TRINIDAD CARNIVAL 2015!!!!!

The previous week has been sooo crazy, full of events, lack of sleep, & lots of fun! Everyone in Trinidad has been preparing for Carnival, which was on Monday & Tuesday. Most of the events that we have attended beforehand are warm ups for Carnival. Along the way we've had people ask us if we're in a band, if we're excited, & if we've gone to so and so event along with advice about safety & ways to enjoy ourselves while we're here. I've had an idea of what Carnival is like based off of YouTube videos & pictures online but that it soooo different to actually experiencing it! Not only are we living in Trinidad & Tobago 4 months but we got to be a part of so many things that many tourists or other international students don't have the opportunity to participate in. Below is a brief description of the events we attended the week leading up to Carnival.
On Tuesday the 10th, after dance practice, I had class so I went to that then came back & prepared for one of our group lectures. The one for that day was lectured by Candice & it focused on the History of the Canboulay Riots of 1881. If it wasn't for these riots, Carnival wouldn't be what it is today. Thankfully to the ex-enslaved who faught for their rights, Trinidadians now have what we know as Carnival Mas on Monday & Tuesday. I won't say too much about it on here but I highly suggest you guys take the time to learn about this point in Trinidadian history. Carnival is a whole lot more than half naked women & men, dressed up in beads & glitter, it's about the expression of freedom & celebration of their culture! Candice did really well at teaching us about & she was so knowledgeable about every fact; she did write her thesis on this when she graduated with her Master's from UWI after all. Later that evening, we attended the Stick Fighting Finals. They were held in an arena that looked like it also served a race car track or something. The seating was multiple stands & rows of chairs on the ground surrounding the fighting ring in the middle. People started filling up the place pretty quickly so we were glad we got there when we did & got really good seats right in front of the ring. When the fights started, we watched the Whip Masters come out & put on a show. They basically whipped each other with really thick ropes and even whipped themselves, it was pretty painful to watch but kind of cool haha. Then they had a group of Tamboo Bamboo players play some music, then they played the national anthem before the fights started. We got pretty into them as some of the fighters got really aggressive & it got really intense. The crowd hyped up a lot of the emotion too since a lot were acting like Barbarians and yelling at the fighters, it was pretty cool haha.
We didn't have anything scheduled for Wednesday so we all just relaxed that whole day because we had our final dance practice with Michael on Thursday at 8am. It was a little bittersweet coming to the end of those practices that we have worked so hard on. It was sad that we won't be seeing our funny choreographer as often but nice because we don't have to wake up at 8am every Tuesday & Thursday morning haha.  It went pretty well & we were all ready for Tuesday to perform. Later that day we went to Kaisorama which was a Calypso competition similar to the smaller ones at the Calypso tents. This event was held at the big stage at the Savannah where the King & Queen Prelims were. It was a lot of fun to watch talented singers take the stage, this time with the help of props, background dancers, and some funny skits that were part of their performances. We saw a few of the singers from the Kalypso Revue we went to a few weeks ago which excited us a bit. This competition was a lot more entertaining than the one we first went to overall just because there was a more going on. It was fun watching the finalists compete and watch, 'Lingo' (Joseph Vautor-La Placeliere), become the Extempo champion. We were there from 6pm until about midnight so as entertaining as it was, we were pretty exhausted & ready for bed since we would only get a few hours of sleep until the next event.
On Friday morning, we had to wake up at 3am so we basically got to nap after Kaisorama. We went to the Reenactments of the Canboulay Riots of 1881. We arrived and there were a lot of people already gathered already for the time that it was. I guess these reenactments always gather a good sized crowd so that explains why we had to arrive early enough. It took almost 2 hours for the show to start but it was so worth it because the show was so good! It was held in the middle of the street where the actual riots occurred and was reenacted by actors and volunteers that have done it for many years. It was really cool seeing what we learned be acted out. After the show, they held a mini parade with a few of the traditional characters that were a part of the show like the Dame Lorreine, Pierrot Grenade, the Blue Devils (our favorites!) & a few extras. That was lots of fun because the sun was already rising (it was 6am) and people were already partying! Sleep wasn't on my mind that's for sure! Haha. We left there to go get some breakfast that Ken was so kind to buy for us. We arrived at the lodge and took naps since later that evening we would be heading to Soca Monarch 2015! Candice told us about it a while ago & offered to buy our tickets. This isn't part of the program schedule so it was optional but we all decided we wanted to go so we joined her along with her family & friends. This competition was held at the Socadrome. We left the lodge with a fully loaded bus of people ready to fete all night! We arrived to the Socadrome and Candice & Ken gave us some information about sticking with the group and stuff & just to be careful since people can get pretty wild at this thing. We did a prayer circle with everyone that went which was such a nice moment to share. I'll say it again as I always do, I am so blessed to be meeting such amazing & kind-hearted people on this trip! We walked into the Socadrome & I was so excited the moment we walked through those gates. Seeing the lights, the stage, the big screen tv's and hearing the music gave me a feeling that I literally cannot explain. We marked our spot for our group then some of us ran up to the front of the stage while we still had the chance to... It was awesome! Seeing all these famous Soca artists perform all the songs we've been hearing everywhere since we arrived was such an amazing experience.. I still can't get those images out of my head! Ahhhh! We danced & drank all night & enjoyed ourselves to the fullest! We left there at like 5 in the morning & went straight to bed to prepare for another early morning the next day- or a few hours later haha.
Saturday morning, we left the lodge at 9am to attend the Kiddie Carnival held in Port of Spain. Right when we got to the street we coincidentally ran into the Rosalind Gabriel. It was so heart-warming & sweet seeing all the little kids so happy to be wearing the mas costumes. Me being the baby that I am, couldn't help but feel so joyful watching them dance through the streets in their beautiful costumes looking all adorable haha. We were at the parade only for a few hours which was good because after doing some shopping, I was feeling hungry & really tired from the long night before. I didn't go straight to sleep when we got back to the lodge because I wanted to be able to sleep that night. Sunday morning, we were out by 7am to attend Patois Mass in Paramin. This was a Catholic church service so I was interested in seeing if there would be any differences from this service to ones at home. There weren't, except for it was held in some English but mostly in Patois which is a Creole language spoken in parts of the Caribbean. I felt right at home being there because it reminded me of my mom & going to church with her so I decided to call her & tell her about it. I can tell it made her really happy to hear about it :) When church ended, we had some lunch which we ate in the maxi back to Tunapuna. When we arrived, a few of us went out to some shops to get last minute accessories for Carnival then hung out all day at the lodge. 

We were up & ready by 4am Monday morning J'ouvert which is the official start of the two days of Carnival. We were in a band called "Pointy Browne Productions" led by DJ Pointy Browne. We had matching tshirts so we cut them up & styled them however we wanted the night before. We met near POS with the many other band members & started parading through the streets following our music truck & our bar bus. That's the way these things work here. Each band has a huge semi truck with nothing but a DJ & huge speakers that leads the band playing Soca music all along the way & a smaller truck that's made into a bar that you can walk up to & ask for drinks. This was so much fun & convenient since we needed a few refills haha. We were wining & dancing through the streets, we had people throwing paint on each other, & I was so happy I had my camera to capture it all! It was sooo much fun doing that all the way through sunrise! We completely lost track of time but I believe that we made it back to our starting point at around 11am. We literally did that the entire morning & I enjoyed every minute of it. We made it back to the Lodge thanks to our driver Roger. There was another J'ouvert going on in Tunapuna that happened to be passing the lodge when we got there so some of us went & joined them. I was there for a little bit until I realized how tired & dehydrated I was so I went back to the lodge to start my resting.

Carnival Monday is the day of the Parade of the Bands. This is what you see on TV with everyone dressed up in sparkly & revealing outfits dancing down "D' Road." Us girls woke up super early to start doing our makeup & get ready. It was lots of fun being around the kitchen table with all our makeup & accessories spread out & seeing everyone's ideas come to life. We were picked up at 7am to head to our meeting spot at the Socadrome with the rest of Rosalind Gabriel's band. We got there & got our flags & hats that went with the costume & touched up some final things before heading out. Our first performance was right there on a big stage at the Socadrome which was a little nerve racking but exciting because we were finally going to perform what we've practiced so hard on! Dancing on stage gave me the biggest rush of adrenaline & seeing all these photographers & cameramen recording us added to that. We were there for a while before hitting the streets. When we went down Ariapita Ave. there were sooo many people gathered to watch the parade & so many people stopped us to take a picture with us. It was sooo exciting performing for everyone & seeing the look on their faces when they saw us, a group international students in their country, dressed up in mas & participating in Carnival. There were many other tourists that seemed surprised but excited to see us as well. When we reached our final judging point, we got a sweet introduction from the announcer that made me feel so proud & reminded me how lucky I was to be there. I was lucky enough to get pulled to the side by an interviewer who interviewed me on my thoughts about Carnival & Trinidad. I hope I was able to express my love & excitement for everything! (I'll try to find the video online & share it.) When we were done, we went over to a KFC in POS & had lunch to end our eventful day. 
Gosh, I had so much fun that entire day! As hot as the sun was & as sweaty as we got, our outfits & makeup stayed looking great & the energy all around was so positive! I would give anything to relive that experience all over again. I wish everyone could experience these events & see them through my eyes. Trinidad & Tobago has such a beautiful culture with so much rich history. I want everyone to live my experiences & not just hear about them because talking about them or sharing pictures does not do this beautiful place justice... Trinidad has a very special place in my heart! Now I am interested in seeing how things change around here post-Carnival season haha. Stay updated to find out! 

UWI Fete!

The first week we got here, we met one of the girls that lives at the lodge and is also a student at UWI. She mentioned that there was going to be a campus fete (party) on Feb. 8th and she offered to buy our tickets for us if we were interested. We all gave her money for our tickets and saved the date on our calendars from that day. Last night was SO MUCH FUN! I know I say this about every event but there really isn't a moment that we haven't had the time of our lives! Everyday here literally is the best day ever haha. We started the night by getting ready and running around trying to find what to wear. Most of the girls got ready in my room since I have the best lighting so they came to do their makeup while I was the hairstylist and curled some of the girls' hair haha. 

Once we were all ready, we gathered in the lobby to take some pictures and join Herzen's crew (our rides) to head to the bar and pregame a bit before heading to the fete. We ordered the usual drinks and hung out there for a few hours. It was lots of fun, as always, just talking to everyone and catching up with the guys since the last time we saw them. Once we saw that it was 2am, we decided to leave the bar and head to UWI. Oh! Side note- that's one thing here that's so different to the U.S. Parties here start laaaate. Most events and concerts are scheduled for late at night. The UWI fete was scheduled from 11pm to 6am. So we got to UWI, parked our cars and mobbed to where the fete was at on campus. Man, the site the stage, the crowd, the lights, and the tents of bars was such an awesome sight that activated my party mode haha. I was so ready to have a great night & that's exactly what we did. We kind of split up as some people went to buy some beers, some used the restroom and all that. We made our way up to the fence that divided the crowd from the stage and ended up meeting up with everyone there. After a while, Kassi, one of our friends who knows all the right people, got us into the VIP section behind the stage where they had a bar and it was less crowded. It was the perfect setting for the amount of people we had cause we like to be all together and chat with everyone in our group. At some point, me, Megan, and Debbie made our way onto the stage & were super close to dancing on the stage with one of the artists while he was performing and then we got kicked off haha. It's all good though because we still felt accomplished to make it that close! A few of us were right in front of the stage dancing and throwing colored powder into the crowd so that was lots of fun! 

By the time the fete ended, I think it was a little past 6am. We were walking to the cars as the sun was rising so that's a sign that we literally partied until the sun came out haha. I had so much fun with everyone & I can't help but be so thankful to be welcomed and surrounded by such a great group of guys! They are honestly so caring and protective of us & I really appreciate that they enjoy hanging out with all 11 of us haha. 

King & Queen Prelims and Blue Devils

Man, where do I even begin with these two events?! The King & Queen Prelims was on Thursday night and it was a competition where different mas camps makes a costume for a King and/or a Queen to compete in and represent their band and theme for the year. There were so many beautiful, shiny, huge costumes that walked the stage! We have been luck enough to stop by a few mas camps at the beginning of our trip to see the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to craft these costumes. It was amazing to see that these costumes were the outcome of hours and hours of sewing, gluing, stitching everything by hand! I mean, some of these costumes were 18 feet tall and 20 feet wide! They were beautiful! We not only got to watch them cross the stage for judging but we also got to go to the side of the stands where they put together the costumes and prepare to get on stage. We got to take some pictures with some of the costumes and meet a few of the competitors. It's so nice to see how passionate and competitive they are about this. It shows their appreciation of their culture and tradition.

On Friday morning we got up and ready for the Traditional Characters Parade. This parade showcases all the traditional characters of Carnival from the very beginning. There were so many groups of kids and adults dressed up in all types of characters like the Jab Jab, Dame Lorraine, Clowns, the Bookman, Moko Jumbie, Pierrot Grenade, and many more. Our group was part of the Blue Devils of Paramin. The Blue Devil is a mockery of the character that slave owners saw their slaves so when they get in character, they act as if they were devils begging for many, ruining homes, getting in your face and everything. Doing this was a big step out of my comfort zone but it was cool that we got to get all painted in blue and wear horns, we couldn't even recognize each other haha. We got some lessons a few days before the parade to learn how to be a Blue Devil and act like one. It was a little weird and embarrassing but those lessons definitely paid off because the rest of the group were pros at acting like one! Kids as young as 7 years old and guys in their 20's and 30's were chanting and dancing around with their pitchforks. I ended up getting $2 out of two women during the parade, shows that I did a good job! ;) And as kind of sad as it was seeing some little kids cry at the sight of us, it was very entertaining crawling up to them and feeding off their fear hahaha. The sun was sooooo hot throughout the day but they had people handing us water bottles which was real nice! I definitely wouldn't have survived the entire parade without all those waters I had haha. I am so happy I didn't back out of being a Blue Devil because this event only added to the list of all the fun things we've done here so far! As hard as it was to wash the paint off my body and clothes (all still in progress haha) it was totally worth it!

Picking up the Slack!

So to start off I apologize for slacking on updating my blog.. There's been so much that has happened that I get too lazy to write about it! But I will quickly touch upon a few of the things we've done since returning from Tobago. Classes started the Monday after we came back from our paradise in Tobago haha. Let me tell you, the way UWI works is so different to PLU and registration was THE most stressful and frustrating process yet. Knowing me, I like to be organized and know my way around things; that's not how things worked here so I learned a lot about myself as I tried to get settled into the campus atmosphere and figure my life out haha. I'm still getting the hang of things around here but I am way less stressed than I was at the beginning, so that's nice haha.
Aside from getting settled into classes, we have gone on a few group trips which have involved getting a tour of T&T's capital, Port of Spain. Getting to see that city and learn the history about the islands from a professional tour guide made me appreciate my surroundings so much more! It would've been one thing to walk around or have a friend show us around but the fact that we were on & off the bus, had someone telling us knowledgeable facts, and pointing out every little thing in the city made the experience so much better. A few days later, we got to go and watch the Malick Folk Performers at their studio. We were welcomed by a very talented group of people. We got a history lesson about the development of dance and music in the Caribbean from the drummers and dancers and it was amazing to watch. We also got to get out there and do the limbo with them and that was fun! They were such nice and beautiful people! Just this past Saturday, we went to a Calypso tent. Calypso is a music genre that started here in Trinidad and the tents are competitions where artists perform for the best song/performance of the year. We went to one called "Kalypso Revue." We watched about 30 singers perform their songs that focused on a variety of issues ranging from education/children, social, political, etc. It was kind of hard to understand some of the words but it was awesome to watch talented people sing about issues that everyone should pay attention to in any society and watch the live band perform for 6 hours straight! It was a really cool experience and atmosphere to get to listen to Calypso at some if its best. On Sunday, we went to the Panorama Semi-Finals and woooow, that was an awesome experience! Panorama is a steelpan band competition and the semi-finals usually attract a large number of people. We arrived and met with Ken who then led us into the arena. Imagine it being like a big outdoor concert, something like Summer Jam. We went through security, which must have only been to check for weapons because we walked in with trays and pans of food and large cases of beer haha. Then we walked up to the stadium seating but the side we were at had no seats. We were with a group and we all had matching t-shirts to show that we were there as one. The opposite side of the arena had seats and that area is for people who are pan enthusiasts and are there just to watch the competitors, Where we were was for all the party people haha. Our side was filled with groups of people that had tables to serve as bars (there were literally bottles on bottles on bottles- don't worry family, I drank responsibly!), and some of the drummers from Malick were there with their instruments. There were other bands on the bleachers because during the time where bands are transitioning on and off stage for competition, the rhythm sections in the stands play their music to keep everyone entertained. Our section was so fun and loud that many people gathered around us every time they played haha. It was pretty cool to watch and listen to! I still can't get over how fun that whole day was because after all that partying, we came back to the lodge in perfect time to watch the Super Bowl. I went and put my Seahawks shirt on & hung up my flag to watch the game. Although the game was filled with stress, suspense, & a horrible play call that caused a loss, I am so proud to be a Hawks fan and represent with pride! The team did their thing & played very well. Along with other games, it made me homesick & wished I could've been with family to watch it but I can't be upset with all the fun stuff going on around me here.
These next two weeks are going to consist of little sleep & lots of water in preparation for Carnival!! I am so excited for everything but a little worried as to how we are going to survive haha. I'll keep you all posted with pictures on Facebook and with the blog! Hope everyone is doing well! Much love!