"Travelling" to Knarvik Center

I hate "travelling".  It's a term we Trinidadians use to mean "Taking public transport".  There is a big difference with our Public Transportation and American, English or even norwegian Public Transportation.  Its hot and sweaty and you litterally have to fight to get into a taxi sometimes.  Not just a taxi all for me... its a 'shared' taxi. Where the taxi driver waits to 'fill' up his car or mini van. This can sometimes take as long as 30 mins.  Its usually as annoying as having to wait in line ... only its hot, sweaty and drags your day on for what seems like hours.  Trying to fight the Maxi Taxi line in City Gate..... that is another story ... one of which I hope to not have to tell ... in association with Norway LOL ... Anyways .... on with the story ... (YES! On with our story!)
Last week was perhaps the better week to try to use public Transportation with wonderful weather, but that's not how it worked out.
I had to grudgingly wake up 30 mins earlier than I usually do, and get ready faster. Hubby was off to work unusually early and had to pick up someone from the airport , or else I would have begged for a drop to school.
Ah .. yes ... rain .. of course.  Bundled up and scarffed I walked to the bus stand with my umbrella ... A cute little wooden shed on one side .. .and a .... well lame sign on the other side going the other direction.  I got the shed :).
I got to school ok. Asked someone just to make sure I got on the right bus. School was especially tiring.
I sorted out my bank card and account right after school and walked outside to find the bus. 
Hmm .. I'm not too sure which one I'm taking, since the bus I took- the 341 -didn't drop me in front the Center, but at a school nearby.  Perhaps I should walk back there?
I walked to a friend who worked at a store in the Center and she got online and told me I had 15 minutes to catch the same 341 heading back home. Perfect ... Piece of cake.
I headed out the Shopping Center .... Vooosh .... as I opened the umbrella the entire head of it came off..... there went my umbrella.... a guy walking into the Center was snickering at me ...  I thought it was funny too ... sort of...  I tried to get the top back on the stick .... Nope ... it was not staying ... there must be something broken. Ah well. I tossed it in the bin nearby and noticed another umbrella in the bin... hehehehe ... That's why people just where the rain coats.... it won't break on you. I didn't have that luxurious item. It would not have matched my outfit today....
I raced upstairs to where I had seen some umbrellas and bought the first black one that could fold into a smaller back. Hurrying back downstairs, I got ready to open my umbrella .... no rain... Of course. I tossed it in my bag.
I walked back to where the bus had dropped me off.  I couldn't see the bus stop sign ( a little bus on a stick .. literally), so I walked along the route backwards and waited at the nearest Bus Shed on the main road.  I had15 mins.
I pulled out a book to read. Glad I brought it along.  3:15pm. Any moment now the bus should come along.  Oh yes! .. I forgot my watch is fast so that I would be ontime.  Typical trini move. Oh Lovely the sun came out. No need for the new umbrella now. How Murphy! About 3 busses have passed already, all slowing down in anticipation that I would hop on.  3:20.... Hmmm .. its late ... it should be coming filled with school kids.
3:30pm ... not a single bus has passed with 341 on it. I thought that I must be at the wrong bus stop and decided to walk to the other main road and see if I could find another spot to pick up the 341. I walked past a bus rest stop .. i think .. there were lots of buses saying "nobina" .. what ever that means...... what ever it was , I realised it must mean "no service" "off duty" or something, since they were all empty.
Maybe I should have asked one of the bus drivers where I could get the bus, but my pride stopped me and besides I figured that it really couldn't have been THAT complicated? .. Could it?
Yea Right.
As I passed under the bridge and reached  the other side of the big main road, I started walking back ..
Oh.....
No.....
 I stopped and stared in disbelief at what I was seeing ... that is NOT a 341 I seeing  and I on the WRONG side of the road now ....
Steups.
That bus was EMPTY. Which means it must have just started right there.
       That's ok.
                           I can walk..
. I'll just walk back to the first bus stop that it would make.
I walked over the bridge...now its not a small bridge eh .. this bridge joins 2 islands together and the wind was blowing so much, I was sure it was going to blow me into the oncoming cars, trucks and of course busses... just rub my nose in the dirt.
I pass under the by pass again now and walk on the other side of the road. At least I was on the right side to get the bus.  Good! Now I was in the perfect position to not only get the bus.. but to get the best seat in the house!
I keep looking in one direction, to the left from whence my bus will come.... the rain starts to drizzle... I'm so glad I rushed back to get that umbrella. It was one of those cute push button ones that just pop open. I love those. They are so easy!. I was pressing the button. Press ... press .. press .. it says up and down so i guess I need the up button ... press press press ... I was trying hard NOT to look like I was fighting with the umbrella I JUST bought now.  The rain is getting heavier... Come ON stupid Umbrella .... ! Finally the umbrella grudgingly decides to open and not a minute too late.... the rain came pouring!! ... I look down and realise that the button is broken and I have to keep my finger on it in order to prevent it from falling off and not being able to open or close the umbrella at all. Great!!!! ... This is a new Umbrella.... broken .... Yuh know I taking it back to the store next time I go to class!
Of course I started feeling like a poe-me-one. I'm standing on the side of the road, Rain pouring, its cold, the wind is blowing, and cars are vooshing past me like Wow!
A 341! ... Yay! ..and it was empty! I'm so glad... its now been 35mins or so since I left the last bus shed. This has been a Whole hour of waiting and I was getting very hungry. School was over since 2pm! and I still had to walk the dog! I walked out further to signal that I was interested in boarding.. I started to flag my hand since I thought it was driving too fast. I looked the driver right in the eye.
VOOOSH!!!!!!!.
The Bus past me straight..... I turned to watch it leave .... Splashing rain mist in the air ..... I waited until any car that might have seen that bit of ignoration would have gone.....
In complete dejection, Slumping under the umbrella that I had to carefully hold to keep the broken button, I continued walking in the direction that the bus passed me straight. It MUST stop somewhere. I started having all these thoughts of why on earth would I be taking a bus when I feeling cold.??? That is just NOT cool.  I don't think its cool ever to move from a tropical place to have to take a bus in the cold... that is not my idea of cool ... and I may as well head back to warmth.....
You know usually when you walk you see so many more things than you do not when you drive past a place.  Well this time I didn't see a THING except the ground. I had the umbrella right at my head so people couldn't see my face as I walked. The rain and wind continued to do its thing. All the while , I was working my self up into a serious frenzy. There were moments of tears and then anger that I could be so stupid to not check it out before I left home in the first place.
Finally I reached a change point for busses. There were 4 different bus sheds on the same side with different names on them. I got under the right one and finally settled down to wait for the bus.
In about 3 minutes the 341 came around and I couldn't be happier that it stopped.
I reached home around 5 pm.  It took a total of 2 hours to make a trip that normally takes 10 mins by car.
Of course, when I reached home, my husband showed me that there was a bus terminal right across the road from the Center and I should have gone there and they would have told me what I needed to take.  Too late buddy! Misery done already. Next time.... grrrrrr... next time...
I hate taking public transportation ... ... don't you?
Whey yuh say?

The Saga Continues with Kiwi Frekhaug

Obviously ... Kiwi Frekhaug and I have a love Hate relationship ... and its fast leaning towards the HATE feelings.  Remember last time when I needed to get my post? And I needed all sorts of ID? .. then after all the trouble I needed to go through to Actually GET the post  including a letter from the bank saying the information was incorrect, including having to return 3 times...?...
Well I needed to go to the Bank.  We have already established that my passport is my ONLY recognisable ID in a country where no one really knows me.... So if this were to be lost by me ... it would horrible....
So imagine my mortification .... I can't think of anything more horrible .... when I realised that I had forgotten my passport in the KIWI Frekhaug :( .

Yes .... Multiply MY response by 1000000.... the world has just turned into all those folklore tales with La Diablesse and ting? ... well this is now my horror.

I go back to check to see if I per chance .... of horror... and nightmare on elm street... forgot my passport in this beautiful example of 1st world Service and effeciency
"Ah yes " The SAME girl I dealt with last time tells me.
I had gone there at 8:20 am before my class in the hope that it would be a quick and painless recovery.

What on earth was I thinking....

The girl was still looking for it ... and after her initial reaction of " Oops ... hmm I'm sure I put it here", the horror movie had begun.
After about 5 mins of looking, and asking the ONE other girl there, she comes back and tells me casually, "No, we can't find it" ....

I beg your pardon??? .. you .... can't.... fiiiiind .. it?.... you .... can't FIIIIIIIND .... iiitt??? ..

Calm Jaemie, think of the poppies in the field.

She tells me to come back afterwards, when she would have talked to everyone...

I give her my phone number and ask her to please call me.

In class I'm thinking ... She must be crazy.  Didn't I fill out a form with my name and Telephone number on it? Why didn't she call me to tell me I forgot the passport? ... After she left it in the photocopy machine.... ok ok ok . I . ME ... JAEMIE ... didn't remember to TAKE it back... but that's only because I was soooo focused on getting my ONE letter that had a norwegian ID on it back.
I come back after class confident that it must have just been placed in a "safe keeping" and not in the cashier's box at the front.
Its not there..... She still can't find it.

to be continued.....

Fly yuh Flag!

Norway is a new independent nation.  They became a free Independent Kingdom in 1945. This is Norway's National Day.  The entire country is very patriotic since they were once joined with Denmark and Sweden and are happy to be independent and free!
But the most beautiful thing to me are the flag poles in almost every yard!. This is not like america where you have a pole attached to your house or something .. These are the big ole 9 meter tall poles!!!!
On May 17th, Norway's National Day, it is traditional to fly a full sized norwegian flag. Of course in the streets there are the smaller ones, there are parades, there is fireworks etc ... but at your house there is a huge Flag flying proudly.
There are set "Flag days" they call them.  You can see all of them here if you are interested in some more history. These days include the Birthdays of the monarchy, Easter, Christmas, New Years.

But the more endearing practices are Family Birthdays.  It is allowed to fly the flag for someone's birthday since it is a celebration.
Weddings - When someone is getting married, the family usually hoists the flag for the day. It is also customary for the entire village to do the same, whether or not they are invited.
Funerals - It is perfectly appropriate for the village to hoist their flag at half mast for members of their family or members of the community  who have died on the day of the funeral.

When I learnt of this comradery, it made my pores raise.  It is such a beautiful thing to join together in something like weddings and funerals to show your support for your neighbours!
But then again , Trinis does make Anything a celebration .. so maybe the flags will be hoisted every day.  And yuh know how we have big mamajama weddings and funerals where everyone from all over will come to pay the last respects? ... hmmmm well actually .. the way tings going now, there will always be a flag flying half mast and/or full mast in a village... so much ting is go on nowadays.

I can imagine that it would be such an amazing thing. Do you remember when the Soca Warriers made it to Germany?? ... The patriotic spirit was so evident.  Can you imagine having a  huge flag pole with large Trini flags flying?

For Independence day this year ... I wanted to fly my flag high as well.  Unfortunately though, our flag pole didn't have string.  My husband, as ingenious as wonderful as he is,devised a plan to get that flag flying for the day!
A Window Washer screwed to the wall and the flag was up! :) ..

The Trinidad and Tobago Flag flying proudly in Norway on Independence Day 2010

I can't believe that I don't have Trini Tshirt???!!! None!! .. I didn't even have something Red white and black to wear on Independence day! ... Terrible I know!! .. I'll fix it next year!..

But we still have Republic day to come .. so YUH know I have to get meh a HUGE trini flag to fly high here! .... If you feel so inclined, feel free to ship one over for me :)

I love being patriotic when I'm outside of Trinidad... it makes the pride of the Islands so much more real.

Whey yuh say??? All meh people living outta Trini? HOLLAAA!

Which comes first.. the Post or the ID Part 2

UPDATE:


2 weeks later......

Since then ... just to let you know ... I STILL was not let off the hook. Mail came in the post to tell me that I had to go back to the Post Office because they had not completed the information correctly.

STEUPS!!! What were they going to do? Take my card if I didn't go? Cancel it? Its being used .. surely they could see that?
Fine!
Went back to the Post and presented my letter along with my country registration letter.
Needless to say ... another long line was created behind me, unfortunately for the hot, blond, too made up, too short skirt for her age chick who came to the desk just behind me (and was making alot of noise that there were no one at the counter in the first place), the girl was unsure of what to do for me.
She seems to read the letter I got from the bank.... taking a rather long time.
"ah ... I see " the girl is saying ...
when it is obvious that she is not sure why on earth I'm giving her my letter of registration to the country.
"Do you have a number for the package"
"I picked up the package already. There was a problem with the form that you guys had filled out. You have to fill it out again and take this number down (pointing the letter)" I summarized the letter for her.... Since she obviously had difficulty doing it herself. All this WAS mentioned in the letter.

Ah .. ok ...  she goes again ... she better really get it this time .. because my patience with this stupid system has reached all all time low.  Why can't we just pick it up from the bank itself? .. What is SOOO hard with that? That way you can take a mug shot, my finger print, my toe print ... what ever you want so that I don't have to be subjected to the post incompetence and Lack of knowledge of the BANK way of working! ..
sigh all is well now ...

What is to is... it can't ARE right?

But if I get another letter from the bank ... yuh know dis red gyul eh going back to no grocery-store-acting-for-the-post-office-acting-for-the-bank again. I going STRAIGHT to the bank and let them clear it up...
wha ..? yuh feel I like waysin' meh time feeling like a dotish chupidee ah wha?

Whey yuh say?

Whatever happened to "home clothes"

Ever watched those sitcoms on TV and ever wondered if these people wake up and put on nice clothes and makeup and do up their hair and ting???
I did.
I used to wonder whatever happened to "home clothes"? ... surely these people can't expect us to believe that they wake up and look fabulous for the "unsuspecting camera" ???

Alas, I think that I have gathered that it must be true.

Since I have been here ... I have not worn ONE of my "home clothes" .... it just seems too ... well ... old ?... its more to be thrown away... turned into rags, burnt at the stake rather than something that you are happy and comfortable in. 
I mean, it is almost a guarantee that you have to go out and do something like shopping or pay a visit to a neighbour ... and you dont want to be looking like a lamo.
So all my summer dresses and "good clothes" have been turned into "home clothes".  So technically, they ARE still home clothes .. .things that I could be seen outside in ...

And then there is home jeans  (lol) ... oh lors ... but this is not the bussup poom poom shorts you used to wear in Trini ... this is proper jeans.  After all .. it needs to keep you warm!.
Its hard to tell my husband's home sweaters from his "going out" sweaters .. because they all seem good to me ... I mean I know the new ones but the ones that have been around for a while .. they are the tough ones...

So, I'm seriously considering that wonderful world of wake up like yuh going to work ... when yuh really staying home .. and yuh MIGHT hadda go to de super market to get ... oh bread and milk (which we seem to buy EVERY DAY because , according to my husband, de bread ole).
Cleaning house looking WELL dandy with makeup (at least mascara  and blush for me - I won't leave home without it!) So if someone comes knocking on your door .... JUST like in the sitcoms ... yuh doh have to run inside and put on something decent!

Whey yuh say?

Just the Simple life.... on the Islands

Just to be clear .... this has not been a big ole jolly life (well in some respects it has)... but it is also filled with missing home, missing friends and missing people I love like family.....
But the Life here on the Islands (They call them Islanders .. funny that!) is actually quiet simple.
A long time ago, the islanders were not joined to the main land. Their main economy was fishing and agriculture, there were many many farms.  In fact, where we lived right now, used to be part of the land that my husband's family had their farm. Yes, the hubby was a "farm boy"... which only added to his charm for me.... because it is such a genuine person.... no pretences and knows what it means to work hard for something.  His father worked really hard and created quite a name for himself on the island and the area.
Some of the things that are very endearing about the Islands now is that there is never any clutter; the houses, the cars, the groceries etc.  There is space for everyone and most people have a fair amount of space around them.
Once the island was connected to the main land via ferries. There were ferries to and from everywhere, row boats (in place of the little speed ones now). And most of the houses that were not part of a farm, were actually vacation or summer cabins.  These cabins, unlike in Trinidad (where u can find a beach house as larger or even larger than a normal house) were usually tiny.. and when I say tiny .. I mean tiny!!!. It was amazing that people can be comfortable in them... much less have a vacation!
Something that I find very endearing about the island Holsnøy are their Postboxes! ...
Many people have artistic talent or try to and have some beautifully painted boxes.

Now you must be thinking painting a mailbox would be like sculpture on the inside of a needle ... which by the way is amazing, but their mailboxes are not like ours back home in Trinidad.  They are usually bigger.

Not only are they bigger, but they are also usually all together.  You won't find a postbox  on your gate.... the post man (or lady) will not drive or walk all the way to your very deserted house out here in the "wilderness" called the islands. 

They would have a little house of their own and the postperson can put all the post in one place.  It makes for very effecient post collecting and post putting ... I mean imagine that the post people would be sooo happy! ... No dogs scratching ... cats barking at them ... it would be a blissful job ... at last!

But that is nothing new to the world of post boxes .... There are apparantly many different ways you can have a post box in this world.. if only we could have more interesting ones in Trinidad! ..

In our little road, we have darling post boxes as well.  The pictures are of Dogs, Norway Scenery, Norwegian Trolls.

We thought that we wanted something to remind us of home :) ...

So we got Astrid to do something extra special for us and she did an amazing job!!! .. Thanks Astrid!! We love ya!

Holsnøy Postboxes