You may have noticed a typo in the title of my last post. I'm leaving it that way. Reminds me that I'm not perfect, but am a finite being with poor spelling. Deal with it.
I think I'll work my way backwards through the trip, mostly because I want to write about this story now.
On the second to last night in Trinidad, we had the opportunity to split up into pairs and shadow a Presbyterian pastor for the weekend. I was very excited about this opportunity, although I wish it could have happened the first weekend when I wasn't so physically and emotionally exhausted. Despite the fatigue, I made the best of it.
I was paired up with Kris, a Junior at APTS, and assigned to Rev. Kimberly who serves in the Eastern portion of the island. We had no idea what to expect from this experience, since we'd never met her before. I was taken aback when she pulled into the church parking lot and walked up to greet us. She was so young! I soon learned that at 25 years old, Kimberly is the youngest pastor in the Trinidad Presbyterian Church. We hopped in the car and before starting the engine, she turned to us to explain how the weekend would go. She said something along the lines of "I know you're supposed to do churchy stuff today, but I have no duties to tend to, so we're going shopping." That was fine by me! We wound up at a mall and then a Sam's Club-type store to get party supplies for her brother's birthday which would be celebrated that evening.
We then drove about 45 minutes to the other side of the island where her family lives. Thus began my education on the Trini-family. I thought it was neat that she still lives with her parents and I asked her if that was because she doesn't earn enough on pastor's wages to live on her own. She laughed and told me that it is normal to stay with ones parents until marriage. If children move out on their own, the neighbors will raise their eyebrows and wonder what's wrong with your family. Radically different than our attitude in the States!
We arrived at her lovely home and met the rest of her family. In the downstairs portion of the house, her parents, her older brother and Kimberly share the space. The upstairs portion houses her aunt and uncle and their 2 year old daughter. It was a relatively small house, and I was shocked to learn that a few months ago her other aunt and her family of 4 lived in the house as well! They seem to have a radically different concept of personal space than White American culture.
After an afternoon of watching DirecTV - all American shows, of course, the birthday party commenced at an aunt and uncle's house. It was supposed to start at 8pm, but we all showed up at 9, in true Trini fashion. There was a plethora of food and a bar more impressive than a lot weddings I've attended. Oh, and a pig on a spit. They had never tried it before and decided to give it a go. Now, in my experience with "pigs on a spit" here in the States, usually the butcher handles the gross parts and you pick up the pig all ready to roast. Not so in Trinidad. I missed the first few steps of the process, but I saw pictures of the men picking up the pig, killing the pig, and then gutting the pig for roasting. It was pretty badass.
The party was a lot of fun, though a bit awkward...in another post I'll explain the concept of "Kryptonite." We ate and drank and talked and by midnight I remembered that I had to be up at 6am in order to make it to church by 7am. So I ventured upstairs to the bedroom of Kimberly's cousin who graciously gave it up for the night so Kris and I had a bed to sleep in. I was very excited for bed, especially since a good night's sleep was hard to come by on the trip. I got all ready, hopped in bed and was alarmed by how loud the music was. They had speakers on in the backyard, but it sounded like they were in the bedroom with me. There's no way I was going to interrupt the party and demand that the volume be turned down. So I decided to wait it out. Surly they couldn't stay up too late, the neighbors would complain!
Kris wandered into bed around 12:30 and she and I laughed at how loud it was. She seemed to be able to doze off, but I was struggling. By 1am I still couldn't sleep and so I rolled over to stare at a poster of Ronaldo, a Brazilian football player. By 2am I started to go over Bible Content Exam questions in my head. At 3am I was ready to start having a delirious conversation with Ronaldo. At 4am I started to pray that the party would end soon, especially since Savage Garden was blasting through the speakers. Finally, at 5:14am, the music turned off and everyone went home. I slipped into a blissful sleep, only to be woken 46 minutes later by my alarm, telling me it was time to wake up.
Not the ideal way to prepare for three worship services, but now that I look back on it, that was one of my favorite experiences of the trip.
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