Saturday, October 28, 2006

keep on...

News escalates here in ways you cannot imagine! Apparently 2 years ago, there were only 2 foreign students who came to the uni on an exchange -- they were interviewed on local radio! My friend and I were at a bookshop in Fort-de-France trying to see how many actual English magazines we could find, whilst we spoke, a man sharply turned and stared me out. I politely said "Bonjour" and he replied but still confused as to why he heard English. That was a few days ago... I finally made my way up to Saint Pierre (Beautiful town full of ruins from volcanic eruption) and it was a relaxed day full of walking around and taking in the sights or so I thought. I was looking for the area where the minivans to go back to Fort-de-France were but was walking around like an old woman, searching with no luck. Then I hear a man shouting at me, I take my headphones out and see the same man from the bookshop! He was in a car, trying to coax me to come in with him. I politely declined and asked him if he knew where the minivan stand was but of course he didnt anwser the question and continued to ask if he could get to "know" me. I again politely declined and he told me he could take me to FdF. Do men here think women were born yesterday? This type of chirpsing happens everywhere but it is unnerving how older men prey on young women with hungry, searching eyes...feminists, form an alliance please lol!

Term ends on the 27th of November and next week it is Toussaint (All Souls Day) so it is a holiday on the 1st and 2nd of November. I cannot believe how fast the days are going, it feels like one big blur but chaos shall descend on me soon enough once I leave this island because it means suffering to try and get a French visa for Paris in February!

Those Martinique pictures will arrive...one day!

~A

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

just laugh...

Mq is just a cornucopia of pseudo-sarcastic jokes - case in point yesterday night: I have become pretty good friends with this brilliant Guadelupian girl. She is hilarious and always gives me a knock when she is around my halls. She came over yesterday for a chinwag and when I saw her in the corridor, I greeted her and this complete idiot boy came around the corner and mimicked how i said 'salut, ça va' to her. He knows I dont speak French and he knows I am a foreign student and I have been nothing but nice to this little wannabe thug gangster. I know how stupid it sounds because he is the immature one but I thought I escaped pathetic boys when I was 14 but mq has proved me wrong! The majority of students are sad like that because they think it is funny to rip the shit out of someone. It made me feel like an idiot because I have only been here a month and it has taken some adjusting to trying to speak this language when I have Swahili, my native language and English swarming around in my head. My question from this is where have all the mature MEN gone in this campus?

I went to Fort-de-France today to see if I can get this picky head of mine done and my days, it is expensive to get your hair braided or weaved up here ladies! Just buying human hair is 20 euros and getting a weave done is 80 euros for a full head so already you are probably spending 130 euros which is about £100 ($200) for hair! I miss the days of being in Bristol and P doing my hair for free!

On a good note, I met some cool Haitian people last week after this nice girl braided my hair. Really laid back and intelligent people not obsessed with image and I was pleased that some people actually wanted to talk 2 me and not give me quizzical looks like I wasnt cute enough 4 them !

I am not really into the beach scene and Mq's beaches are okay but the ones on the indian ocean are better lol. I am planning to go to Saint Pierre this weekend - it used to be Mq's old capital but a volcanic eruption in 1902 killed everyone in the town except for a 1 person, a convict who was protected from the lava by his cell. It apparently has an eerie and mysterious feel to it so that sounds interesting. I also got my cultural sugar high last Friday when I found this brilliant musuem of ethnography in Fort-de-France -- enriching information about an island that appears shallow but beyond the pseudo thug wannabes, it does have an interesting sheath of worthwhile information.

The scene is getting brighter and I have found nice diversions however there is always that calm before the storm as they say...

~A

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

ipods and french computers dont mix...

I have been trying frantically trying to put my pictures on this blog but for some reason the French computers of which I have been forced to use do not want to show the gorgeous ones. So my friends, I am afraid you will have to wait a little longer -- sorry! I am only here for a term and term here finishes in December so the pictures will be bountiful. I am off to Paris for the second term in January and hopefully things will be better then!

1° I was looking for a cultural and social experience; I wasnt naive enough to think I'd be fully integrated but I did hope for there to be interest in foreigners as the world is not an island! But I have been bitterly disappointed in terms of what has happened. I am starting to think that some people have less interest talking to me and make more of an effort with the English and German people. I am not sure if it is because of the Afro-Caribbean rivalry but I do feel invisible these days so it makes me feel dejected about trying to make the effort to talk to people.

2° Last week was a highlight because I wasnt in MQ! Went to see Mr.P in Barbados -- the best fun I have had in a long long time and new light has been shed on the Caribbean for me -- lol, it is all about the anglophone islands where people dont have a haughty attitude! Beautiful island...but when I returned to Martinique, the airport officials get so damn arsey and love to know when you are leaving their island as if you are going to clog it up or something!

3° I am currently reading this book called "Peau noire, masques blancs" (Black skin, White Masks) by Martinican luminary, Frantz Fanon. He was a doctor but just decided to start writing and what powerful writing he did - this book is controversial in its approach but eye-opening in how it discusses race relations in terms of the Black man and Black woman against the social slavery of which they are imprisoned in the Caribbean.

4° My feelings of this place are mixed...I am disappointed in many ways yet at the same time I am glad I came because my eyes have been opened so much in terms of learning about the French West Indies. I do give everything benefit of the doubt but since being here, I have become like vapour, invisible to the naked eye. Does that make me sound melodramatic ? maybe...but I know different -- it is difficult here in terms of integrating and every day feels like a struggle. I feel like no one wants to talk to me. I am even wondering why I am here since I get asked frequently "Whats an African girl doing in the Caribbean?" with sly looks...And to be honest, I do not know anymore...

~A

Thursday, October 05, 2006

foreigners beware...

Being 6000 kms away from my family in England and Tanzania means that me and French telephone boxes have become best friends -- no joke. I have been on the phone so much that my ear has become part of the receiver and it isn't because I am homesick, it is more like the amount of stories that happen each day just get too much!

Here are some questions I would love someone to answer so get your brains in gear and I'll award phrases of merit and distinction for the best answers:

1° - I am the phone talking to my girl in London and there is no doubt that me and her become loud and feisty when we share our stories. The Marts in the corridor death stare me then purposefully talk over me and start saying 'yes' loudly just to counter me...I know that you are already agreeing how pathetic it sounds because I couldnt believe it myself. So the question is why do people feel the need to try and suppress you if they think you don't fit the mould? Later on, I learn that apparently women here do not speak loudly because it is not done thing. Anyone else got better answers because when I was told that I had to laugh -- no one tells me what to do and if I want to speak loud so be it, it is a public area and my little voice was being drowned out by Marts anyway ! As pathetic as all this sounds, it is the norm in halls here.

2° - Why do some boys think that by blatantly ignoring you that you will then feel the need to speak to them? I am not paranoid, trustb me but one guy did that to me the other day when he knew I was foreign and I was talking to my English friend in the corridor so he comes and steps right next to me and speaks over my head like I am a tiny column part of the furniture.
Get those answers people cos it makes me speechless at how nursery the people are here!

3° - Jules, remember you saying about how black americans were taken the piss out of in Barbados, well here most Mart boys idolise a dichotomy of the stereotypical black american image that is associated with rap. When we were on the beach, some boys started to chirpse my friends and when they saw that they werent having it, one of the dropped a gun and wrapped it up in an American flag -- again, the way people here are so fake and pretenders is unbelievable! On my way to church one sunday, I saw this car that had fake bullet holes painted on it. That just highlights the essence of the typical Mart boy here -- globalisation or does this department of France want to create its own identity ?

There is a strike going on so lessons have been cancelled today. I have so many stories about people but so far today's post is focusing on the boys of this island because they really have to be seen to be believed.

Keep your eyes open for those pictures!

~A