10 Clues that I'm Still Trinidadian

Some female expat bloggers in Denmark are currently challenging each other to share 10 traits that identify them as still binding to their mother land. While I'm a faithful reader (a.k.a blog stalker), but don't really have an expat-oriented blog, nobody tagged me, so I tagged myself!! :) Here goes! :

10 Clues I'm still Trinidadian!

1. I'm polite. Maybe it's because our islands were colonized by all these European powers: French/Dutch/British for Tobago; Spanish/British for Trinidad. However, Please, Thank You, I'm sorry and the time of day just pop out of my mouth like exhaled air. In Denmark it irritated me when people would just brush past me without an apology, or would stand hovering behind me rather than asking to get past. I Malta, it's the opposite. They say sorry for both 'excuse me', and to apologize... oh.. and also to get someone's attention.
2. I have a diverse palate. Remember I mentioned the colonizers? Well.. they brought their cuisine with them, and of course the slaves had to learn to cook it just right. Plus there were the nuances that the slaves added. Then there were the folks that were lured over when slavery ended: Portuguese, Lebanese, Syrians, Chinese, etc, and they eventually settled on the East Indians as suitable indentured labourers. These folks ALSO brought their dishes with them, and a couple of centuries later, our local cuisine is as varied as ever. The two main groups are the folks-of-African-descent, and the folks-of-East-Indian-descent. However, the other groups' gastronomy play a very critical role. Furthermore, we can basically all cook each other's dishes!
3. I'm used to religious diversity. There are some churches in Trinidad that are not far from a mosque, which in turn is not far from a Hindu mandir. I'm used to hearing Friday evening prayers from the mosque on my way home, and despite a coup led by an islamist extremist 19 yrs ago, I have never felt threatened by the average Muslim in my midst. I'm used to seeing women in saris and hijabs, and really towering head-dresses. To each his own. We celebrate each other's festivals, too (great excuse for eating each other's FOOD). End-of-year is terrific with Eid-Divali-Christmas so close to each other. And the child with Muslim grandmother, Hindu grandfather, Catholic mother and Protestant father enjoys the season(s) imMENSEly!!
4. I have a thing for RHYTHM! In terms of international carnivals, Trinidad's is probably the most inclusive. Unlike the Rio carnival, participants don't need to belong to any particular dance school, nor have any special training. It doesn't matter how big, how small, how tall, how short, how pretty or how ugly, how rhytmical or how many left feet you have, you can participate! That said, having had a conservative religious upbringing ("Carnival is devilish", and all that), I steered clear of the festivities. However, the RHYthm is an innate thing! I can't hear jumpy music (NOT rock music, folks) without wanting to bust a move.. and LIKE the average Trini, it doesn't really matter where I AM!
5. I have a limit to how much rain and sun I can tolerate. Trinidad as two seasons: rainy and dry, with the dry season seeing more sunny days, and the wet season seeing more wet ones. To wake up to a grey sky is no big catastrophe, and hopefully means that the day will be COOL! However.. something that irritated me in Denmark was that sometimes there would be DAYS of grey skies, and not a DROP of water would fall. Oh... I also love thunderstorms. Being south of the hurricane belt, Trinis can enjoy the hurricane season without feeling any real THREAT that we'd be hit by one! :)
6. I have a Trini flag made outta red-white-and-black hay bales on my Farmville FARM!! lol!
7. I speak Trinidadian creole. Now.. a creole is NOT the same as a dialect, although there MAY be different dialects of Trini creole (North vs South, etc). Going back to our history, a Creole developed when different linguistic groups bunched together and some kinda communication HAD to take place. In our case, it was slavers and plantation owners/overseers, trying to get the slaves to do their dirty work for them. It got even more complex because the slaves were often separated from their tribesmen and other family members to ensure that they couldn't overthrow the landowners. What was a 'pidgin' in the early days, developed into a European-lexicon-based 'creole' as time went by. In Trinidad we had a French creole that got replaced by an English creole over the last century. I neither speak, nor understand French creole, but I've heard that it's mutually intelligible with the French creoles spoken in St. Lucia, Dominica, Haiti and French Guiana. Tobago also has a creole, but because of their Dutch heritage, there's is more similar to the Guyanese and Jamaican Creoles.
8. I'm Americanized. Now.. prior to my move to Denmark and subsequently Malta, this is not the sort of admission that I would have made! "Trini to de bone!!", and all that. However , once faced with the pathetic offerings of Danish cable tv, and at Danish supermarkets, I fast realized how Americanized I was! Entertainment wise, Hollywood blockbusters were common fodder. Ditto for music. Food.. well.. need I say more? I had to start from scratch, cuz the only American brand at the supermarket was Kraft (maybe cuz it LOOKS Danish?) As for MALta???? It's either British or Italian TV, and i SWEAR they're lamer than Danish tv! Ditto at the supermarket. The brands are either British or Italian, and I'm learning from scratch once again!
9. I'm used to more than 4 seasons. Now I may have mentioned that there are only two seasons in Trinidad and Tobago: wet and dry. And the Danes moan about how they NEED their seasons.. two is just too LITTLE. However.. Who's to say two CLIMATIC seasons mean that that's all you have? We have other seasons based around ACTIVITIES so.. there's the Ramadan season followed by Eid, Divali season (when Hindus clean up, and light up), Parang Season, Christmas season, Carnival season, Lenten/Easter season, kite season, Jazz Festival season, Great Race season, and on and on. In Malta it's pretty much like in Trini.. just that there's no diversity of beliefs, so ALL the celebrations (and there're a lot of them.. 1 per week during the 3 mths of summer) center around the Catholic church). There's always something happening, always some procession or something. I've even seen a FUNERAL procession with the mourners carrying along the casket and being followed by the band/orchestra and scores of others.
10. I'm used to seeing different-looking people. Probably obvious, but it got stale being stared at by seas of blonde-fringed blue eyes! We've got ALL the skin tones and shades covered, so basically ANYone could pass for a Trini. The husband nearly passed out the first time he heard a blonde blue-eyed girl open her mouth and out came the Trini accent. Poor soul thought she was a tourist! With the large waves of Africn immigrants trying to get to Europe and either making landfall here (or being forcefully escorted here), I've been told that Malta has become more xenophobic in recent years.. just my luck! But I've never experienced any personal nastiness... maybe cuz I walk around with ole blue-eyes by my side, and we've got the cutest little caramel bambino who just happens to be named after the most famous POPE!

Those Chicken Littles

Chicken Little was in the forest one day, when an acorn fell on her head. It scared her so much, she trembled all over. She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out.

"Help, help! The sky is falling! I have to go tell the king!"

Along the way, she met Henny Penny.

"Where are you going, Chicken Little?"
"Oh help! The sky is falling!"
"How do you know?"
"I saw it with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"
"This is terrible! Just terrible! We'd better hurry up!"

It's amazing how backward glances at childhood fairy tales can give so much perspective in one's present life. The fancy phraseology would be "in retrospect". It's hard to think of this little story without being annoyed not only by the silly little hen, but by the other barnyard fowl who followed her (unquestioningly) all through the forest. These days, my thoughts dwell on religious themes (note I said 'religious', not 'spiritual'), so I couldn't help but link the story of Chicken Little with so many religious movements.

There are millions of fervent, zealous, trusting 'believers', all over the world. Half of the reason they continue to 'believe' is that 'someone' related something to them, and they have no doubt in their minds that that person was telling them the truth. True, they didn't really have the time/means/inclination to background-check 'someone's' story, but it's a plausible enough story on the surface. Besides why would 'someone' lie to them? What would 'someone' stand to gain by fostering lies? Never for a minute do they stop to think that 'someone' could have gotten their facts mixed up or twisted.

In 'someone's' defence, maybe 'someone' is really convinced that the story/information/data they're passing on is accurate (otherwise of course they'd keep their traps shut). Maybe 'someone' really thinks that they have access to the information that the rest of humankind really needs to know. However, sincerity of aspirations and purity of belief doesn't alter fact, any more than Chicken Little's acorn could become a piece of the sky.

Fortunately for Chicken Little and her cronies, they're just barnyard fowl given human characteristics by an imaginative human mind. They're simply not capble of critical thinking, and no one expects them to do so, cuz.. duh! They're fictional animals! Henny Penny didn't need to ask Chicken Little what the 'sky' looked like, or what it 'sounded' like, or where the heck it disappeared to, or where was the hole in the sky where it had supposedly fallen out. Had she done so, the story would have progressed differently.

For human beings, though, one's reticence to question "Chicken Little" can lead to so much misery and disillusionment. For one, there is the task of defending one's 'position' tooth and nail, and fighting to the bitter end. Nobody wants to be thought of as being gullible for just following this chick through the forest, so offense is the best defense. Chicken Little assured them that she 'saw, heard and felt' the sky, so that's their standard response. Few question, is this really my idea? Did I come up with this notion on my own? What does 'someone' stand to gain by my continued support? What do I stand to gain by my continued support? In their quest to "keep the faith, some are willing to bear arms, invade foreign territories, imprison non-believers, blow themselves up, blow others up, make attempt to make others to feel stupid/ignorant/a-lost-cause if they express doubt that Chicken Little's story seems embellished.

There's a second group who have niggling doubts about this whole 'falling sky thing'. They've been from one end of the forest to the next, and no more pieces of the sky have falen out. Who is this Chicken Little anyway? However, they'd hate to lose out on protection in the king's palace just because they didn't want to believe Chicken Little. It's a win-win situation: if the sky isn't falling, then their pride and intuition are still in tact.. but if by some defiance of nature the sky is falling, well.. they'll be protected, having lost nothing. Furthermore, 50 million Frenchmen can't be wrong!

Yet another group (not mentioned) in the story are those who say, "Chicken Little done lost her MIND". And they mosey along with their lives. If others choose to follow Chicken Little through the forest, that's their loss!

And finally is the group represented by the Foxy Loxy who (depending on which version of the story you read) had quite a feast at the end of the story. Foxy Loxy is no more a believer than the members of the third group. But it's a good story, and it (and its believers) could line his stomach (pockets) very well, thank you! At the end of the story, the fowl never get to the king, and their story dies with them. But, Foxy Loxy knows that all he has to do is climb another tree, and toss another acorn at another gullible hen. (Yeah.. that last sentence was pure invention)

Back on Blogger

So.. seems I haven't touched my blog since October, 2008! How utterly, thoroughly disheartening! It sure didn't seem that long, but.. like they say, "Time flies when you're having fun!" Since my last post, my son has gotten 6 teeth, learned to crawl, and learned to walk! I have spent 5 weeks in TnT, 1 week in Florida, 7 weeks in Malta, and even relocated to Malta as of the ending of April.. See how much stuff hasn't been documented?!?

I've decided to revamp my Blog, because it's the one space where I can say whatever I want without inadvertently offending/distancing/irritating/worrying/invoking-righteous-indignation-of the masses on Facebook. If you come here, chances are, you're interested in what I have to say. If it bothers you, then leave. Old habits die hard, I guess.. so.. even if I have a certain point of view, if I know that someone else is comfortable with theirs, it's not my purpose/job/motive/intention to steer them away from what they hold dear. I'm very conscious that one of the most precious gift given to humans is that of influence, and I'm uber paranoid about how I use mine.

Anyways.. I have a blog that I'm itching to write.. So.. I'll stop with the meandering preamble, and start seriously writing SOON!

P.S. Seems that my blog title was prophetic.. I began it while still in Trinidad, trying to write a thesis, and knowing that I would soon move to Denmark. I stayed in Denmark for a while, but the pull of Malta was too strong, and here I am, 2 years later. Who knows where I'll be writing from as time goes by?