Visited a Smithie

Reunited with Niki Lee after almost 2 years. I couldn't have asked for more - this trip was a huge success. Read the comments of the folks below and you will get a glimpse into what I mean. Once again it rang true - "Once a Smithie, Always a Smithie..." For an entire week 12 current residents of Smith Hall got to experience first hand the power of that simple phrase. For a week 12 current residents of Smith Hall were kings and queens of a small tropical island thanks to someone who came before them in Smith Hall. For a lifetime 12 current residents will always have a family and a place in Trinidad.
This trip was about experiencing a new culture and doing some service - but more importantly it was to experience the power of a "sense of place" that extends well beyond Smith Hall and Durham, NH.
Plans are already starting to form for the next "Visit".
I hope that folks continue to post to this blog whether it's a trip across the world or across the hall.
If any current or former smithies would like access to this blog to be able to post just shoot me an email and I'm happy to add you. The more smithies the better.

About 9000 words

We made it into the paper...

A short story about our trip appeared in the Trinidad Guardian:

http://guardian.co.tt/features/life/2010/03/19/mas-again-may

about half way down the page.

Is It Really That Time?

So here I sit, less than an hour away from being carted down to the airport and the airplane that will take me away from this beautiful place we have all discovered together in just six short days. Of course, I'm all packed and ready to go, have been for over an hour now, so all that is left to do is sit and watch as the rest of the gang slowly wakes up and prepares for departure as well.

Friday was a nice day, and a good end to the trip. Starting with a fun presentation to Nikki's class, followed by a quick bus tour of Port of Spain and then some walking around and touristy shopping with our Trinidad-Parents the Lee's, the day was non-stop work and play. Also, today of all days, my body decided it no longer wanted to be well-acclimated to the sweltering heat, so sweat-a-plenty and no cure in sight. It didn't help that this change in body temperature regulation occurred on the day we did most of our city street walking, out in the sun, with few breaks, and very little wind. But what ho, I survived, and still was able to find some awesome jewelry and gifts for people back home. Friday night we went on our last outing to the Queen's Park Savannah for doubles and other delicious foods, accompanied by the whole Lee family along with plenty of extended family as well. It seemed fitting to have our last dinner in the same place where we all shared our first dinner on this island. Dinner was followed by limin' and laughter, and now here we sit. None of us able to really sleep thanks to our 4 AM departure to the airport, but all of us too exhausted to really chit-chat about the little things in life. I myself am at that stage of feeling awake and fully alert, but I know if I were to sit still for longer than five minutes my eyes would begin to droop and my head would start up with the bobbing up-and-down action that has become all too familiar throughout this trip of constant motion and little sleep.

I'm excited to go home of course, see all my friends (outside of this quirky travel group that is), tell stories, laugh, reminisce. I'm also a bit sad, which is to be expected, to leave this beautiful island that has shown me nothing but beauty and kindness for the entirety of our trip (even the food has been gentle enough on my wimpy stomach). Will I ever return? Will I ever see the amazing Lee family again? Are these the last glimpses I'll ever catch of the houses on the hillsides, the crazy-narrow roads, the beaches and ocean views everywhere one turns? It's easy to avoid being homesick because I always know that I will soon return to that place which I call home, but could I possibly avoid being, in so many words, Trinidad-sick? These are questions better left unanswered for now, because it's all too possible that I won't like what the answer is to them all. For now I'll just continue to write down as many memories as possible in my journal while I await our final departure, and the end to a simply wonderful adventure.

Don't think this is the end of me yet, but for now I'll simply sign off with the final hope that all goes well with our flights this time around... :D

Trinidad trip coming to an end

I can't believe that we are leaving Trinidad in 12 hours from now. This week has just been a blur. I have been so spoiled between being in the nice hot weather, constantly being greeted by Trinidadian natives and being taken care of by the Lee family. When I was talking to Aaron, Nicky's fiancee, today about what my expectations were about Trinidad, I told him that I was surprised of how beneficial the Trinidad economy is for the Americans. I was also surprised of how Americanized the country is, for example, there is a lot of American music that is played on the radio and a lot of the billboards are Americanized. Even the schooling in Trinidad is excellent. They have to take examinations to pass secondary school to go to primary school. They do not have that in the states. Plus, from what I have noticed, a lot of the Trinidadians are bi-lingual, something you do not see often from Americans. They speak English, Spanish and French. Americans would be lucky if they spoke broken Spanish, but that is my opinion and I am unfortunately one of those people.
Even though we did not do as much hiking or volunteering as much as we discussed before we came here, my goals were to see the sites of Trinidad and to see Nicky Lee and her family. The long, extraneous delay to Trinidad messed up all of our plans, so we had to make adjustments and I have to say, everything worked out to what we wanted. We went to the gorgeous Maracus Bay, sailed across the Carribean Sea and swam afterwards, we went to Nicky's school to present a lession about the environment, so it was more of a vacation which is fine and dandy for me.
Tonight will be our last night in Trinidad, but we are going to make the best of it no matter what happens. We are going to eat doubles "Doubs" again and we may possibly go out to the streets and see what happens. Either way, I am planning to stay up all night because we have to leave the villa at 4 a.m. to catch our 7 a.m. flight. I don't see the point to sleep for four hours and then go. I function better when I don't sleep while traveling than having little sleep. When we leave tomorrow, not only is spring break on the verge of ending but we are leaving paradise. Then we have to get back to the old grind of the United States. Yuck.

Life

So I haven't posted in a few days because i have been deep in thought about everything, but I think its about time to let the words in my brain spill out onto the page.

A very common phrase everywhere you will go is "the grass is always greener on the other side." Throughout this week, I have been bombarded by this idea many MANY times during this trip. People from Trini say "America must be so nice! All that snow! All those big houses!" People from America will say "Trinida is Amazing!! People are so nice! The weather is always warm!" People from Trini will say "America has so many things to do! There are so many famous people!" People from America will say "Trinidad has beaches and the sea and so many tropical thinsg to do!" People from Trini say America is safer. People from America say that Trinidad is safer. The list goes on and on. There are so many differnt messages coming at me from so many idffernt angles that its hard sometimes to decide what you truly believe about American or Trinidad or anywhere in the world.

Here is what I know, what I have learned, and what I think.

-Trinidad is a hidden tropical paradise that not many people know about.

-America is alot bigger and therefor has more things to do and more to see.

-The two places are very different from each other.

-They are both safe and both dangerous, depending on where you go and what you're doing.

-I like Trinidad and will be sad to go back home tomorrow.

For me, the fast pace, materialistic life that many americans follow is not something i particularly enjoy. I could live without a TV or a phone or a car or air conditioning and be perfectly fine. I might even be happier. As long as i have food and good people, that is really all i need. That is exactly what i have had this week. I have been surrounded by 12 amazing people who live in my dorm. I have been taken in as part of the Lee family. Every person i have encountered here (Jennifer and her kids grandkids and friend, The kids and teachers at Holy Name, Our bus drivers, Our tour guides, People who served us food, and the random people in the grocery store and neighborhood) has been more than nice, more then generous, and more then anything i expected. I have never met strangest this nice before. They were so willing to look out for us and help us. And the food!? Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

This trip has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and the best spring break ever. I can only hope that everyone has had a good experience like me and will continue to have good experiences as they travel the world. I Love Trinidad, and I so want to be a part of an amazing culture like this someday.

THANK YOU LEE FAMILY!

Andrew-you are so funny, and very outgoing for a high schooler.

David- you were a wonderful tour guide and fabulous friend. Thanks for putting up with us and our shenanigans.

Nicky- You make me proud to be a Smithie and a UNH student. Thanks for being our Smithie to visit.

Mama and Papa Lee- Words cannot describe how much i (we) appreciate what you have done for us, giving up your weeks, driving us around, and buying us load and loads of food.... everything has been wonderful. I will always think of you as part of my family. Thank you!!

I miss you all and Love you all!

-Libby

When SPF 80 isn't enough...

Let me start off by saying this: I am a redhead. Very much so. As such, I am accosted daily on this tropical island by mother nature and all her sun-soaked fury. Don't get me wrong- I love the sun. I especially love fun in the sun involving "liming" and boats and pelicans and whatnot. However, after nearly a week of battle with this primal tropical heat, mammy nature has finally won and for the first time in trinidad, I was baked like a lobstah. I have to say though- I was surprised to have come this far. With sunburns and myself, its usually not a matter of if, but when.
I don't mean to give the wrong impression though- a simple sunburn couldn't possibly come close to dampening our trini-time. Over the course of a week, we have been receiving a full course of extremely potent trinidad injections, and I think its safe to say that we are all addicts now. We spent today cruising around the smaller islands off of Trinidad on what can only be classified as a party barge. A large, well-worn, powder-blue boat puttered from island to island with trini-rythms blastin' so loud the residents of each island could likely hear us coming literally a mile away. Fortunately for us, our music was extremely popular among the residents, much like one David Matthews is in Bro-co. Us smithies were like kids in a candy store today... as is to be expected for college kids in the Caribbean, frankly, but irregahdless! If you weren't busy sunning yourself on the griddle that was the upper deck of our boat, you were likely distracted by the respective flora, fauna, architectural specimens, gorgeous landscape or even just the people...you know- the ones you see on a boat. You know what I'm talking about: you wave at everyone because they're on a boat too, and therefore your friend...dare I say- boat buddies?! I'm not being cynical. They are your boat buddy.
I digress.
The things we saw today wouldn't be inappropriately accompanied by a David Attenborough narration. Pelicans swooped and dove around us, jelly fish....kinda- bobbed I guess. Jellyfish bobbed around us, and I think in the back of all our brains, we quietly feared the black pearl appearing around the next island. The one from the first one mind you- when it was manned by indestructible bad guys.
Once we found a quiet cove, we dropped anchor and dove in. The water was refreshing and cool, and you could see every detail of the bottom... much to the distain of those who are squeamish about seaweed. Smithies popped off the boat like molten grease out of a hot frying pan filled with bacon, eager to attain utmost refreshment. Perusal of the beach yielded sea glass, and exploration resulted in our discovery of a mysterious (some would say ominous, given the noose-like rope hanging in front of it...but no one listens to me...*grumble*) cave that we soon discovered was only accessible at low tide. We galavanted about for a considerable amount of time, and yes- there was indeed horseplay and also ballyhoo.
When we were at last satiated...or in some cases, merely exhausted, we weighed anchor (hehe- "weigh anchor") and headed back to shore. Of course, the rest of the day was filled with equal wonder, and also ice-cream and puppies, but I've been writing for a while now and its best to share the nice things- like our one computer.

Good day-
El Muchador
(Conor)

Limin'

First off, let me just say that I think i'll have "Alive" (NOT the Celine Dion version, the Silver Star pan band version, mind you) stuck in my head for the rest of the trip. Yes, we did get to see a live pan band play for us last night and they were wicked awesome!!!!

haha but...

Today, David introduced me to the word "liming," which in Trinidad means hanging out...and boy did we do some liming. After a fantastic day yesterday of clearing brush, planting passion fruit, hiking, swimming, and how could i forget, the amazing dinner at the Lee's (picture the biggest spread of every Trinidadian delight), we were all in the mood to sit back and lime:)

We cruised around Trinidad to the outlying islands and enjoyed picture perfect views from every direction. We even stopped off the coast of one island to swim, although we were tentative at first due to the scattered jellyfish floating around. That didn't stop anyone, though, and for the next few hours most everyone was in the water. Afterwards, the sun poured over us while we lay out on top of the boat and talked. Needless to say, we got our fill of vitamin D, and it felt SPECTACULAR.

In the beginning of this adventure, we said this wouldn't be a trip about just going to the beach and "liming", and after the description above, it may sound like we have failed in this aspect. But to me, today was not just liming with friends. We were able to experience the culture of Trinidad and reconnect with Nikki and her family, which is what we came here to do. Although we have only done one day of service work, I believe that we have all experienced, as well as learned about the culture of Trinidad immensely, which is just as valuable.

Today was a day to catch up with everyone, learn some Trinidadian lingo, and apparently develop nick names such as El Fruto and El Muchador...aka Terrence and Conor. oh bonding experiences. So among the many things that we have learned limin, el fruto, and el muchador are coming back to the states with us :)

an amazing day "down the islands"

Today we went "down the islands," as the Trinis say. This means that we went to the north-western tip of Trinidad where we got on a boat to cruise around for the day to check out some smaller islands. I LOVE being out on the water and this day was absolutely amazing!! The natural beauty of Trinidad could never cease to amaze me. Even though it's the dry season and Trinidad is experiencing a pretty significant drought, the scenery is still incredibly beautiful. As Jess put it, we probably had our laziest day thus far but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sunbathing surrounded by good company (including relentless entertainment provided by "el fruto" and "el muchador"), floating across a crystal blue ocean inhabited by graceful pelicans and flying fish (along with TONS of jellyfish!!), and observing the mountains and colorful cottages all around us while the popular local soca music blared from the deck below made for an unforgettable day. There were several moments when I just sat back, took in the beauty and positive energy all around me, and thought that this was the most care-free I've felt in a LONG time. If I could spend the afternoon like that for the rest of my life, I'd be a very happy woman (and probably a very sunburned one too...). After a fabulous day "down the islands," we are sporting some serious tan lines (or should I say, burn lines) but even that couldn't possibly put a damper on such a fun day! Oh, and to top it off, stopping to get some local ice cream on the way home was a great treat. I can definitely recommend the cherry vanilla/orange pineapple combination :)

The amazing Silver Stars

All this followed a wonderful dinner in he home of the Lee family...

Tonight thanks to insider info from Nikki Lee's fiancé's mother we were able to see one of the most famous steel drum bands (The Silver Stars) in all of Trinidad practice. A completely sublime experience. After the practice was done we stayed back and met some of the musicians and even tried our hand at drumming. One musician named "Spider" who is a professional and drums with the Trinidad Steel Drum Orchestra and another young man had a little friendly drum duel.