43 Years

Today, we celebrate 43 years of independence here in Barbados. 43 years away from colonialism. Happy Independence to you, Barbados.

I watched the Independence parade last night for the first time in my life...and only because a friend asked me to. In the end I never spotted her *sigh*. So, for those who know me, it's not much of a surprise that I don't like Barbados very much. It's small, it's boring, there's absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go and all I can ever tell people is that it's a great place to vacation. Because it is. I just don't like it very much. And the parade did not help my opinion of the island.

I love my friend. And she's awesome and all but...that parade was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen...it was more of a ceremony than a parade. The "music" was just sound as far as I'm concerned. It felt incredibly empty and dull. These military organisations were ridiculous...I've never seen any such organisation march with so little life. Such flacid bodies and arm swingers! Only a select few really looked like they were marching but as for the rest...awful. But seriously, why so lifeless? Our Independence should be something to celebrate, no? So why not be more lively in playing that music? Why not take a more lively step in that march?

Another friend of mine was up with me watching the ever-awful-torture-to-watch parade and so the night was made just that much more enjoyable as we sat and chatted about how awful things were, imagining a number of things and just plain old making fun of people. Bad as that sounds, it was the only entertainment of the parade. People yapping while they marched! One girl looked at the other girl and then started grinning...mid-march. A couple of people stumbled. Only one or two sets of people were in sync...never saw anything so out of sync in my life.

A most shameful parade in my opinion. Absolutely.

The Logos Experience

Logos Hope - "bringing knowledge, help and hope"

At the moment, the Logos Hope sits in the port in Bridgetown Barbados until Monday night. Everyone knows it as the "book boat". It's more or less one of the biggest, if the not the biggest, floating book fairs in the world!

A lot of people just visit the ship for the books. Arrive, search, buy, leave. Some others get a chance to talk to and be friendly with crew members. My friends and I befriended one of the staff and we were offered to have a tour of the ship.

Books galore. Seriously.

The Logos Hope, part of Operation Mobilization (OM), is an international Christian organisation aiming to spread knowledge, help and hope to people around the world. All the crew and staff on board are Christians and volunteers looking to help others. With over 47 different nationalities and over 300 people working on board, all crew and staff - from Captain to cook - are Christians and volunteers. Persons work on a contract - from 2 weeks to 2 years - and are exposed to different cultures and identities all over the world.

The Logos Hope has a sister ship, Doulos, which mainly visits the countries on the other side of the world - Asia, Australia, etc -. Currently, it's harboured in Singapore. And it's an apparently very old ship...sailing from the days of Titanic. =o

I'd like to participate in the experience, sometime later in life, for a couple of months. It's inspiring to see how these individuals interact with each other and with the locals of the countries they visit.

Independence!

Well to be honest, I'm not what anyone would call patriotic. I really don't know much about my own country when I really think about it. Last week was apparently the week to be wearing Independence colours: blue and yellow...well more Friday than the entire week. I wore no such thing! Actually I wore black on Friday, and there IS black in the flag so that could pass as something.

Barbados celebrates its 42nd year of Independence after being under British colonialism for...centuries? Ah my history's a little rusty but let's assume that's right. Sometimes I don't really think we're all that independent when half of our constitution is still like Britain and we our Monarchy is Queen Elizabeth II. Where's true independence in that? So anyways, Barbados became "independent" on November 30, 1966.

My "Caribbean Politics & Society" teacher once clearly pointed out to us, that our own National Anthem doesn't really make much sense and doesn't seem to quite fit Barbados. This is the main part that isn't fit for the National Anthem of Barbados:

"These fields and hills beyond recall
Are now our very own"

Ohh look! Lots of green! But...it's all...flat! What fields and hills? Fields we have...hills we don't. Out on the Eastern side of the island though, I believe it's a little less flat but, really, I wouldn't say we have hills beyond recall...at all. Our highest point is called Mount Hillaby which is 343 m above sea level. Awesome.

Hmm. Maybe I should say some stuff about Bim that I like =) Ummmm...I like the beaches and the weather (although it's been a bit too hot this year) and most of the people here are nice. The island is small so it's easy to go from one place to the next. I love having the privilage of seeing some very gorgeous sunsets and being able to see the various colours produced during a sunset (although I'm told that that just means the world is getting more polluted). All in all, life can be quite simple and relaxing...depending on what you do =]

Yay! I was actually able to list a few things that I like about Barbados. Well I'm sure my list of dislikes is longer but since it's independence weekend I'll be nice =] I'm going to New York this weekend! On Independence Day in fact. I'm sad that we'll only be there for a day before we return but I have to study so I'll live with it =) I'll finally be getting my hair cut too! My hair isn't all that long but I've been growing tired of it recently lol.

I'll see you all when I return! Until then...be good =D
Oh and Happy Independence ^_^

Such is Life

Independence day is on November 30th! I think there was a lighting ceremony in Bridgetown on the 1st of this month or so. During the month of November places around Barbados has up lights and stuff in celebration. Some of them are rather boring and plain and others...are still plain, but more interesting. They decorate the roundabouts along the highway. They've hung up some lights on some of the buildings in town...nothing special just a little yellow and blue. Kinda boring.
Also...the week is over! The week that usually holds all the hard tests! Wasn't a bad week after all actually =] Two more tests next week...with lots of work encompassed so, wish me luck with those! It's like another week like this one but with only 2 tests that are..back to back *sigh*

Back to the books!

Uni and such goodness

I found this pic on my computer today after just randomly searching through folders. This one is from one of those island tours and I never really realised that we had such neat little cave formations. I mean...Barbados is made of limestone and there are caves all over the place but its so neat to actually SEE them like that. Am I the only one who's so fascinated over it? Hmm...

So anyways, good stuff happened today! So here it is in a nutshell:

• Our cadavers have finally arrived from Jamaica! Well...parts of the cadavers at least. The upper and lower limbs. And we've only got 2 of each. These limbs we have are apparently ON LOAN to us from the Mona Campus. How silly is that??
• I found out what I got in 2 of my test grades so far! We've done 4 tests, and #5 is on Thursday =(. But I did surprisingly well on them! Cuz they were really hard and I thought I would've done horribly but I got an A in one and a B+ in the other. Not bad for my first tests as a med student no? =D

Ohh I'm hungry...I should probably go see what's for dinner or something...And then...back to studying for more good grades!