Trinidad

I just got back from the Fulbright Regional Enhancement Seminar for the Caribbean, which was in Trinidad & Tobago (though I didn’t get a chance to visit Tobago). Although the seminar was only four days, it felt like I was there for weeks.

Trinidad was amazing. It was wonderful to encounter spicy food (much of it South Asian in origin), streets clear of trash and grime, less fume-choked air, and men who whistled, hissed, and catcalled at much lower rates than in the DR. The academic portion of the four-day program consisted of presentations given by each of the 15 Fulbright Students stationed in the Caribbean.

We were also able to explore quite a bit of Trinidad in the short amount of time we had. I heard live Calypso; found organic toothpaste and Ecover glass cleaner (this stuff makes me excited because it's difficult to find healthy, environmentally friendly products in the DR); swam in our hotel pools (so nice to do laps in the morning!); took a road trip to the island’s eastern coast; where we went to the beach and saw a leatherback turtle lay eggs; saw a script reading of the new play written by an American Embassy official (she’s an amazing writer as well as a diplomat); went to a ridiculous club and partied, Trini-style, till 3am; hiked through the rainforest to a beautiful waterfall and swimming hole; walked around downtown Port-of-Spain; bought chocolate, tea, and spices that are impossible to find in the DR; stocked up on the latest soca and soca chutney music, and finally caught up with some of the English hip-hop, dancehall, and reggae I’ve missed out on in the DR.

Throughout all this, I really enjoyed spending time with my fellow Fulbrighters, who are an amazing bunch. Being reintegrated into the larger scholarly community of Caribbean Fulbrighters was an invigorating experience. Most of us have multiple interests, such as public health and creative writing, so there were many facets to the “enhancement” I underwent at the seminar. By the way, several of my poems, a Spanish translation I did of one of them, and a photograph of mine have been accepted for publication to a literary journal back in the U.S. (34th Parallel). I’m so excited and encouraged!

As for research, I’m reshaping my methodology to a more qualitative approach, and I hope to devote a month to data collection at each of three field sites where I will work (the first being the clinic mentioned in the previous entry). Please, let’s not even discuss data analysis and write-up yet. Trinidad was a vacation disguised as a seminar, but when you put a bunch of Fulbright students together, even a vacation is deliciously academic, yet relaxingly chill.