Labor Day weekend

I feel like we have been bracing all summer for this weekend. For most people in this country (and even this city and borough) Labor Day is about the end of summer, BBQs and a day off.But in this neighborhood, it's about the West Indian Day Parade, which is tomorrow.

The police set up barricades along our street this morning, and by mid-afternoon the vendors had already started arriving. And cooking. And selling their food.

I think the food is the best part of this parade, especially in this take out starved neighborhood. Tomorrow I'll be able to go out and buy roti and curried goat and fried fish and lassi. And it will all be just a few steps from our front door, and completely delicious.Christopher and I went on a walk this afternoon, knowing that tomorrow we'll be basically trapped indoors. Which is alright. We have a lot of work to do in here. The main issue will be the noise. It's a very loud parade (think flat bed trucks with 12' speakers covering the back, blasting as loud as possible.)

And the fun starts tonight with J'Ouvert, the kick off steel drum dance party down at Grand Army Plaza. That goes from 2am-10am (no, that is not a typo), and those going to the parade (ie the steel drum bands) like to play on their way there, as they walk down our street. At 4am.

We are prepared, and have ear plugs. I hope we can sleep through the night!

-

In other news, I am wearing maternity pants for the first time today. They are a little loose, but so comfortable. Smudge seems to have gone through a growth spurt this week, making everything I own a little tight.
I think I need to go shopping.

in the mix

So I actually went down and got some roti, and I took some photos. The crowd felt very warm and welcoming, and one woman offered to hold my place in the roti line so I could sample some pumpkin bread pudding.
This is the roti stand. Roti is sort of like a burrito but with curried stuff inside. I bought one chicken and one goat, and they were delicious though also rather spicy and full of bones.
These guys were also in line for roti. I couldn't get over their glittery heads. Isn't that awesome? (OK, I think it was probably better in person)
Doesn't this girl just look so proud of herself? I can see why!
This guy was just amazing. I think his costume is a praying mantis. It would sort of swivel this way and that above him.

parade update

Well, I must say the earplugs really helped us get through last night. I mean, we were definitely aware when a steel drum band was passing by (I think the first one came at around 2:30am) but it didn't have us up and annoyed the way it did last year.

Of course, the parade itself it really invasive and loud. I've been trying to work on my model, and the bass from the speakers outside just makes it really hard to concentrate, even with earplugs. And it's not even worth trying to turn on the radio or listen to the iPod. It looks rather busy outside; we've reached the point where there are just trucks inching by, covered with speakers and blasting music.I think I might venture out and see if there's any tasty food to be had... Should I leave the earplugs in?

parade preparation

My father asked me this afternoon if I'm planning to blog about Carnival this year. For those of you who don't live within a few blocks of where I do, you may not be aware of the West Indian American Day Parade, which occurs on our street annually on Labor Day.

Last year I was pretty psyched about it. This year I really wish I didn't have to deal with it. Part of this is because I have to rise very early on Tuesday to go to Cape Cod, and I have a lot of work to do before I leave. Part of this is because Christopher is still pretty wary of crowds, and so I know that we'll be spending tomorrow indoors. And the biggest part is I think I don't want to deal with the noise.

Last year, you may remember, we were kept awake by the steel bands playing on their way to J'Ouvert, a dance party-parade which starts at 2am the night before the parade at Grand Army Plaza. We're anticipating another night like that tonight, and I've bought us some ear plugs, which will hopefully help us sleep. Tomorrow we may still be wearing them, as the semi trucks with 12'+ high speakers blast their way down the parade route and past our apartment building.One more thing: I think it's really weird that white people don't know about this parade, which draws over a million people annually. Of course, it's really geared towards the Caribbean community. But it's also a weekend-long event that celebrates a vibrant culture, and there is delicious food and great music to boot. Is it that the organizers don't want to integrate it? or is it that the white folks don't want to mix?

The Parade

This may be a long day of many posts. I'm really amazed by this celebration. I'm also really tired by the celebration. What I didn't realize was that J'Ouvert, the overnight kick off to the parade today, feeds their bands from our street. And that the bands play on their way to J'Ouvert. Which meant that at 4 am, in amongst the stop and go traffic outside our window, were steel bands and their handlers. And those bands, which were playing merrily along, went as slowly as the traffic. If it hadn't been 4am, I might have thought it was pretty darn cool. But it was 4am, and then it was 5am and it quieted down a little until 7am, when this straggler band came through, complete with a crowd of dancers. Yes, that's a bus trying to pass the group. It's now 11:30 and the parade has still not started. I went out and checked out the scene. There are tons of vendors and people are setting up their spots for the best view. Our building has hired off-duty police to keep the crowds out of the building (this has been a problem in the past) and there are barricades outside. I feel like I should buy some ox tail or something, but I'm not hungry and it feels sort of arbitrary what one should try.

This guy was frying whole fish.