JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT I HAD FALLEN OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH...LOL

It is too quiet in this house tonight...the family left to go home today. I miss them already. Now I have major housework to do, though. :)

We had a great weekend in Tobago. We drove all over the island in what is considered a luxury vehicle in Tobago, a brand-new Suzuki Grand Vitara. LOL We rode up mountains and through rain forests and saw some neat waterfalls and stuff. We also saw what may be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Pigeon Point. We went snorkeling and saw some HUGE angel fish, coral, all that. We hiked, walked, rode, completely wore ourselves out. We had a great steak at Sugar Point Restaurant. I miss steak. LOL If you ever go to Tobago, rent your vehicle from Sheppy's...and if you take the boat for snorkeling and the coral reef, go with Michael (near Pigeon Point). Okay, I know, none of you will ever go, but just wanted to say that these two guys would give you an awesome deal and not rip you off like some of the operators would.

Here are some pictures from Tobago!















My girlies, Shelby and Sydney
































(no, i wasn't pissed, just looks that way. I hate pictures. lol)
















(and no, Eric wasn't pissed, either..he just looks that way. LOL)

















Eric and the girls swimming in Nylon Pool...yeah, that is Eric with the cap on. He always has it on, unless he is sleeping.

















S and S at the park at Pigeon Point....below, some pan player playing America the Beautiful, waiting for Eric to break out the wallet, 'cause everyone in Trinidad and Tobago KNOWS that ALL AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY WHITE AMERICANS, ARE FILTHY RICH. ;) Riiiigggghtttt





























































The hotel (well, okay, the bar part..haha) Shots, anyone??


















The view you get if you walk out on the pier outside the bar part of the hotel. LOL

I should be cleaning, but I am not. By the way, the movie RV with Robin Williams was pretty funny. Take your kids to see it (if you have kids). Hilarious.

Oh, and never rent from Budget (Car Rental) outside the US. NEVER.

I am tired...more later. Bye!

Miss you.

Exhausted

That is all I can say.

The family made it in. Eric wrote down my address for immigrations but lost the paper it was on before he got into the airport, so they wouldn't let my family in the country. I was waiting right outside, but I had left my cellphone in the car, so I was of no help. Anyway, they ended up getting delayed walking out of the airport about an hour because of all that crap.

















Saturday, we drove up to Maracas and spent the day at the beach. A bunch of the students went along. We had a blast.












































Shelby and Melissa (a student's little sister)















Eric and his one true love...his fishing equipment. ;)



















Eric and I in the back of Gordon's little Marouti (the pimp mobile..haha) Yeah, I know I look like crap...AND? I had been at the beach all day long and I was exhausted and water-logged and felt like I had sand and salt saturated into every square inch of my body.


















Sunday, we rode a boat out to Chacachacare Island. Years ago, this place was a leper colony. It is uninhabited now, although plenty of visitors and campers apparently go there and leave their litter behind. It was nice and isolated, but sad to see the litter like that.

















I invited my friend Marlene (she lives down the street from me) and her kids along. None of these people even know how to swim. Unbelievable. They live on an island. 90% of the people I know here do not know how to swim. I don't get it. You live on an island, you MUST learn how to swim. LOL
















Robert and Anthony were our guides for the day. It was very comforting that they polished off 3 bottles of scotch before the ride back to port. ;)































Shelby, Sydney, and Aurelia (Marlene's daughter) had a blast swimming and snorkeling at Chacachacare.
















If you look closely, off in the hazy distance, you can see Venezuela. We were about 5 miles away from Hugoland. ;)

I gotta go to bed. Vacation is very tiring, especially when you are working during half the vacation. :)

Wooooohooo...Tomorrow!

Midterm exams are tomorrow, and I have to go into work early. I will be glad when it is over. The minute exams are over, I head to the airport to pick up my family. Quincy is driving to the airport, too, 'cause he wants to meet them (and just in case we need for room for suitcases, too). Supposed to go to St. James tomorrow night (where the Harley place is) and see the street nightlife. They have a lot of music and stuff. Get to see what new foods the kids want to try..or avoid. :) Some of my students are caravan-ing up to Maracas with us Saturday. We are going ot have a great time! Then Sunday to Chacachacare Island and the other islands off the coast for fishing and snorkeling.

Oh yeah, I rented a car today. Let me say first that, when in the states, I always use Budget, because the service is always great, quick in and quick out. Well, NEVER USE BUDGET IF YOU COME TO TRINIDAD. It took me almost 2 hours to get a car I had reserved over a week ago (online)..I get there, and they don't have a reservation for me (and thank God I printed out my confirmation). They didn't have any cars. None of the other car rental places at the airport had any cars, either. While I was waiting, a guy just happened to bring his car back early, so I got a POS Mazda....and man, this thing is allllll skinned up and scraped up. The radio doesn't work. Aside from all that, what started out as a 160.00 rental ended up with a damn 600.00 hold on my card (for a week...tying up vacation money). On top of that, they were very flip and thought it was hilarious that they didn't have a car for me. My coworker (a Trini) was shocked herself at how bad they SUCKED. After I got the car and got back to the office, I immediately called and cancelled my reservation with Budget in Tobago....NO THANKS. We will use taxis, since you have a million people asking you constantly if you need a taxi. It is only about a 5-minute walk from the airport to our hotel anyway. At least with my previous trip to Tobago, I know now if a taxi driver is trying to rip me off...my class says never pay them over 6 TT a passenger to go anywhere. lol But this afternoon, I drove into San Juan and Curepe.....dropped students off, drove out all by myself. Driving on the left side isn't so bad...I am a pro now. :)

Muslim student was expelled today, so no more obeah drama, thank God.

I am tired. I will be glad when school is over tomorrow....boy, do I need some stress relief!

Wish Me Luck!

I don't want to hex myself, but would everybody cross their fingers for me? Or whomever or whatever you worship, would you put in a good word for me? haha I may have good news before the end of the week.

Quincy would not let me practice driving today because he is a bull-headed man, and I am really pissed off. So I decided to rent the car for this weekend a day early (and i haven't told him..haha) just so i can practice driving before I have a carload.

I have a wonderful new friend in the neighborhood who has hooked us up with a boat trip to the islands off the northwest coast of Trini (and fishing, too) for an unbelievable price. If any of you ever come here, maybe you can get a good deal, too. Thanks, Rob! You rock! And thank you, Ellie, for the Obeah info!

Sydney, you are going to have to get a job if you keep calling me every day from your cell. LOL

Eric, any chance you can freeze some ribeyes and bring them along? I already had excellent cholesterol, but on a diet of nothing but chicken, jeeze, i must be hitting negative numbers by now. This is toooo healthy. I have to smoke extra to make up for the lack of dietary indiscretions here! (Okay, I am going to try to quit smoking one more time before I leave here, so shut up if you are thinking up some smartass comment here. Thank you.)
******************************************************************

You are in my thoughts and prayers. Sucks to be away from home.

Genevieve at 1 Month

Hard to believe she is already 1 month old!


I have to have the sweetest baby niece anyone ever had. I can't wait to get back home to spend some time with her! She is a month old now...Good Lord she looks just like her daddy. Gin, are you sure you had ANYTHING to do with this? haha

















Sitting out on the back porch with Donnie, listening to Elvis..



































Looking forward to the weekend. Won't be long after that and I will be on my way back, too. I am really getting excited. You don't appreciate the USA until you aren't there for a while. Everyone stop bitching, be glad you are there. haha

TGIF

Thank God It's Friday!

We are getting ready for midterm exams..so since there wasn't much else going on at school today, I shut down class early so a group of us could go see United 93.

The class wore red today because there were announcements on the radio telling everyone to wear red today to protest high food prices.

















I told them I didn't want a picture because my eyes were puffy from crying because I didn't get to tell my kid happy birthday before I came to work, and then I left my damn cell phone at home...and I was just feeling in the dumps today. First time I have ever been away when it was one of my kids' birthdays. Also, my first mother's day away from them. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Miss Sydney Bohn....I can remember when I was 11. I sure as hell didn't have a cell phone. LOL

United 93
Yeah, you know how it ends, with the plane going down in Shanksville, PA. It was sad. My students wouldn't let me come home by myself for some reason. LOL They are very protective. They came over to the house for a little while, then they went home. The movie was good, but it was pretty much what we knew. It just made me mad at Muslims, I hate to say. I try to be an open-minded person, but it was kinda hard to watch and not be pissed.
*********************************************************************

I have a lot to do to get ready for my bunch to get here next Friday. Can't wait.

Black Magic Update

Okay, first of all, a disclaimer: I will not give the names of the people involved here at all, except that they are students; in fact, I will just call the Muslim "Sylvia" and the Pentecostal "Jane".

It seems that the situation reared its ugly head again today, and Jane put a flower on Sylvia's desk. Sylvia refused to sit at her desk because she is convinced that, since Jane thinks that Sylvia has been "putting obeah" on her that Jane MUST be putting obeah back on her. So now it seems that they could potentially could be throwing black magic at each other. The entire class is now concerned that all this obeah is going to cause them problems (well, except for the two Catholics, one Presbyterian, and one Methodist..they think it is nonsense.) I, the other Methodist in the room, was more concerned that it was going to come to blows. Anyway, we had to get the school administrator in on all the fun. It was so hard to keep from laughing in the meeting. There was no resolution, except that I have to treat them like 5-year-olds and seat them on opposite sides of the classroom, and if they have any further interaction, even so much as speaking to each other, both are kicked out.

Breaking News
Did I mention I was coming home soon? I don't really want to talk about it, because I don't think it is too professional to defame the company I work for on here....but they have reneged on their agreement with me, only because I don't want to commit to the next class (10 months)..for no other reason....and they decided to cancel my July trip home..that I must stay here until August with no trip home. Not happening. I don't want to talk about anything else regarding said company, but let's just say that I have backing from some higher up folks. No worries! I have a few things in the works, so I should be otherwise employed when I land back in the states.

BOSTON LEGAL
OMG James (Alan)...need I say more. New chick, "Squid" hints at nailing him for sexual harassment...

Alan: How about I just clear everything off this desk and we can just take care of things right now?

AND SHE WALKS OUT OF THE OFFICE????? JEEEEEZE!!!!!!!

Miss you. ;) bye.

Job Hazards at an All New Level!

I had two students a while back whom I mentioned on here..they almost got into a fight. Anyway, the young Muslim girl comes to me and asks for a meeting. I call her into my office, and she says that the older Pentecostal woman is discriminating against her. She said that Pentecostal is annoying her and she hates her because she is a Muslim. She couldn't give me any exact incidents or anything, just generalizations. So I call the Pentecostal into my office after the Muslim leaves. Pentecostal starts crying, states that Muslim is "placing her hand in evil spirits" and casting "obia" on her. Just in case you don't know, obia is BLACK MAGIC. Pentecostal said that Muslim is sending evil spirits to her and causing her personal damage. She also stated that Muslim cast a spell on her Friday so she couldn't transcribe during the test..said she got a chill all over her body and her hands locked up. She said that every time Muslims walks within 10 feet of her desk that she gets really bad feelings, feelings of "doom and horror." By this point, it is all I can do to keep from bursting into laughter...but this lady was dead serious. But now I am wondering if I should call OSHA, because my day has progressively gotten shi**er and shi**er today, and I am wondering if I accidentally caught some of those evil spirits.

First, Maracas Bay Hotel called me today and said they had to cancel my reservation because a tree fell on the hotel and they are closing the whole hotel to do work. So now, the first weekend my family is here, we have to find something else to do. Then, just to confirm, I called Sandy Point in Tobago to confirm my reservations for the second weekend they are here, and they couldn't find them. Quincy later called them and raised hell with them and they found them, though, thank God. Then I find out my employer in the states has decided that since I didn't want to commit to the next class (a 10-month committment instead of a 7.5-month committment) that maybe I didn't deserve my July trip home during my birthday week. I already have a ticket back on July 13, so maybe I will just stay.

Around The World In..Like...20 seconds!

(That is about how long it will take to read this post)

Okay, here is Jon...Jon is our friend from the UK (the pride and joy of Dorset, no less)....
















Jon says: "Cape Reinga is at the very top of the North Island of New Zealand. To the right of the lighthouse is the Pacific Ocean and to the left the Tasman Sea. Sorry about the t-shirt !!! "

(It's okay, Jon...but I would have expected the Vicksburg t-shirt AT LEAST! Nonetheless, I hereby bestow honorary American citizenship on you because I don't know any other Brit who has such an affinity for America as you do.)

And here is my friend from India, Sushma... (or, as my kids call her, Auntie Sushma..lol) Girlie, I miss ya! Tell everyone over that way I said Helllllooo!




















I am trying to find her a rich husband..no luck yet. She keeps telling me I need to come to India. Maybe one day I will make it to that part of the world. ;)

And the good news about my returning home in August...I will be home in time for NFL action! Brett is going to rock this season because he has no choice. This time I will pick Brett first round instead of the higher scoring players. lmao I am debating on the strategy I will use this year for Fantasy Football. I am thinking maybe just Mississippi and Pennsylvania players..or maybe only players with green or blue in their jerseys...I just don't know yet. I got plenty of time to "strategerize"..haha



Wow. Brett and Bubba. Why do I like this picture so much? LOL






















That's okay, you guys go ahead and laugh. Brett is going to show you.

The King of Zimbabwe

Here is my friend Dave at home in Zimbabwe and his big pimpin' house. Damn, Mandingo...where is the concubine to go with the digs, dude?

Check out the estate...LOL When is the party? Are you flying us all in?






























Darn, the trees look just like Trini trees. hahaha

















I say we gamble for houses in FF this year. ;)

Life in the 'Hood

The neighborhood I live in is a gated community, and right now there is a huge scandal going on regarding the head of security, the neighborhood board, and the fact that no one in the neighborhood can get guest codes for visitors to get into the gate. The head of security also just happens to be a policeman (and the police here are terribly corrupt) and everyone is terrified of him. He has already cussed me out twice just because I asked for the gate code I was supposed to get (I have a remote control, but I need a code so when someone comes over they can punch in the last 4 digits of my house phone, so I can buzz them in. ) My driver can't even get in to come pick me up in the morning unless he follows in behind someone else, and sometimes he comes in through the out gate if he has to. I had people over on Sunday and I had to walk out with them to let in the folks picking them up so they could get into the gate. Seems that the policeman / security guy is hiring his thug friends and they are all taking bribes for special "protection". If I were a permanent resident, now you know me, I would be fighting back...but I am a foreigner here and I want to live to see my home again, so I am kinda laying low.

I did meet my new neighbors tonight...3 chemical engineers that came here from India to help open up a paper plant up in Arima. I didn't want to barge out there with my camera and demand pics, I sure as hell don't want them to get the wrong idea....lol....but they seemed pretty nice. They are here on contract for 6 months, and if they decide to stay, their wives and kids are coming then. Their names are Vijay, Sanjay, and Dinesh.

If I were at home, I would eat some steak or something good tonight...but oh well, guess i will settle for some soup. Excited about getting home...got a lot to look forward to. :)

Things To Come...

Well, I made the decision not to return for the next class. I need to get my ass back stateside. LOL I have the option of working for current company at home (but lose my overseas differential)...but I have some other options in the works, too, so it's all good. They asked me to come back for the next class, but they are changing the course length to 10 months, and I just can't commit to 10 months. They are very disappointed because I told them I won't be here...but I have to fly back down for graduation in September. I miss all my loved ones in the states too much to commit for another 10 months. Funny, I feel kind of excited about getting back to PA. Just when I have started talking with a Trini accent....a Mississippian who is a resident of PA who speaks Southern with just a tad of a Trini accent. Boy, that is messed up.

Looking forward to the gang coming down soon...we should have a blast.

Only a little over 3 months of this blog left and you don't have to hear my crap anymore..woohoo!