Finally some pictures!

Kaitlin's mom here. These are the pictures Kaitlin sent me to upload for her. Hopefully this will work, I'm rather new to blogging. But Kaitlin explained everything pretty well in her posts, so I think you will be able to figure out the pictures. And the title of this post is just me being a wiseguy! Kaitlin did ask me to tell you that her internet time will continue to be limited. Unfortunately, there is no internet access in her village, so she has to get into town. And right now she is supposed to be spending more time in her village getting integrated and such. So it might be awhile until her next post. But I am sure she will work it out so that we get to hear from her rather than second hand from me.

Random Fun Facts

Here are some random fun facts/stories about my life in Tonga:

• I am lucky. My neighbour has a washing machine. So I get to put my clothes in the washing machine and the only thing I have to do by hand is rinse them. No hand washing for Kaitlin! Sweeeet!
• In an effort to be nice, some of the Tongans in my village try to translate my name back into English. They translate Katalina into Katherine, despite the fact that I explained my name is actually Kaitlin. As a result, I respond to Katherine, Katalina, Lina, and of course, palangi.
• I successfully cooked for myself the other night, for the first time in Tonga! I made rice and vegetables. It was delicious. I was also very proud of myself, since I am not much of a cook. However, Tongans don't really understand vegetarianism very well- it took a bit of explaining. So when my principal's wife, Vau, asked me if I had cooked myself dinner and I proudly explained what I had made, her reaction was "...that is all? Tomorrow, I will look for eggs for you. I am worried you do not eat enough." I then had to explain that it was okay, I could get my own eggs and I actually eat fine. They are always so worried about me!
• I tried to bake a cake for Viniseni (my principal), Vau, and their family since they have been cooking so many meals for me. Baking is also a great way to make friends and integrate in Tonga. But, I am not much of a baker either. So my cake was not very good. But my neighbours ate it anyway and even said it was good and I was poto, smart, for making it.
• I have mice housemates. I think they only come out at night. They recently stole my toilet paper. Silly mice. They don't bother me now but hopefully they don't get any worse!
• I eva pe (just walk around) a lot to wave to people in my village so they know who I am. Eva-ing is a big activity here in Tonga. It's a little weird to them that I do it alone but the kids come with me sometimes too!
• I recently finished my first journal! That is the one Jamie gave me for my 21st birthday- thanks Jamie! Next is the one Monica gave me as a gift before I left. So everyone be proud- I've been writing a lot, even if it hasn't been on my blog.
• Tongans have beautiful voices. The singing in church is absolutely amazing.
• No, I do not go to the beach everyday.
• Tonga Group 76 is by far the most fascinating group of people I've ever met in my entire life (no offense to any of you). Everyone has such interesting backgrounds and stories that they are very willing to share. They are also very intelligent. We mesh pretty well.
• I had my first proposal for a Tongan moa (boyfriend or girlfriend) the other day. First let me explain that boyfriend or girlfriend must be used loosely. You can be texting with someone and be their moa, you can be walking with them on the street, you can actually be dating them- it's quite a wide range of activities and relationships. Tongans also frequently have multiple moas. So one of the boys in the group I was doing Christmas stuff with said "I think it is time for you to have a Tongan boyfriend." I said "Oh, really?" and he said "Yes, you should, would you like one?" I laughed and said "I think I am okay right now, I have not been here too long. I'm alright." And he said "You are okay?" And I said yes. He then didn't talk to me for the next couple of days so I felt kind of bad but we're okay now. A better way to handle it would have been with humour, such as "Oh, I already have 10 moas!" Or to just laugh and say, "You'd have to ask Viniseni first!" or something like that. But I was so caught off guard that I did not handle it well. Oh well, now I know for next time!

These are just random bits of information that have come to mind while I've been sitting at the computer. If there are questions you have about my life, or day to day activities or anything, definitely leave a comment and ask! I'll do my best to address them when I next get the chance to be online.

xoxo

k

Merry Christmas!

Merry American Christmas! And Boxing Day in Tonga!

I recently became a real PCV, yaaaaay. We were sworn in at a nice ceremony by the water on the 15th of December. I moved last week to my site and am now in my own house. It's summer break in Tonga right now so school is not in session. That means I have nothing in particular to do except get to know people in my community and integrate.

This past week that has involved participating in various skits/dances/songs with a group of youth in my community. Youth is basically the kids who are in or have graduated from high school but are not yet married, so I technically count as youth even though I will be a teacher at the school. It's a weird kind of in between. The youth are split up into different groups and have been performing every night. I jumped in with the group of which my principal's daughters are a part. We practiced a lot during the day and then did the performances at night. It was a big to-do- tents were rented for the school grounds, huge speakers were set up, and there was a stage. I played the Virgin Mary on a couple nights, danced a few times, and pretended to get married in a reenactment of a scene from Glee (from an episode I had not yet seen, which was frustrating!). I spent most of the time not being sure exactly what was going on and only understanding half of the Tongan spoken to me. However, a lot of the people in my group speak pretty good English so they were sure to help me out.

No matter what I did on stage, though, the Tongans thought it was great just because it was the palangi (white person, foreigner) doing it. All the young men in my village also got a great deal of entertainment out of posing for pictures with me. I just stood there and laughed while they rotated through. Everyone in my village is so friendly and welcoming- it's been a lot of fun.

For Christmas we went to church, had lunch, and then went swimming at the beach. After that my principal dropped me off at a PCV's house in town were a group of us had a potluck and did a yankee swap. I got two very nice coffee mugs! I'm still in town staying with my friend, and will head back to my site tomorrow. It's been a fun little break but it will also be good to get back to my site and continuing getting to know people.

I know this post is a little all over the place- we are in the PC office watching Eat, Pray, Love so I'm trying to multitask. But I just wanted to give you all a little update while I'm here!

I emailed my mom some pictures since it was taking to long to load them on the blog, so she will be putting those up soon. You will get to see my house, my group of youth, and the Peace Corps I did Christmas with. Hopefully I'll figure out how to make albums and stuff soon so I can put up lots of pictures!!

Once again, Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a lovely holiday season and have a great New Years. I'll be thinking of everyone! Love and miss you all tons.

xoxo
k

First Time Teaching

What up yo? Long time no talk. Sorry I've been so absent- but PST (pre-service training) is winding down so hopefully I'll be able to update you more regularly in the future.

We finished up our language training about a week and a half ago with a mock LPI (language proficiency exam). This involved having an interview in Tongan with one of our language trainers. We were asked questions about ourselves, family, food, clothing, directions, time, weather, and shopping. I was able to answer all of the questions that I was asked and scored a three out of three on every section except clothing. I was fortunate in the fact that I had a great, very patient language teacher during training. I think that is a large part of the reason I was able to learn well. Unfortunately, I haven't improved all that much since the mock LPI so I need to get back to studying before we have the real one in December!

Last week we started technical training, which for me consisted of how to teach English in a Tongan classroom. They flew in a TEFL expert from Bulgaria, which is where she works for Peace Corps. She has been working with our TEFL trainer, Lose, to educate us on classroom management, teaching English as a foreign language, and various other things. They have both been great, and we've had a lot of help/input from current volunteers. Hearing their experiences about starting to teach in Tonga has been the most helpful thing, as well as hearing from other trainees who have already taught English in other countries.

This week we started practice teaching in actual classrooms! We were split up between the schools near us in Ha'apai to teach for 2 hours a day so we can get a sense of what Tongan classrooms are like. I have been teaching at GPS Pangai (GPS = Government Primary School) in class 6, which is about equivalent to grade 5 in the US. In Tonga, students take an exam at the end of class 6 that determines where they will go to high school. If they score well enough on the exam, they go to better high schools. If they do poorly, they can still go to high school but they will attend schools that are not as strong in their education. So at age 10 or 11 students in Tonga have to test to determine the entire future of their education. And the test is hard! There is an English section, a math section, a science section, and a Tongan section. I have looked at some English sections of the exam from previous years and I know that I would not come close to getting a perfect score. There are questions on the test that are completely arbitrary (write the best word that means the same thing as big- who decides what the best word is?) and questions that are actually incorrect- multiple choice with no right answer. The test is also written by people for whom English is a second language. All in all, it is a very hard test but it determines the future for a child who is in our 5th grade. Craaaaaaaaazy.

Anyway, the students I've been teaching this week have already finished their exams and so are just hanging out until the school year officially ends. The last month of school after tests is pretty chill- a lot of students stop showing up and there isn't much in classroom education. I've had about 16 students in my class each day, although there are usually more than that throughout the school year. They are super sweet and listen very well. Kids in Tonga are very well behaved in the classroom. Some of that is because corporal punishment is generally used in most Tongan classrooms and so the kids are afraid of getting hit. But it is also partly just the kids here- they were great even for me, a teacher they have never met. In the US, a lot of kids really try to test a substitute teacher that is completely unknown. The kids I've taught this week have been pretty great. We did introducing yourself on Monday, daily routines on Tuesday, and today we did verbs. Some of the stuff I have done has been too easy for them because we didn't know the actual level of the kids going into it, but most of it has gone pretty well. I've done a lot of games and interactive activities which kids don't do in the classroom very much here. And yes, I've been teaching entirely in English, with the except of a word or two in Tongan when they don't understand something. They've been doing really well! We do not have teaching tomorrow as there is no school because of elections, but we should be going back on Friday for our last day of practice teaching.

After that, we have one week left in Ha'apai then off to attachment! I will be going to stay with a current volunteer who teaches at a Weslyan primary school in an outer village on Tongatapu. I will be there for a few days so that I can see a volunteer's life, learn what my life might be like for the next two years, and ask her any questions I might have. Should be interesting! Then we have a wrap up week in Nuku'alofa (where I started), then exams, then swearing in and then off to site on December 17th or so. I can't believe it has already been almost 2 months! Crazy!

Alright well I think that is about it for now, I could write more but this is getting pretty long so I will leave it for next time. If there is anything in particular you want me to write about feel free to comment and let me know!

Hope all is well where you are. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love and miss y'all.

xoxo

k

Faleloa

Greetings from Faleloa (my host village)!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I haven't had much time to get on the internet- I have school 5 days a week and on Satudays it is kind of a hassle to get to Pa'angai (the "city" of Ha'apai) because it is harder to hitch a ride and it is too far to walk. But we were successful today, thanks to the host father of one of the other volunteers!

However, this is going to have to be short because I don't have much time on the internet and I was too fakapikopiko (lazy) to write my blog ahead of time. My mom gave you a pretty good update about my life so I'll just give some more specifics.

For my host family I have a mom, Meleane, but her husband passed away a few years ago. I also live with two sisters, Lona (25) and Vei (11), and 3 brothers, Tau (8), 'Eni (6), and Nofo (5). 'Eni is actually Meleane's grandson but he lives with them full time. They are all very kind to me, except that they won't let me help out around the house very much which can be frustrating sometimes because I want to contribute. But I say if that's my only complaint, I am doing pretty well! Meleane's English is very good and the kids speak some English so my lack of perfect Tongan is not a huge issue yet. They call my Katalina or just Lina, since consonants are never next to each other in Tongan and so Kaitlin doesn't work.

Language classes are going much better than I anticipated, but I still need to get better about practicing my Tongan outside of the classroom. I'm often too shy to use it beyond general conversation such as hello, how are you, and learning names. I try to practice with my younger siblings more because that's closer to the level I am on. They are very patient with me, which is great! This week will be the last week of language classes, and then technical training will begin.

Like my mom said, I will be teaching at a Weslyan Primary School once I am actually sworn in. The village is called 'Utulau. There are 96 students, 6 teachers, and me. I visited there as one of our site visits when we first arrived and I absolutely fell in love with it. The principal seems very supportive and I am really excited to work there. I will move there mid-December but it will be summer break so I won't start teaching until mid-January or so.

Group 76 (my Peace Corps group) is absolutely amazing. Everyone is incredibly fascinating and super nice. It's a great support network and I have made some wonderful friends already. There is also one woman in my group who reminds me a lot of Ellen Kraly (one of my Colgate professors) which is absolutely fabulous. Ellen is someone who I admire a lot and who contributed greatly to my college experience (and also wrote one of my PC recommendations!) so having someone here that reminds me of her provides me with a lot of motivation to work hard and succeed. So, thanks again Ellen!

I guess I can tell a funny story... So I am very fortunate in my homestay experience because I have my own bathroom and my own bathtub. However, the tub fills pretty slowly which is totally fine. It takes about half an hour for it to fill 4 or so inches. So I turn it on, leave it for a little while, and then go back to it to bathe. Well the other night I turned it on and then forgot about it apparently, while we went to a community event that lasted about 3 hours. We came back and I had accidentally flooded part of the 2nd floor! The water wasn't super deep or anything but everything was definitely wet and we had to move the rug and pull up some of the floor covering so everything could dry. I felt so terrible! I cried and my family laughed a bit. They were super nice about it- Meleane said "it is never a bad thing to clean our house!" I think they mostly felt bad for me because I was so upset about it. It is one of those things that would be super funny if it were my own house but it wasn't... I am able to laugh about it for sure because there is nothing else I can do and nothing terrible happened, but at the time I was horrified. And yes, I freely admit that I am an idiot, haha.

Sorry but I don't have any pictures! I probably could have uploaded some but I haven't put them on my computer yet soooooooooo yeah... my bad. But it is beautiful here!

I don't have too much else to say because life is pretty consistent- class then study Monday through Friday, study/town/beach on Saturday, church/eat/sleep/study on Sunday.

I'm going to go because I want to head back to the beach soon. But I hope you all are doing well! I will try to update again soonish but it might not be until December when we get back to Nuku'alofa. Overall I am super happy here but I do love and miss you all tons!

xoxo

k

First Month in Tonga

Hi all. Don't get too excited, it's Kaitlin's mom here (at Kaitlin's request) to update a little on happenings of the past month, to the best of my ability to remember what she has told me. I borrowed the picture from one of the other group member's posting. It is at the airport upon their arrival in Tonga. Kaitlin especially wanted me to explain that she has limited internet access where she is now, so has been unable to be in touch with anyone, but she misses and loves all her friends & family and is hopeful that once she is back on the main island, internet access will be move available to her and she can be in better touch.
Anyway, they landed safely on the main island of Tongatapu, where they stayed in the capital Nuku'alofa for 3 or 4 days before flying over to the island group of Ha'apai for their 12 weeks or so of language and other training. Kaitlin made it through her overweight luggage problem thankfully without issue. Someday we WILL be better packers! She did not even get charged from L/A to Tonga for having one overweight, which was very nice. The group has been split up into different villages. They train with their village grouping Monday through Thursday, then come together as a bigger group on Fridays. Kaitlin loves her homestay family, there are some children and grandchildren in the home, but I don't remember their ages. Mondays through Fridays are really pretty much occupied with classes, currently a big focus is on language skills, which her homestay family helps with. Weekends are free thus far. She attends church on Sunday mornings with her family and then they gather for lunch.
Kaitlin was very happy this past week. They had interviews for their placements early in the week and were notified on Thursday of where they would be assigned. Kaitlin was thrilled to get her first choice. She will be heading back to the main island after training completes in early/mid December. She has been assigned to a Wesleyan Church School in a small village to teach 5 & 6th graders (9 to 11 age range) English. Also, the Wesleyan Church Schools are planning a transition to bilingual education, so she will be assisting the teachers there to put that in place, as well as assisting in the library. But more details of her assignment will become clear as time goes on. Tonga has two schools, government and the Wesleyan Church schools. Anyway, she is, as I said, thrilled to have this assignment. She doesn't think that there has been a Peace Corps placement in this village, or if there has, there has not been anyone there for a long time. And it is about 30 minutes outside of a larger town.
She has had some beach time and snorkeling time and has made some good friends in the group. I think some of them will be within close (relatively speaking) traveling distance once she is at her village. The food has been fine although she has not been able to be strictly vegetarian. There are a lot of root vegetables, yams, etc and chicken, pork & fish. She has not had any illnesses, but has a cold right now. It has been somewhat rainy since they arrived, and of course humid, but she doesn't seem to mind that greatly.
We don't have a handle on how long mail takes, but her address right now is
Kaitlin Tufts, PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 147
Nuku'alofa
Kingdom of Tonga
South Pacific
(You must include the South Pacific, otherwise it tends to end up in Africa)
She will have a different address once she is in her village, but any mail sent to the above address will eventually get to her. She will update her address once she knows it.
She does have a phone, but has not lately been able to buy more airtime for it due to difficulty in getting to the bank when it's open and then the store. There is no cost to her to receive calls and she is on a plan that allows her to call anyone in her group as well as the Peace Corps offices without charge, but she must of course pay for calling here. Her phone number is 011-676-77-85690. I use a calling card which puts it at .43 a minute. Although I haven't tried using Skype to call her cell phone, I checked the price on that and it is also .43 per minute.
From the East coast, there is currently a 17 hour time difference (they are ahead). But guess that will be 18 hours once we return to standard time. I am of course, not suggesting that anyone call her, just wanted to relay the calling situation. But if anyone wants to ever take the plunge, right now her weekends (beginning Friday afternoon into Saturday here) seem to work. She is in church usually until around noon on Sundays, and then lunch. Of course, any night owls out there have a few more options (that doesn't include me) :)!
Well, guess that's it for now. Hopefully Kaitlin will be able to take this blog up soon. She always has excellent information when she does it, and I would also like to see some pictures!

Los Angeles

Just a quick update! I've been meaning to write all week and didn't get around to it. Shocking, I know.

I'm in LA right now for staging. I got here yesterday and fly out tonight. We registered and turned in all our paperwork yesterday, and then had dinner with our country director. The country director is not usually at training but she was flying through and stopped to meet us. She gave us a lot of information about the country and the culture, and just really emphasized being open and soaking everything up. It was sort of overwhelming but I think that'll be the general feeling I have throughout the first few weeks, which is okay. Today we have an orientation of sorts all day and then our flight is at 1115 pm.

Speaking of flights, little concerned about the luggage. I was definitely significantly over the Peace Corps weight limit, oops. I packed a little last minute- and by that I mean when I packed, I failed completely so my mom and sister did it for me and managed to fit most everything in. Thank you! The real problem, though, was that one of my bags was over the highest weight limit for Air New Zealand, which is what we are flying to Tonga. So I spent some of yesterday at the hotel moving stuff between bags in an effort to make things more even. There are things I could take out and wouldn't mind doing so but I'm running out of time. I don't mind paying the overweight fee, as long as my bags make it on the plane! It really doesn't seem like I have that much stuff in relation to how long I'll be gone but I don't know. We shall see!

Little recap of before I left. Hannah threw me a surprise birthday/going away party on the 25th which was so nice of her! I was totally shocked. We had dinner at the Blue Elephant, went to Gypsy's for drinks and then O2 for dancing. Laura and Zack came up from school, Ally from Connecticut, Mike and Curtis were back for the weekend, Sam Lindauer came, and J and his girlfriend made an appearance as well. This was all on top of everyone who is in the area as of now (Hannah, Meg, Bria, Nicole, Ashlee, Allen, K-ris and gf, Craig, Chase, Max... If I forgot anyone I'm sorry!). It was really good to see everyone and I of course cried multiple times saying goodbye but I am so thankful to Hannah for planning it and everyone for coming, I can't even say. I have the most wonderful friends ever!

Then this weekend Justin and Bre came up so I spent some time with them. And Darian came home from school- we carved Tonga pumpkins which I have pictures of and will put up someday. They were pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Then we had a party on Sunday with the fam and friends. I saw pretty much everyone which was really nice! It was a good way to get to say goodbye. After that, the packing started. Yup, last minute. Typical me.

Also! Jeff got me the most amazing present ever. He got me a Nook, one of those electronic book readers where you can download a bunch of books and have them to read. AMAZING. And perfect for this, since I can't exactly bring a bunch of books with me (especially since I already have luggage issues, haha). I downloaded a ton of books to read and am so so excited. It was really thoughtful and generous of Jeff, so thanks again Jeff! I love it. And him!

Anyway, now all the preparation is done and the actual adventure starts! I'll try and get in touch when I can but if it is awhile just assume I made it safely!

Love everyone and will miss you tons!

Single Digits

Tonga in....9 days! And I'm already bad at keeping up with my blog. Oops. I've been meaning to write for a little while now but just haven't gotten around to it. Better late than never, I guess.

I leave in less than two weeks. I'm not sure I've fully grasped the situation as of yet, but maybe it is better that way. I am not packed, I have not purchased everything I need, and I have paperwork I still have to fill out. But it'll get done. I work best under pressure...I hope.

Instead I have spent time just chilling at home, hanging out with friends, and reading. I went to DC this past weekend to see my brother, Jeff, as well as some friends from college. Jeff and I went to King's Dominion (an amusement park in VA) on Saturday which was super fun. We also saw some track kids Friday night. It was really nice to get to spend time with Jeff and see him one more time before I leave. I feel very lucky that I got to see him twice in one month! He is my absolute bestest friend in the world and I adore him more than anyone else.

After hanging with Jeff, I met some friends Sunday for a picnic. I got to see some TriDelta girls who live in the area which was amaaaaaaazing because I miss Delta and those girls so freaking much, it is unbelievable. I saw Smullen again while in DC, so that was nice too. And I also got to see LSG, Lea, and Kev! Kev flew over from Indiana to be with us for a few days which was incredibly nice of him. We stayed at Lea's Sunday and Monday night, before heading to Baltimore late Tuesday night and staying a hotel there for our early flights. I honestly can't say how happy I am that I got to see the three of them. We had great meals, wandered around DC, went to coffee shops and bars, snuggled. Nothing too exciting but that's how we roll. Just spending time together. At one point we were in Laura's apartment with Kev, Lea, and I dozing on the couch while Laura did work at the table. The set up of the room was even similar to that of Newell 26 and everything was the same as senior year. It was perfect. When it came time for Kev and I to leave, we all just sat at the table at Laura's in silence. It's weird to think that we might not see each other again for a very long time when being together feels so natural.

When I came home Wednesday we went out for dinner for Nicole's birthday- we actually got Nicole, Bria, Hannah and I together at the same time! Amazing. And Ally is coming home this weekend so that will be awesome and we will for sure get the five of us together. Can't wait!

So while it was really good to go to DC and see everyone, it was also kind of sad. I couldn't help but think about how that is the life I'd be living if I weren't joining the Peace Corps. I'd for sure have found a way to be in DC. I'd be near my brother, track kids, Deltas, and my very best college friends. It would be amazing. And even if I weren't able to be in DC and had to stay home for a bit while job searching, I would have my best friends since elementary school right there with me. But, on the other side of that, it also reminded me that I am so genuinely lucky. I have the most amazing friends in the world. I don't have to worry about losing touch with them or having our friendships fade before I get back. In a sense the people that I am sad about leaving are the same people who let me know that it is okay, and even wonderful, to go.

I don't mean for any of that to sound as if I am doubting my choice to join the Peace Corps. I'm most definitely not. It is what I've wanted to do since junior year in high school and that hasn't changed. It was just interesting to have a little snapshot into the alternative path my life could've taken. And who knows, DC might be where I end up after the Peace Corps (if all goes according to plan) and some people will still be there. Best of both worlds, baby. But that's not for awhile and I certainly don't want to wish my time in Tonga away.

All in all, I'm very excited to go. Now, about that packing and paperwork...

Invitation!

So, as most of you already know, I recently received my invitation to serve in the Peace Corps. I leave for the Kingdom of Tonga on October 5th, where I will be a Primary School Teacher for the next few years. The departure date is coming up pretty quickly and it was a bit of a surprise. My application was originally under consideration for positions departing for Sub-Saharan Africa in November. Late on Sunday the 22nd, while I was visiting camp friends in Westchester, I got an email from Placement asking if I would be okay with being considered to head to the Pacific Islands in October. I was a little hesitant since it was sooner than expected, but then again, it was the Pacific Islands... After talking to my mom and tearfully telling Jeff that I would only consider it if he promised I would get to see him before I left, I emailed back and said I was willing to be considered. The next morning when I checked my email, I had a response saying thank you and my invitation was in the mail! The actual invitation packet came on that Tuesday, the 24th and I said yes on Wednesday. To Tonga I shall go!

It feels a little weird to actually be preparing to leave for the Peace Corps. Up until my junior year of high school I had fully planned to be a preschool teacher. Then I did a project on the Peace Corps for World Lit/Geo and decided that's what I wanted to do. So for six years I have planned on this part of my life and here it is. I opened my application in October 2009, submitted it in March of 2010 (okay okay, so I was a BIT of a slacker when it came to the application), interviewed in April, got nominated in May, medically cleared at the end of June, and invited in August. Quite a process, although once I submitted my application it did go more quickly than I expected. Now there is so much to do before I go! It is a little overwhelming, but exciting nonetheless.

I will try and keep everyone updated about my experiences getting to and living in Tonga. For any of you who experienced my epic blogging failure while in Trinidad, I promise I will be a little bit better this time around- although, to be honest, that isn't saying much. You'll still have to be pretty patient!