Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Teenagers from Trinidad and Trinidadians at Blair, just like their peers all over the world, like to talk about their hobbies and interests:

From abroad: Cayenne was contacted by Silver Chips Online staff writer, Zahra Gordon, who knows Cayenne from the time she lived in Trinidad.

Junior Kareem Robert Cayenne

I am 15 years old from Trinidad & Tobago, a country made of two islands – Trinidad and Tobago. I live in the city of San Fernando. I like to play sports like cricket, basketball, swimming and football. I also like to play computer games and I am interested in music of all sorts. I also love to chill with my friends in the mall - Gulf City. I like to travel and see new places, and I am just an out going person, so I like to go out and meet new people. I go to the San Fernando Secondary Comprehensive School and I am currently in Form 4. I love my school. It's fun. The teachers are wonderful. My school is currently a five-year school, and by the end of this year, it would become a seven-year.

I think America has an effect on the kids in my country because your country's more advanced than ours. Your country has more fun things than ours, for instance pool parks. That's why we love your country so much. But sometimes people are discouraged to visit your country by the way some people move away, as if we stand next to them and when we try to be polite to them, they look at us with disgust.

Trinidadians at Blair:

Freshman Ebony Smith Some of my hobbies include dancing, swimming, reggae and partying. I think if I had a choice either to live in Trinidad or here, I would live here. The economic system is way better here. Also, you have more opportunities here. I want to be a psychiatrist. If I pursued my interested in Trinidad, I would probably get much less clients than I could get here.

Otherwise, I think out there the atmosphere is more relaxed. Everyone is friendly to one another. But here, everyone thinks they are better than one another. And here, you also got people who are jealous of you. In Trinidad, you don't have that that much.

The landscape is better over there too, along with the food. The food in Trinidad is home cooked and very tasty – especially curry goat. As soon as you step on that land, you will fall in love.

Senior Nathalia MohammedI came to America in March of 1997. Some of my hobbies include reading, playing basketball and hanging out with friends. If I could choose to live either in Trinidad or Maryland, I would pick Trinidad. Teenagers in Trinidad appreciate the values more and the parents trust you. It is not likely that teenagers would drink alcohol or do drugs. Also, here parents have talks with their children about not smoking or doing drugs, but in Trinidad parents and children do not have that talk. It is just expected of the kid that they do not partake in such act and they do not do it anyway.

I also think the education is more advanced in Trinidadian schools. And unlike grading students on a quarterly basis, the teachers grade students throughout the year, by watching how they perform in class and how they do on the works assigned and at the end of the year come up with a grade for each student. That is why no student knows what his/her grade is going to be in the class.

Location: Trinidad and Tobago is located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela. It consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and a series of other smaller islands.

History: Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad on July 31, 1498. The island frequently underwent colonization from countries such as Spain, France and Britain. In 1834, slavery was abolished in Trinidad. After slavery was abolished, laborers were brought in from India to work the fields. Portuguese and Chinese peasants were also hired. In 1889, the islands of Trinidad and Tobago were combined into a British Crown Colony. In 1958, the islands became independent, becoming a part of the West Indies Foundation. However, it was only on August 1, 1976, that these two islands officially became known as the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Currently, the country is one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean. However, tension between East Indians and blacks has affected political life. In 1990, some 100 radical black Muslims blew up a police station in an attempted coup. The prime minister and other officials were held hostage for six days.Population: 1,096,585

Capital: Port-of-Spain

Language: English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese

Religion: Roman Catholic 29.4%, Hindu 23.8%, Anglican 10.9%, Muslim 5.8%, Presbyterian 3.4%, other 26.7%

President: George Maxwell Richards

Government Type: parliamentary democracy

Anthem: Click here to read the lyrics of the anthem

Traditional Recipes: Click here to get recipes from the island, starting from salads and ending with desserts.

Places to visit on the island:

Port of Spain – the capital of Trinidad and Tobago which holds many attractions. One of them is the The Queen's Park Savannah, which was formerly a sugar estate, is a good place to try delicious Indian delicacies and also drink coconut water. There is also Emperor Valley Zoo, where one can look at quenk (wild pigs), ocelots and caimans. For something serious, one can check out the Red House, which is a seat of the parliament, or the Twin Towers, which are the tallest buildings in the city and the southern Caribbean.

Toco (Trinidad) – a village that holds a lot of the country's history. There is a museum with Amerindian artifacts and household items. There is also a Toco Lighthouse, a hundred feet above sea level, from which one can get a spectacular view of the ocean. To see the nesting leatherback turtles that make their annual trek to the island, one must go down to the beach.

Little Tobago Island (Tobago) –also known as Bird of Paradise Island, it is one of the most important bird sanctuaries in the Caribbean. Here, more than 50 species of birds can be found. In the 18th century the island was a cotton plantation, but it was eventually abandoned. The birds were imported to the island from New Guinea, where they were threatened by extinction.

Buccoo Reef (Tobago) – known as the largest coral reef in Tobago, Buccoo Reef is the best place to observe underwater life. The reef holds close to a million underwater species, from the little starfish to reef sharks and barracuda. There one can also find the Nylon Pool, a shallow sandpit in the lagoon that people can swim in and is said to make people feel ten years younger. Buccoo Reef was visited by a famous French

Oceanographer and Explorer – Jacques Cousteau. Unique celebrations:

1. Phagwa – a Caribbean spring festival that has been celebrated for 150 years. Phagwa originated from the Hindu holy scripts. The holiday celebrates the victory of good over evil, and the festival is celebrated with music and dancing. A special type of song, called Chowtal, is sung during the festival and two instruments – dholak (a hand drum) and majeera (a percussion instrument) are used, to play the music. The main custom during this festival is to squirt people wearing white with abir, a fuchsia-pink dye.

2. Trinidad Carnival – The carnival, which takes place in January and February, started when the working class, as a means of mimicking the authorities, dressed up in lavish costumes. Characters were created, such as Jab Jab, a devil, bandits called Midnight Robbers and many other interesting personas. Trinidad is known as the Mother of Carnival.

3. Divali - the Festival of Light, another Hindu celebration. It is celebrated to get rid of the darkness in one's life and fill it with light and happiness.