So I'm feeling very sad to be leaving Trinidad, though not as tearful as Gabi, who has to leave her wonderful cousin Kayleigh. The girls really got along, for which we are so grateful.
We spent the last 2 days at Rampanalgas, just north of Balandra Bay, at a beach house that Alen's brother Jonny goes to as a time share about 4 weeks a year. I have not found a photo that does justice to the place. The house has access to its own rocky beach (as well as its own cold jacuzzi), and just a couple of miles down is Balandra beach where there is a river outlet. The kids loved playing there.
We also drove up to Galera point lighthouse near Toco. The highlight of this was taking Sasha down onto the rocks - you can't see it in the photo, but it's on a rocky cliff right on the northeast corner of Trinidad. Sasha was thrilled to go out on the rocks - I held him tight and kept him far from the edge but I could see his grandfather Vlad was about to have a heart attack nonetheless in fear Sasha would take off. I let Sasha throw small rocks off the cliff and he was able to throw quite far but we could not see them fall into the water of course since we stayed far back for safety. Amazing view and lots of stress.
So the kids had a fabulous time and going to the northeast coast was really one of the highlights of our trip.
I had to edit this part of the post because the links I found did not work. Here's a map of Trinidad. On this same site are photos of the places we went but I can't get the links to work to them. Find Balandra and Rampanalgas on the beaches page and the lighthouse on the sites, all in the northeast coast.
Now this is not the first time that while we were away from our quiet, safe home country on a long plane trip some fool has tried to blow up a plane. At least, I don't think it is. We seem to attract increased travel restrictions whenever we fly. So now nerves are gearing up for another three leg journey. The flight attendants responsible for making passengers stay in their seats have not yet met my son!!! Please pray for us.
Tomorrow a (comparatively) short flight to Miami and 2 days with my parents. Will it be the children's museum, the zoo, or the science museum? Anyone with experience, please weigh in!!!! The Seaquarium looks great but costs nearly 3 times the other items mentioned above. We also hope to do some shopping if we can find any room in the suitcases after all the presents we have received.
All in all, I am filled with gratitude for the time and special occasions we have been able to spend with our family here and the joy and fun times we have had with them and with our kids.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
New Blogs, Christmas, Vacation
So first of all, I want you to know I've had time to find some new blogs to follow. You have to go to my profile to see them. One is a site where a dad and his kids write reviews of kids books - very cool. The other is I Heart Strangers, a guy in Denver who talks to and photographs strangers. One of his strangers is Yehuda Pollock, my sister's husband's sister's son. It's a cool blog and it's great to see photos of Yehuda in Denver!
Christmas - it's overwhelming, it's another world, it's family and traditions and food and too many presents and it's not mine. I alternate between feeling touched and happy and feeling alienated. The most shocking thing to realize - in the 20 plus years since Alen left Trinidad, this is only the 4th Christmas she's spent at home. And I've been with her for three of the four. This is actually my fourth Christmas with her family - we spent one in England in 1995, the year her grandfather died on boxing day, before we got to see him.
Vacation - a three week vacation follows a predictable pattern - tired and happy the first week, cranky some time during the second week (kids, spouse, culture shock) - then the third week overwhelmed with the thought that this will END and I will have to return to (gasp!) working and housework, etc. etc.
Highlight of the day - Gabi's class at school used their computer class period to write letters to her including great pictures of Trinidad and of airplanes and other stuff they found on the web I guess. Way cool.
Thanks for reading and PLEASE comments on the blog (not on facebook) - I need comments!!!!!
Christmas - it's overwhelming, it's another world, it's family and traditions and food and too many presents and it's not mine. I alternate between feeling touched and happy and feeling alienated. The most shocking thing to realize - in the 20 plus years since Alen left Trinidad, this is only the 4th Christmas she's spent at home. And I've been with her for three of the four. This is actually my fourth Christmas with her family - we spent one in England in 1995, the year her grandfather died on boxing day, before we got to see him.
Vacation - a three week vacation follows a predictable pattern - tired and happy the first week, cranky some time during the second week (kids, spouse, culture shock) - then the third week overwhelmed with the thought that this will END and I will have to return to (gasp!) working and housework, etc. etc.
Highlight of the day - Gabi's class at school used their computer class period to write letters to her including great pictures of Trinidad and of airplanes and other stuff they found on the web I guess. Way cool.
Thanks for reading and PLEASE comments on the blog (not on facebook) - I need comments!!!!!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
What I've been reading
So I've had some time to read. First I read the Year of Living Biblically, a birthday gift from Alen, which was actually interesting and funny. Then I read a great book, the Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. I love how this guy brings together such disparate stuff. The book definitely raised a lot of questions - I have to check if he continues these kinds of discussions on his website.
Then I read The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. It was long and Alen's brother (the MBA) said he could not get through it, so I viewed it as something of a challenge. However, I'm not sure what I gained from it in the end, except maybe a better understanding of the California power crisis that I had never paid attention to. I still don't really understand what short selling is and I only have a vaguely better conception of what a hedge fund is.
After starting but deciding I could not get into Born to Kvetch (a history of Yiddish), I picked up The Bitch in the House, 26 Women Tell the Truth about Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood and Marriage, edited by Cathi Hanauer. I think the title may have kept it from being a bestseller :-) but I just finished it and liked it a lot. Most of the authors are professional writers and it's missing the voices of any out lesbians. But I really enjoyed it. It also makes me grateful for being a mom in my 40s and not my 30s.
Alen has finished Julie and Julia and I hope to have time for that along with a Bill Bryson book before we return. Here's to vacation!!!
Then I read The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. It was long and Alen's brother (the MBA) said he could not get through it, so I viewed it as something of a challenge. However, I'm not sure what I gained from it in the end, except maybe a better understanding of the California power crisis that I had never paid attention to. I still don't really understand what short selling is and I only have a vaguely better conception of what a hedge fund is.
After starting but deciding I could not get into Born to Kvetch (a history of Yiddish), I picked up The Bitch in the House, 26 Women Tell the Truth about Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood and Marriage, edited by Cathi Hanauer. I think the title may have kept it from being a bestseller :-) but I just finished it and liked it a lot. Most of the authors are professional writers and it's missing the voices of any out lesbians. But I really enjoyed it. It also makes me grateful for being a mom in my 40s and not my 30s.
Alen has finished Julie and Julia and I hope to have time for that along with a Bill Bryson book before we return. Here's to vacation!!!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Trinidad
So I'm not really sure I have any capability of understanding any other culture, and on this my 5th trip to Trinidad, I'm pretty sure I understand less than ever what is going on here. So here's just a little of what I'm noticing and not understanding.
Meaning of Place
I live somewhere where people attach probably too much meaning to place - the Holy Land. But I find that being away, I miss it. Even in the US, where I lived previously, there is a sense of being in a special country that's better than anywhere else. Here in Trinidad there's much more a sense of being "someplace in the world" - someplace perhaps unique but not special as Israel and the US see themselves. I find myself looking for meaning and not finding it.
No sidewalks
The roads tend to have drainage ditches along the sides but no sidewalks. Gates, walls and fences of houses (almost all have them) come right up to the road. It makes everything look different than what I'm used to.
No codes - or codes I can't see
Israelis dress in a very coded way. By looking at someone, I can tell if they are secular, Religious Zionist, Haredi, Arab, etc. Not in all cases of course, but in many cases. I've often wondered why people don't try to pass as what they are not, and in fact many do, but many do not. Head covering, for instance, is a clear way people differentiate themselves. Here in Trinidad, I can't find those same codes. One of our hosts last night with whom I discussed this said that you can place people by what they have. He said the culture is materialistic. When I tried to talk cultural legacies with him, he said he understands culture materially.
Lush and Green
Geographically or botanically, Trinidad seems so much the opposite of Israel. It's very, very green. Plants grow very rapidly. Bugs and birds are everywhere. Heat is moist, humid.
Amazing Hanukkah Party
We attended a Hanukkah gathering of the Trinidadian Jewish community last Motzei Shabbat. An amazing mix of descendants of the original Jewish Sephardic communities in the Caribbean (including Recife, Curacao, Trinidad, plus more), descendants of Jewish families who came as refugees from Europe in the 30s, Israeli expats, US expats including someone from the FSU - a former refusenik, one French expat with roots in Eastern Europe, Jews by choice, us. It was truly a gathering of the exiles. Long on history and peoplehood, short on Yiddishkeit. A couple of Chabad rabbis came last summer for a visit. If anyone reading this can visit and teach, I'm sure they would welcome you.
That's what I've got for today - thanks for reading, thanks to the housesitters, happy last day of Hanukkah and Shabbat shalom
Meaning of Place
I live somewhere where people attach probably too much meaning to place - the Holy Land. But I find that being away, I miss it. Even in the US, where I lived previously, there is a sense of being in a special country that's better than anywhere else. Here in Trinidad there's much more a sense of being "someplace in the world" - someplace perhaps unique but not special as Israel and the US see themselves. I find myself looking for meaning and not finding it.
No sidewalks
The roads tend to have drainage ditches along the sides but no sidewalks. Gates, walls and fences of houses (almost all have them) come right up to the road. It makes everything look different than what I'm used to.
No codes - or codes I can't see
Israelis dress in a very coded way. By looking at someone, I can tell if they are secular, Religious Zionist, Haredi, Arab, etc. Not in all cases of course, but in many cases. I've often wondered why people don't try to pass as what they are not, and in fact many do, but many do not. Head covering, for instance, is a clear way people differentiate themselves. Here in Trinidad, I can't find those same codes. One of our hosts last night with whom I discussed this said that you can place people by what they have. He said the culture is materialistic. When I tried to talk cultural legacies with him, he said he understands culture materially.
Lush and Green
Geographically or botanically, Trinidad seems so much the opposite of Israel. It's very, very green. Plants grow very rapidly. Bugs and birds are everywhere. Heat is moist, humid.
Amazing Hanukkah Party
We attended a Hanukkah gathering of the Trinidadian Jewish community last Motzei Shabbat. An amazing mix of descendants of the original Jewish Sephardic communities in the Caribbean (including Recife, Curacao, Trinidad, plus more), descendants of Jewish families who came as refugees from Europe in the 30s, Israeli expats, US expats including someone from the FSU - a former refusenik, one French expat with roots in Eastern Europe, Jews by choice, us. It was truly a gathering of the exiles. Long on history and peoplehood, short on Yiddishkeit. A couple of Chabad rabbis came last summer for a visit. If anyone reading this can visit and teach, I'm sure they would welcome you.
That's what I've got for today - thanks for reading, thanks to the housesitters, happy last day of Hanukkah and Shabbat shalom
Friday, December 11, 2009
No place like home?
It's great to be in Trinidad - so far less than 24 hours here and really enjoying Kayleigh and Lucas and watching them play with our wonderful kids. The cousins are getting on famously so far bli ayin hara.
The trip was everything you can imagine a 32 hour trip with a 6 and 3 year old would be. The kids were troupers, but it was very tough on them being so tired - we left Israel at 1 am.
Some highlights: the intensive security check on through passengers from Israel in Paris eventually brought us to a Trinidadian American Airlines clerk who whisked us ahead onto the plane after our 45 minute interrogation and wait - it seems all Israelis got the treatment though they were also harassing a couple with adopted kids from Denmark - seems to me the Americans could get a little better at figuring out who might be a danger.
The playmobile magnetic airport toy we bought for the kids in Orly Airport triggered a handsearch of our hand luggage in Miami - the staff insisting we had an electronic device but not even cracking a smile when they discovered what it really was.
Gabi commented in Miami airport that we were now probably the only Hebrew speakers around, about two minutes before we found ourselves eavesdropping on the sabras at the next table :-) My assertion to the children, "this is America, the rule is children have to stay right next to their mothers" provoked smiles from a fellow traveler to Trinidad.
Highly enjoyable was the very straight looking executive type guy on the Paris-Miami flight who kindly came over to ask me to "keep my son's voice down" - I looked at him baffled for some seconds as he repeated the request before responding, "I'm doing the best I can but he controls his own voice"! (Thought that would be obvious.)
The plane was full of about 35 Nepalese refugees being flown to and resettled in Dallas Texas. If anyone knows anything about this - speak up! They had flown from Nepal to Bangladesh to Paris to Miami and were going on to Dallas. I wish them the best.
Sasha thinks he's in a toystore at his cousins' house - he's trying to play with each toy at least once. Tomorrow we have an afternoon party with Santa followed by a Hanukkah party across town with Trinidad's small Jewish group. I thought it suitable to warn Gabi that she might be encouraged to sit on Santa's lap and that it would be her choice but not to expect him to bring her gifts since we are not Christian. Tried to answer her questions with assertions about the importance of giving, but she wanted to know the bottom line - do we believe in Santa. I checked with Alen, who says we do not, but we forbade Gabi to dispel anyone else's belief. We'll see.
Nothing like a little culture shock to make me realize how Israeli I've become - only Israeli songs came to mind to sing as I was trying to comfort crying, exhausted Gabi whose ears hurt when we were landing.
And then the excitement of seeing Vlad, Johnny and Edward who all arrived to meet us. Now a blessed, loud hot rain is falling - this place feels to be the ecological opposite of the land we've left.
Happy Chanukah Everyone!
The trip was everything you can imagine a 32 hour trip with a 6 and 3 year old would be. The kids were troupers, but it was very tough on them being so tired - we left Israel at 1 am.
Some highlights: the intensive security check on through passengers from Israel in Paris eventually brought us to a Trinidadian American Airlines clerk who whisked us ahead onto the plane after our 45 minute interrogation and wait - it seems all Israelis got the treatment though they were also harassing a couple with adopted kids from Denmark - seems to me the Americans could get a little better at figuring out who might be a danger.
The playmobile magnetic airport toy we bought for the kids in Orly Airport triggered a handsearch of our hand luggage in Miami - the staff insisting we had an electronic device but not even cracking a smile when they discovered what it really was.
Gabi commented in Miami airport that we were now probably the only Hebrew speakers around, about two minutes before we found ourselves eavesdropping on the sabras at the next table :-) My assertion to the children, "this is America, the rule is children have to stay right next to their mothers" provoked smiles from a fellow traveler to Trinidad.
Highly enjoyable was the very straight looking executive type guy on the Paris-Miami flight who kindly came over to ask me to "keep my son's voice down" - I looked at him baffled for some seconds as he repeated the request before responding, "I'm doing the best I can but he controls his own voice"! (Thought that would be obvious.)
The plane was full of about 35 Nepalese refugees being flown to and resettled in Dallas Texas. If anyone knows anything about this - speak up! They had flown from Nepal to Bangladesh to Paris to Miami and were going on to Dallas. I wish them the best.
Sasha thinks he's in a toystore at his cousins' house - he's trying to play with each toy at least once. Tomorrow we have an afternoon party with Santa followed by a Hanukkah party across town with Trinidad's small Jewish group. I thought it suitable to warn Gabi that she might be encouraged to sit on Santa's lap and that it would be her choice but not to expect him to bring her gifts since we are not Christian. Tried to answer her questions with assertions about the importance of giving, but she wanted to know the bottom line - do we believe in Santa. I checked with Alen, who says we do not, but we forbade Gabi to dispel anyone else's belief. We'll see.
Nothing like a little culture shock to make me realize how Israeli I've become - only Israeli songs came to mind to sing as I was trying to comfort crying, exhausted Gabi whose ears hurt when we were landing.
And then the excitement of seeing Vlad, Johnny and Edward who all arrived to meet us. Now a blessed, loud hot rain is falling - this place feels to be the ecological opposite of the land we've left.
Happy Chanukah Everyone!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Banana Bread
I realized today not everyone has the privilege of being born into a family with a prize winning banana bread recipe. This is my adaptation of Mom's recipe that won a prize I still have 30 years later - a teak rolling pin!
The trick to this bread is slow baking at 300 F or 150 C.
Grease and flour a loaf pan.
3 mashed ripe bananas
1 scant cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
mix
sift in 1 1/2 cups flour (white or half whole wheat and half white)
1 tsp baking soda
bake at 300 for one hour or until a fork comes out clean. You can mess with it (nuts, chocolate chips, raisins) but you can't make it better.
The trick to this bread is slow baking at 300 F or 150 C.
Grease and flour a loaf pan.
3 mashed ripe bananas
1 scant cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
mix
sift in 1 1/2 cups flour (white or half whole wheat and half white)
1 tsp baking soda
bake at 300 for one hour or until a fork comes out clean. You can mess with it (nuts, chocolate chips, raisins) but you can't make it better.
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