NeoSoul

4 November

On October 29 I prepared my first Christmas card. I was writing back to Doris Ritter and decided with Christmas two months away it was time to send it. I probably won’t write to her again until after Christmas and she does deserve a card.

I dated the card October 31 which turned out to be correct since I didn’t mail it until then.

It was an illness that postponed the posting of that letter. I was starting to get sick on Tuesday October 30 at school. I made it through the day barely. After testing form III I went to the health center just as Ruby advised me.

When I arrived they asked for medical records. I went home for my immunization records. Tired I made it back to find it probably was not what they meant but it didn’t hurt for them to see I had shots.

I had to buy a blue book across the street to start my medical records. I also had to wait a long time for a meeting to finish before the doctor saw me. He checked me out and gave me medicine to treat intestinal bacteria. I slept for no more than two hours at a time because I had diarrhea which came out bloody with mucus at one crisis point.

I missed school the next day. I did make it to Bible Study that night as the rehydration mixtures, flaggyl, co-codymol, and tetracycline, which I picked up from the health clinic, all helped me improve. 

I briefly attended the Portsmouth Youth Rally on Thursday November 1. I left after I began to feel weak. I spent part of the day preparing for a Roseau weekend and attended the staff party that night.

I woke after a short sleep on Friday morning to make my way to Roseau. I had to wait until 9am because Rosemary’s kids did not show up. I made it to the Peace Corps office the same time Frances did. She was in town to try to get money. By the end of the day they gave her $2000. 

I was in Roseau on Nov 2 because a strike encouraged Mr. James to cancel school. I went to parcel post with my time to find it open but they were unable to give me my package because the customs officer was on strike.

I finished my application for Harvard and attended Peter McFarlane’s Halloween party in Eggleston. I ate, danced, and met Second Secretary Deidi Dierdorf. She was in town for Independence Day. She works for the U.S. embassy in Barbados.

Instead of going to the parade Saturday morning (It was canceled because of a police and civil servants boycott) I stayed up late again and watched TV Friday night and Saturday morning. It was a nice treat.

Saturday afternoon I went to the cultural gala with Catherine, Micki, and Jay. Deidi and Maryann walked with us from the office. It got boring quick and we left after an hour and a half. We played two rounds of “Hearts.”

I went to Fort Young that night to dance with Catherine, Marcia, and their friends. It was another late night and short sleep.

I woke up this morning tired, showered, and ate. I went to the Roseau Methodist Church. It was pretty good. I didn’t stand up and introduce myself like I should have when asked. A strange man dressed in turban, sheets, and carrying a stick came in. He sat until the end when he went up to the pulpit, rotated his stick, and left. It thundered after he moved his stick. I also met an RPCV who now lives in Dominica. He was a music teacher in Portsmouth.

It didn’t seem like anyone was gong to Portsmouth, so I started hitching. I caught a bus to St. Joseph. I waited there in the rain for a long time and finally boarded the back of a pickup. We rode in the rain under a dirty tarp to Salisbury. A short wait there got me a ride to Portsmouth on a bus. The ride cost $7.00 total.

I worked on Peace Corps information to invitees. I hope some improvements are made to this pre-training information.

I went to Methodist evening service and got a ride home from Murphy Wallace. I hope Brad made it home tonight or changed his mind and stayed with Micki and Jay.

28 October

The reason I couldn’t get in touch with Prof. Guerriero was that I was calling the wrong number. I found this out on Friday when I tried to call him. Prof. Bechtel answered and tried to connect me with x1203 instead of 1208, which I had called. No one answered so I have to try again some other day.

I worked on my application on Friday and Saturday, but I did not finish it. I forgot to do the typing on part of the application. Everything is almost finished. I received the college certification and am expecting to get my letters of recommendation soon. As soon as I get them I am sending the application. I may have to go into Roseau again soon to finish it.

Catherine strongly urged to have Bill read my personal statement so I left a copy in his box and am hoping to get some ideas for improvement from him.

I stayed at Catherine’s this weekend. After the Bible Study, which Art and Peter attended for the first time, I went over there and had a spaghetti dinner with Bill, Don, Catherine, and her landlord, Marcie. We had a good time talking and eating.

Afterwards Catherine and I visited Bill’s house and had a beer. We then walked the streets of Roseau but we were disappointed to see the Fort Young closed for a dinner. We went back to her house and talked late into the night.

For Saturday morning breakfast, I had cereal. This inspired me to buy some at Whitchurch when I went shopping. I got a lot at the Roseau market including things that I haven’t seen in Portsmouth lately, such as watermelon, breadfruit and spinach.

Jay and I were going to try to play Ms. Pac-Man but there were too many kids before us. He showed me around his school, Covenant Secondary. 

I ate lunch with Kris Smathers and Ann Mills, a VSO. It was nice to meet someone new and talk with Kris.

I caught a transport back and finished getting my weekend supplies. I cleaned up my vegetables, ate, and talked to Brad who left very early to come back to Portsmouth.

This morning I made biscuits which came out okay considering the cooking margarine I used tastes weird and was not distributed evenly in the batter. I also had cereal for the first time.

I went to the Methodist Church and used my hymn book for the first time since I bought it on Thursday. The service was led by Rudolf Thomas. Between his old age and my tiredness, I was not too attentive.

Many of the women were in National wear as Friday was Jou Creole and this is the beginning of Independence Week. Brad and I passed by the Catholic Church which was supposed to have a barbecue. It hadn’t started so we didn’t go.