Not our Favourite Week in Trinidad

We had an amazing week with the work team, but the last week has not been so great. First of all, our car got bashed. This happened when Richard was going to pick up Roxy and Olivia at their school on Monday. He was turning onto the highway and there was some traffic that went past, so he stopped and the car behind him didn't. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the car is still drivable. In the aftermath of that, however, Richard's had to go to the police station and report what happened, get an estimate on how much it's going to cost to repair the car, tape on the back light when it was falling off, and try to get the trunk opened and closed every time we need to, which has required wiring it shut. Roxy and Olivia's school has been having some issues as well. The teachers came even less than usual last week, and you could just tell that everyone was ready for Easter Break. Also, the tests that Olivia and Roxy had been planning to take on Monday didn't happen all week. On Thursday they went in and saw that, 15 minutes after school started, there were no teachers there, and less than 10 students. Even the security guard said they should have just stayed home. Fortunately, Richard had been waiting to see if they were staying, and was able to turn around and take them home. Barb spent a while on the phone with the principal on Friday, trying to figure out a way that the girls could take their tests, but ultimately figured out that they didn't really need to. We are trying to figure out what we will be doing next term. On top of all that, K-State lost their basketball game last night.
There were also, of course, good things that happened this week. At WITC, where Richard and Barb teach classes, there was a celebration yesterday called Harambee. They had barbecue pigtail from Barbados, pepper pot from Guyana, jerk pork and festival from Jamaica, and barbecue chicken and chips (fries) which we think was just from Trinidad. We tried some of all of this except the chicken and chips, which didn't seem as exciting. The barbecue pigtail was long and slightly curved. It was very salty and fairly chewy. Roxy thought it tasted a little too much like what it used to be. Olivia enjoyed the spices it had, but was a little grossed out by the bristly hairs. The pepper pot had cow heel, ox tail, and beef in it, and it came with rice and bread which tasted home-made. The jerk pork and festival was our family's favourite. Festival is like deep-fried dough in a little nugget shape. The outside is crunchy and the inside soft. There was face-painting and football going on then as well, and just as we were leaving, the people for the dog show were arriving. We might have stayed around longer, but there was a program at the Charlieville Church downstairs. There was an Easter play done by a Trini theatre company, and then there were four people/groups who did special music. Our family did two songs, and we were also with the Diego Martin worship team, who did two more songs.
This morning, Richard and Barb went to the airport to pick up some family of ours who will be spending a week with us! This week is Easter break at WITC and at the girls school, so we look forward to spending some time playing with our guests.
~Roxy, Olivia, Richard & Barb