Caribbean Union of Teacher's Conference and more of Barbados

This photo shows team Grenada on the left and team Dominica on the right at the Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Conference. Both are the Unions I worked with for Project Overseas.

It has been another great week in the islands. The weather is great, people fantastic and I have had lots of neat interactions and again opportunities. The Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Conference is on this week and I attended as an invited guest for the first couple of days. I was at the Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Women’s Conference as well. It was an honour to be included. I had made the connections with the Union in Grenada but once arriving there I also knew the Union members from Dominica as I had worked with their teachers in 2008 with Project Overseas. It really was an honour to be so warmly welcomed and there on behalf of the Canadian Teacher’s Federation. It was a historical year too as they welcomed with a unanimous vote the island of Guadeloupe into the Union.

My guest house is excellent and I think I could literally write a bestselling novel with the stories I have from its occupants. It has been great fun and most interesting learning about my houseguest’s comings and goings. It will have to be a story over a drink sometime that I share with you. Unfortunately I can’t write it publicly this way, but let’s just say it has been a memorable group of people and a great place to stay. One would think with the amount of action going on here it wouldn’t be quiet but it is when you need to sleep you can and when you want to join someone for a trip to the beach, restaurant or just chat all are available.

I was at Selvi and Eddie’s last night for dinner. It was an amazing Malaysian meal. Selvi is an incredible cook. She even lined the dishes with banana leaves from their backyard. It was delicious and we too had a great time chatting.

Off to Oistins Friday Fish Fry tonight. Always great fish, music, dancing, karaoke, you name it, lots of good people watching and then back to our lovely country.

You can check out the pictures at the following link;
Click on this link for photos from the Conference and more from the Barbados

Rihanna Concert in Barbados

Well it has been another world wind past few days. I thought I was just chilling on the beach for this part of the trip. Not always the case. On Friday four of us headed out to Crane Beach voted one of the top ten beaches in the world. We took the local bus for a dollar. The beach had lots of seaweed as it has been washed up with the storms. It was still good. We then took a visit to The Crane Hotel and used the facilities, swimming in their pool and washing the salt water off. I did smash into the rocks on a walking path there and my camera, knee and banana took the brunt of the fall. All are still in working order though. It was just a scratch this time on the outside of the camera Carol.

In the evening we headed down to the Oval for the Rihanna concert. Rihanna is from Barbados and this was her first concert at home after making it big. I had no intension of going to the concert and was just going to people watch and listen from outside the oval as it was an outdoor venue. But we were able to get $50 tickets, which was less than the original price so we went in. It was packed 30 000 people in there. The women were dressed to the nines in “prom” dresses and five inch stilettos. We were on the grounds in the standing area and as luck would have it I ended up right beside a fellow PVNC employee Donnalynn Paquette. Without the aid of technology guiding us to each other, i.e. no texting, I just looked over and was literally standing right beside her. The concert was good and I was surprised at how many songs I actually knew. It was mayhem trying to get a taxi after the show but again this time you just people watch and watch those women limping away carrying the shoes.

Today we headed out to Bathsheba which is on the East Coast of the island and about an hour bus ride away again for a dollar. It is a surfer’s paradise.

Tomorrow starts the Caribbean Union of Teacher’s Conference and I will attend tomorrow’s session which should also be interesting. It just happened that I am here while the conference is on so I have been invited to attend.

Click on this link for photos from the Rihanna Concert and Barbados

A wet Barbados Crop Over

All is well in the Barbados. It has been a nice time so far with relaxing on the beach, reading and liming (a Caribbean term which means chilling out). Sunday was an interesting day. I have a quote; “a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” That sums it up. I took the bus to church in the morning. The music down here is great. They always welcome the visitors and wish Happy Birthday and Anniversary to those celebrating during the week. I note this as it is a welcoming thing to do. On my way back “home” I saw that Selvi and Eddie’s vehicle was in the driveway so I got out at the next stop and walked back to their place. I surprised them they didn’t know I was on the island. So three bottles of wine later (and I don’t usually drink wine) and good conversation we were caught up. Five minutes later and I would have missed them as Eddie was going to pop into work. Needless to say he didn’t go in that day and limed with me. My other friends Helen and Carl just left the island after living here for six years, three weeks ago and small world, Helen is going to teach in Hong Kong at the school I have visited where Christine Bucholtz used to work. It is a crazy small world.

August 1 is the main day of Crop Over the biggest celebration of the year on the island. There was a parade through the town with people dressed scantily clad marching through the town drinking, dancing and having a real mash up (another Caribbean term that means a great time or blast). I love this parade can you imagine having a big transport truck at the front of each group blasting out the tunes, followed by the booze truck, followed by the coke, mix truck, two hundred people roped in in their costumes dancing and drinking through the streets and then the truck with the porta potties and then it repeats and repeats and repeats as there are 21 groups. It sure is a sight and today it rained on them but they didn’t let this bug them. It just kept them a little cooler I guess.

When I was here for Crop Over in 2008 it was one of the hottest days I have ever experienced with the sun beating down, it was all we could do to keep hydrated with water and this year we were saturated to the bone as it ended up pouring rain. We were soaked right through and stayed that way for hours.

You can check out photos from Crop Over at the following link;
Click on this link for photos of Barbados Crop Over 2011

As I post this I realize I have not taken any photos of the lovely white sand beaches here, I never take my camera to the beach as it is just one more thing to worry about. Over the remaining days I will have to take some for you.