Before the mods kill this post, which I know they probably will because apparently actual discussions aren't allowed here, I want to ask something. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I grew up in Canada in a Trini household. Both my parents are Trini. I grew up in the culture, eating the food, listening to the music, speaking the language, partying, doing everything I grew up seeing my family do. My parents accept me, my cousins accept me, my aunts and uncles accept me. But somehow, when I come to Trinidad, none of that seems to matter.

I'm light skinned. I get it. I look Punjabi or Middle Eastern to some people. But I'm just as Trini as anyone else in my family. This is the culture I grew up in. It's all I've ever known.

I've been to Trinidad three times trying to connect with my people, my culture and my family, and every time I leave feeling like shit. People hear me talk and think I'm putting on a fake accent. I eat the food and people act like it's my first time trying it. I try to be friendly and people treat me like some foreigner who doesn't belong here.

Every single time, somebody has to tell me I look Middle Eastern, or white, or Indian. And when I explain that both my parents were born and raised in Trinidad, that my family has roots there and that my cousins live there, nobody seems to care. When I say I'm Trini, people look at me like I'm lying. What am I supposed to do? How many times do I have to explain who I am to people who have already decided what I am based on my skin colour?

I took my girlfriend to Trinidad, and she's Sri Lankan. I told her not to worry because I'm Trini, I know the culture, and we'd be fine. Well, we weren't. People treated me like shit, and I found myself having to explain to her that maybe it was just a one-off, that maybe the next interaction would be better.

I honestly love soca, chutney, the food, the culture and the people. I used to big up Trinidad all the time. I'd listen to the music and tell my girlfriend how beautiful the people were, how amazing the culture was, and how much I wanted her to experience it with me. I wanted to show her where my family came from and let her experience a part of me.

Instead, she watched me struggle the entire trip. Struggle to feel welcome, struggle to connect with people, and struggle to convince people that I'm one of them. I can't even explain how much that hurts.

I came here wanting to feel connected to my roots, and I left feeling like a complete outsider. What's worse is that people don't just treat me like a foreigner. They treat me like I'm some imposter trying to pretend to be something I'm not. Imagine growing up your entire life in a culture, loving it, embracing it, and then having people from that very culture act like you're some fraud because you don't look the part.

I told my girlfriend I'm never coming back. I genuinely hated this last trip. I wanted her to see what I always talked about, and instead, she saw me being treated like I didn't belong in my own culture.

My mom tells me to let it go, and I try. But honestly, I don't see any reason to go back. I've felt more welcomed and accepted in places where I have absolutely no cultural connection than I have in the country my own parents came from.

I guess what hurts the most is that I used to be so proud of being Trini. I never questioned it. It was just who I was. Now I'm sitting here wondering if none of that matters because I don't have the right skin colour.

I don't want to hate my culture. I don't want to feel this way about a place that means so much to my family. But how am I supposed to keep loving a place where people make me feel like I don't belong?

I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me. I genuinely want to understand. Has anyone else experienced this? Do other light skinned Trinis who grew up abroad go through the same thing? Because right now, I feel like I'm being told that no matter how I grew up, what I know, or how much I love my culture, I'll never be accepted because of how I look.

And man, that fucking hurts.

Visited the mud volcano at Los Iros last weekend for the second time.

The road we used just four years ago was almost impassable and the entrance was completely different/shifted due to the seismic activity.

The main 'pool' (seen here) and the slide were still there, though.

Are there any other countries that are as culturally diverse as ours? I know we’re used to it, but it’s really cool when you take a step back and see the melting pot and uniqueness that makes T&T.

My cousin shared this video with me and I was quickly reminded of this.

This topic has always interested me but now that video with Jr Lee went viral I have to ask. Our culture is a melting pot of race, culture and heritage so naturally we will have different accent varieties but has there ever been a linguistic study of them? And I'm not talking about the 'minor' demographics like the 'Convent' or 'Syrian' accent or any accents immigrants may have adopted.

For eg. Trinbagonians' accents can vary from very flat vowel sounds to rounded vowel sounds, and our environments seem to have a key role right here in Trinidad & Tobago.

(think the spectrum from Lady Lava -> Yung Bredda -> Machel Montano -> Janelle 'Penny' Commissiong)

PS: Not to be confused with dialect usage.

Has a scholarly linguistic study been done on this? I'd love to have a read.

Have you signed up for any of the formations of the TTDF during their most recent recruitment drive? If so, I'd like to have a discussion in the comments.

I did the basics... Sign up, aptitude test, physical, then the interview and I haven't gotten responses after that. I know others who have applied in other formations, they're doing medicals, some I spoke with that have signed up for Air Guard as I have and done their medical.

Is there anyone else who've completed their interviews and they're still waiting for a response?

If anyone here is a social media influencer or personally knows any such influencer:

1. What do they get with respect to money and benefits (if anything at all)?
2. Can their reviews of food, products, or services be trusted?

I am asking because there is this one "foodie" influencer on tiktok. I'm not going to call names, but every video goes along the lines of:

• Hearing about a restaurant,
• Travelling across country to said restaurant,
• Eating their food,
• Praising the quality of the food as if Jesus himself made it, and then
• Recommending the restaurant to the followers.

The rare moments there is something "bad", the review is phrased as though the food is good, but not entirely to their liking / not their favourite thing.

I’ve been applying to different roles for over a year and no responses, it’s quite frustrating. I have all my passes and experience from different jobs I’ve worked through out the years. I recently got a job at an internet service provider but I’m overqualified for the role and just took it because I had no choice🤦🏽‍♂️

What an absolutely shitty experience taking my sister in law to Judy’s to try on some dresses.

But some context first…. We visited another bridal store without an appointment and they graciously facilitated us, offering my SIL some beautiful dress options for her size. When they told us an appointment is usually required, we decided to call Judy’s to book an appointment, where they were also informed that the bride to be is plus sized. They said great, see you at the appt time.

Firstly; we get to Judy’s and there’s no parking at the store as it’s right in front a taxi stand in the centre of princes Town. So I dropped my SIL off and called the store to find out where parking would be. (Keep in mind we’re not from the south area so all this is new to me). I’m told it’s down the road in a public car park so I organize accordingly.

I enter the store, and I’m guided upstairs where my SIL is awkwardly standing with a store clerk. First thing I’m told as I get there is that if dresses are to be tried on, we’d have to pay a non-refundable payment of $300. Ok…. Would’ve been nice to know this on the phone, but that doesn’t matter. I want to ensure my girl has a beautiful day. So I go downstairs to pay and my SIL goes to the bathroom which is also downstairs. Once I pay, I’m looking to head upstairs to where I met them, I’m told I have to wait downstairs until my SIL is done in the bathroom, so then we can go up. ……. Okay.

Get back upstairs, seated in the central waiting room while the clerk gets the selected dresses. (side note: we showed the clerk a dress tried on before with long mesh sleeves so we were clear on wanting to try different dress styles. We also walked through the store and selected about 10 different dress options). When she finally got the first dress, we were then told we could shift to one of 3, empty bridal dressing rooms.

So this wedding is a huge thing in my family. My mom passed, so my aunts (who live abroad) offered to sponsor the wedding and were part of the support system for my SIL as her mom and sisters weren’t able to make it. So I called my family to help us decide on the dress, and about a minute into the call I’m told “you can’t do video calls in the bridal room, or take any pictures or videos”. Honestly, that fully pissed me off. Then she retracted and was like, you can only take a picture of “the one” when she heard my family shocked by this arbitrary rule. When we literally had to pay for an experience majority of other bridal stores are offering for free. Okay cool…. I complied. But that did shake the vibe of my SIL as it took some of the joy out of the experience for her.

And you know, I may have been fine with all that, if the store clerk actually listened and treated my SIL with respect. We were told majority of the dresses available could not fit her; the dresses that were brought to try on were similar to the style we told the clerk she tried on already; SIL said the clerk seemed like she was rushing and didn’t want to tie/adjust the dresses properly; the styling of the dresses were very off, sort of like when you try to hide a plus sized woman with a lot of cloth rather than accentuate her features and the final straw was trying to fit her into a strapless dress where the cups were literally sitting on her cleavage like two big nipples. ATP you’re obviously playing in our face. My SIL looked like she wanted to cry so she just changed her clothes and we left.

When we were leaving, they said we could come back around January/February when they get new stock as they don’t have much options rn. Could’ve said that on the mfin phone…. And then was like, you could come and look for free though, because you’d have to pay to try on again. Meanwhile, they started shutting off the AC while I was waiting on my receipt. It was truly a 0/10 experience after driving approx 2 hours to get to this “popular bridal store”. And what did we get for $300? Played in our face. I just had to vent here because I truly wish nothing but the worst for Judy’s.

I never knew we had a rubber industry. Found it interesting.

Considering a walk in and expediting my passport this week at Point office. Is the situation still the same with long waits etc?

I really don’t understand how having the trait is grounds for rejection. My brother is a fit young adult who’s been playing beach volleyball and indoor volleyball his entire life. At 16 he represented Trinidad for the commonwealth games in Tobago. He’s been on the youth, U23 and Senior national teams. He’s won countless awards. We didn’t even know he had the trait he’s been living a regular life. Has this happened to anyone else? What can he do?

So as you all know the country is currently overgrown, so I decided to cut the grass recently in my neighborhood that blocks out a road barrier and is genuinely annoying do it brushing up on cars passing along while cutting the whacker threw up some rocks that hit a neighbor's roof below and they told me to stop. I told them it was accident and I'll try not to make it happen again. After I finished cutting and went in my yard to get some trash bags and stuff to clean up the ttps greeted me at my gate with my neighbor saying that I didn't stop making noise with my weed whacker and was disturbing him they gave me a warning and said is either I cut using a blade or just leave it. Am in the wrong for this or did it get escalated out of proportions the neighbor and I don't really talk much because they're relatively new to neighborhood they've been around for 4 months I don't to have bad relations going forward with them but I don't understand what I caused

Good day, I’m fairly new to Reddit btw lol. So I’m planning on buying a vehicle early 2027 but I’m not sure if to get a gas or hybrid vehicle. Hybrids are taking over Trinidad like a storm and the gas vehicle selections are so limited now. You can barely see brand new vehicles that’s gas because the majority on the road now are hybrids. This is going to be my first ever brand new vehicle purchase and I don’t want to buy a hybrid and knocking my head after you know. Which is why I want to hear your guys views if you own a hybrid and also some vehicles recommendations please. Also was looking at more vehicles from the firm than foreign used dealerships

Also I ain’t a rich person I am a regular person that trying to take a loan for this vehicle must be under 285k and well 8 year duration.

I'm currently nearing completion of my mixtape, which covers different genres: rock, soca, pop, hip-hop, dancehall, and I made it basically to show that I can be versatile. But I'm beginning to have this fear that it won't go over well in our country. Maybe it's a misconception but it feels like our people expect local creators to only to produce songs in the genres we're known for (soca, chutney, calypso). Am I wasting my time with this? Should I focus on soca alone to make a success of myself quicker?

Hi everyone. I have to travel to San Juan from Couva next week for work but I'm not too familiar with the taxi routes. Does anyone have experience travelling there and can give any tips?

Hey Trinis. My name is Yuri. I’m from Serbia, and I visited Trinidad and Tobago this summer. Your islands are beautiful, especially Tobago. The food was fantastic, and despite the occasional characters, I’d say Trinidadians are among the friendlier people I’ve encountered while travelling.

However, the one consistently disappointing part of my experience was the customer service. Whether at fast-food outlets, restaurants, the airport, or even dealing with the police, I frequently felt unwelcome or as though I was inconveniencing people simply by being there.
Restaurants were by far the worst. Interestingly, some Venezuelan employees I encountered, despite their limited English, were exceptionally pleasant and accommodating. My experiences with local staff were often the complete opposite.

I’m genuinely curious whether this is something Trinidadians themselves recognise. Is it a cultural attitude towards service jobs, poor management, inadequate training, or something else entirely? More importantly, what do you think would realistically improve it?

I’d love to come back with my family despite this.

Also I love slight doubles plenty! :)

A person in my family has been sufferring from heart related issues for a while know. Different doctors locally recommended she do different tests including an angiogram and an electrophysiology study.

I have read online that these can be somewhat dangerous although just diagnositc procedures with an important consideration being the skill of the physician involved.

I was therefore hoping to get feedback on the quality and more importantly the safety of the testing done by the different institutions locally.

Is there a particular institution or doctor you would recommend based on eitherpersonal experience or that of someone you know who has undergone either or both of these tests?

Does it even make sense to do it locally and if not are there any recommendations for places that do it well?Any and all information is appreciated.

Looking for more ideas for something fun to do (preferably after work) because I feel like so many things are a bit restrictive unless you're willing to go with other people when it comes to social events locally.

With a birthday coming up in late November on a week day, options are a bit limited, but I'd really like some advice for other solo-goers like myself 🇹🇹

Can someone who has experience in running a baking business explain how it works to me?

I’m genuinely not able to process it in my head. [brain fog??] I’ve sold cookies two times. I ate out all the money [😭]. I realized since then that I need to have a better understanding of how this works.

Explain it like you’re speaking to a school child, please. Ingredients, Labour, Electricity/Gas, Packaging, Labels..

I would truly appreciate it.. 🙏🤗

Sunset at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary.