Category: Dominica

7 November

On Monday morning I washed some clothes by hand since some were dirty, needed washing, and hadn’t been picked up by Rosemary. 

After I washed and ate, I went to see if Brad made it home. He lucked out on Sunday and caught a transport direct to Portsmouth. We talked for a while. I bought a box of Macaroni & Cheese from him. He bought a bulk supply.

Although it was a national day of service I just relaxed and got a few things done. Brad came to play 500 rummy later in the afternoon. He won. Rosemary’s kids came for clothes and money. 

Frances also stopped by. She was upset and told us her father died. She was trying to make arrangements to go back to Scotland. I hope she doesn’t stay there.

On my birthday I didn’t do much or think about it. I had pancakes for breakfast, went to market, taught, and had my afternoon help session. I did call Micki just to talk and she wished me “Happy Birthday.” That night the lights went out early so I went to bed really early, around 6. I think it took me two hours to fall asleep with all the noise and heat.

I slept very long and got up at 5:30. I finished off the pancake batter and went to school. Frances was not there today. Classes went pretty well but the children were alive with noise. I gave my first multiple choice test but haven’t yet checked the damages.

For lunch I had a PB&J sandwich.

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.

October 24

Yesterday I had my help sessions in Math after school. It was a small group but it went well. Caren was not there.

She showed up at my door later that night. She said she slept during the session and other subjects to study and practice for the Friday night plays at my church. This student also told me that another student, Julietta Carbon, liked me and wanted to talk to me. I promised I would say something to her. I don’t know what all this means.

I didn’t really have a chance to talk to Julietta today but she may be at the help session this afternoon.

This morning I tried to call Prof. Guerriero to see if he received my letter asking for a recommendation. No one answered the phone number I called so I’ll try tomorrow at a different time.

Mr. James showed me how to run the stencil duplicator today. It made me late for class but at least I had the test run off. Believe it or not, the students finished the test before the end of the period.

Although some of the form II students were not in class, I tried to have a lesson anyway. All we did was check homework. We had fraction races, too.

22 October

During Thursday night I developed diarrhea. Two out of the many times I ran to the bathroom to read US News and World Report, I didn’t make it in time to [T M I]. Since one of those times was in the morning before school, I decided not to go. When Brad brang his clothes, I gave him some papers and asked him to let Mr. James know I could not make it.

I stayed home to rest but ran some errands at the beginning of the day and cleaned the apartment some more before visitors came. Unfortunately many students came by to see how I was feeling. Sometimes they woke me from rest.

Jay, Catherine, and Micki arrived in the rain. Jay gave me some Kay-o-pectate tablets which helped stop the flow of liquid [email for the gross language]. The lights went out and we ate. I had crackers. They had macaroni.

On Saturday we went to market before we went to the beach. I didn’t get much at market because it was late. The water from the tap was darker because of the rain which made drinking supplies tight.

To avoid the mud Catherine and I decided to walk the highway once we found it and made it to Coconut Beach after the rest. I tried to swim but was horribly out of shape. I survived.

We had a nice relaxing day even though it wasn’t very sunny. After showering we walked to Brad’s and came back for dinner. We popped corn  for the movies which changed at the last minute and ended up in bed not much later. We blew up a condom first.

Micki left Sunday morning for the Carib territory creole festivities. Jay and Catherine came to church with me and we found a ride back to Roseau for them.

Brad, Jay, and I played cards, relaxed, and listened to music. Catherine tried to get some work done. We walked to church to meet their ride and had a nice talk.

Today I am still catching up from the weekend. There are still some dishes left and wash soaking and my refrigerator and wallet are near empty. I had fun and really enjoyed their company.

18 October

Yesterday I didn’t have my after-school study session because Maryann and Wanda visited to check my living quarters and see how I was doing medically. Wanda advised me to get a full-time contact person and find out who in the area had a ham radio.

Just after I told her I was lucky enough not to have been sick since I came to Dominica, I developed a fever and headache. 

Brad came over, as it was getting worse, because he was out of water again. He showered and read letters he received and I picked up at the post office.

We both got letters from Portsmouth and from Maryann. She brought letters from Roseau and the package Micki and Jay picked up for me. Ann Marie sent me the Prince tape, a newspaper, Rolling Stone, US News, and Christmas decorations and packing materials.

Between the package and Brad’s visit I missed the Methodist Bible Study, led this week by Murphy Wallace. 

Today I came home from work sick, wrote a letter of sympathy for Uncle Dick, and had to stop writing in this journal because the lights went out for the second time tonight.