Campus Carnival, Cheese, Cuisine and School in a Nut Shell

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Yo everybody,

I figure it’s about time to update everybody back home of my travels. Before I jump into anything, I can confirm my address now…as awkward as it seems coming from the states, that is as much info as needed to have a letter or box or chocolates find it’s way to me, some Lehman’s French onion au gratin would be good too. The cheese down here is wack…they’ve got Land-O-Lakes and Crystal Farms and fresh milk from somewhere in Pennsylvania along with some other my American type dairy products, including Yoplait yogurt. What really threw me the other day was finding cheddar, I don’t know if I kept walking by it or if it had just been out of stock the past few weeks (yes, that happens…it was rough going without peanut butter for 2 weeks, didn’t realize anything about the salmonella outbreak for a while). Anyway, the main cheese they use down here is a white cheddar from New Zealand. It’s the only kind of cheese I’ve had in an local cuisine thus far. But it’s like no cheddar I’ve ever had before. White cheddar is normal enough, but it tastes like some kind of bland aged string cheese. I like it, as in I’ve almost eaten all of it…it’s just different.

Onto more interesting things than cheese, I’ve finally experienced some Trini parties. With carnival coming up, the main thing being played is Soca, which is a R and B or soul version of Calypso…supposedly founded in Trinidad. Not sure if that’s true, Trinidad seems to claim they’re the first and best in quite a few things…Calypso, Limbo, Chutney, Rum, Soca…the list goes on to include the beaches of Tobago and who knows what else. There’s one way to dance to Soca, and that’s wining…not sure if it means wind, wine or just nothing at all. Basically, you rotate you hips…three speeds: slow, fast and really fast. Then you’re free to throw whatever else in that you want as long as its some form of grinding. I think I’m picking it up, got a shout out at Campus Carnival last night from our Bubble Mania DJ…went something like this, ‘Wine on the white man, wine on the white man,’ to the rhythm of the song.

Before Campus Carnival, we had a party on Milner Hall. That was a fun night, but a really rough morning…no, I did not drink to much. The wining was so foreign to my Norwegian hips that I was cramping from waist down. When it comes to drinking, the locals seem to consume quite a bit less then what I’m use to in Wisconsin. I’ve also been surprised at the number of people who don’t drink, or only drink one and cut themselves off. Thusly, I have not been having too much either. But I’ve still sampled a few more of the domestics. When it comes to rum, I can’t say I have enjoyed the local stuff. Royal Oak and Black Oak taste more like whiskey then the rums that I have had. Somewhere I heard talk of rum flavored whiskey, so maybe that explains it…I’ll keep looking for the real deal. The local Guinness is good, it lies somewhere between a regular draught and extra stout in the states, so maybe it makes sense that the bottle only says ‘stout.’ All in all, a good respectable ale. Mackeson is Carib’s triple stout, which I’m also a fan of. Malt’s seem to be popular here, you can even get malt energy drinks. Have yet to try them, however. A soda, which I have thoroughly enjoyed many a time now is Angostura’s Lemon Lime & Bitters. So good, I’ve never had bitters in anything beyond my sips of my Dad’s Rob Roys. The soda is much better. Maybe they have it at the world market in the Twin Cities.

After Campus Carnival Friday night, we packed up for a beach lime at Maracus. Have to say it was the best time I’ve had at the beach yet. The waves were perfect, the temperature just right and I couldn’t help myself from getting a bake n’ shark, this time from a different vendor…must say it was not as good, but for 5 dollars less to be expected. We took two maxis there, but one driver took off with only 3 people, leaving about 20 to fit into the other maxi, which is only suppose to fit 14. But we made it work, that driver’s gotta learn how to engine break though, halfway home they were hot. Real hot.

Backtracking to school, yes I have been going. The rooms are air conditioned, so there’s enough incentive. Tuesday was a good day, we took a fieldtrip for Tropical Forest Ecology to collect and compare biotic and abiotic characteristics of lowland evergreen and montane forest. The former was an intensively managed tropic/sub tropic, still not clear on that, forest called Cleaver Woods. It is in the middle of a residential area and is full of trails and grass huts for picnics. From there we set off to Morne Bleu, which was definitely in the bush. I’m assuming we went to one of the highest peaks in the area because at the very top, were we unload 100 kids from maxis, there were a few enormous radio towers and satellite dishes the size of moderate homes. Ironically, it was raining, in a rainforest, who’d a thunk? Not me, nor the rest of the class…almost no one had raingear. All in all it was fun trekking through the bush (as the call it here) to run a transect. The lab was kind of a joke, to be honest. I’m sure it will change.

Other events, I dropped ecotourism…the class did not live up to expectation. They added a lecture Friday afternoon and moved two of the other three lecture times, which actually clashed with my extremely modest schedule or class 2-3 days a week depending on if I have lab. But, I’m still in full credit standings after picking up an independent study with a junior professor who’s earning here PhD at UWI. She’s seems like a pretty cool lady, from Australia. I will be learning basic GIS skills and mapping the changes in land use of the most fertile soils of Trinidad. Apparently, agriculture is taking a backseat to oil and tourism…which has resulted in foreign dependence on food and loss of some of the best farmland in the Caribbean. Sounds complex, but it’s right up my ally with the major I have, so it will prove to be interesting and useful. If I’m lucky it could even get tagged as an AAE300 requirement to my major and cut another course of my list. Cross your fingers.

My literature class has been going well, too. The first book was a pre feminist novel printed before it’s time, written be a white woman who grew up in the West Indies and later moved to Britain. I must say it was not the easiest thing to relate to. Pretty sure I’m the only guy in the course. This weeks book has been much different, however. Minty Alley, not exactly a melodrama, but entertaining all the same. And I’m over half way done. That should be farther than most of the class, they haven’t seemed to motivated lately. Each week there’s an oral presentation given by a group in the class on the weeks reading and the author. They’ve both been poorly done so far, the prof has ripped them apart (figuratively) for grammatical errors. So, I’m not to worried about that class anymore. My blogs may be full of error, but this is me typing as though I’m talking to a friend, not writing an essay for a prof.

Other highlights, I bought a machete the other day. The merchant thought it was pretty funny, but I should be good to go with trail blazing now. I’ll have to contact the owner of the PAX house now. I was going to go on a hike today, but it rained all day. Literally, all day. Good call on my part, because I know I would have forgotten my jacket.

And with Carnival up and coming, people are planning their Carnival Wednesday’s. Basically, it’s a vacation to recover from 2 days of dancing. A few of the students on hall and I are going to Tobago for a long weekend. The plane ticket is reasonable, $40 round trip and lodging will be about the same. Which is because of some local connections, it always pays to have friends. They also know somebody with a dive shop that’s going to take us out and a few of the local surf instructors. Hopefully all of these things will come true. If not, I can just lay on the beach all day…should be able to manage that.

More food updates. Roti and Bussupshot. I’ve only ordered the veggie so far, pretty amazing. I can get both on campus for 15TT ($2.50), this meal will keep you full all day long. Curried potatoes and chickpeas and sweet pumpkin are pretty standard and the last few times I’ve gotten a spiced type of long green beans and a pepper and curry type of mango, which is amazing. You tear off chunks from your Roti, a type of Indian flatbread (it’s not like lefsa, at all) and you scoop up the food with it…a kind of edible fork or spoon. Pretty ingenious.

I’m sure there’s more I could say, but this may all be getting a tad long to read. Until next time, I’ll try to enjoy myself. Sorry there arn't more pictures from what I talked about, I'll track some down from the others.

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Photos

East of Maracus
My current desktop, this view is spectacular.

Tacos!
I'de been craving Mexican for a while, so Isaiah and I decided to whip up som tacos.

Isaiah's Happy Face
We were both pretty excited about our tacos. We even made pico de gallo. And we found a subsitute for cilantro, it's called Shadow Benny and grows everywhere. Certain patches of grass are full of it, smells amazing after they mow.

Freeloaders
Sheran (sure-on) had never had tacos. She was a little turned off at everything we were throwing together, but I think she enjoyed the fact that two boys were cooking for her.

Fresh Crab
We picked up live crap at the market too, $3.33 a lb. Proved to be more trouble than it was worth, we used my pliers to crack the shells.

Life is Good
Two hands, two beers. Patrick and I were managing just fine, we decided we'd probably go back some time.

Birthday and Ruby Tuesdays
It was the only place we could find on Valentines day, and it's also the first time I've felt underdressed at a Ruby Tuesdays. They tend to dress up when they dress up down here.

Hall Sports
I forgot to mention, we had hall sports this past week. My house, Yellow House, took second. Football, cricket, volleyball, basketball, ping pong, swimming a marathon (20 minutes) and track and field were all events. I placed in a few swimming events and the 800 meter run, I knew 2 months of Track in highschool would come in handy. And I was even a respectable player on the bball team, not exatcly a big sport down here.

Comments

[Ayanna]

Wah's de scene dread...
I stumbled upon this blog...was looking for a new desktop background...loved the shots you took of Maracus and the Mangrove...I'm so jealous, I miss home...enjoy Carnival Monday and Tuesday...tomorrow night you'll probably go to jouvert in town but see if your friends could take you to the one in 'Sando (San Fernando) instead, if you've acclimated enough you'll enjoy it. And I wouldn't reccommend Maracus for last lap, it's always too crowded...go to Manzanilla (there's a free concert usually). Oh and don't leave for Tobago on Ash Wednesday because it's more hassle than it's worth. Listen, if you're bored or you're over it, I'd gladly trade places with you...haven't been back in over a year...NY sucks...this recession is a bitch. We did create/invent Calypso, soca, chutney, limbo, the steelpan, roti, doubles, Carnival as its practiced in Latin America and the Caribbean, and several types of liquors (but not rum itself of course) :-)>

[essevan]

Yuh boy
Thanks for checking it out, and fillin' me in. I've already got tickets to jouvert in POS, but I was planning on Tobago for Wednesday...maybe I'll reconsider. Can't say I can take up your offer, stay warm in NY.