During the year that I was in Tokyo, I only met one Trini, and only got together with him once for drinks. The rest of that time, I never came across a single person from T&T. Strangely enough, in Hong Kong, there are quite a few Trinis, and more and more seem to be coming out of the woodwork….

Last weekend I decided to have a little gathering in the name of Curry Tabanca, and invite my Trini friends over for a huge dinner. I had a lot of spices and chutneys that I had brought back with me from my last trip to Trinidad, so I spent the afternoon cooking a huge pot of curry chicken, along with pumpkin and melongene, cauliflower and tomato, spicy channa, and topped it off with a whole lot of paratha (frozen, bought from the supermarket, but surprisingly good!). Needless to say, it was a feast, and everyone dug in until it was almost all gone.

All the Trinis I know here are incredibly successful, and have really done good. They all work for large multinational companies, some of the most prestigious jobs in Hong Kong, and are obviously very good at what they do. The nice thing is that all of us have come from different backgrounds — one from Tobago, one from Belmont, one from Laventille, and one from San Juan. It is nice to have these friends here in Hong Kong, and to get together for a good lime, and to be able to ole talk with people who know exactly what you mean.

Seiji was quite enthralled by the evening, as it was his first time to be in a room with so many Trinis, all talking at the same time. But perhaps it was good practice for him since he’ll be going to Trinidad for the first time in December. Maybe getting to know more Trinis here will help him prepare for the culture shock he is no doubt going to experience!

Next weekend is our wedding party, and with so many guests and friends coming in from Japan, Thailand, the US and Canada, I doubt I will be online very much. So, expect the next post to be wedding pictures from our junk party!