This morning, the Mennonite churches all gathered for a special service. Every time there is a fifth Sunday in the month, a joint service is held to which all the Mennonites in the country are invited. The last time such a service took place was the first Sunday that we were here, when the churches gathered for their Annual General Meeting. That gathering was held at a meeting room in a local mall. So this was the first time that we were able to be a part of one of the regular joint services. We continue to be impressed with the way that all of the churches here work together. Their cooperation and support for one another is very helpful given the fairly small size of the churches, and also provides a valuable witness of Christians working together rather than separately. The service was hosted by the Charlieville Mennonite Church (so we just had to go downstairs for worship), but the worship was planned and led by people from all six congregations here. In addition to the usual elements of a worship service, we heard reports from delegates who had gone to Virginia Mennonite Conference and to World Mennonite Conference this summer. There was also a baby dedication for the newborn child of one of the pastors (the first child dedication we've seen here.) A special guest speaker was invited in to preach. Our family was also asked to sing at the service. All of this totalled about a 3-hour service. And, of course, afterwards we enjoyed a delicious meal provided by members of all the churches. As we have been told many times here, the unofficial motto of the Mennonite church is "When we meet, we shall eat!"
~Richard
One of the fun things about attending our second joint service is noticing how many of the Mennonites here we know by now and perhaps even more who know us (we sort of stand out). Last time we went to one of these joint services we had only been here 3 days. Lots of people were introducing themselves to us for the first time and we were frantically trying to remember names. Now we sometimes still struggle to recall a name, but more often we are happy to see familiar faces. One of my favorite things here (speaking of name) is that when children get to know you, they often call you auntie or uncle. By now that is how we are addressed by several small children in the churches and by the school friends of our daughters. Sometimes when someone calls "auntie," it still takes me a bit to realize they mean me. But I love it. It makes me feel like part of the family.
~Barbara
Today is also the first Sunday of Advent! Once when we asked one of the local pastors if they celebrate Advent here, his response was, "Only at Charlieville." Since that is where the joint service was held today, they lit the first Advent candle! Meanwhile, our family is finding ways of celebrating Advent as well. We have always had an Advent calendar in which we add a piece to the Nativity scene every day from the 1st of December to the 24th. This was one of the things in the box of Christmas things we packed to bring here to Trinidad. However, that box got packed away somewhere and never made it here! So we were trying to think of something we could use as an Advent calendar, and we remembered the feltboard that we hadn't used since Bible School! We called a Charlieville church elder and asked if they would be using the feltboard at all during the Christmas season. He said that they wouldn't be, and was delighted that we could use it! (We were too!) So we found all the pieces we wanted (27) and today we set it up in our living room...along with a small Christmas tree! The tree was a surprise to me and Olivia when our parents pulled it out today! They had been planning some Advent activities as well. Each day of Advent, we light a candle and sing a Christmas song and do some sort of activity! There are small papers tucked into the candles (these candles have Christmas trees on them) saying the song and activity. Today we put up the tree and sang O Christmas Tree! Right now it is still bare, so we are expecting some decorating to be part of the activity someday soon. This is the beginning of the warmest (by FAR) Advent we've ever had!
~Roxy
It's so weird to me to have a Christmas tree in our house and then to step right outside in shorts and no shoes and be comfortable, if not a little warm. It's so interesting how many parts of celebrating Christmas are very much the same, but there are also some different things. A lot of the differences have to do with the difference in weather. Also, there's a type of music that I think we might have mentioned earlier in one of our blogs called Parang. There are some fun Parang songs, but if you listen to the lyrics, some of them are a little weird. They talk about all sorts of things. There was one we listened to earlier that would talk about drinking rum one line, and the the next line would say "Christmas only comes once a year" and the next would say "Christ is my savior" and the next would say "He rose again on the third day". I think they need to set their priorities. But, it's fun to drive around and see the Christmas lights, just like in Kansas. Another interesting thing is how many songs people clap too. We were singing Angels We Have Heard on High at youth group this evening and people were clapping. I thought it changed the mood a little, especially on the long glorias. But, I definitely like the enthusiasm about Christmas, and there are still many similar parts of Christmas.
~Olivia
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
It's been an interesting school week, although we weren't too surprised about that. Monday was a pretty normal day, but somewhat low attendance. It was also very rainy. It rained most of the day and most of the night, and was still raining when we went to school on Tuesday. Students and teachers trickled in, and by mid-morning, only 6 out of 12 students in my class were there but all the teachers were there. But, then the principal was afraid the bridge that you have to go over to get there was going to flood out, so she sent everyone home at about noon. Then, yesterday again only 6 of 12 students (but not all the same ones as Tuesday) in my class were there. Today Roxy and I just stayed home for Thanksgiving and helped cook and clean mostly. And there's no school tomorrow because of the commonwealth meetings happening here.
~Olivia
This morning was really fun! We noted that it might have been the first time Olivia and I really helped out with the cooking (well, at least with more than the pies)! We made turkey, stuffing, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and zwieback. We even bought whipped cream to go with the pies! Since we don't have any recipes here really, we found a lot online, except we called my grandma and asked her to email us the zwieback recipe. I had never made zwieback before, just eaten it! We also found that we could watch the parade online! We found a website online where an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan had streaming NBC where we could watch it! It was really choppy, though, especially when it was on full screen, so we had to watch it pretty small. But we were also excited to find that it was our favourite channel to watch the parade on, because since it shows from the end of the route, it has Broadway numbers that it shows too! So our morning was a pleasant mixture of cooking and enjoyment!
~Roxy
As the girls have noted, we are enjoying an American Thanksgiving holiday today. We had made the decision earlier in the week to keep the girls home from school to celebrate. Frankly, they are probably the only kids in their school who haven't already missed a lot of days. We've noticed that people here are more likely than in the U.S. to stay home from school or work if they're feeling just a little under the weather or if they have some sort of personal event like a birthday or minor religious holiday. We thought that celebrating Thanksgiving was worth missing a day of school. We've enjoyed all the preparations. For the most part, the fixings were not too hard to find. The one exception is the cranberries. We had to search a bit to find those, but we finally did!
It's also something of a celebration for me today as last night was my last regular class session. I do still have a fair amount of work to do, however. My students all turned in the big papers that they've been working on all semester, and which I now have to grade. I also need to finish writing the final exam that they will take on Monday. Then, of course, I'll need to grade those, too. But today is a day to take off from all that--to celebrate and give thanks for the many blessings we have. We again are grateful to so many of you reading this blog back in the U.S. for your support in helping us get here, and to everyone here in Trinidad for the ways in which we have been welcomed and made to feel home here as well.
~Richard
It's about 10:15 and our Thanksgiving guests recently left. Richard is finishing up some clean up. We've put all the food away. We had a wonderful evening, but we are glad that tomorrow will be a holiday and we can sleep in. Because today was not a day off for most, we weren't able to begin supper until around 7:00.
We have enjoyed the hospitality of many while we have been here, but one family in particular has really taken care of us. Ramesh is one of the Mennonite pastors here and Babes is known far and wide for her wonderful cooking. We have referred to them often in this blog. They live very close to us. Babes is always sending us food. Earlier this week when we stopped to buy eggs from her she gave us some plantains and also some five finger fruit (often called star fruit in the US) from her tree. So tonight was a great opportunity to share a meal with them and their two young adult sons, Avi and Arvin. We discussed how Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, explaining the food, family, football and shopping. They shared that in Trinidad Christians call a thanksgiving celebration whenever something good happens, an important marker in their lives or perhaps something they have been praying about that comes to pass. Then they throw a big party inviting all their friends and relatives, serving a large meal and having a time of worship.
Today we indeed have much to be thankful for. We are thankful to all those in Trinidad who have welcomed us. We are thankful for our wonderful family including the extended family we were thinking of especially today. And we are thankful for our friends in the US, many of whom have showed us your support and care in so many ways. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
~Barb
~Olivia
This morning was really fun! We noted that it might have been the first time Olivia and I really helped out with the cooking (well, at least with more than the pies)! We made turkey, stuffing, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and zwieback. We even bought whipped cream to go with the pies! Since we don't have any recipes here really, we found a lot online, except we called my grandma and asked her to email us the zwieback recipe. I had never made zwieback before, just eaten it! We also found that we could watch the parade online! We found a website online where an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan had streaming NBC where we could watch it! It was really choppy, though, especially when it was on full screen, so we had to watch it pretty small. But we were also excited to find that it was our favourite channel to watch the parade on, because since it shows from the end of the route, it has Broadway numbers that it shows too! So our morning was a pleasant mixture of cooking and enjoyment!
~Roxy
As the girls have noted, we are enjoying an American Thanksgiving holiday today. We had made the decision earlier in the week to keep the girls home from school to celebrate. Frankly, they are probably the only kids in their school who haven't already missed a lot of days. We've noticed that people here are more likely than in the U.S. to stay home from school or work if they're feeling just a little under the weather or if they have some sort of personal event like a birthday or minor religious holiday. We thought that celebrating Thanksgiving was worth missing a day of school. We've enjoyed all the preparations. For the most part, the fixings were not too hard to find. The one exception is the cranberries. We had to search a bit to find those, but we finally did!
It's also something of a celebration for me today as last night was my last regular class session. I do still have a fair amount of work to do, however. My students all turned in the big papers that they've been working on all semester, and which I now have to grade. I also need to finish writing the final exam that they will take on Monday. Then, of course, I'll need to grade those, too. But today is a day to take off from all that--to celebrate and give thanks for the many blessings we have. We again are grateful to so many of you reading this blog back in the U.S. for your support in helping us get here, and to everyone here in Trinidad for the ways in which we have been welcomed and made to feel home here as well.
~Richard
It's about 10:15 and our Thanksgiving guests recently left. Richard is finishing up some clean up. We've put all the food away. We had a wonderful evening, but we are glad that tomorrow will be a holiday and we can sleep in. Because today was not a day off for most, we weren't able to begin supper until around 7:00.
We have enjoyed the hospitality of many while we have been here, but one family in particular has really taken care of us. Ramesh is one of the Mennonite pastors here and Babes is known far and wide for her wonderful cooking. We have referred to them often in this blog. They live very close to us. Babes is always sending us food. Earlier this week when we stopped to buy eggs from her she gave us some plantains and also some five finger fruit (often called star fruit in the US) from her tree. So tonight was a great opportunity to share a meal with them and their two young adult sons, Avi and Arvin. We discussed how Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, explaining the food, family, football and shopping. They shared that in Trinidad Christians call a thanksgiving celebration whenever something good happens, an important marker in their lives or perhaps something they have been praying about that comes to pass. Then they throw a big party inviting all their friends and relatives, serving a large meal and having a time of worship.
Today we indeed have much to be thankful for. We are thankful to all those in Trinidad who have welcomed us. We are thankful for our wonderful family including the extended family we were thinking of especially today. And we are thankful for our friends in the US, many of whom have showed us your support and care in so many ways. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
~Barb
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Church & Holidays
Living above a church means that your life is intrinsically connected to the church. For instance, we are supposed to turn on the light for the cross on the outside of the building each night when it gets dark. The switch for it is in our living room. That also means that when I get up at night to use the bathroom, my way is lit by a huge cross nightlight that fills my living room.
Recently, we came home from our teaching responsibilities to find that the congregation was having a night of prayer. Since our bedroom overlooks the sanctuary and the sound from downstairs rises easily to our bedroom, we moved our mattress into the living room, where the cross kept things very light, but the enthusiastic prayers and songs were not so noticeable. Although we have preached a couple of times at this church, it is not the church to which we have been primarily assigned. So it is one of 6 congregations inviting us to its events. Last weekend they had revival meetings. Several of the Mennonite churches here have them in November. I think it has to do with preparing for Christmas. They had 3 speakers, one for each night. Friday, the first night, we were teaching. As we pulled in and went up our stairs, we could hear the evangelist preaching. The girls remarked that she reminded them of Martin Luther King in the way her voice rose and fell. On Saturday and Sunday evenings Richard and I joined the congregation. Roxy and Olivia spent both evenings at youth groups for 2 of the other churches. They did that again this weekend. Meanwhile Chaguanas Mennonite Church was having their revival meetings this weekend and asked our family to bring a song. So after the girls got home from one youth group last night we hurried to the savannah (park) there where we set up a keyboard and Olivia accompanied the other 3 of us as we sang Praise, I will praise you Lord.
~Barb
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. OK, not in the sense that one might expect back in Kansas where they've had their first snowfall of the year. With just over a month till Christmas, it's still 90 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day. But the continuous hot weather doesn't keep the Trinis from pulling out all the stops to celebrate the holiday. In fact, since there aren't particular markers to begin the Christmas season like changes in the weather or other holidays such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, people here are free to start celebrating whenever they want. We were in a mall four weeks ago that was already fully decorated for Christmas. It's not unusual to see houses blazing with Christmas lights, either. There are decorations along the highway near our apartment that have been there almost since we arrived, incorporating symbols for all the major religious holidays here: Eid (Muslim), Divali (Hindu) and Christmas (Christianity). And several radio stations are playing Christmas music all day long. One of them has been advertising their "100 Days of Christmas" for some time now. Since it never snows here, it's interesting to hear how the lyrics of some of the secular carols are sometimes adjusted. Christmas is also a time when the Spanish heritage of the island is more celebrated. Even though Spain claimed Trinidad for 300 years, and even though we are only seven miles from the coast of South America, there is usually very little Spanish influence evident in the culture. But Christmas celebrations include pastelles (a food similar to Latin American tomales) and parang (songs often sung in Spanish that exhibit a more Latin beat).
~Richard
School? We're not quite sure what this week is going to look like concerning school. There has been a 5-day strike going on which started last Friday. The idea is kind of vague, but it is sort of a general strike against the government, but maybe also about crime and the government's lack of response to that. On Friday and Saturday people were encouraged to wear red, today there was a big rally somewhere, and tomorrow and Tuesday people are encouraged to skip work. So there was some discussion and controversy both at school and youth group tonight about whether or not school was happening tomorrow. We decided that we would go tomorrow and if basically no one showed up we would not come Tuesday. We have, however, already decided to skip school on Thursday because of Thanksgiving. Some of our friends who are Hindu have already missed some school because of minor Hindu holidays that are not celebrated by the people as a whole, so we thought that this wouldn't be too big of a deal. Plus Thursday might be called as a national holiday later this week anyways because of the commonwealth meetings being held here. The meetings (including people such as Queen Elizabeth) will start on Friday, and the day that they arrive may be called a national holiday because one of the main roads may be shut down to everyone except the leaders of countries arriving! So we have been hoping that the day they shut everything down will be Thursday, and then we will be sure we don't miss anything! (But we probably wouldn't anyways...)
~Roxy
Roxy and I just got home from youth group. The youth groups have been practicing for their Christmas programs for a while now. At Hope Mennonite Church, where we were tonight, the Christmas play is written from the shepherd's point of view. It's more common here to not have any sort of script. One of the leaders just got the idea and he tells people what to do and if other people have ideas, they can contribute, so there's some improvisation involved. I'm playing one of the shepherds (the one who gets frightened easily). After we were done practicing for the play, we went out into the middle of the road and played some games. This is hazardous in many ways. For one thing, it was at least 6:00, maybe 6:30 by the time we went out there, so it was pretty dark already. Everyone was wearing flip-flops, so we just kicked them off in the grass and went barefoot. The road had lots of little rocks and bumps in it and wasn't the most comfortable surface to run on, but no one else seemed to notice that. There were a few injuries, however, including me tripping in a pothole and falling, but it was still mostly fun. Whenever a car came, we'd just stop our game, grab everything, run to the side, let the car pass and then continue the game as if nothing ever happened.
~Olivia
Recently, we came home from our teaching responsibilities to find that the congregation was having a night of prayer. Since our bedroom overlooks the sanctuary and the sound from downstairs rises easily to our bedroom, we moved our mattress into the living room, where the cross kept things very light, but the enthusiastic prayers and songs were not so noticeable. Although we have preached a couple of times at this church, it is not the church to which we have been primarily assigned. So it is one of 6 congregations inviting us to its events. Last weekend they had revival meetings. Several of the Mennonite churches here have them in November. I think it has to do with preparing for Christmas. They had 3 speakers, one for each night. Friday, the first night, we were teaching. As we pulled in and went up our stairs, we could hear the evangelist preaching. The girls remarked that she reminded them of Martin Luther King in the way her voice rose and fell. On Saturday and Sunday evenings Richard and I joined the congregation. Roxy and Olivia spent both evenings at youth groups for 2 of the other churches. They did that again this weekend. Meanwhile Chaguanas Mennonite Church was having their revival meetings this weekend and asked our family to bring a song. So after the girls got home from one youth group last night we hurried to the savannah (park) there where we set up a keyboard and Olivia accompanied the other 3 of us as we sang Praise, I will praise you Lord.
~Barb
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. OK, not in the sense that one might expect back in Kansas where they've had their first snowfall of the year. With just over a month till Christmas, it's still 90 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day. But the continuous hot weather doesn't keep the Trinis from pulling out all the stops to celebrate the holiday. In fact, since there aren't particular markers to begin the Christmas season like changes in the weather or other holidays such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, people here are free to start celebrating whenever they want. We were in a mall four weeks ago that was already fully decorated for Christmas. It's not unusual to see houses blazing with Christmas lights, either. There are decorations along the highway near our apartment that have been there almost since we arrived, incorporating symbols for all the major religious holidays here: Eid (Muslim), Divali (Hindu) and Christmas (Christianity). And several radio stations are playing Christmas music all day long. One of them has been advertising their "100 Days of Christmas" for some time now. Since it never snows here, it's interesting to hear how the lyrics of some of the secular carols are sometimes adjusted. Christmas is also a time when the Spanish heritage of the island is more celebrated. Even though Spain claimed Trinidad for 300 years, and even though we are only seven miles from the coast of South America, there is usually very little Spanish influence evident in the culture. But Christmas celebrations include pastelles (a food similar to Latin American tomales) and parang (songs often sung in Spanish that exhibit a more Latin beat).
~Richard
School? We're not quite sure what this week is going to look like concerning school. There has been a 5-day strike going on which started last Friday. The idea is kind of vague, but it is sort of a general strike against the government, but maybe also about crime and the government's lack of response to that. On Friday and Saturday people were encouraged to wear red, today there was a big rally somewhere, and tomorrow and Tuesday people are encouraged to skip work. So there was some discussion and controversy both at school and youth group tonight about whether or not school was happening tomorrow. We decided that we would go tomorrow and if basically no one showed up we would not come Tuesday. We have, however, already decided to skip school on Thursday because of Thanksgiving. Some of our friends who are Hindu have already missed some school because of minor Hindu holidays that are not celebrated by the people as a whole, so we thought that this wouldn't be too big of a deal. Plus Thursday might be called as a national holiday later this week anyways because of the commonwealth meetings being held here. The meetings (including people such as Queen Elizabeth) will start on Friday, and the day that they arrive may be called a national holiday because one of the main roads may be shut down to everyone except the leaders of countries arriving! So we have been hoping that the day they shut everything down will be Thursday, and then we will be sure we don't miss anything! (But we probably wouldn't anyways...)
~Roxy
Roxy and I just got home from youth group. The youth groups have been practicing for their Christmas programs for a while now. At Hope Mennonite Church, where we were tonight, the Christmas play is written from the shepherd's point of view. It's more common here to not have any sort of script. One of the leaders just got the idea and he tells people what to do and if other people have ideas, they can contribute, so there's some improvisation involved. I'm playing one of the shepherds (the one who gets frightened easily). After we were done practicing for the play, we went out into the middle of the road and played some games. This is hazardous in many ways. For one thing, it was at least 6:00, maybe 6:30 by the time we went out there, so it was pretty dark already. Everyone was wearing flip-flops, so we just kicked them off in the grass and went barefoot. The road had lots of little rocks and bumps in it and wasn't the most comfortable surface to run on, but no one else seemed to notice that. There were a few injuries, however, including me tripping in a pothole and falling, but it was still mostly fun. Whenever a car came, we'd just stop our game, grab everything, run to the side, let the car pass and then continue the game as if nothing ever happened.
~Olivia
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Baptism on the Beach
Sunday, we spent much of the day at the beach with the members of Carlsen Field Mennonite Church. In addition to enjoying some time with the sand and the waves, we were there to celebrate the baptism of two new members. We headed out first thing this morning in a caravan of several vehicles. The plan had been to stop at a river for the baptism service. But after a few stops that proved to be unsatisfactory, we ended up at Salybia Beach on the Atlantic Ocean--about an hour and a half drive from our place. It was our first visit to the eastern shore of the island. We had our worship service right there on the beach. The climax of the service came when Pastor Ramesh and one of the elders went out into the ocean with the two young women who were being baptized and performed the baptisms. Afterwards, we all shared a meal together in celebration, then spent several hours swimming, kayaking and "liming" on the beach.
~Richard
Earlier this week Roxy said, "I'm really glad we'll be at the beach on Sunday because otherwise I'd be feeling sad about missing the fundraiser." I think she summed it up for us all. For those of you reading this who are not from Manhattan, this was our church's big weekend when we serve a soup lunch to between 550-600 people. It is a lot of hard work, but also one of everyone's favorite times. We all work together. So, we have been especially thinking about our friends in Manhattan this weekend. However, if one can't be there, the beach is a pretty good alternative. This was only our second time at the beach since we've arrived. One might assume we would go more often, but it is still a drive and most of our days just roll past with the things of ordinary life. Today was special, though. It was the first time for our children to witness an immersion baptism. That seemed fitting for an island church. It was also our first time in a kayak, our first time having a picnic centered around pelau and our first time witnessing a Spiritual Baptist group. This group is a local religious group with no connection to what we in the US would think of as Baptists. I still don't know much about it, but it seems to incorporate African tribal religions and pieces of Christianity. Their group was gathered in one area of the beach while ours was in another.
~Barb
I thought I'd mention also that two of the people getting baptized decided not to get baptized the night before, so they changed the location of the baptism. But, they didn't exactly decide where it was going to be until we got there. It was really nice to have the church service on the beach, facing the ocean, and we had the beach almost completely to ourselves. It was so pretty and peaceful. Although there were some vultures that were on the beach too, which I thought was a little creepy. After the baptism and everything, Roxy and I took quick showers and headed off to youth group at Hope Mennonite Church. We've been going there pretty regularly lately. And they're working on their Christmas program now, so we've been involved in that.
~Olivia
Like Olivia mentioned, the beach was really pretty. Actually, it was almost like a sandbar at a point. The waves of the ocean crashed against one shore of the beach, while on the other side a calm river flowed. Depending on how high the tide was, there was sometimes a small passage between the two. We played in the river for a while before we decided to try the ocean. We quickly chose to return to the river! The ocean (although being very blue and pretty) was very rocky, had sudden drop-offs that you could not see under the water, had an extremely big undertow, and washed lots of black gunk up on us! Another advantage of the river was that the group rented a 2-person kayak for a portion of the afternoon and all of our family got a turn on it at some point in the afternoon (although not all at the same time)! None of us having been on a kayak before, it was really fun to try! We were glad for the life jackets, though. Although the day started out calm and peaceful on the beach like Olivia said, by about 2:00 in the afternoon, there were party buses and it was starting to smell like alcohol and, in some places, smoking. That's about the time our group decided to leave!
~Roxy
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Perceptions
It's so interesting here, how there is such a variety of race, but very very few white people. Some people are very fascinated by us because we're white and they haven't really ever known someone who's white before. Like, one of my teachers doesn't seem to understand how my eyes can be hazel without colored contacts. Some people don't understand how Roxy and I can have different colored hair and eyes, yet still be sisters. Both my eyes and hair are lighter than hers and here, everyone has black hair and dark brown eyes no matter whether they're related or not. When we were at the water park last Sunday, there were some little pedal boats there. At one point we were in one of the boats and Roxy had a little girl who came with the group from Hope Mennonite Church sitting on her lap (she couldn't reach the pedal otherwise). I was sitting in the seat next to them and Roxy asked me if her face was red, because she was worried it was sunburned. Before I had a chance to say, "Yes, you look very sunburned", the girl looked up at her and said, "No, you still look white to me." Then, some people from school went to the same water park yesterday and my teacher who I mentioned earlier was there and she was very surprised that my hair got darker when it got wet. She asked me why my hair was brown and when I explained to her that it gets that way when it gets wet, she asked, "So, tomorrow, once it has dried and everything, it will still be blonde, right?"
~Olivia
This week, my class has been preparing for a Social Studies test on the geography of the Caribbean. So I have been learning the capitals and locations of countries such as Montserrat and St. Lucia, but my Social Studies teacher did not know that Uzbekistan (larger than any of these countries) even existed! And there is no world map or globe at our school to check this, only a map of the Caribbean! One day this week, my teacher had to spend half the time explaining how 2 different countries (Haiti and Dominican Republic) could both be on the same piece of land and still be 2 different countries. Some people in my class, when looking at this Caribbean map, were stunned to find that Cuba was larger than Trinidad! One time when we were over at the house of one of the local Mennonite pastors here (who is originally from Guyana), we were watching a documentary on Guyana. His wife (also originally from Guyana) made the comment, "You know, Guyana is a pretty big country. It's even bigger than Trinidad!"
~Roxy
As Roxy has noted, many Trinis have a difficult time grasping the size of the United States. Having lived their entire lives on an island that is only about 30 miles wide and 60 miles long with a little over a million people living on it, they simply have no reference point to conceive of a nation with more than 300 million residents. The kids have had to explain a number of times that, no, they've never met Miley Cyrus. (Hannah Montana is at least as popular here as it is in the States.)
Many of the people whom we've met here have visited the U.S. But for a number of them, their experiences have been limited to Florida and/or New York City. Quite a few seem to have family members living in those places. So their first question is often whether we've been to Disneyworld. Or they may start talking to us about where they went in Brooklyn or Queens. We've given up trying to explain that we've actually never been to NY ourselves, as that seems to be beyond many people's comprehension (just as it is for many New Yorkers). We also tend not to mention that our hometown is Manhattan, Kansas since that only confuses matters more.
~Richard
What does a mother do? Olivia and Roxy recently mentioned to their friends that their mom just learned to make roti. Instead of being impressed, they could not believe that their mother had never made roti before. Many women here may make roti every day or every other day. It is almost as strange as having a mother who does not know how to tie a sari. On the other hand, having a mother who does not drive is pretty normal. Some women drive here, but many do not.
When Olivia was asking her friend about how they celebrated Divali, after talking a bit about it, she asked Olivia, "How do you celebrate Divali?" She knew Olivia was Christian rather than Hindu, but many people here celebrate all of the 3 big holidays - Divali, Eid and Christmas. It is just a matter of which neighbor plays host. We are beginning to consider how we might host all of our neighbors at Christmas time. With the knowledge that America is a bigger country than Trinidad I suppose it seems odd that some people there live in communities in which they do not have regular contact with all of these religions.
~Barb
~Olivia
This week, my class has been preparing for a Social Studies test on the geography of the Caribbean. So I have been learning the capitals and locations of countries such as Montserrat and St. Lucia, but my Social Studies teacher did not know that Uzbekistan (larger than any of these countries) even existed! And there is no world map or globe at our school to check this, only a map of the Caribbean! One day this week, my teacher had to spend half the time explaining how 2 different countries (Haiti and Dominican Republic) could both be on the same piece of land and still be 2 different countries. Some people in my class, when looking at this Caribbean map, were stunned to find that Cuba was larger than Trinidad! One time when we were over at the house of one of the local Mennonite pastors here (who is originally from Guyana), we were watching a documentary on Guyana. His wife (also originally from Guyana) made the comment, "You know, Guyana is a pretty big country. It's even bigger than Trinidad!"
~Roxy
As Roxy has noted, many Trinis have a difficult time grasping the size of the United States. Having lived their entire lives on an island that is only about 30 miles wide and 60 miles long with a little over a million people living on it, they simply have no reference point to conceive of a nation with more than 300 million residents. The kids have had to explain a number of times that, no, they've never met Miley Cyrus. (Hannah Montana is at least as popular here as it is in the States.)
Many of the people whom we've met here have visited the U.S. But for a number of them, their experiences have been limited to Florida and/or New York City. Quite a few seem to have family members living in those places. So their first question is often whether we've been to Disneyworld. Or they may start talking to us about where they went in Brooklyn or Queens. We've given up trying to explain that we've actually never been to NY ourselves, as that seems to be beyond many people's comprehension (just as it is for many New Yorkers). We also tend not to mention that our hometown is Manhattan, Kansas since that only confuses matters more.
~Richard
What does a mother do? Olivia and Roxy recently mentioned to their friends that their mom just learned to make roti. Instead of being impressed, they could not believe that their mother had never made roti before. Many women here may make roti every day or every other day. It is almost as strange as having a mother who does not know how to tie a sari. On the other hand, having a mother who does not drive is pretty normal. Some women drive here, but many do not.
When Olivia was asking her friend about how they celebrated Divali, after talking a bit about it, she asked Olivia, "How do you celebrate Divali?" She knew Olivia was Christian rather than Hindu, but many people here celebrate all of the 3 big holidays - Divali, Eid and Christmas. It is just a matter of which neighbor plays host. We are beginning to consider how we might host all of our neighbors at Christmas time. With the knowledge that America is a bigger country than Trinidad I suppose it seems odd that some people there live in communities in which they do not have regular contact with all of these religions.
~Barb
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Spiritual Emphasis Week
As we mentioned in our last post, this was Spiritual Emphasis Week at WITC, so we didn't have any classes to teach. Therefore we had a little more time on our hands. (I did still preach this morning at Charlieville, so needed some time to prepare for that.) One of the fun activities we engaged in was a visit to Mount St. Benedict for tea. Mount St. Benedict is a Catholic monastery located high on a hillside in the Northern Range that is noted for having one of the best views on the island. So on Friday, we picked the girls up from school and headed straight over to the Pax Guesthouse at the monastery where we had reservations for tea at 3:00. The formal dining room is currently under renovation, but we enjoyed our tea, scones and cake on the verandah overlooking the Caroni Plain. We also met another American family that was checking into the guesthouse. They are here for three years as the father teaches at the University of T & T. It was very peaceful up there above all the traffic that marks our daily lives. It was also rather interesting to look down at the airplanes coming in for a landing at the airport far below.~Richard
In addition to Richard's sermon preparation for today, we kept busy with several other work related tasks. In addition to our leadership team meeting at the Diego Martin church on Monday evening, I spent some of my time grading papers for class. But another activity that marked our week was baking. If you asked our family what food from the United States we most miss, I think we might all agree that it is fresh milk. The milk we get here is not sold in the dairy case. It is reconstituted powdered milk and even that is very expensive. Most Trinis do not eat milk and cereal for breakfast as our family is used to doing. So, with more time on our hands this week, Richard and I decided to bake breads for breakfast more like Trinis this week. I had also been wanting to learn to make roti, the staple bread here. I finally arranged for my lesson with Babes Jaimani, one of the pastor's wives here and a woman whose good cooking I had heard about before we arrived. She said I had to start with sada roti which is the everyday roti. It is a flat bread, much like pita bread, made on top of the stove on a tawa or flat stone. While she was over, she also taught me how to make homemade fry bake, which is what you make for bake and shark, and pholourie from a mix. It was fun to begin my Trini cooking lessons. Adding up all the things we cooked this week we made homemade sada roti and fry bake twice (once with Babes and once later on my own), pholourie, 2 tea rings, granola bars, chocolate cake, pizza crust and peanut butter cookies for an event at the girls' school. It was good to have the time to enjoy these creative cooking ventures.
~Barb
'The event at the girls' school' was a gospel concert last night. (It occurred to us that it was Halloween, but that is a holiday not celebrated here, so no one else would have thought of that.) Each household was responsible for selling 10 tickets. As it turned out (although we tried) we only sold 4 tickets--one for each of us. So last night we were driving up to the school when we drove into rain. By the time we got to the school, it was still raining, and it was also apparent that it had been raining for some time by then. They had 2 small tents set up--one over the stage and one over the sound equipment. People were all crowded around under the tent for sound equipment, and any other place they could find shelter. Soon the rain settled down, and some of the teachers at the school came by all the chairs, dumped off the water, and wiped them down with rags. People started meandering over to the chairs, finally getting to sit and watch the concert, only to feel the raindrops again in a few minutes! We were excited to finally see a live steel pan though.
~Roxy
Today, our family was invited to go to a water park with some people from the churches. A group of people from the church in Chaguanas was going along with the Hope youth group, who Roxy and I have met with some. My parents decided not to go partly because my dad had to preach at Charlieville Mennonite Church this morning. So, Roxy and I got picked up around 7:40 this morning, and with a stop for doubles, made it to Hope Mennonite Church. Now, a water park here isn't exactly what I'd picture when someone says we're going to a water park. There aren't big rides. The one we went to had two big slides, which went into a small pool, about 4 1/2 feet deep, but just big enough for people to come off of the slides. Then there was a pool for smaller kids that was only about two feet deep but had a lot of small slides and was big enough to play around in. There was also just a big pool to swim around in that went from about 3-5 feet. The last thing they had was a big lake (that was dirty, you wouldn't want to swim in it) that had little pedal boats that you could ride around in. There were tires lining the edges to make it not as hard in case someone ran into it. On one of the tires, we saw a crab and two toads, one toad sitting on top of the other one. We spent all afternoon at the water park, and Roxy and I came home pretty sunburned even though I put on sunscreen 3 times. It was a fun afternoon, but I'm pretty exhausted, especially since I'm still recovering from a cold. My voice is pretty much gone after being sick, then going to a concert, where I had to yell to be heard, then singing a bunch in church today, and then spending all afternoon at the water park!
~Olivia
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