SS Uprising

It's countdown time and we only have a few weeks left before we leave Trinidad for good, 37 days to be precise. So much to see and do before we leave. We are trying to cram in everything now, trying to fit it all in between school, work, visit to Toronto and of course the dreaded packing. Not to mention the kids wanting their friends to all come for a sleepover. I am running out of weekends!!!! Still to see the turtles- doing that next weekend at Grande Riviere, Dave still to go diving, not sure if that is going to happen!

We were treated to a lovely performance at the Queen's Hall on Saturday. The Lilliput Theatre was performing their annual school performance. We had gone to see Adunni and Orishola perform, Adunni being Jasmine's best friend here in Trini and Orishola's Adunni's younger brother. The performance was called SS Uprising, and it was loosely based on Moby Dick I think, but never having read the book, I don't know, maybe this should spur me on the read a few more classics. The play was performed mainly by the older children. There was a sea captain and his crew, Captain Nakked? He was meant to be Scottish and the girl playing him had an almost perfect English accent. As the Lilliput theatre was attended by kids of all ages, the main play was interjected by short dance performances by the younger children, all dressed in sailor costume, some more elaborate with carnivalesque masks and headgear.

The dancing by some of the older children was modern contemporary and I saw a lot of yoga and Pilates in the moves, LOL, it was also very Ballet Rambert, looked effortless and graceful with clean lines and interesting formations. It was not all modern though, there was a flavour of the Caribbean in the dancing throughout, a bit of winding, palancing and chipping.

All done with flair!

I have nearly forgotten to mention the singing, and there was a lot of that too. I particularly enjoyed the rap the kids sang as they introduced themselves, as crew and mates of SS Uprising. The captain was a mean guitarist and did a solo rendition of The Proclaimers' 500 miles, but changed it to fit the play, "and I will sail 500 miles, to catch that whale" LOL.

Here's a write up from the Express Trinidad and Tobago.... I have no other pics as we were not allowed to take any pics or videos of the performance.

practice makes perfect: Members of the cast rehearsing for the show. -Photos courtesy Lilliput Theatre

Out on the open ocean, in the middle of nowhere with a seemingly mad captain and a sense of trouble brewing, the crew of the SS Uprising shipped out thinking themselves whale-hunters, but are now about to discover the rest of their surprising story.

When their captain finally reveals himself after days in seclusion, the crew is already uneasy; at sea since hoisting anchor with no leadership beyond an unstable first mate, they need direction. The captain appears, but the sight of him in this state does nothing to calm their fears.

Tensions already run high with the third mate jockeying for a more elevated position and the first mate on the edge of losing control. Lower down the ranks are whispers of trouble, of dark forces threatening to capsize the Uprising if on-deck battles don’t sink her first. This motley crew of wanderers, warriors and fugitives may depend on each other for life and limb on the water, but each brings personal baggage on board, even those trying desperately to leave it on land.

When the wild-eyed captain tells this crew what they’ve truly shipped for, what his secret desire is, what their mission is, will the first mate press mutiny?

Does the crew know enough of their fearless leader’s shrouded past to foresee their future if they follow?

Does the captain offer enough reward that drunken sailors don’t care?

As they close in on their elusive prize, the last thing the SS Uprising needs is the storm rising around them

Lilliput Theatre’s SS Uprising brings different histories together, placing traditional sailor mas at the centre of a classic story. The young performers inhabiting this crossover world tell tales of dreams versus obligation, expectations versus reality, exploring what drives them and what it takes to make it on the sea.

-Elisha Efua Bartels

Mitch and Jas came along, and Mitch was prepared to be bored, but he amazed himself by enjoying it so much he posted something about it on FB! The sound and light effects were good, thunder and lightning and the music. The musicians made the play come alive....

It's also election day here today, Vote for Change, I hope the Trinidadians vote wisely and that true democracy rules!

Eating mangoes in the pool

It's mango season and Dave brought home some mangoes from the office orchard last Friday. It was a carrier bag full of small ripe mangoes, smaller than the starch mangoes, with instructions from Ram on how to eat them. You bite a hole in the bottom and just suck the juice out! So, we did just that. I also started to eat the skin, as I had eaten mango skin on unripe mangoes before. They were lovely but messy, eating them like that, juice running down our chins, staining them a bright orange, we all looked like orange beard, and not bluebeard!!!

We went to Maracas yesterday, taking every opportunity to go to the beach before we leave Trini at the end of June. It also stops us from lazing around all day doing nothing. The plan was to have bake and fish for brunch as we had left without having breakfast. We had all got up a bit late as we had been at Mariele's son's birthday party the day before and had stayed til 10.30 pm. That was a lovely afternoon and evening, the kids were happy playing games and swimming and the adults were liming. A lot of Spanish was spoken as Mariele and Javier are from Bolivia and their friends came from other S American countries- Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. One of the friends even recognised Dave and started to talk to Dave in Spanish and Dave looked up blankly, until he was reminded about the meeting they had attended together nearly a year ago! The beer was flowing, the barbecue lit and kids were having a go at the chocolate fountain.

Back to the beach- we got our bakes and sharks, Mitch and I had potato pie and shark for a change, sat in the car, and it could almost be a scene out of any English coast side, sat in your parked car, eating your packed sandwiches and admiring the view in the rain! Of course, we weren't in England, it was far too hot for that, and the rain was a torrential downpour and we were having bake and shark with pepper sauce... hehehehe

The rain abated and our stomachs full, we strode off to the beach, the waves were great, about 1.5-2m high and we had a lovely time jumping the waves and body surfing, til Dave was overcome by a wave and managed to do some acrobatic antics in the water that left him with an injured knee! No more waves for him.. out he hobbled, trunks nearly revealing a builder's bum, not that he was in any state to care, and me, chasing after him saying, what's happened, what's happened, I asked Mitch and and I heard him say Daddy's got to pee! What he actually said was, daddy's hurt his knee...... sigh, guess we're not that young anymore and every tumble we take, we fall hard as we're not as flexible as we used to be. Actually, I woke up this morning with a strained neck, and it must have been when the waves crashed over me and I was pulled under, but thought nothing of it at the time.

Dave out of the sea, ice on knee, he was happy to read his book. Kids and I still in the sea and Mitch spotted some friends of ours, Sam and Harry, Matthew and Adam... so, Trisha and Iain, Cathy and Alan, Dina and Jeremy, Becky and Sean and another couple we didn't know were there too. We soon joined them and the kids all had a great time till it was time to go, as Mitch still had some homework to complete. It was the longest I have ever stayed in the sea, and had gone back in several times and I think I may have overcome my fear of the sea, another thing to be thankful for!

We got home, and as usual, went to the back yard to shower all the sand off and jump into our pool, not ours for much longer. We had taken some mangoes to the beach, but not eaten them, so we tossed them all in the pool, for a game of dive and find a mango. Jas found many and put them on the side, and Mitch threw them all back in! I just found some and started eating them! Soon we were all eating them, again the juice making orange beards and moustaches. It was sheer bliss. I said to Dave..... why do we have to go??? Never having eaten so many mangoes in one go, in a pool and they were free mangoes too, life seemed all too good to be true!

Today, I finally got the car's certified copy of registration, and whilst I was waiting, I caught the eye of another Chinese girl who was also there last week. I was about 6 places in front of her in the queue. I was seen in 30 minutes, and after another 10mins, I walked out with my precious piece of paper. As I passed the Chinese girl, she asked me, did you get through? Hahahahaha, I knew what she meant, unlike 9 months ago, when I did not know what people meant when I was asked, you getting through? I had visions of me being a ghost and getting through object and people LOL. So, I told her, yes, I got through, and it was only our 5th visit!!! LOL.

I saw the girl again, about an hour later, as I had gone home to discover that I had left my novel behind and had to go back!!!!!! She was still waiting and I hope she managed to get her cert too.

I had a very productive day today, I did part of the housework before the school run, did the car thing, home for breakfast and more housework, back to the car place for my book, off to the bank to pay the Canadian Visa fees, had lunch with the lovely Jill, bought a dress for Jasmine, a top for myself,picked up kids from school, came back, finished off the housework, and cooked up a storm.... I could get used to being a housewife........

Life is a changing

Since my last post, things are a changing. Changing? What? Again? Yes, again, but then that is life though, isn't it? Nothing in life is permanent. People age, as I know very well having celebrated my 44th birthday today, my children continue to grow and develop at an alarming rate, the seasons change, moving on to the rainy season here soon, mangoes on the tree ripen and fill my tummy with delight and so on and so forth.

So, what has been happening? Not a lot, I was minding my own business, helping out at Moksha, even managed to drag Dave to a couple of classes which he didn't enjoy, unfortunately, but did feel some benefit from. I continued to play receptionist at Mamatoto, being mum, wife, children's taxi, going to Yoga, walking with friends and neighbours, enjoying the life I had adopted since moving to Trinidad.

Then about 10 days ago, I had a call from Dave, who was at work, and I could tell he had something important to tell me, he started the conversation by saying, how are you? how's your day going? what you been up to? BUT I could hear an edge to his voice, I could also hear that he was outdoors. I replied, doing the housework, mopping the floors, had cleaned at Yoga and then did a class etc etc. Then he said, they want me to go to Canada! Wooooahhhh boy!!! Steady on.....

So, my life is about to change again. I should be used to this, after all, I am MRS Change, the poltergeist in the house, I would change the furniture round in the house at a whim, not consulting anyone, changed the colour of the walls if I got bored, so much so, that Dave would swear that there was a poltergeist in the house. I would move things around when he was at work or asleep and he would return to find his favourite chair in another space!!! Once I even changed our bedroom, we were at the front of the house, and when he got back from work, we were sleeping at the back LOL.

I guess this time round, I had set my mind on being in Trinidad for 2 years, even though I knew that it was not guaranteed, I didn't think that I would be moving before the 1st year was up. It's another upheaval for the kids, we are now fairly settled here, I have been made to feel so welcome by the locals, forged many friendships with my neighbours and also the girls from the asian ladies group. Not to mention the friends I have made at Moksha. I feel so at home here, despite disliking the heat and humidity, the mossies and cockroaches. I am not ready to go, but go we will have to come the end of June.

At this point in writing, nothing is finalised and we may not end up in Canada, we may well be heading home or somewhere else. It's all very unsettling and my heart is heavy. I am stressed, as much as I like change, I also like stability. I am a creature of contradictions!!! I feel tired at the thought of the forthcoming move, I fall asleep and awake after 3-4 hours, staring into the darkness and finding it difficult to get back to sleep and drift in and out of sleep til the dawn breaks, feeling unrefreshed and wondering what the future holds......

Part of me feels excited, another move, another country, more opportunities for the children and for me to return to work. Part of me doesn't want to give up my neighbours and friends I have made here.... who will always be my friends and I will endeavour to keep in touch with. I am dreading the thought of having to make new friends and networks, but I am sure I will be fine and will take this into my stride once I know exactly where we are heading to.

So, this Monday saw me down at the Vehicle and Transport office trying to obtain a certified copy of my car registration with the above mentioned office. When you buy a car in Trini, you have to transfer ownership and pay a fee, then pay another fee for the copy of the registration stating the vehicle is now registered under your name. We bought the car in Sept, 09, it is now May 2010, we still have no certified copy. Not for want of trying , I might add. We have been to that office, queued and got to the front to be told, we can't find it, comeback in a week and we will have it ready. We leave it 5-6 weeks, go back, first thing, 8 am, queue, I'll let you guess what I was told when I got to the desk.... any guesses? Did they have the cert???? Did they heck! It's not here, let me go and ask my supervisor what to do..... comes back, you need to see the chief clerk, take a number and wait to be seen, vehicle on the system, you need to see clerk to get a copy printed out....I seeee.... luckily I brought my iPod, but should I really be listening to it in public? Should I let others see I have an iPod? What if someone tried to rob me the minute I left the office to get to my car???? Reports of recent burglaries is making me paranoid... but those thoughts did run through my head. I overcame them and watched my best of YouTube podcasts, it helped me pass the time.... I also spent some time talking to a pleasant man, also on another visit, waiting to see the clerk, doing a favour for a friend and it wasn't his 1st visit either .. hahahahaa. We had an interesting conversation and the conclusion was that it could only get better, the systems are out there, to simplify processes and one day, Trinidad would have them, it's not happening soon, but it will happen one day!!!

Before I got to see the clerk, there was some confusion about the order the numbers were being given out, never mind I thought, I have only been here 2 hours, and I know I will be asked to come back again, as they have nothing for me, just as they had nothing for Dave 5 weeks ago. The chief clerk was very apologetic, and said, it has not been done, I am sorry, come back next week and it will be done. it's on the system you say? Just needs a copy printing? Can you do it now? Oh, No, we do not print now, we have other people who will do the printing when the office is closed and I promise you, you will have your copy in a week, just come back to see me. Ok, I said. Well?? What else could I say??? Thank goodness I am not working, and do not have to take time off to do this kind of thing, which most of the people in the queue did in order to be told to return, take another morning off... to be fair, some people did walk away with what they came for.

There was a sign there that tickled me, it said, research clerk counter will be closed at 2pm in order for us to do more research!!!! Had me in fits and giggles. Oh well... I have a strange sense of humour.

Will I get this certified copy next Monday? Will we be going to Canada???? Till the next blog......