Happy Mother's Day!

On Tuesday, I took the CXC test. It ended up being really crazy! I'm not necessarily sorry I did it, it was an interesting experience, but I'm definitely glad I'm not taking 9 different subjects (for most of them, there are 2 papers you have to do, too). So, we were told to be there by 7:30 (school starts at 8:00), so I got there at 7:40 (in Trinidad, 7:30 rarely means 7:30) and went up to my classroom and there were 2 other people from my class there. Even, by the time the bell rang for school to start, not many others were there. So, I waited for a long time up in my classroom and then finally, we were called down to the lab. At 9:00, the first group started their test, and the rest of us, who weren't in the first group sat around and talked in the classroom next door, which we weren't allowed to leave. You see, this was the practical part, which we had to do on the computer and there were only 14 working computers (which is actually more than there have been a lot of the year) so that's why we went in more than one group. By lunch time, no one had officially told us we could leave the classroom but me and some friends decided we could and went to get lunch and found a nice spot under the avocado tree to eat it. Then, at 11:30 our test started. The test itself wasn't so bad, although there were quite a few instructions to follow. But it was mostly pretty straightforward. I was done testing by 2:00. But, then I waited for over an hour and finally the principal came down to start printing it out. Then, that process took about 2 hours, so it was after 5:00 by the time I left the school (school usually lets out at 2:30) and then after 6:00 by the time I got home since it was rush hour so there was a lot of traffic. I have another exam in June, but hopefully since that's the theory part and doesn't involve computers it should be simpler.
~Olivia

At the beginning of this term, we weren't really sure how much longer we'd stay at our school. We decided to keep going until Olivia took this big test she mentioned. So Monday was my last day of school at PAWI! It was really funny, because apparently even if you're wearing a nice white button-down-the-front shirt as a part of your uniform, people still sign it on your last day! On Tuesday, I just stayed at home and started preparing for homeschool. The principal allowed us to keep all our textbooks (here, we have one for basically all our subjects), so I looked through those and decided which ones were worth using for our homeschool time. Then on Wednesday we really started our homeschool experience! My parents made up a schedule for us. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we have regular classes. On Tuesday, Olivia and I do some independent project. And on Thursday, we take a fieldtrip! Next week will be our first full week of homeschool, but we got it started this week! I think it's been working pretty well and I've enjoyed it (so far, at least). I'm really glad we've been at PAWI as long as we were, but I think it's the right time to leave, also.
~Roxy

Today is Mother's Day. It is as big of a holiday here as at home. The TV has been plastered with commercials for what you can buy mom. All of that is pretty much familiar. One fun difference is how big a deal the churches make about Mother's Day. In our congregation, the teenagers were called to the front and asked to bring in the gifts. Then all the mothers were invited up one by one and presented a small cheesecake all wrapped in pretty cellophane. It is worth noting that I have never been given cheesecake here. While you can order it in some fancy restaurants, it is not a common Trini food. It is sort of an exotic treat. People were given opportunities to share about what they appreciate about their mothers. A woman in the church who no longer has a living mother and who never had a Christian mother shared how much she appreciated the women in the church who have been mothers to her. Then, quietly after church was over, she gave me a pair of earrings for Mother's Day.
After church we came home. Our apartment is above one of the other churches. When we walked in to the church downstairs which we go through on the way to our apartment, we found four plates of cake with a note saying they were for our family. Right now, as I write this, Richard and the girls have banished me to the back while they prepare a surprise supper for me. It looks like this Mother's Day is going to be a real food bonanza for me.
~Barb

We had mentioned a while back that parliament had been dissolved, and elections would need to be held soon. It is now about two weeks until election day (May 24), and the political campaign is in full swing. Every night, both of the major parties hold a campaign rally somewhere on the island. All of them are carried live on local television, often on more than one channel. On one evening this week, I found three different rallies being televised live on five different TV stations.
The campaigns are quite negative, too. We've seen attacks getting worse in the U.S. in recent years, but this election is worse than any I've seen back home. For example, the other day there were reports that one of the party headquarters received a phone call warning of death threats against the party's leader. Rather than denouncing violence, however, high-ranking members of the other party immediately dismissed the reports as merely a hoax designed to gain attention and sympathy for their opponents. It has been really interesting for us to see how another political system works, but we'll be glad when the nasty campaign is over.
~Richard