Author: neosoul

Aug 23

Brad said today that he was interested in having his own place – not immediately, but sometime in the future. I was somewhat shocked and upset by his sudden announcement. We aren’t close or the best of friends but there have been no problems that I know of. I was to some extent worried about my expenses and living arrangements.

Brad wants to live on his own and be independent, he says. I hope I haven’t done anything to make him want to move out. I think I’ll stay here if he does move out, unless Mrs. Garaway doesn’t want to rent this big place to only one person. I can possibly find someone else to share the place, maybe a new PCV if any more get assigned to the Portsmouth area.

Brad has just gotten out of college and on his own. I suppose he needs his privacy although he will have it when I go places without him. I hope he is okay and not planning to E.T.

August 22

I had to stop writing last night because I got scared by the noise of scampering feet which probably belonged to mice. We’ve caught two already  but it seems that there are more under the floor boards and I thought some were crawling above in the ceiling. There was even some animal’s feces in the kitchen when we came back. It was small and probably the droppings of the mice. 

Brad and I returned back from a three night stay in Roseau. The two most important reasons were a gamma globulin shot in the butt to prevent hepatitis and a supervisor’s meeting not attended by our principal. We also attended Don’s birthday party and did some shopping for necessary household items.

One of the personal items I bought was a basin to soak my feet. I haven’t used it yet.

I did not have any entries for August 18, 19, or 20, but I do have some pictures from that weekend.

Brad and I met a few more people today as we walked around town. We talked to a lady at the Portsmouth Book Store where I bought a copy of the paper that had the story of the swearing in. We also met some Ross University med students at mini-cash.

Today we talked to Diom who stopped by our apartment for no reason with his cousins who had for no reason shown up yesterday. His father died of cancer and he lived with his mom, stepdad, and three younger siblings. He told me he wanted to be a pilot when I asked him what he’d like to do when he grew up.

I really hope to meet some more people from Portsmouth and make some close friends. I really miss all my friends from home. Brad and I had a personal talk about what we miss. It is going to be rough for both of us and although we don’t have a whole lot in common, I think we’ll get to be close friends.

I think friends here will be what keeps me from Early Terminating. I never thought I would ET but now I’m not so sure. Maybe I’ll get a chance to go home for a short time to help me through or get some visits from friends.

Aug 17

It looks like we might be able to get someone to do our wash soon. On the way back from a day at the Cabrits & Douglas Bay, a lady asked us who we were. After telling her that we were Peace Corps workers, she asked if we need our clothes washed. She may stop by to talk to us about it and if it is within our budget we might let her. I hand washed my clothes tonight after a dinner of chicken and rice.

The clothes I wore today were very sweaty from all the walking we did. We walked up a very long path on the West Cabrits. I was frustrated because I was afraid it would lead to nowhere but it took us to a cannon and great view of the sea. We walked back down among all the lizards and saw Lennox and some of the children he was informing about the Cabrits.

I met a couple of Portsmouth Secondary School students. I don’t know if I’ll be teaching them because I don’t know what I’m going to teach and even that won’t be certain until the end of September after we’ve been teaching. I’m not too worried. I’ll be happy to be busy and meeting people.

Aug 16

Don left us early this morning and left behind some of his food. I went out to replenish our bread supply and bought whole wheat bread and jacquari. The whole wheat was by mistake but I’m glad. It tastes good.

I also bought a mouse trap for the mouse we saw yesterday. After nightfall we caught it and tossed it in the garbage. I spotted another mouse and Brad set the trap for the next one. I hope that’s all there is. Jay was here when the trap went off.

He came mid afternoon and brought letters. I got one from John Michael [my cousin] and one from Metzer [my college roommate]. John Michael was surprised and Metzer’s was enjoyable. I felt a little homesick and slightly depressed as I read them. I really miss everyone and wish I wasn’t so far away.

But my spirits did pick up as I talked with Jay, saw the article in the news about swearing-in, and played “Hearts.” I had to learn it because I couldn’t remember ever playing it before. I also felt much happier after popping some corn. Brad and I finally mopped the floor but it got pretty dirty before the day’s end and we decided that we would like to have someone do our wash.

Aug 15

The boredom was worse today. I got depressed right before dinner but eventually snapped out of it as we ate, cleaned up, and played 500 rummy again. I think I’m going to need a TV to get through these two years.

Today’s adventure was to go to Douglas Bay again and try the goggles Don got in town yesterday. I took my underwater camera too. Before we left we heard about a tropical storm in Trinidad and Tobago. We weren’t sure how it would affect us. We didn’t get too far before it rained. It did often and heavy.

We were able to take a walk past Tan Tan along the road that leads through the swamp and to the beach. We must have walked 7 or 8 miles. We were only in the water for a few minutes when it looked like clouds from the tropical storm would make it impossible to swim.

On the way back we saw many crabs and heard a lot of lizards running through the grass. I jumped once after hearing so many of them. The three of us stopped at the Purple Turtle and a bar run by Oliver Joseph who was at the disaster preparedness meeting.

Aug 14