It's three in the afternoon, and I'm "liming" away. There's a midterm tomorrow? No worries, the night is young, and besides I'm tired -- I should go take a nap instead. Seven o' clock comes and goes. Shrugging my shoulders, I conclude it's just a midterm; I'll open another bottle of sparkling pineapple-flavored water and live to fight another day. That same person who always has some comment or other to make in class just emailed out to convene a late-night review session at Novack? Turn up the Caribbean music and drown him out.
I spent my spring break trip in Trinidad as part of the inaugural Habitat International Alternative Spring Break program. The work before and during the trip was hard -- but it was rewarding. So, is it another build-up to a typical Dartmouth term? Yes, but with a significant change -- I resolve to spend at least some of my Spring term simply "liming."
The trip was excellent -- taken out of our comfort zone, the whole group of 15 Dartmouth students was presented with an opportunity to interact with locals and carry out some actual groundwork to ease the housing situation there, as opposed to merely discussing it in the realm of lofty ideas. The cultural exchange that I gained could not be quantified both in its scope and its depth: from dealing with random bystanders pointing to me on the street and shouting, "Hey Chiney, are you from China?" to the long, intense conversations with "maxi-cab" (a minivan with a 12-person capacity) drivers and the difficulties they face in trying to eke out a living, it all constituted an immense learning experience. When I received, from the locals who volunteered to be our cooks throughout the duration of our stay, a note that read, "Goodbye to our own Trini-boy," it made me feel like our group had made some real connection with the people that we came into contact with, in spite of the relatively short time of our stay in Trinidad.
Another valuable thing that I garnered from my trip to the Caribbean was how to truly relax ("liming," as the locals call it). Maybe that even entails doing nothing in particular when one indeed has nothing to do -- who has to be productive seven days a week, 24 hours a day? That's how I used to think during my first two terms at Dartmouth -- with the firm belief that fun was necessary, but that I had to try to squeeze in at least a modicum of work even if it was a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. And, admittedly, I always used to feel a slight pang of guilt after a day in which I simply didn't do anything constructive even when I didn't need to in the first place -- hopefully I can do away with that. Maybe it's -- gasp -- unhealthy to bustle about and worry every single moment of the day, only to collapse utterly exhausted into one's bed for a brief respite from a punishing schedule. I had a friend that suffered from a stress-related breakdown in the winter -- maintaining such a vicious cycle day after day could have a large negative effect on even the most resilient of us.
I'm not suggesting that this means we should all just adopt what the local Trinidadians call a "a Monday fall on Friday attitude" and skip classes in favor of a game of frisbee on the Green. Being goal-oriented is definitely a virtue, but the play-hard, work-hard attitude just took on a whole new meaning for me -- now it's the work-hard and lime-easy outlook that I'm beginning to embrace. And that's exactly what the term "Trini-time" in the title encapsulates -- the laid-back attitude that is intense in its own unique way.
The International Habitat Alternate Spring Break program was an excellent trip overall; despite the difficulty of fundraising and some minor administrative glitches, we still managed to pull it off. I certainly hope that it'll be around next year, and all of you should apply for it and learn how to lime when the occasion calls for it.
On the day before my flight out of the Caribbean, I bought a shirt as a parting souvenir that proclaims on its front, "If I die and heaven doesn't want me, take me straight to Trinidad." Indeed, it should have instead read, "When I lose a handle on my perspective on life, take me on a Habitat for Humanity International ASB." And now, it's back to liming for me.
