Saturday began the Carnival celebrations! Carnival is the period before Ash Wednesday, similar to how Mardi Gras is in New Orleans. Except from what I can tell it is WAY more exciting and fun! We spent the beginning of the day doing small errands – going to the bank, getting some more souvenirs, doing the FREC study guide for the impending final – in preparation for the fun afternoon ahead! The opening parade goes right down King George V Street, where our hotel balcony looks out. The parade was supposed to start at 3, but being in Dominica, it didn’t begin until 3:45. And begin it did! The music from the steel drums, the loudspeakers, and the roar of the crowd let everyone know that this was the event of the month. It lasted for over 2 hours – so different than Macy’s Thanksgiving, that’s for sure! Instead of floats, people decorated trucks with ribbon and blared music from their cars. A main aspect of Carnival is the pageant scene for teenage girls, so a large portion of the parade was watching the girls go by on decorated truck beds, holding umbrellas above their heads to escape the blinding sun. They handed out candy and family members walked alongside with t-shirts of the girls’ faces on them. We saw stilt walkers, local dance groups, and lots of costumes. At the end of the parade, one of the final “floats” is a truck full of freebees: mini toothpaste, gum packs, chocolate bars, stuff like that. Definitely our group’s favorite one to watch. We all yelled “up here!” to get their attention, and made it a challenge for them to toss stuff up to our balcony. I got some interesting stuff: guava kool aid, Stride gum, and Halls throat drops. The end of the parade was a mass mob of people in front of a DJ float, jumping with the beat and shaking the entire city. I’m not sure how they got 30 people to fit on one truck, but they made it work! I’m pretty sure everything in the parade would have been illegal in the US – the insanely loud music, the amount of people on floats, and the height of some structures not fitting under electrical wires, but it was such a fun cultural experience. Since Laughing Lobster was closed, we ate lunch at Dynasty Chinese next to the hotel, where I order kung pao chicken. I don’t think it’s supposed to be spicy, but I downed about 4 glasses of water to eat it – delicious, but my white girl background couldn’t handle the seasoning. Kristen and I spent the remainder of the evening attempting to study for finals, but would up watching more TV and crashing early.
A goal that I had before the trip started was to go to church in Dominica at least once, and this Sunday was my last opportunity. I woke up bright and early, put on my Sunday best, and walked the two blocks to Our Lady of Fairhaven, the Catholic Church in Roseau. It’s so interesting (but awesome) how church here is almost the same as St. Elizabeth’s at home, except for me being the only white person there. Mass was very similar, but they sing more things that we say, like the Our Father, and their accents make the Alleluia sound cooler. Irony moment: the topic of the homily was listening, and I was listening my heart out because the priest’s accent was so strong that I only caught half of every other sentence. My favorite part of Mass was the ending announcements, when they asked those whose birthdays were this week to stand. The congregation sang Happy Birthday and May the Good Lord Bless You, reminding me of family birthday parties – love it! I channeled my inner tourist and took pictures after Mass was over (not sure if that’s allowed…oh well) and walked back to the hotel for breakfast. After some more studying, Felicity and I went to the IGA to buy lunch foods. I love how cheap fruit is here – 10 cents US for a huge grapefruit! After a lunch of grapefruit and cookie crisps, I went back to work on the FREC study guide. Dinner at the hotel was my favorite so far – birthday celebration night! It was Dr. Hastings’s 62nd birthday, so Alex, Felicity, Kristen, and I made him cards for the group to sign for him. We also celebrated Kaspar and Sarah’s birthdays, as they had them over the trip. The hotel made chocolate cake and toasted coconut cake (SO GOOD) and gave us strawberry ice cream, too. Such a fun dessert! After Once Upon a Time, we hit the sack early. I was nervous and excited for the 6 hour hike on Monday!
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