Long day and Trinidad

Thursday was a pretty interesting day. I got up around 9 to help Big B at 10. I had put some laundry in the night before so I could hang it to dry in the morning. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard so I just grabbed an umbrella and went down the panyard. It was raining on and off as we practiced. Then I got some chicken roti for lunch. At this time it wasn’t raining and the weather was looking very hopeful so I went back to Lemon’s to hang my laundry. Just as I finished Lemon pulled in to take me and the two players from St Vincent to the tailor to get measured for our Finals uniforms. This was all the way in Scarborough. I met the tailor and I told him my name and he, like many other people, said “Tom, Tom the pipers son?” I usually tell them that, my father wasn’t a piper. As we left he told me to say hello to Jerry. I had no idea what he meant or if he even said Jerry so I asked the guys in the car and they reminded me of Tom and Jerry to Cartoon. We started driving back and guess what? It started raining. We got back and my clothes on the line were soaked of course but luckily Lemon drove me to a laundry mat to have them dried. Now this is actually more of a Dry cleaners because you leave your close there and come pick them up later instead of doing it yourself. Oh how I miss having a drier. It cost me 15 TT just for one load to dry. But I needed it because we were leaving in the morning. So I went back to the Panyard to help out Big B some more until I left to go get my dry clothes at 5. I actually found out that Lemon was just going to pick them up on his way home so I hung out with Omari for a while. He was pretty Bonkers today. I blame it on the rain. He had soooo much energy. When the rain stopped I actually took him on a walk and we went over to Brandons place where Maggie and Kinga are as well. We actually mostly hung out with Kinga because she was home. Lemon later drove by and picked up Omari to take him to his mothers. And me and Kinga hung out some more. Just talked about a bunch of different subjects life, music, whatever. She is a very easy going person and easy to talk to. Anyway it was getting late and I had to get on in Maxi Taxi at 5 in the morning tomorrow to head to port. I went back to Kirths, showered, packed and he drove me to the panyard. A Maxi Taxi is a small bus that is a Taxi and Kirth had ordered two to take people to the port. We boarded and it was very nice inside and out. This is the biggest boat I have ever been on. It had two levels with a food line on the bottom and a bar on the top. We found our seats and I passed out for the 2 ½ hour ride. I woke up to see us driving along the coast of Trinidad before we pulled in. We got off the boat and I was immediately mobbed by Taxi drives and one crazy man because of how Caucasian I am. Eeeeven though I was in a group of people all wearing Buccooneers Steel Orchestra Shirts. Eh oh well. I need to work on my tan. So we got on two Maxis and drove to the hotel. I am rooming with the two guys from St Vincent (Big B and Dmitri) and Kasel who is a bass pan player. The room isn’t too bad I didn’t bring any shampoo or soap because we are only here for a couple of days and I could use hotel soap… Bad idea. All they had were three thin bars of soap. Ended up getting some body wash/shampoo at the Pharmacy next door. I was starving so I asked if we were getting food together or not to a few people. I could really understand a clear answer but it seemed like they were saying that its on our own downstairs. Downstairs there were a few eating places like Dominos and Burger King to name a couple. I went and got a some BK because I wanted to compare how it was to that in the States. Everythings pretty much the same except there was like thousand island on my double cheese burger. Tasted good. So I went back upstairs to take a nap and just as I was laying down I find out that we were getting lunch supplied for us…… grrr. Anyway I went down and got a very small plate and a drink. I then went up to the room and passed out until we they gave us dinner. After we hung out, I went to the store, and skyped my brother Chris until we had to go to rehearsal. We rehearse at a near by school because it is safe for our pans. Seion came after we had started and brought MY pans. I set them up and started getting used to them. There rotated a bit different, sound a bit different and the rack itself is a bit different but I can definitely be comfortable with them by Sunday. We ended rehearsal, hopped in the Maxi and went back to the hotel. Luckily there is wireless internet. Its time for bed though I have to get up early for a meeting tomorrow. night