pastor agreed and the church became Mennonite. It is the largest of the Mennonite churches here with an average attendance of about 55. It is also quite far away from the others. We traveled much farther east today than we have been. It took us about 1 1/4 hours to get there without bad traffic.
The church was very friendly. I was greeted with kisses on the cheek which is not an uncommon greeting here, though that seems to vary. After church we were invited to the pastor's home for lunch.
We came back to the apartment and rested a bit. There isn't much on TV on Sunday afternoons. We could choose from the BBC series on ancient Rome, a sports story show that looks ahead to the Beijing Olympics and the Muslim call in show in which a scholar answers questions about things like what is permissible during Ramadan or how to celebrate Eid properly.
After a rest we decided to go to an Indian festival nearby. It turned out mostly to be vendors selling pretty Indian clothes and jewelery. We were disappointed not to find the food and music we'd hoped. But it was still full of color and style. Tomorrow we may just stay around home on the holiday.
~Barb
The government of Trinidad & Tobago recognizes the major holidays of a number of religious groups represented here. So tomorrow (Monday) is an official public holiday. All schools, government offices, banks and many other businesses will be closed. One of the interesting aspects of the Eid is that it cannot be officially declared until the moon is sighted on a particular night marking the end of Ramadan. So while it has been known for some time that the feast would be held sometime around now, the government didn't publicly declare that tomorrow would be the holiday until last Monday. The Hindu holiday of Divali is similar. We know that there will be a public holiday sometime around the middle of next month, but will have to wait until a week or two before it occurs to find out the exact day.
~Richard
Happy Eid! Since today is Eid, tomorrow is a public holiday, so we have a long weekend and therefore done some fun things. We had heard that the ministry of health was doing a health fest, and part of it was a 5 kilometer run/walk around the savannah in Port of Spain. Olivia had been a little out of practice running, but still interested, and me and Mommy decided to try the walk. It felt good to walk, and I'm really glad we did it, but there was a little problem. Last year, they had about 2,000 people show up for the walk/run. So they planned for 3,500 this year, thinking that they would end up with extra t-shirts, water, and medals (the things they hand out to the participants). But they think that 10,000 showed up this year!! There were 3 places they were supposed to hand out water (2 stops and the finish line) but by the time me and Mommy got there, there was no water anymore, so we were really thirsty by the time we finished!
~Roxy
As Roxy just explained, there was a health fest yesterday and we decided to go. I joined the 5k run. The registration was from 1:00 to 4:00, and we got there around 3:00 or 3:30 but by that time, there weren't any registration numbers, but they let me run anyways. Around 4:15, we went out into the street and the people in the front were at the starting line. I looked, but in front of me all I could see was people and behind me all I could see was people, so I wasn't sure how far I was from the starting line. We stood around for a while and then all the sudden there was a horn, and I realized it had started. There wasn't any sort of warning. But then it was at least a minute or two before I got to the starting line since there were so many people in front of me and some were walkers, and it was hard to get past people, but then I was able to run. I'm not used to running in this humidity. It was hot, but the humidity was worse than the temperature. They handed out water at a few places, which was nice, but it meant that I had to stop and walk a few times, so I could drink, and I had to carry my water with me which made it heavier. My time wasn't very good, but I haven't run in a while and it was really humid, which made it harder to breathe. Plus there were so many people sometimes it got jammed up, and I stopped to drink water a few times. But I was at least in the top 3500 (out of around 10,000), because I got a medal, and they had planned for 3500 people, so they must have gotten 3500 medals. But the 10,000 also included walkers. It was nice to run again, even though I'm pretty sore today!
~Olivia
Today we visited a 5th out of the 6 Mennonite churches here. It is Sangre Grande Mennonite Church. It has a very different history from all the other Mennonite churches on the island. About 3 or 4 years ago this church was not a part of a denomination. The pastor was good friends with one of the long time Mennonite pastors here. When the pastor of the church was unable to contine in his ministry there, he said that the only person he could imagine being the next pastor was his Mennonite frined. So the Mennonite pastor agreed and the church became Mennonite. It is the largest of the Mennonite churches here with an average attendance of about 55. It is also quite far away from the others. We traveled much farther east today than we have been. It took us about 1 1/4 hours to get there without bad traffic.
The church was very friendly. I was greeted with kisses on the cheek which is not an uncommon greeting here, though that seems to vary. After church we were invited to the pastor's home for lunch.
We came back to the apartment and rested a bit. There isn't much on TV on Sunday afternoons. We could choose from the BBC series on ancient Rome, a sports story show that looks ahead to the Beijing Olympics and the Muslim call in show in which a scholar answers questions about things like what is permissible during Ramadan or how to celebrate Eid properly.
After a rest we decided to go to an Indian festival nearby. It turned out mostly to be vendors selling pretty Indian clothes and jewelery. We were disappointed not to find the food and music we'd hoped. But it was still full of color and style. Tomorrow we may just stay around home on the holiday.
~Barb
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Day in the Life
Since we have started to establish more of a routine, we thought we'd try to give a sense of what a "typical" day is like for us:
On a regular school morning, Olivia and I will get up at 6:00 in the morning to be all ready to leave for school at 6:45-ish. We eat breakfast, get dressed (in a uniform) and brush teeth before setting out. School starts at 8:00 (or at least says that it does) but with so much traffic going into Port of Spain (the capital city) it takes approximately 1 hour and a quarter. The school we go to is built on a hill, and so you park near the bottom and walk up the hill to the basketball court where they have 'assembly' every morning. In assembly, we all line up by form (there are 6 forms) and say The Lord's Prayer, then sing the national anthem, then say the pledge. Olivia and I have been trying to learn both the pledge and the anthem. We think we have the anthem pretty good, but feel mostly lost on the pledge. The schedule is not the same for every day, we have a 6-day timetable. There is only school Monday through Friday still, but there are 6 different schedules. This last week, we did days 1-5, so tomorrow we will just continue with day 6. There are 8 different 40-minute periods in a day--2 periods, then a 10-minute break, 2 more periods, lunch, 2 periods, 10-minute break, and then the last 2 periods. We will have a range of 4-6 classes (assuming the teachers show up) because about half of them are double or even triple periods. We have yet to see a day where all the teachers show up, and last Friday, one of the teachers left in the middle of a class (for good) to join the police!
~Roxy
Just to add to Roxy's entry, there are now 8 people in my form (3 girls, 5 boys) and 7 people in her form (2 girls and 5 boys). I think she's glad to have another girl in her form. People are very intrigued by my hair being blonde and want to touch it a lot.
It only takes about a half an hour to get back home in the afternoons without all the traffic. But, if it's a night when we're going to WITC, then we'll go there straight from school. It's not too far from the school, so sometimes we'll do some errands or something on the way, but still get to WITC around 3:00 or 4:00. The classes don't start until 5:00. Roxy and I bring clothes to change into from our uniforms and some games or something to occupy us while our parents are teaching. There's a lot of nice open grassy space there, and we don't have any sort of yard at home, so we usually bring a ball and play outside for a while. We also bring supper, but we usually try to be finished eating by 6:30 because it's dark by then, so we go into the library and do homework. The classes end at 8:00, so by the time we get home, which takes a little while, it's about bedtime.
When we aren't going to WITC, we come straight home after school. We do homework and practice instruments sometime after school. Last week, every night that was a non-WITC night, we either got invited to go somewhere or someone stopped by, so we kept pretty busy.
~Olivia
A lot of the day for Richard and I is spent in a combination of preparing for classes or other invitations, and in housework and errands. Housework and errands tend to take more time here than at home. Since we have lots of ants and no dishwasher, any use of dishes must immediately be washed. This lessens the ants somewhat, although around here, no building is ant-free. At least staying on top of things keeps away the big insects. Although the apartment here is much smaller than our home in Manhattan, we keep very busy with it. Laundry must be done almost every day because we only have a washer, not a dryer. In this humidity, most days it is difficult to dry more than one load on the line. Ironing is a much bigger deal here, especially for school uniforms. As for errands, well that is largely an issue of negotiating crazy traffic.
Our classes are going well too. It occurred to us that a load of 3 classes is usually considered a full load of teaching. So, here, like at home, it turns out that we are basically sharing one full time position. My classes grew this week. I gained one new student in my Wed. class and 4 in my Fri. class. I also was asked to present for one of the church small groups. So I explained spiritual direction and did lectio divina with them. That was fun.
~Barb
As you may be able to tell from the above posts, I spend a good portion of most days driving to and from school and running any errands that need to be done. While the school is only 10 miles from our apartment, it takes an hour and a quarter to get there each morning. Thankfully, it is usually only a half hour to get back home in the morning and a half hour or less each way in the afternoon.
I've gotten to the point where I can fairly easily find my way to and from the places where we go on a regular basis. Whenever I have to find something new, however, it is often challenging. There are relatively few street signs, and virtually no detailed maps. So far, I've been fortunate in that I haven't gotten completely lost.
~Richard
On a regular school morning, Olivia and I will get up at 6:00 in the morning to be all ready to leave for school at 6:45-ish. We eat breakfast, get dressed (in a uniform) and brush teeth before setting out. School starts at 8:00 (or at least says that it does) but with so much traffic going into Port of Spain (the capital city) it takes approximately 1 hour and a quarter. The school we go to is built on a hill, and so you park near the bottom and walk up the hill to the basketball court where they have 'assembly' every morning. In assembly, we all line up by form (there are 6 forms) and say The Lord's Prayer, then sing the national anthem, then say the pledge. Olivia and I have been trying to learn both the pledge and the anthem. We think we have the anthem pretty good, but feel mostly lost on the pledge. The schedule is not the same for every day, we have a 6-day timetable. There is only school Monday through Friday still, but there are 6 different schedules. This last week, we did days 1-5, so tomorrow we will just continue with day 6. There are 8 different 40-minute periods in a day--2 periods, then a 10-minute break, 2 more periods, lunch, 2 periods, 10-minute break, and then the last 2 periods. We will have a range of 4-6 classes (assuming the teachers show up) because about half of them are double or even triple periods. We have yet to see a day where all the teachers show up, and last Friday, one of the teachers left in the middle of a class (for good) to join the police!
~Roxy
Just to add to Roxy's entry, there are now 8 people in my form (3 girls, 5 boys) and 7 people in her form (2 girls and 5 boys). I think she's glad to have another girl in her form. People are very intrigued by my hair being blonde and want to touch it a lot.
It only takes about a half an hour to get back home in the afternoons without all the traffic. But, if it's a night when we're going to WITC, then we'll go there straight from school. It's not too far from the school, so sometimes we'll do some errands or something on the way, but still get to WITC around 3:00 or 4:00. The classes don't start until 5:00. Roxy and I bring clothes to change into from our uniforms and some games or something to occupy us while our parents are teaching. There's a lot of nice open grassy space there, and we don't have any sort of yard at home, so we usually bring a ball and play outside for a while. We also bring supper, but we usually try to be finished eating by 6:30 because it's dark by then, so we go into the library and do homework. The classes end at 8:00, so by the time we get home, which takes a little while, it's about bedtime.
When we aren't going to WITC, we come straight home after school. We do homework and practice instruments sometime after school. Last week, every night that was a non-WITC night, we either got invited to go somewhere or someone stopped by, so we kept pretty busy.
~Olivia
A lot of the day for Richard and I is spent in a combination of preparing for classes or other invitations, and in housework and errands. Housework and errands tend to take more time here than at home. Since we have lots of ants and no dishwasher, any use of dishes must immediately be washed. This lessens the ants somewhat, although around here, no building is ant-free. At least staying on top of things keeps away the big insects. Although the apartment here is much smaller than our home in Manhattan, we keep very busy with it. Laundry must be done almost every day because we only have a washer, not a dryer. In this humidity, most days it is difficult to dry more than one load on the line. Ironing is a much bigger deal here, especially for school uniforms. As for errands, well that is largely an issue of negotiating crazy traffic.
Our classes are going well too. It occurred to us that a load of 3 classes is usually considered a full load of teaching. So, here, like at home, it turns out that we are basically sharing one full time position. My classes grew this week. I gained one new student in my Wed. class and 4 in my Fri. class. I also was asked to present for one of the church small groups. So I explained spiritual direction and did lectio divina with them. That was fun.
~Barb
As you may be able to tell from the above posts, I spend a good portion of most days driving to and from school and running any errands that need to be done. While the school is only 10 miles from our apartment, it takes an hour and a quarter to get there each morning. Thankfully, it is usually only a half hour to get back home in the morning and a half hour or less each way in the afternoon.
I've gotten to the point where I can fairly easily find my way to and from the places where we go on a regular basis. Whenever I have to find something new, however, it is often challenging. There are relatively few street signs, and virtually no detailed maps. So far, I've been fortunate in that I haven't gotten completely lost.
~Richard
Sunday, September 6, 2009
First Month in Trinidad
Today marks exactly one month since we touched down in Trinidad. With school starting for all of us this past week, we are finally beginning to establish a routine and settle into "normal" life.
We are continuing to make visits to each of the Mennonite churches of Trinidad in an attempt to get to know them all better. This morning we worshiped at Diego Martin Mennonite Church. The worship leader for the morning happened to be one of the students in my philosophy class--the only Mennonite student who is in any of the classes that either Barb or I are teaching. Diego Martin is located just the other side of Port of Spain (the capital city). This is the church that we will probably be spending most of our time attending, especially in the latter part of our term here. Pastor Rawl Gunpath will be on sabbatical starting in January, and we've been asked to help out at the church while he's gone. For now, though, there are still three more churches that we haven't visited. I've also been invited to preach sometime here at the Charlieville church, and am expecting to get similar invitations from at least one or two of the other churches as well.
~Richard
Last night, was the first time the youth group at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church met and Roxy and I were invited to go. There is always lots of singing at those kind of things, so we're starting to get to know some of the songs better, because most of them I didn't know before we came here. When we first got to the youth group, someone gave me a green plum. I've had green plums one other time while we were here, but I thought they were kind of weird. This time, there was a plate of salt, with slices of hot pepper on it. People tend to like really spicy things here. Anyone could just dip their plum in, and someone convinced me to try it. I just barely touched it to the pepper, and it was extremely spicy! I shouldn't be surprised anymore how spicy things here are, but I still am always surprised whenever I taste something really spicy. The rest of the youth group time was fun; we sang, had some devotions and played a game. And I'm getting to know some of the youth here better, too, which is good.
~Olivia
The second day of school seemed much easier than the first for me. For one thing, halfway through the day, they gave me a 'timetable', which is just a class schedule. So that was very useful! One of the reasons that this might turn out to be a better school than some is that they have some art or music type classes, which is not completely a given. And on Friday, I spent 5 out of 8 periods doing a class called VAPA, which is Visual And Performing Arts. I think that 2 of those 5 were actually supposed to be tech ed, but the same teacher does both, and so I guess that she just decided she would rather do VAPA at that point! We're making tea towels soon, so I spent nearly 2 and a half hours embroidering on Friday, and have also been spending a lot of time doing that this weekend for homework!
~Roxy
On Friday I taught the first session of my second class. Yes, here I will be teaching class every Friday evening this semester. This was my Marriage and Family class. About half the students were in my other class and several were in Richard's. Out of 8 students, we had 5 countries represented. I am really enjoying the teaching.
When we look back at our prayer list, it is amazing to see how each of our prayers has been answered. Our water leak was fixed earlier this week, we have renters, our internet is up and running which is really helpful in a variety of ways including preparation for class, the girls have found and started school and our teaching here has begun. It is amazing to know that so many of you have been praying for us. So for this week, let's just let our prayers be thanksgivings.
Barb
We are continuing to make visits to each of the Mennonite churches of Trinidad in an attempt to get to know them all better. This morning we worshiped at Diego Martin Mennonite Church. The worship leader for the morning happened to be one of the students in my philosophy class--the only Mennonite student who is in any of the classes that either Barb or I are teaching. Diego Martin is located just the other side of Port of Spain (the capital city). This is the church that we will probably be spending most of our time attending, especially in the latter part of our term here. Pastor Rawl Gunpath will be on sabbatical starting in January, and we've been asked to help out at the church while he's gone. For now, though, there are still three more churches that we haven't visited. I've also been invited to preach sometime here at the Charlieville church, and am expecting to get similar invitations from at least one or two of the other churches as well.
~Richard
Last night, was the first time the youth group at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church met and Roxy and I were invited to go. There is always lots of singing at those kind of things, so we're starting to get to know some of the songs better, because most of them I didn't know before we came here. When we first got to the youth group, someone gave me a green plum. I've had green plums one other time while we were here, but I thought they were kind of weird. This time, there was a plate of salt, with slices of hot pepper on it. People tend to like really spicy things here. Anyone could just dip their plum in, and someone convinced me to try it. I just barely touched it to the pepper, and it was extremely spicy! I shouldn't be surprised anymore how spicy things here are, but I still am always surprised whenever I taste something really spicy. The rest of the youth group time was fun; we sang, had some devotions and played a game. And I'm getting to know some of the youth here better, too, which is good.
~Olivia
The second day of school seemed much easier than the first for me. For one thing, halfway through the day, they gave me a 'timetable', which is just a class schedule. So that was very useful! One of the reasons that this might turn out to be a better school than some is that they have some art or music type classes, which is not completely a given. And on Friday, I spent 5 out of 8 periods doing a class called VAPA, which is Visual And Performing Arts. I think that 2 of those 5 were actually supposed to be tech ed, but the same teacher does both, and so I guess that she just decided she would rather do VAPA at that point! We're making tea towels soon, so I spent nearly 2 and a half hours embroidering on Friday, and have also been spending a lot of time doing that this weekend for homework!
~Roxy
On Friday I taught the first session of my second class. Yes, here I will be teaching class every Friday evening this semester. This was my Marriage and Family class. About half the students were in my other class and several were in Richard's. Out of 8 students, we had 5 countries represented. I am really enjoying the teaching.
When we look back at our prayer list, it is amazing to see how each of our prayers has been answered. Our water leak was fixed earlier this week, we have renters, our internet is up and running which is really helpful in a variety of ways including preparation for class, the girls have found and started school and our teaching here has begun. It is amazing to know that so many of you have been praying for us. So for this week, let's just let our prayers be thanksgivings.
Barb
Thursday, September 3, 2009
First Day of School
In the past 24 hours, all four of us started school!
After weeks of bureaucratic run-around, conflicting accounts of what we needed to do, and just plain waiting, we finally came to the conclusion that the only way that the girls were going to get into school at any time in the foreseeable future would be for us to enroll them in a private school. After calling around to schools in the phone book, we found one with very reasonable tuition that isn't too far away. It's a Pentecostal high school that is about a half hour drive away from here if the traffic is all right. This morning, however, we found that it took us about an hour and a quarter during rush hour. This meant that they arrived a little late for their first day of school. But, in true Trini fashion, that wasn't really a problem. I'll let the girls tell more about their first day below.
Yesterday evening was my first day teaching at West Indies Theological College (WITC). I had nine students in my Intro to Philosophy class, which is considered a rather large class for this school. The class included students from Barbados and Jamaica--and even one American--in addition to the Trinidadians who made up the majority. Although philosophy was not my first choice of classes to teach (and even though I didn't know I'd be teaching it until just over a week ago), I really enjoyed the class. I felt like I had something to contribute to the students. We also had some good lively discussions, which is exactly what I hope for in a philosophy class. I'm sure that I'll be learning a lot more than the students this semester.
~Richard
The school scheduled us so that Richard and I could be teaching a cless at the same time. In fact we teach in classrooms right next door to each other. Our classes run from 5:00-8:00 each Wednesday and then I have another on Friday evenings at that same time. We bring the girls with us and they spend some time just outside our rooms in the courtyard that all the rooms open to enjoying green space. There is no green space around our apartment, but the campus is really lovely, nestled in the mountains. Then, when it starts to get dark around 6:30, they spend the remainder of the evening in the library. They brought a DVD last night with the laptop.
The class I taught last night was Social Work Theory and Practice 2. The hardest thing about teaching it is that it is the second class in a series of 3. It is hard to get clear information about how far they went in the first section. So I spent last night getting to know my students and doing some assessment about what they had learned so far. My students are from Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana. I had 7 students. It was a good class. Everyone was very participatory in the discussion, which I loved. It is fun to dip my feet in the social work world again.
~Barb
Today was the first day of school for me. The school actually started on Tuesday, but there were other people coming in today. They said everyone should be there by Monday, so I don't think starting today really puts me behind. I think there are mainly 4 people in my form, at least today there were. More will probably come later. I got put into the business type classes mainly, which I'm not exactly sure why, but the business teacher is good, so I don't really mind. So, there were 2 boys and 2 girls including me. There were a few other people who were only in one of my classes, but those 4 people were in all of my classes. I'm still a little bit confused about what classes I'm suppposed to be taking. The classes the principal gave me don't completely match up with the classes that my form teacher gave me, so I mostly followed the other people in my class. I think in Trinidad, people tend to have a particular group of students they stay with, but different teachers instead of different students in each class, although there was a little of that too. Oh well. I'll figure it out after a while. But, I think it should be a good school if it's not too boring. It's very small, too.
~Olivia
Today I also started school at the same high school Olivia did. The name of it is PAWI (for Pentacostal Assemblies of the West Indies), and it is on the campus of a university that is called WIST-for West Indies School of Theology. (I think they pronounce PAWI sort of like pow-ee, but I can't be sure, because they seem to pronounce everything a little different than we do anyways!) I am in what they call form one here, and my class is me and 4 other boys. The boys are all 14, though. We had heard that there were going to be 10 people in my class, though, and we had also heard that school doesn't really start until Monday, so there may be more kids in my class by then! I was extremely confused all day, because they gave me no schedule, and in the afternoon none of my teachers showed up! So in the morning I had two long classes, but in the afternoon I just had one extremely long and fairly boring free time! It was interesting in math (which they call "mats"), because they seem to learn things in a different order than I did! There are some things that they were doing that didn't seem brand-new, but still stuff that they might have learned at the end of last year, but that I had done for much longer! But there were other things that seemed fairly new to them that were fairly new to me, too! It will be interesting to see how things are similar and how they're different! I hope that all my teachers are there tomorrow, though!
~Roxy
After weeks of bureaucratic run-around, conflicting accounts of what we needed to do, and just plain waiting, we finally came to the conclusion that the only way that the girls were going to get into school at any time in the foreseeable future would be for us to enroll them in a private school. After calling around to schools in the phone book, we found one with very reasonable tuition that isn't too far away. It's a Pentecostal high school that is about a half hour drive away from here if the traffic is all right. This morning, however, we found that it took us about an hour and a quarter during rush hour. This meant that they arrived a little late for their first day of school. But, in true Trini fashion, that wasn't really a problem. I'll let the girls tell more about their first day below.
Yesterday evening was my first day teaching at West Indies Theological College (WITC). I had nine students in my Intro to Philosophy class, which is considered a rather large class for this school. The class included students from Barbados and Jamaica--and even one American--in addition to the Trinidadians who made up the majority. Although philosophy was not my first choice of classes to teach (and even though I didn't know I'd be teaching it until just over a week ago), I really enjoyed the class. I felt like I had something to contribute to the students. We also had some good lively discussions, which is exactly what I hope for in a philosophy class. I'm sure that I'll be learning a lot more than the students this semester.
~Richard
The school scheduled us so that Richard and I could be teaching a cless at the same time. In fact we teach in classrooms right next door to each other. Our classes run from 5:00-8:00 each Wednesday and then I have another on Friday evenings at that same time. We bring the girls with us and they spend some time just outside our rooms in the courtyard that all the rooms open to enjoying green space. There is no green space around our apartment, but the campus is really lovely, nestled in the mountains. Then, when it starts to get dark around 6:30, they spend the remainder of the evening in the library. They brought a DVD last night with the laptop.
The class I taught last night was Social Work Theory and Practice 2. The hardest thing about teaching it is that it is the second class in a series of 3. It is hard to get clear information about how far they went in the first section. So I spent last night getting to know my students and doing some assessment about what they had learned so far. My students are from Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana. I had 7 students. It was a good class. Everyone was very participatory in the discussion, which I loved. It is fun to dip my feet in the social work world again.
~Barb
Today was the first day of school for me. The school actually started on Tuesday, but there were other people coming in today. They said everyone should be there by Monday, so I don't think starting today really puts me behind. I think there are mainly 4 people in my form, at least today there were. More will probably come later. I got put into the business type classes mainly, which I'm not exactly sure why, but the business teacher is good, so I don't really mind. So, there were 2 boys and 2 girls including me. There were a few other people who were only in one of my classes, but those 4 people were in all of my classes. I'm still a little bit confused about what classes I'm suppposed to be taking. The classes the principal gave me don't completely match up with the classes that my form teacher gave me, so I mostly followed the other people in my class. I think in Trinidad, people tend to have a particular group of students they stay with, but different teachers instead of different students in each class, although there was a little of that too. Oh well. I'll figure it out after a while. But, I think it should be a good school if it's not too boring. It's very small, too.
~Olivia
Today I also started school at the same high school Olivia did. The name of it is PAWI (for Pentacostal Assemblies of the West Indies), and it is on the campus of a university that is called WIST-for West Indies School of Theology. (I think they pronounce PAWI sort of like pow-ee, but I can't be sure, because they seem to pronounce everything a little different than we do anyways!) I am in what they call form one here, and my class is me and 4 other boys. The boys are all 14, though. We had heard that there were going to be 10 people in my class, though, and we had also heard that school doesn't really start until Monday, so there may be more kids in my class by then! I was extremely confused all day, because they gave me no schedule, and in the afternoon none of my teachers showed up! So in the morning I had two long classes, but in the afternoon I just had one extremely long and fairly boring free time! It was interesting in math (which they call "mats"), because they seem to learn things in a different order than I did! There are some things that they were doing that didn't seem brand-new, but still stuff that they might have learned at the end of last year, but that I had done for much longer! But there were other things that seemed fairly new to them that were fairly new to me, too! It will be interesting to see how things are similar and how they're different! I hope that all my teachers are there tomorrow, though!
~Roxy
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