End of another trip
1 June 2014 06:10![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enismirdalInternational travel has become a fact of life for me these days. I don't mind as long as it's in moderation - I never like the leaving bit (as CRI will attest when I spend the night before, every time, whimpering about how I wish I didn't have to go), but once I'm en route and then there, it all tends to be fine and I'll just count the days till I can return to normality. And it certainly offers a break from routine.
This time, it was Jamaica. My second trip here.
I like Jamaica. It's both like and unlike Trinidad. Or rather, it's what Trinidad might be if Trinidad didn't have oil. It's a country with a big gap between rich and poor, some serious crime issues and yet an amazing vibrancy. The biodiversity blows your mind. The scenery is stunning (at least where the Chinese haven't dug up sections of it in the process of mining for molybdenum, vanadium or whatever can be retrieved from the hills). The people we've worked with have been efficient, accommodating, punctual, warm and generous to a fault.
I spent the week teaching a course on insects. I had a classful of really keen, friendly, fun students who worked really hard and learned really well. I had my favourite Trini colleague over as well to assist with the course (he relieved me for a couple of half-days so it was slightly less intense and taught them some other skills). And as we were both staying on campus, we got to hang out in the evenings and gossip (and get eaten alive by mosquitoes, but that's par for the course).
There was a field trip to a cocoa field where it turned out cocoa was perhaps not the primary crop and I was so absorbed in insects I didn't even notice. I tried all sorts of random foodstuffs. I found a large (dead) cockroach in my guest house room and brought it to class the next day to pin. I discovered the Black Witch Moth. I taught a whole week in a room with no aircon in the tropics...and it was fine.
It's been an adventure but it's now nearly over and I'm ready to resume normality. I'm heading home in less than 24 hours now. As usual at the end of these trips, I'm craving pasteurised milk, proper tea, quality chocolate and fresh broccoli. On this occasion I'm also looking forward to battered, thin old pillows, naturally cool bedrooms and hot showers. Much fun was had over the last week, and in terms of work it's been fantastic (multiple project objectives achieved), but being back home with CRI and the little things that make life comforting and familiar will be the best thing now.
This time, it was Jamaica. My second trip here.
I like Jamaica. It's both like and unlike Trinidad. Or rather, it's what Trinidad might be if Trinidad didn't have oil. It's a country with a big gap between rich and poor, some serious crime issues and yet an amazing vibrancy. The biodiversity blows your mind. The scenery is stunning (at least where the Chinese haven't dug up sections of it in the process of mining for molybdenum, vanadium or whatever can be retrieved from the hills). The people we've worked with have been efficient, accommodating, punctual, warm and generous to a fault.
I spent the week teaching a course on insects. I had a classful of really keen, friendly, fun students who worked really hard and learned really well. I had my favourite Trini colleague over as well to assist with the course (he relieved me for a couple of half-days so it was slightly less intense and taught them some other skills). And as we were both staying on campus, we got to hang out in the evenings and gossip (and get eaten alive by mosquitoes, but that's par for the course).
There was a field trip to a cocoa field where it turned out cocoa was perhaps not the primary crop and I was so absorbed in insects I didn't even notice. I tried all sorts of random foodstuffs. I found a large (dead) cockroach in my guest house room and brought it to class the next day to pin. I discovered the Black Witch Moth. I taught a whole week in a room with no aircon in the tropics...and it was fine.
It's been an adventure but it's now nearly over and I'm ready to resume normality. I'm heading home in less than 24 hours now. As usual at the end of these trips, I'm craving pasteurised milk, proper tea, quality chocolate and fresh broccoli. On this occasion I'm also looking forward to battered, thin old pillows, naturally cool bedrooms and hot showers. Much fun was had over the last week, and in terms of work it's been fantastic (multiple project objectives achieved), but being back home with CRI and the little things that make life comforting and familiar will be the best thing now.