Thursday, April 09, 2009

To my people,

Even though nothing very eventful has happened since my last post I am sticking true to my word of trying to write a new entry about every week.
First I was able to watch UConn’s disappointing Final Four performance. The championship game was equally disappointing but I still watched it b/c it’s the championship. On a more pleasant note the Red Sox season started and although they lost their first series to the Rays its still exciting that the season is underway and I was able to watch a game already.

Last Sunday I went with the two guys that are here from Wisconsin into some woods on campus. We were on a mission to find dried bamboo in order to make these instruments called tamboo bamboo. We brought a machete which was fun to use and got some huge chunks of bamboo and brought them outta the woods and banged em around for a while. It made me miss my didgeridoo but we hit the bamboo against the ground for a while making different sounds and stuff and it was real fun.

Ive been keep on going to class obviously and have been going to the pool which is outdoor and on campus. Im killing three birds with one stone as I am killing time, getting exercise and getting a nice tan so I’d say it’s a pretty constructive use of time.

Today I went to the mall for the first time since Ive been here in TT. It is similarly constructed to a mall in the US except the stores don’t really display the variety of clothing styles they do back in the US, its really just urban/ designer and athletic. At home there is skater, goth/ punk, prep, designer, urban, athletic, etc. It is also interesting to see how much more imported goods from the US cost for instance I have flip flops that retail for USD $46 at REI and EMS and I saw them for 500 TT here (USD $83). In addition, food items that imported from the US sold at grocery stores are much more expensive here than they are in the US which makes sense its just not something I really thought about before I came here or was prepared to see. I also got BK at the mall which was great cuz I have been missing greasy fast food hamburgers from places like McDonalds/ BK/ Wendy’s.

I am extremely excited for two days, Sat night, when my mom and Charlie are coming to visit for 4 days. We are going to Tobago for the first two days and then I will show them around Trinidad and where I live for the following two days. I am also extremely excited to get my hands on some of the goodies they are bringing- sunflower seeds, baseball glove, dvds and some other things I have been missing.

Love and miss you all
-Pat