Tobago Beaches, and Cultural Immersion

We've been on this beautiful island for just about a week now and rather it feeling like a school trip, it's basically been a vacation. I'm definitely not complaining but I'm feeling pretty eager to start working in "Happy Haven", which is a school for children with disabilities on the outskirts of Scarborough. We met with the principle on Friday and created a schedule that starts on Monday-I couldn't be more excited! I felt very encouraged after the meeting because it sounds like we're both have the philosophy behind service where meaningful service involves learning from each other and working as a team rather than one just helping the other. The entire group toured around Scarborough together to visit everyone's service cites; some students in the group are at at the Health Promotion Clinic and others are at various schools around Scarborough. It was so fun to visit one of the elementary schools, the children were so adorable! Here, all school children have uniforms and most of the buildings had concrete trelace walls that are open to the outside since its hot year round. The first school we visited had 1 huge, long room that was separated by chalk boards for different classrooms. The kids were packed in each classroom so that was a drastic change from what I've been use to in all my years of education. The kids has excellent manners and one of the girls tugged on my arm and said "Miss, you look very nice today"....this just goes to show how warm and welcoming the people in this culture are! Later that afternoon, two women from the Health Promotion Clinic came to talk to us about HIV, gender issues, gender dynamics, and inter-partner violence in Tobago and that sure was an eye opening discussion. In short, they talked about the implications of living in a small society with a culture that fosters male dominance and female suppression. While some of the content information of the discussion was heavy, I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity to learn about another culture that is very different from my own. Although it sounds like we've been mostly just hanging out and having fun, every experience that we have had here has been filled with learning. I've found that immersing myself in a new culture has made me grow in so many different ways; I have a new found appreciation for basic things from home (like hot water, the only temperature here is cold!), and cultural aspects (equal opportunity). I'm excited for further immersion the remaining weeks! We spent the day at Pigeon Point earlier in the week, which is the signature beach of Trinidad &Tobago where a lot of postcards and travel guides have an image of Pigeon Point on the cover. I don't think I've ever been to such a beautiful place! It was the perfect beach with clear, blue waters, stunning views, and white sand. Today, we spent the day at Store Bay, which is another popular beach in Tobago. This past week we've been exploring local cuisine and one of the groups favorite dishes is Roti, which is basically a stone ground, wholemeal flour tortilla with an assortment of chickpeas, potatoes, chicken, and chana. We discovered a place at Shore Bay for Roti so we had that for lunch  and then went on a glass bottom boat tour. One of the stops on the boat tour was "Nylon Bay" which is a shallow sand bar in the middle of the ocean. Legend has it that swimming in the Nylon Bay for people over 40 will make you look 10 years younger and for those who are under 40, they will have eternal beauty, and couples who kiss under water will last forever.....not a bad place to swim, huh?! It was pretty surreal to be standing on a sand bar in the middle of the ocean! We also stopped at "No Mans Land" which is a beach that can only be accessed by boat. The water there was incredibly warm (a whole lot warmer than the water the guesthouse, ha!) and as with every location in Tobago, the sites were incredible, filled with views of kite and wind surfers (the captain of the tour boat said some of the kite surfers catch enough wind to jump over the boat!!), a profile view of Pigeon Point, and more clear blue waters.  Just when I think this island cannot become more beautiful, With every new excursion (next week we're hiking through a rain forrest!) I'm proved wrong!