Easter weekend egg-stravaganza

Pardon the pun. Actually my Easter long weekend did not involve a single egg - though my friend Custy had some chickens at his house who had laid some - and it did not involve any chocolate. I know, pretty shocking! But don't let the lack of these typical Easter icons fool you, I still brought out the child out in me. I had seen a lot of children flying kites over the past few months and heard that Easter as the big weekend to fly and make kites. Without enough time to make one - I didn't even know that was possible! - my friend Jason and I bought one to fly by a cane field in St. Philip.

It's definitely been a few years since I last flew a kite, but after adding extra tail to our little guy, it got some air. Not as sweet as the 26-foot record breaking kite flown here last week here, but I could not seem to wipe the smile off my face nonetheless. Apparently all the children here make their own kites with sticks or sugar cane stalks as the frame, a cut plastic bag to cover it and ripped bedsheets as the tail. I saw a toddler with his little newspaper and stick kite on my way home from work the other day. I would like to try making one - but with constant rain here the last week or two, I'll have to wait a bit longer.

I accidentally let go of the kite at one point, but luckily the spool caught itself in some cane not too long after I shot up and ran like a maniac after it. It also dropped in a distant field after the wind died down abruptly and by the time I reached it, it was about to be cut my a young boy on his bike. Got there right in time, but that kite clipping business is serious stuff here!

Saturday I relaxed and enjoyed some Ital food being cooked for me. Ital is basically Rasta food made with no salt, oil or meat (with fish as the exception) and using fresh coconut milk whenever possible. After opening up two old coconuts, chopping them, and blending and straining the mixture, Custy and Jason added spice and freshly ground nutmeg to make an amazing coconut punch. I later dreamed about this punch and hope to re-create it again soon.

On Monday, I woke up nice and early to join running buddy Rodders at Queens Park in town for a 10km run to Oistins, as part of the Oistins Fish Festival festivities. After a quick nap, I headed back to watch some of the goings on, sample some treats and take in the Greasy Pole competition. Essentially, a flagpole gets completely slathered with thick, yellow grease for machinery and a group of men try to climb on top of each other in an attempt to reach the prize money at the top of the pole - I heard it's $500 USD!

Definitely both amusing and heart-wrenching to watch as feet were shoved into faces and piles of bodies collapsed. Check out the winning team!

I know this post comes late and I'll make sure more ongoings get up here in the next month before I come home - time is just flying! Haha get it? Flying?

Cricket for the Blind

This is a little tidbit I meant to post about a few weeks ago when my brother first left.

After hugging my brother goodbye at the airport, I took the ZR van along the South coast back towards home. After about 10 minutes, a young girl about 12 years old, dressed in a blue t-shirt and shorts, climbed carefully into the van with her oddly-shaped bag. As she made her way to the back of the van, her mother spoke diligently with the driver, directing him to escort the girl somewhere I was not familiar with when they arrived at the terminal. I thought perhaps the two knew each other and that the girl was heading to a friend's house. But upon catching a glimpse of the printing on the t-shirt and the difficulty she was having to make her way to the back empty seats, I realized that this girl is blind. And that inside this bag was her cricket equipment. Immediately intrigued, I looked up the game when I arrived back home - it looks like a really big deal in India and the UK. Each time fields 11 players, as 20/20 goes, of which a certain number have to be legally blind, while the other players can be visually impaired. The ball emits a noise making it possible to hit even without seeing it. Along with a few other changes, visually impaired children and adults can play the same sports at a higher level.

Cricket in Barbados, and in the West Indies in general, is a phenomenon. I will not go as far to say that it is akin to Football in South America, however with the UK legacy in the region, it is still incredibly popular. For someone whose mom has worked at Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind for the past 10 years, I am really interested in watching a game! I'll let you know how it goes.

Visa issues aside...Antigua!

It's the moment you've all been waiting for...okay not really but finally the title of my blog can live up to its regional expectations after a short work trip to Antigua.

On the communications side, UNICEF is working in select countries in the region to equip children and youth with the writing, photography and video-making skills to enable and motivate them to speak out on issues affecting them, their community and their country. Sounds vague, but workshops like this one in Antigua, help to show young people that their opinions matter. The video productions group, facilitated by LiveUp host Mitzi Allen, brought youth into groups to plan, script, budget, shoot, edit and present a five minute segment on a topic of their choosing. I was impressed when the three groups chose themes of child abuse, peer pressure and sports promoting positive youth development. I'll have to post the videos next week when they're finished!

The journalism/photography group were told to list three of their passions and focus on one for their story, and some really interesting ideas came out: from redefining the word 'ghetto', to girl guides tuning down the aggression of one girl, to discussing what happens to orphans and forgotten children in the family law system from the perspective of an adopted girl.

Focus group on Monday went well, though a lot of kids were shy even when I spoke to them directly. And most of them had never heard of UNICEF, let alone the CRC so at least I was able to explain a bit about that.

One of the highlights of this trip was definitely meeting Fidel and Cozy, two bright and upfront girls, who took some time to show me around and share about themselves openly. And I thought Barbados was a small island; Antigua has less than 100,000 people and everyone knows everyone’s business. Such is the case with “Antigua’s list: girls” – a survey voted on by a plethora of males (I hesitate to use the word men because the whole idea is beyond immature) with categories such as “Menstruating Barbie”, “Cutest Face” and “Best Body.”

As you may know, I turned 24 on Monday while in Antigua, though without text and virtual messages from friends and family, I might have completely forgot! After the workshop finished, I went to eat a giant, delicious pizza at Big Banana, followed by an ice cream-topped fresh waffle from the Australian, which later I found out are the two must-eat-at places in Antigua. After eating, I strolled around the harbour, snapped some sweet shots and met the Sushi Kid. This artist, music producer and sushi master successfully guessed my age and went on to explain how he was planning on becoming a millionaire in the next 4 years. Ronald Silencieux, his real name, was quite the character but made it perfectly clear how few opportunities there were on the island. I spent the rest of the evening enjoying more ice cream and talking about life with a complete stranger. It’s about finding joy in the unexpected.

Tuesday I spent most of the morning talking with Fidel and documenting more of the youth workshops. Her and Cozy wanted to show me more of the island but when we ran out of time before my flight, we made a quick stop by the coast and for some sandwiches before I headed back to Barbados.

Side note about flying Liat (the Caribbean regional airline)aka Leave the Island at Any Time. For real, the plane left 15 minutes early. The pilot apologized for the delay in leaving as I boarded, calling out “we were delayed because of the individual coming on board just now.” Oh thanks. Luckily I smiled, waved and said sorry to all 6 other people on-board.

Every day I am learning more about UNICEF’s role in working with partners in that we document the process – necessary for our transparency but it can be burdensome for partners, we speak at the opening and closing ceremonies of conferences, workshops and trainings, and we ask partners to fill out surveys and forms to receive their funds. Now that I have a better understanding of these processes, I think it's time to get some hands-on work under my belt, and now that I have my return to Canada date of May 27th, it’s time to really think about what’s next for me!

Sibling love and missing moments

After a hiatus that just flew by, I'm back to keep you posted on life on this (increasingly) small tropical island. I find myself saying "cheese on this island is very small" even more now!

First things first, my brother Matt, my first visitor while working abroad, spent a week here and it was both refreshing and exhausting. I felt simultaneously like a tour guide, parent, sister and bank. Working overseas has its perks - new and stimulating environments, meeting a world of different people, personal growth, running from winter in Canada, but it necessitates sacrifices as well. These sacrifices are more evident a certain times than others. Missing time while my younger brother grows up is right up there on the list of things it pains me to give up. I definitely learned that I can't bridge that distance in a week, especially not by overspending and giving him everything.

I can understand how a separated parent can feel by buying things to make up for lost time. But at least from my end, just spending time together - checking out a junior surf competition at Bathsheba on the East Coast and hanging out all together with some friends here - was the greatest feeling. I know a week cannot make up for many months missing at a time, but just appreciating it nonetheless as an opportunity to share my life with family and spend whatever time we have together, catching up. The feeling of hearing my brother rave about how amazing his first surf lesson was and together, watching him catch a wave on his own, is incredible.

Other highlights of his time here include getting him to dance, our tour of the Mount Gay Rum facility, not your average domino games, eating a lot of good food and enjoying the beaches. All I can do is be happy that we got to spend this time together.

In other news, I need to get back in shape for Oistins 10km run at the end of April. Too much hailing of the ice cream truck recently. And on the work front, looks like I might be in Antigua for my birthday and a couple days following for some youth media training, so fingers crossed I'll find out early this week.

Nickname updates: Met the following people in the last two weeks - Scotland Yard, Blood Stain (intense), Sacky, Ziggy and Damian (after Ziggy and Damian Marley).

And lastly, looking forward to Reggae Fest and Oistins Fish Fest - I heard some women can de-bone a flying fish in seconds! - at the end of April.

After a rainy session at Surfer's Point

It's about time!

I have been in Barbados for almost 6 months. Barbados is 430 square kilometres. Just the size of urban Ottawa is 357 square kilometers. It is slightly embarrassing to admit that I had not toured the country before yesterday. But at least we did it and since this week is a bit chaotic for me - my brother is coming on Wednesday! - this post might be dominated by photos. I have a feeling most people won't mind!

I did end up having a lovely weekend, involving celebrating a friend Ricardo's birthday (check out the snicker's decorated cake we got for him) on Friday and taking in a performance from Peter Ram, a popular bashment freestyle artist. Saturday was probably a contender for my laziest day ever in Barbados, and Sunday went surfing at Surfer's Point and first time I didn't get pushed into any waves. After surfing, spent the rest of the day on the island tour. Would like to give more details but need my rest right now, will update this later in the week hopefully.

Started by picking up a slew of great people pon de west coast, and saw him!

Finally made it to the North point - where do you want to go from here?

It's Animal Flower Cave (though we didn't go down in it - apparently the sea anemones for which it's named have mostly been washed away with rough weather the last few years.

So I made due with relaxing and taking in the amazing view.

Catching a rainbow!

This is Cherry Tree Hill (strangely no cherry trees) with a beautiful view to the Scotland district of Barbados, famous for the only rolling hills on the island and "ecky-beckies", White Barbadian descendants of prisoners and indebted servants.

I thought this was THE windmill of Barbados; apparently not.

Prime example of island erosion and the effects of climate change. That is a house. On a rock.

Pools at Bathsheba - should have brought my bathing suit!

Reminds me of a crazy straw!

Each parish has it's own parish church (so we saw quite a few). This one is where the former PM David Thompson is buried.

After going through St. Michael, St. James, St. Peter, St. Lucy, St. Andrew, St. John, St. Joseph and St. Philip, we go round past the airport and back home in Christ Church. That's almost all the parishes in one day!

A mix of things going on

First, Happy International Women's Day! To borrow from a note written by Melissa: "Today is simply a reminder that we (children, men, women and everyone in between) should mobilise for women yesterday, today, tomorrow and for all the days after that." It's not about the specific day but just to recognize that each individual, woman or otherwise, is unique and faces unique challenges, has special talents and embodies all the potential in the world if they are given an opportunity.

In other news, I had a fairly quiet weekend, with another surf lesson on Sunday with some new and old faces. Finally learning to catch my own waves; I can read when a set is coming in but still hard to time the paddling so that I actually ride the wave and not get rocked by it! I was at the beach with a friend Saturday afternoon, played a little raquette ball, enjoyed some rum punch and swam around for awhile. Last week, I went to a different friend's football (soccer) match, and watching from the sidelines really made me miss playing! Here is a picture from the game with a friend's little sister Samantha.

It's down to crunch time in Spanish class, so plan on cramming that for the next few weeks. The Institute is actually planning an Easter weekend trip to Venezuela - pretty cheap so it's tempting.

Otherwise, still running in the mornings and really liking experimenting in the kitchen recently, especially with red lentils. Next to milo, this is my current mini obsession. But eating more veg (even tried these), feeling good and thinking about my lovely friends in DC.

As I continue budgetting for food here, I thought you might appreciate a visual illustration of purchasing conundrums in a small island state.

This 2L jug of decent rum costs about 20 dollars

This package of strawberries costs 11.

Tax went up 2.5% in January, so VAT is sitting at 17.5% at a time when impacts from the economic crisis in North America as still being felt here. All over the world, prices of foodstuffs are going up, which affects people's buying choices. Already I can see a lot of American and fast food influence on people's eating habits here - between KFC and the local McDonald's equivalent Cheffette, I can see a lot of people get that taste for salt and a bargain. Here's hoping public health becomes more of a priority.

Also, my brother comes in T-one week!

Nicknames and our little misadventure

Just a few observations about nicknames here. First, they are very widely used. Second, they follow you, good or bad, pretty much forever. Third, here you can know someone for a very long time without actually knowing their 'real' name. And fourth, they serve the purpose of providing an alias should you decide to do something illegal, with the idea that the police would look for you using your real name, which some may not even know. Sneaky. One of our regular bus drivers, Piley, which is embroidered on his dashboard Kleenex box, and Supa Ted, a driver we had on a Bridgetown-bound West coast bus, are just some of the names I have heard. In Canada, we generally call each other by our full name or a short or cutesy version of it. It is rarer to call someone another name all together on a regular basis. In Barbados, I have been known to respond to Shorty and most people’s nicknames correspond to physical features: Tall man, Big guy, Rasta, Red man, Picka (he is a picky eater), etc. We used to have some dancer friends here: Casper, Froggy and Scooby. But I like it all. Keep your eyes peeled for a future post on speakin' like a Bajan - Melissa is officially getting "lessons"!

On the weekend front, Saturday I met up for lunch with some friends of my dad’s – thanks for lunch, ice cream and friendly faces Jim and Silvia! – and limed the rest of the day away back at Crane Beach. And eating some coconuts right out the tree!
On Sunday, Melissa, Chris and I headed out to the West coast after my surf lesson with the vision of taking out the kayak, catching a glimpse of some turtles and snorkeling around the marine park. I had done it already many times on my own and even with Melissa last month, so by now I should have the routine down pact, right? How wrong I was. I heard swell was big on the West coast, since surfing Sunday morning at Freights on the South Coast was not that great wave-wise. Apparently when one is good, the other really isn’t. But even after dragging the kayak, snorkel gear, fins, anchor, waterproof camera, bread for attracting fish, towels and whatever else down to the water’s edge, the wave breaks along the beach seemed manageable. We had all the good intentions in the world, watching the wave sets and looking for a calm moment to push in the kayak and hop on. But we misjudged. Badly. And the kayak (which has a crack in it already) filled completely with water, making it an 8 foot long rock sinking and crashing into shore! It knocked Melissa clear off her feet, sprawling into the water, along with all of our gear! And me, who owns a kayak at home and is at least a self-professed intermediate kayaker, was at a loss to figure out how to drain the extremely awkward and weighty boat. Meanwhile, I am sure the row of tourists sunbathing nearby was particularly amused at our little chaotic antics. Essentially for about an hour, we wrestled with the waves and keeping the kayaking from taking in water on the launch. And then we realized that in the midst of all the confusion, we lost both snorkel masks – the whole purpose of going out in the first place!

Sam, if you’re reading this, Copper is looking for them, sorry! And your anchor as well. Not sure how we managed to lose that one. I suppose it’s a particular skill of mine.

All you can do is laugh it off, and after some good home cookin’ and a beautiful sunset, we headed back to the South coast, ready for the work week.

Check it out: post-surf lesson at Freights Bay!