17 July [apparently I did not finish writing about my final days in Peace Corps until I was back in the USA] [links to amazon may result in a commission to the blogger]
When Glenn and I went to the beach I took my Bible or Ingrid’s (I had given my Bible to Glenn) and the book on the national Sunday law that Perry Thomas loaned to me. He had been trying to convince me of the Seventh Day Adventist views on pork and the sabbath as well as baptism. I never finished reading the book, but the few chapters that I read gave me some insight to Revelation.
The water was really rough at Pointe Baptiste. I wanted to take a different path to the beach; There supposedly another to get there without going by the new guest houses. Glenn didn’t know about it, so we went by the guest house. I was surprised by the concrete that they had poured onto the path. Along ythe path Glenn discovered some fruit similar to pwa dou. Pwa dou means sweet pea. Big black seeds surrounded by fuzzy white edible coating inside a big green pod is what it is. I called it pa dou because I didn’t think they had much taste. I don’t remember what Glenn called these new things. These things weren’t in a pod; they were inside a thin green or purple skin. They tasted as good as pwa dou.
When we got down to the beach Glenn stripped to his underwear to swim. I wore my bathing suit. It took me awhile to get the courage to swim out to the rock. The water was rough and currents were coming from the left and right. Once Glenn got in the water I had enough courage to swim to the rock with him. I walked along the long and large rock. The water was occasionally washing over the far end. It surprised Glenn one time. I laid on the rock for awhile to soak up some Caribbean sun before leaving. Then I sat on the beach and read for some time. I went in the water one last time to wash the sand off my bathing suit and body. Glenn and I left to go back.
I saw Roselyn one last time and the lady who runs the Atlantic Restaurant.
Rawlins cooked lobster, crab, octopus, and fish in a stew for dinner. Some of his friends were helping him. I went over to the beach bar to buy some beers for him and his friends. Nixon was playing his car stereo loudly.
I ate the lobster and tried to eat the crab. The crab was difficult to open and I found it hard to find meat in it. It took me so long to eat the lobster and crab but there wasn’t any octopus for me to try when I finished. A lot of people – about 6 or 7 – also enjoyed the stew including the guy that caught most of the food.
After eating I went over to the beach bar to have my goodbye drink with Kay Kay. We went inside the Warrington house with her brother Winston and her mother. I had ginger wine. We talked about America and Dominica. Winston told me that he lived in New York, so I got his address before I left and told him that I hope to see him on Labor Day.
Wednesday morning on July 1 I woke up around 5:00 am. Paul Lawrence came by before 6:00 to pick me up. Rawlins helped me carry out my luggage. I thanked him again for what he did for me. There was another man in the front, so I had to sit in the back of the van. When we got to Marigot it began to rain a little bit. Paul told me to sit up front. There wasn’t much room, but it was better than getting wet. I was worried whether my bags would be safe.
Paul stopped at the airport for me first. I said goodbye to Sue Fitch. She was in line to get a boarding pass for her trip to St. Lucia. She was going to be a Peace Corps trainer for EC-58. I gave her the videotape that I made.
Paul then dropped me off at the Peace Corps office. I paid him $9, the ordinary price for a ride from Callibishie to Roseau. I applied for $11 in reimbursement, because that’s how much it cost me on Saturday. I put in for my reimbursement for $9 before I left and found out it would cost $2 more. Today’s reimbursement reason was my doctor wanted to see if the injection that he gave me worked on my piles.
Ryan gave Catherine and me a ride to the hospital. She was just starting her COS examinations. When my examination ended I waited for her, reading Chutzpah as I waited.
When she was finished we walked to town. She stopped at Jolly’s pharmacy to check for hair dye. We were planning on going to get frozen yogurt. We went to Whitchurch next. I bought some more food items to take home in addition to the ones I bought at J.C.’s. We stopped there before we went to Jolly’s. On the way I even met her boyfriend. We finally made it to La Tropical. They didn’t have yogurt, but they did have soft serve ice cream. It was close to lunch time, so I ate a roti, had juice, and then had passionfruit ice cream. Catherine had a drink. We split up after that. She was going to graduation at the Clifton Dupigny Technical College that night.
I saw Brad and Pat for the last time on this Wednesday. Brad stopped by before catching his airplane home. Pat was discussing with me what life after Peace Corps but still on Dominica was going to be like. She said she was explicitly told about keeping a proper distance from the Peace Corps now that she was no longer a volunteer.
I was planning on staying with Sue that night, but she was in St. Lucia. Elaine didn’t come into the office this day, so I didn’t ask her. I ended up staying with Penny. I stayed at the Peace Corps office later than she did. I worked on the computer. I went to the bus stop at the time Gabriella was closing up. I had to wait with other people for some time before a Soufriere bus came. We also waited in the bus before leaving. A lady was shouting to someone while we were waiting. She continued being loud as we rode to Soufriere.
At Penny’s we ate spaghetti for dinner. I made some lime squash, but it wasn’t sweet enough for Penny. The first time I went over to Chris’s she wasn’t home. She had put $70 in my box for the tape recorder/radio that I was selling her. All I saw were her cats. Sa ki had a litter of kittens just before she went home to Chicago. After dinner I heard her and walked across the street to her house.
She was trying to find out if her friends and she were still going to the ShipWreck to hear the Baron sing. Penny came by not much later. Cornelius was also there. Penny and I left so she could get ready and go. I went to bed early because I was tired and had gotten up very early for 2 of the last 3 days. I exercised before I went to bed. it was a very windy night.