I am and always will be a Trinidadian. My mother is half chinese, half french creole and my father, east indian. My maternal grandfather came here as a chef on a ship from Hong Kong. My father's parents were indentured labourers. So I'm a dougla. And proud to be one.
Having been an oilfield whore for most of my working life so far, I've had the opportunity to travel/work. Some experiences good, some bad, some indifferent, but it's always a pleasure to see how other people live and play.
To other people in different countries though, I look strange, and I mean that in a very real sense. You can see confusion in their faces when I meet them for the first time. In the US, they automatically try to categorise you. In the UK, they really dont care. In South America, it just means they can hustle you for more money. I've been called Cherokee, Indian, Negro, African American, Pakistani, Habenero.
There's the time stopping for gas while driving from Houston to New Orleans. A guy there couldn't place my accent so he asked me where I was from. So I told him. He never heard of Trinidad, so he thought I was lying. He then asked my ethnicity, so I told him I dont really know. A clerk there immediately came to my defense saying that she was half Cherokee, and I look like one so therefore I am. Cherokee. I laughed my way out to pump my own gas. Real Trini skettel laugh. FYI... Trinidad is not in Jamaica.
There's also the time in Walmart. Imagine hearing a Trini accent through a cacophony of American chatter. This little old lady on a bench just inside Walmart complaining Trini style. True true Trini ole lady dressed to kill, complete with one calf high stocking at her ankle.
Having been out of Trinidad for three months it was refreshing to hear a little raucous bit of home. So I went up and introduced myself. I was invited, in predictable Trini fashion, to her home, to meet her daughters and her doctoring son. Complete with an invitation for lunch although it was about 11:00 pm. She was from Point Fortin, twenty years ago. Of course she asked if I knew Mr. Jim from by the samaan tree by the church in Point and about four others in various parts of the country. Trinidadians really miss home when working/living abroad, I can tell you from experience.
I had no problems in Cuba because everyone looked just like me. I just had to keep my mouth shut. Even my spanish has a trini accent. Pretty soon I was just another mute habanero. After Cuba I had to return to the US. Through Miami Immigration.
I got the TREATMENT. I swore to every God that ever will be that they were going to check my prostate. With a backhoe. The guy who was snapping on rubber gloves had bigger fingers than Shaquille O'Neal. The other gorilla with the gleaming metal prod was leering at me. Turns out that they were going to check my luggage. A lone two foot pilot case. Oh... and my laptop was perused as well. Good thing I delete my porn. Every time after that, travelling to the US, I miss my connecting flight. It never fails. I set my meetings to it.
That trip I bought a telescope in the US. Presshah! When I tried to bring it home. X-rays, sealed x-rays, the sniffer wand thingie. I told them it was a telescope, showed them the eyepieces that I didnt want broken from my hand luggage. The x-rays showed it to be a telescope, all the scans said it was a telescope. It was a mechanism for me to miss my flight home so they could check on the "plastic tubular object, glass inserted at one end, mondo thingus". With a Cuban Visa affixed to my passport.
I have no problems with Homeland Security, metal detectors or even the fact that at a major immigration port like Miami, all the attendants speak spanish. I understand the military ethic that is the US. I have a problem with Trinidadians willingly subjecting themselves to condescension.
Trinidad supplies the US with 76% of their natural gas requirements. 70% of our oilfield ancilliaries and supply companies are american or allied with US suppliers.
The US government calls the Caribbean the "Third Border Initiative". In theory. Every time I get through Immigration in Miami, at least two Caribbean people get sent back.
Trinidadians need to realise that we have the resources, willpower, character and history to stand with any country and be proud of where we come from and who we are.
In our trade agreements we need to seek the interests of our country as well as our future pockets. That might be a loaded sentence, but I'll leave it. Feedstock for another post.
Our governmental bodies as well as NGO's need to realise that we can provide first world goods and services to satisfy a very real global demand. We're not asking for anything free nor are we going to continue to give away our human and mineral resources for honey roasted nuts. We're not going to be taken advantage of... anymore. We really dont need to jump through unnecessary hoops.
I do not want to live in the US or anywhere else for that matter. Leave my prostate alone. It is in your better interest to see where my soul is.
Having been an oilfield whore for most of my working life so far, I've had the opportunity to travel/work. Some experiences good, some bad, some indifferent, but it's always a pleasure to see how other people live and play.
To other people in different countries though, I look strange, and I mean that in a very real sense. You can see confusion in their faces when I meet them for the first time. In the US, they automatically try to categorise you. In the UK, they really dont care. In South America, it just means they can hustle you for more money. I've been called Cherokee, Indian, Negro, African American, Pakistani, Habenero.
There's the time stopping for gas while driving from Houston to New Orleans. A guy there couldn't place my accent so he asked me where I was from. So I told him. He never heard of Trinidad, so he thought I was lying. He then asked my ethnicity, so I told him I dont really know. A clerk there immediately came to my defense saying that she was half Cherokee, and I look like one so therefore I am. Cherokee. I laughed my way out to pump my own gas. Real Trini skettel laugh. FYI... Trinidad is not in Jamaica.
There's also the time in Walmart. Imagine hearing a Trini accent through a cacophony of American chatter. This little old lady on a bench just inside Walmart complaining Trini style. True true Trini ole lady dressed to kill, complete with one calf high stocking at her ankle.
Having been out of Trinidad for three months it was refreshing to hear a little raucous bit of home. So I went up and introduced myself. I was invited, in predictable Trini fashion, to her home, to meet her daughters and her doctoring son. Complete with an invitation for lunch although it was about 11:00 pm. She was from Point Fortin, twenty years ago. Of course she asked if I knew Mr. Jim from by the samaan tree by the church in Point and about four others in various parts of the country. Trinidadians really miss home when working/living abroad, I can tell you from experience.
I had no problems in Cuba because everyone looked just like me. I just had to keep my mouth shut. Even my spanish has a trini accent. Pretty soon I was just another mute habanero. After Cuba I had to return to the US. Through Miami Immigration.
I got the TREATMENT. I swore to every God that ever will be that they were going to check my prostate. With a backhoe. The guy who was snapping on rubber gloves had bigger fingers than Shaquille O'Neal. The other gorilla with the gleaming metal prod was leering at me. Turns out that they were going to check my luggage. A lone two foot pilot case. Oh... and my laptop was perused as well. Good thing I delete my porn. Every time after that, travelling to the US, I miss my connecting flight. It never fails. I set my meetings to it.
That trip I bought a telescope in the US. Presshah! When I tried to bring it home. X-rays, sealed x-rays, the sniffer wand thingie. I told them it was a telescope, showed them the eyepieces that I didnt want broken from my hand luggage. The x-rays showed it to be a telescope, all the scans said it was a telescope. It was a mechanism for me to miss my flight home so they could check on the "plastic tubular object, glass inserted at one end, mondo thingus". With a Cuban Visa affixed to my passport.
I have no problems with Homeland Security, metal detectors or even the fact that at a major immigration port like Miami, all the attendants speak spanish. I understand the military ethic that is the US. I have a problem with Trinidadians willingly subjecting themselves to condescension.
Trinidad supplies the US with 76% of their natural gas requirements. 70% of our oilfield ancilliaries and supply companies are american or allied with US suppliers.
The US government calls the Caribbean the "Third Border Initiative". In theory. Every time I get through Immigration in Miami, at least two Caribbean people get sent back.
Trinidadians need to realise that we have the resources, willpower, character and history to stand with any country and be proud of where we come from and who we are.
In our trade agreements we need to seek the interests of our country as well as our future pockets. That might be a loaded sentence, but I'll leave it. Feedstock for another post.
Our governmental bodies as well as NGO's need to realise that we can provide first world goods and services to satisfy a very real global demand. We're not asking for anything free nor are we going to continue to give away our human and mineral resources for honey roasted nuts. We're not going to be taken advantage of... anymore. We really dont need to jump through unnecessary hoops.
I do not want to live in the US or anywhere else for that matter. Leave my prostate alone. It is in your better interest to see where my soul is.
2 comments:
I don't know why we have this way about us, like we are begging for something. But it is not money or food; it is recognition and respect.
Developed countries like the US hold on to their position as a world power because they intimidate others with their, well, EVERYTHING.
We do have a right to be proud of who we are and where we come from, but our leaders are not making ot easy for us to hold our heads up in from of the world.
Ana
Thanx for commenting Ana. I hear our Ex attorney General is making another political party. What fun. I think we need some cojones in our Parliament.
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