Feeling much better

Yesterday rehearsal went well. Seion and a bunch of the players from Trinidad were here but rehearsal was actually pretty short. We had to move our pans down to Scarborough for the completion today. They call it THA which stands for Tobago House of Assembly. This is the Tobago steel pan final. All the Tobagonian steel bands that make it into the National Semifinals play here and compete against eachother. And there are only two categories. Traditional (single pan or pan ‘round de neck) and conventional (like the Buccooneers). Each band is to have no more that 75 players playing for this competition so the large bands have to cut a lot of people. We only have to cut a few. It is said to be very political but I feel we have a pretty good chance at winning. People seem to really like our band and enjoy Seions arranging style. But I really don’t know what will happen. We moved racks last night until 330. Phew! Exhausting but still fun.

Today I was pretty lazing because of the late night last night. I hung out and got some food and just listen to music today. I also wanted to conserve my energy because the competition doesn’t start until 8 oclock and we play 5^th in our category. Traditional is up first so we probably wont play until about midnight. A maxi is going to pick us up from the panyard at 5, Then we head over to the practice yard in Scarborough until we play. Should be a long night. Oh I forgot to mention. I got another new jersey (t-shirt) for the performance and at first they gave me another XL but I moved quick and found a Medium in the extras bag. Finally something that fits. Last competition I had a Large and that was still huge. Plus I think I am losing a little weight out here due to all the walking and such. I good kick start to my new years resolution (that’s a first)

I am feeling much better today and I feel almost back to normal. Just in time for travelling to Trinidad on Thursday.

Just now as I was in the kitchen getting something to drink, Omari came running and it looked like he stubbed his toe and was crying a bit. A little background, Omari likes to pretend to be hurt with me a lot where he fake cries and fibs about being hurt and has fooled me the first couple of times. But after the first few I told him that he should lie and people wont believe him when the real thing happens, insert “the boy who cried wolf” etc. It seemed as though he had actually been hurt this time. So I quickly checked that there wasn’t a serious injury and made a mini ‘teachable moment’ out of it. I don’t know how much actually sank in but I hope a little. Don’t worry I did still console him but he was fine 5 minutes later. Anyways off to catch the maxi for THA. More soon.

Second Sunday School

Well yesterday I went to the beach but I didn’t really swim. The waves were humungous. I did hang out and went in up to my waste. While I was there a little boy came up to me and we formed an emidiate bond. His name was Dareem Adams (he spelled it for me in the sand. ha). He had to be about 6 years old but he reminded me of Omari a lot because he had an endless amount of energy. Running around making some sort of noise and just having fun. He liked to get pulled by the waves and he would grab onto my arm as if I was saving him. I don’t know why but kids seem to just love me. I didn’t even initiate anything. It was funny though. I also watched some surfers off in the distance. I definitely need to do that before I leave here. Afterwards I went back to Lemon’s and showered up and got ready for Sunday School. Saw had dropped by and we were just hanging out. I remembered that the Superbowl was on and I wanted to quickly catch the score. Saw said he didn’t really understand that game and thought it was boring. So I gave him a rather brief description of the game and he said its probably not as boring if you understand it. Anyway they left to go set up and I hung around for a while. When I went down I was starving. At Sunday School there are a bunch of different food vendors. I had previously asked Lemon which one was the best so I went to that one. I told her I knew Lemon and played with the Buccooneers and she said she would fix me up real nice. So she gave me this huge plate of food with chicken, macaroni pie, coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad and I think that’s it. It was probably the best meal I bought on my whole trip. Then she told me the price. 80 TT. The most I have ever paid for a meal is about 45 dollars. Luckily this was worth 80 TT. Then it was off to watch the steel band more. The last one I promise I will get some video. My stomach wasn’t feeling so good all night so I went back to Lemons for a lot of the time. After my stomach felt better, I came and hung out with a lot of the guys in the band. They really take good care of me and seem to enjoy having me around. Some drinking, dancing and good times ensued. Its kinda funny because every Sunday School, I really feel like a tourist because there are a lot around and as much as I don’t want to look like a tourist, its inevitable. I ended up eventually walking back to where I am staying and passing out as soon as I hit the bed.

Today, I woke up a little later and relaxed for a while. Lemon eventually called me to take me to the bank. I have needed to go for a while. He was nice enough to lend me 200 TT yesterday. The first think I did was pay him back with interest. I also stopped at the drug store and got some medicine for my stomach. I got back, had some Chinese food and hung out at the beach. Again I was going to go swimming but waves were even bigger. I did bring a body board the Lemon has but there were only 2 surfers and no swimmers. If there were more people I would have felt more comfortable. Plus, I could see the headline now. Local former lifeguard drowns at Sea, What an idiot. I will definitely get out there soon though. Afterwards, I walked back, showered and am currently just relaxing.

I am definitely starting to miss home a bit. More because I just feel disconnected with all my friends and family back home. I still am very connected with the Internet, email and Facebook but its still not the same. Well, I have a pretty eventful few days coming up so there will definitely be more soon.

The picture seen here is just a local shop I pass by everyday with a nice paint job. Also I nice older gentleman sitting on a bench outside.

Relaxing Saturday

Saturday I slept in til about noon and hung out for a while. I was still concerned about my stomach so I got some medicine down at the store that has everything. I took it and just relaxed and ate until practice. I was feeling better. Rehearsal was as usual until the end. We actually started learning a new, easy song, to play on the streets in at the finals. I don’t really know where, when or why we are playing it but I guess I will find out. But it was nice to see a smaller group learning and quickly being taught the new tune. After rehearsal, Lemon, Big B, Dmitri and I went out to the bars to lime. We actually went to a couple in neighboring towns. I was out of TT so Lemon said he would lend me the money for the night, which was nice. We drove by a couple clubs that had covers. We didn’t really want to spend that much money and plus you had to have long pants to get into them. Interesting. Those clubs or where more tourists go and people who want to dance. We actually ended up at a local bar in Scarborough. People played pool, danced, and there were actually a bunch of guys just sleeping. It wasn’t that crowded but the beers were cheap. I actually went into that back room to check it out and I found about 5 guys just passed out at a some tables and there was no one else in the room. So we hung out there for a while and then went on our way back to Buccoo. Its funny because all the bars in Buccoo are closed but they are open late on Sunday nights and are packed. Tonight should be a good time. This morning I was getting up slow and hung around Lemons. The medicine I took has helped and I am feeling better. I watched a movie earlier and I think I may actually go for a swim right now. More blogging, probably tomorrow.

My first Soca Party

Wow. Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. My usual blogging time has been pretty busy. Well, Friday was a pretty typical day I rested and relaxed. My stomach still wasn’t feeling better but I still haven’t missed a rehearsal or anything. I helped Big B with the last of the tune. It was fulfilling. I got that warm and fuzzy accomplished teacher feeling which I haven’t gotten since student teaching. That also reminds me, I have to look for a job when I get back. Ugh. Anyway so I relaxed back at Lemons until I had rehearsal. Rehearsal was as usual. Not too long and we hung out a little afterwards. Lemon and I actually left pretty quickly after because Georgina had gotten us tickets to a Soca party. It was sponsored by Digicel, and she works there, hence the free tickets. Well, I had never been to a Soca party so I was curious to see what it was like. The party was called “Outrageous in White” meaning everyone has to or at least should wear white. Luckily lemon let me borrow a white jersey (T-shirt) and it fit pretty well. The party was in Canoe Bay and we started driving up and there a ton of cars parked along the street. Luckily the tickets we had were VIP tickets so we were able to drive all the way up next to where the party was. Most people had to walk a ways. Also I found out the tickets we had, people paid 250 TT for them. So So we checked in and got our VIP wrist band, Digicel handkerchief and drink tokens. The drink tokens where one inch square pieces of paper with, beer, premium drink or soda on them. 2 of each. I was lucky enough to find another packet on the ground at the bar so we didn’t pay for anything all night. When we got there, I saw a big stage, lots of people and a fence in the middle of the crowd dividing the VIP section and everyone else. We were right in front and we could go back stage freely. There were food stands and bars around the outside and very loud music. At the time we walked in, it was only a DJ playing because it was ‘early’….1 A.M. There also a handful of people on stilts dancing. Not like ‘oh you are a foot taller than me that funny’ more like. You are 20 feet in the air. I felt like they were Giraffes or something. We and Lemon were hanging out and had got our first and 2^nd round of drinks. I was looking on stage to notice that there were keyboards, a drumset and a bass amp on stage. I was really looking forward to hearing what was coming. I haven’t heard or seen any live music other than pan since I’ve been here. The first two artists came out. They actually only saying with a backing track, which was fine still very entertaining. Lots of dancers, lights and such. Lots of fun. Then they started setting up for the live band performance. Lemon and I went into general admission part because it was bigger to check it out. There actually was a rhythm section playing there. It included a bunch of guys playing the Iron. Similar to a break drum, a guy playing congas, a guy playing timbales and bongos and a man playing two large drums made of out steel drums. I found out that they are just barrels with the top cut off and the stretch plastic over the top and act as a bass drum. It was pretty fun because they were just playing a groove and people were dancing by them and it was a nice little interlude inbetween artists. And they were playing in the back of the general admission section opposite the stage. After a while the first main artist came on, Alison Hines, Lemon and I headed back to the VIP section of course. The band started and the lights started back up, Giraff people were walking around and dancing, and all the sudden I look up and there are fireworks coming from behind the stage. A great show. Jah Cure came out and they sang a few songs together and then individually. From what I understand, Jah Cure known as a Reggae artist and for him to be singing Soca is a little bit shocking or at least new. Oh for all those not familiar with Soca, here is a music video of a very popular soca song right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8XzxV8MCXA Its called Palance which, from what I understand, means to just have a good time and enjoy yourself. Very High energy. The band was pretty cool because there was a bass player, drummer and about 5 keyboard players play all kinds of stuff. It sounded really good. I actually got to talk to the bass player for a little bit between sets. We had left shortly after that time because it was getting late. We left around 4 and the party was going to go until about 6 but Lemon and I were exhausted. And I passed out as soon as I hit the pillow.

feeling better... maybe it was the ants

Well today was a pretty lazy day I woke up pretty late and went to the panyard to teach Big B some more music. I must say no offense to him but I really do enjoy teaching children better than adults. A lot of times I find that adults feel that they can do think better their own way even more than young students. For example I told him to play it very very slow but in time and try to get as many notes as possible. But he still plays it really fast. It was a bit frustrating. I mean I really like that guy and if he doesn’t want my guidance that is fine and I will just feed him notes. However, I have studied music with some great teachers and this is what they have taught me and it works. I do recall a time when in a lesson with Robert Chappell where he was asking me to play it slow. It took me a short while to realize how well it works. Overall I feel I have got a great experience in both learning by wrote and teaching by rote. I like both ways but I feel that teaching by written music is just soo much more efficient. However I actually really enjoy learning by rote because its more of a physical way of learning. Well, enough of that. Afterwards, at around 5 I got back to Lemon’s and hung out for a while with Omari and went on the computer for a bit. I hung out until I had to go to practice. Rehearsal was short and we hung out afterwards. I actually started playing the congas. I showed them a “moose call” (a way of producing a sound from a drum by rubbing your finger across the top in a specific way to make a sustained sound.) They were all very amused. I tried to teach them how to do it but none of them really got it. It took me while. It was just really funny how amused they were, calling people over to listen and then watching them try to do it, haha. After a bit, I went back to Lemons and relaxed and watched TV.

Today my stomach felt better. Still not 100% but getting there. Oh!!! By the way, I figured out how to change comment settings so that anyone can leave a comment. Hopefully it work. Comments are encouraged.

My time here is flying by and looking at my schedule in the next couple of weeks I feel like it might even go faster. Off to bed now. More tomorrow. Ill add more pictures too. for now here is one of Omari building a kite.

Knot feelin so hot...

Well today I wasn’t feelin so hot. I have had a knot in my stomach all day. I was supposed to help Big B learn some more of the music but I called him and canceled because I wanted to get better. After a few hours I ended up feeling a bit better so I went for a walk down to the Mt. Irving for a quick swim around 1 in the afternoon. I have a had a farmers tan since I got hear and it was time to even it out. I was only out there for about 45 minutes. I figured that would give me a little color. Not many people were at the beach. Maybe its because it’s the middle of the day on a Wednesday. There were two surfers to the far left side of the beach and a two other swimmers. The waves were pretty big today and the water was extremely clear. I put my stuff down and went in. One of the other swimmers was an older man. I didn’t get really close to talk or anything but I noticed that he had only one leg. He was swimming fine just floating comfortably. He had gotten to the shoreline and started scooting towards his towel. I offered help but he respectfully declined. And I went back to swimming. Some of the waves got to be pretty big where I could body surf them for probably over 25 yards. They were probably almost 6 foot waves, some even taller. It was amazing to just feel how powerful they were. I’m really getting used to swimming in the ocean. I did get thrown around a little. Almost lost my suit once. But there really wasn’t anyone there. Well the man with one leg probably got a glimps. But I eventually packed up and walked back. I showered, and headed down to the panyard to meet with Big B at 2. I called him and he said he couldn’t me so I got some food. I still had a knot in my stomach so I went back to Lemons and rested for a long while. Took nap and hung out until I had to go to rehearsal. Not too many people came out to rehearsal. I was pretty shocked. I would have thought people would want to practice because we are still only in 3rd place. Eh oh well. When it was done we hung out for a while got a bit of food and headed back.
Right now I am hanging out in my room. This actually happened while I was blogging. I was a little hungry and I remember I had bought some cookies yesterday and I put them by my luggage. I reached over for one and I was about to put it in my mouth when I realized there were tiiiiiny ants all over it. I quickly threw them away and killed all the ants I could see on the floor and on my arm. Eeeew. And now I feel like there are a million ants crawling all over me (luckily there aren’t, I keep checking). I always thought it was weird why Lemon kept Cheese sticks (like Cheetos) and Twizzlers in the fridge. Now, I know. Eh I guess I’ve learned my lesson. I wont be doing that ever again. Anyway, time for bed.

still catching up on sleep....

Well today was a bit of a lazy day recovering from my travels to Trinidad and back. I had agreed to help out my friend Big B from St. Vincent learn more of the tune. I got there on time of course, and no one was there so I went to get some Roti down the street, came back and called him. He came over and we worked pretty hard from 230 to almost 5. I really have gotten more rote teaching experience than I expected. I definitely am not used to teaching that way and it took some getting used to. I was getting tired so I went back to hang at Lemons house for a while with Omari. I was skyping with my Dad and he got to see how Omari is when he isn’t nervous and talking to new people. A ball of energy. He did however ask me today when I am leaving and told me that I cant go. I told him I had to because I have to teach at home. He proceeded to tell me that I can teach here. Haha.

Anyway I went down to the panyard to either teach Big B some more notes or help move racks. I ended up moving racks. Headed back when It was through and perused the internet for the last couple of hours. I must now get to bed because I am getting up to teach Big B some more and I want to have enough time to go to the beach and work on my tan. Another “hard day at work…” don’t worry mom, I will use sunscreen.

Oh also I have been thinking of thing(s) to get Kirth/Lemon as a present for his hospitality. I have a funny feeling he wont take any money. Does anyone have any ideas? Please email them to me at trucker101355@gmail.com and also feel free to email any other questions or comments about the blog or anything really. I would enjoy some feedback. Thanks to those who have given me some. I really never expected anyone to read this. I did it mostly because I was bored during a 7 hour layover in Trinidad. I am really glad that people are actually reading it. I didn’t really know until Seion asked me about it without me telling him. I’m really glad I am doing it and I will recommend it for anyone travelling. Well, off to bed. More tomorrow.

Semi Finals and such

Well, yesterday was Semifinals. A loooong but great day. We got up on the morning for breakfast around 8. I went back to sleep for a little bit before we had to shower a get ready. But guess what? Noooo water still. We had found out that there were two working bathrooms down stairs by the pool so we all were going to use that one at a time. This was around 10 o’clock and we had to leave for rehearsal at 11. It was taking forever (especially the women, is anyone surprised?) so we got word that there was a faucet in the back of the building that was working so a bunch of the guys just went over there and quickly showered. Yea crazy I know, water was a bit cold but it got the job done. So we went over to rehearsal. There we had some food to eat before rehearsal. We also said a prayer. We usually pray after rehearsal but this was different because of Semifinals. A lady actually said the prayer and there was some bible readings. Then we sang. But not like oh lets sing a little song together. The whole percussion section played a calypso beat in the background and there was clapping (on 2 and 4) and it was nice. I did get a chuckle because the other white person in the band was clapping on 1 and 3 haha. Anyways so we played a little bit for a warm up and all the sudden they were like “time to move the pans.” I was a rack leader because my pans are on a rack by themselves. We got in a sort of caravan of pans and pulled them down the street. We weren’t too far from the Savanna (where the competition is held) but its not as easy when you are pushing pans and dodging traffic. I really didn’t know what was going on (as usual) but I just did what I was told. I actually passed by Exodus as they were practicing but no time or free hands for pictures. Then we had come to a stop because there was another band set up in the street (that was closed off) and we started to setup our pans. This is what they call “the track” or “the strip.” There were a lot of vendors along the side walk and sets and tons of people. We setup our pans and played through our song at moderate pace. I was actually right on the end so people could actually come right up to my pan and rest on the railing. Kind of awkward at first, not to mention people are probably curious to see if I can play well. Played through a few things and then it was time to move again. Then I realized it was just like marching band only instead of marching, you push stuff. We set up and played a couple more times and each time the energy got a little higher because we were getting closer to the stage and time to play. Also there were more and more people the closer you got to the stage. The road wasn’t very even all the time either so there were a couple of times I almost rolled into the gutter while I was playing. We were on the last stretch of road where they have a competition before they reach the stage that is actually judged by Pantrinbago Judges. It was then that I realized that I needed to change into long pants for the completion. So of course I did in front of a bunch of people but oh well. I’m glad I waited because I would have been dead if I wore long Jeans all day long. If you are curious as to how I carried stuff around, I hooked my back pack to my pan rack. At this competition before the stage, we were asked to play it slower that it would be which was a nice warm up. People are pack all around you and the energy is really high. Lots of dancing and jumping and a ton of fun. I think people in the band were impressed that I moved and I actually created some of the dance moves everyone was doing. After we played there we started pushing our pans to the stage. Coming up to the stage on the right is a huge crowd of people and to the left, stadium VIP seating and the Judges. On each side of the stage is a huge ramp. On the judges side and the crowd side are a bunch of lights and speakers and such. We started setting up the pans as fast as we can in a predetermined arrangement and as soon as my pans were set a few seconds later we were about to play. There are two huge red timers on either side so the band can see because the time limit is 8 minutes with a 30 second buffer. Seion counted us of and we started playing. The energy was crazy, there were camera men around the outside of the band and the adrenaline was pumping. I actually later found out that you can watch it streaming live on the internet. I will give out the website when it gets closer to finals and when I have the approximate time we are playing. It was so hot up their I was sweating so much and I couldn’t hear anything but it was an amazing experience. My rack was actually moving around quite a bit but it didn’t affect me too much. I will definitely tie it to the rack next time me next time. I looked up and the timer said 8:17. Great time. We pushed our racks down the ramp on the opposite side we came in on and packed them into the boxes. We then walked the empty racks back to the school where we practice and had some food.

Seion, Akua and Kyshon (another Trini player for the Buccooneers) were going to the Savannah to walk around and see a few big bands and invited me along. Even though I was exhausted, or course I still went. Now walking around with Seion is pretty funny because we can’t go 10 feet without someone stopping to say hello. He’s a celebrity. But we were able to see a bunch of bands playing on the track just as I did earlier. Keep in mind by this time it is almost midnight. Seion and I actually separated from the other to for a little bit to sit down. He took me in the VIP section right behind the judges as we watched a couple of big bands play. It was a pretty cool sight to see. Of course this one lap around the savannah did take us well over 3 hours because Seion saw so many people. I definitely didn’t mind though. I actually get stopped and talked to by a lot of people there too. Except they are either crazy or trying to sell me something. I can get a cab in the blink of an eye. We ended up starting to leave right after the Desperados played. Robert Greenidge arranges for him and I walked right past him on stages. Pretty cool. So as we were leaving I got to see a lot of the big bands pans. I saw a 6 pan and a 12 bass (in the picture to the right) and some really funky looking setups.
We ended up heading back to the hotel where we hung out, limed, drank a little, and watched the rest of the big bands. I don’t think bands finished until after 2 or 230 am. Then the results came in. There was about 25 of us in one room silent listening to them read it off. There was a bit of hooting and hollering when we found that we had beaten the band who is playing the same song as we are (the arranger of the band actually helped compose the song). And then we got the news that we are in 3rd with 167 points and First place was another Tobagonian band Steel Explosion with 170 points. Everyone was really happy we were in the finals but still thought we should be in a higher position. We ended up going to bed just to get up again at 6 for the ferry back to Tobago. We got in at around noon, I ate some bake and fish and went to bed. I got up around 7 to move pans at 8. Got done around 1AM and I am exhausted. I know this was a long blog but it was a very eventful day. I hope I didn’t forget anything important. It’s time to go back to bed. More tomorrow.

(By the way, the picture above is a screen shot from the video taken during the competition sent to me by Rich Holly, my Dean from NIU. Thanks again!)

day two in Trinidad....

Well today we had to get up at 7 oclock for breakfast and a meeting. Just some scrambled eggs and bacon and toast. Simple, good and cost efficient (free). Then we had a meeting. There have been some not so awesome vibes in the band overall and the meeting was mostly a sort of wake up call to get focused. It actually reminded me about football back in high school, when the coach or coaches would give some constructive and inspirational speeches. We’ll have to see if it did the job. After the meeting, I of course went back to sleep for about an hour nap before I had to shower and get ready for rehearsal. At rehearsal we started with sectionals which was nice because we went over the hard runs and the whole tune. I needed that because I still had to get used to my new pans. At first I really didn’t like how they sounded or were arranged but after cleaning them well, the sound better and I have gotten used to the layout of the notes pretty well. Oh! And the Vibes were really good, so the talks must have worked. We rehearsed from about 1130 till around 7 or 8. Yea I know, long day but much needed and much accomplished. The only bad thing about where we are practicing there is no water or food near by. luckily Lemon supplied us with both. There was reeaaal good food brought in for our lunch break. At the end of practice we were all exhausted and ready to get home. I knew my feet were killing me. We got back to the hotel and were all ready to shower, lime and go to bed. However, one big problem. No water. Yes let me say that again, NO WATER. Yea I didn’t even ask any follow up questions. I have grown to expect the unexpected. Anyway, So we ate some food that was provided for us again and people hung out. I went over to the pharmacy to get something to drink and I was craving some chocolate. I was grabbed 3 candy bars that I had never seen or heard of before (Nuggle, X Bar, and Bonaza) and I an Arizona Iced Tea. I wanted to spend less than 20 TT. I figured the Iced tea would be cheap like in the states. NOPE. It was 15 TT when a pepsi is 5. I was pretty surprised so of course I went for the Pepsi. Now I am just sitting in my room watching TV and blogging before I go to bed. I should probably get to sleep. Tomorrow is a loooong day. Rehearsal starts at 11 along with a long day of moving pans over and over again. Tomorrow is Semi finals. We are the last band in our section. I am very excited. Goodnight for now. More tomorrow hopefully.

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