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