4 July 1992
Friday (26 June) was report card today and the farewell party for Maryann. It was raining when I left for school. I was drinking my morning beverage, looking at the main road, when Junior came by a few minutes after 7:00 am. I missed that transport; it prompted me to brush my teeth and leave.
I was waiting on the front porch. The rain was coming down hard and blowing. I put down the tarp to prevent the rain from getting me wet; I still got wet. It was difficult to see transports coming by with the tarp down and without getting wet.
The rain slowed down and stopped. Ma Tazzi came by to get the bakery clean and ready. I started walking up to the bus stop at Savanne Paille. I waited for a while; I had to urinate. It was in a relatively open place so I wasn’t so sure that I should urinate there. I went behind the bus stop and seemed hidden enough to be comfortable enough to urinate. It wasn’t too much longer after I finished that a car came by. I got in the passenger seat. We were just a few minutes outside of Calibishie when we turned a corner. The driver went over to the right side and all of a sudden we saw a blue bus in front of us. The driver tried to turn left but we crashed. I was thrown forward and my forehead hit the rear view mirror. I fell back into the seat and promptly got out of the car. The area above my right eye brow was sore.
I observed the interaction between the bus driver and my driver. One of the scouts who lived just beyond the scene of the accident came down to check it out. I wondered if I would have to stay at the scene of the accident and give a report to the police. My driver was not denying responsibility, but I don’t think he had insurance.
Vévé came by first. Then another car followed hers. The second car went to get the police. Vévé picked me up and took me to Portsmouth. I thanked God for my safety.
When I arrived at school parents were picking up reports from the form teachers. No one seemed interested in talking to non-form teachers. I called Maryann to tell her what happened, talked with other teachers, and printed out some instructions for Penny’s word processing program. Ruby also gave me a sample of what the graduation invitation should look like; She asked me to make them on the computer. I agreed to send my design.
I said goodbye to the teachers. I tried to say goodbye to Mr. James. However, every minute we were interrupted by parents. He did tell me that I would be difficult to replace. He said that he might have to teach next year; He didn’t like that idea. Eventually I left after standing outside the staff room waiting for him for several minutes.
I walked to Borrow Square to get a bus to Roseau. On the way there Manyando Joseph’s mother said goodbye to me. Her daughter told her that Mrs. Rourke and I were leaving. She expressed her gratitude for our teaching at Portsmouth. When I got to the bus stop I saw people setting up for Fete Marine Grand Anse. A stage and a fense [sic] was going up for the Baron/Sugar Aloes show. Minchington said that he was going to do the drum programming for the Baron. Music played from large speakers as I sat on the bus for an hour or so reading “Chutzpah.”
Patrick was waiting to get more passengers before leaving; We left shortly after 1:00 o’clock with no more than two or three short distance passengers.
After arriving in Roseau I completed a few errands, such as, getting money from my account at Trois Pitons Travel, going to the bank, and getting ice cream for the party. I also had lunch – consisting of stewed dolphin and provisions. I made it to the party and discovered we needed spoons. I went through as much of my COS check list as I could with Maryann and went to Astaphan’s for the spoons.
When I was in Maryann’s office I noticed the large Dominica photo book from the President of Dominica. I asked her what she did with the other one. As I said it I realized that she probably hadn’t received the one that we volunteers chipped into buy her. I tried to cover it up by saying something like I thought she already had one. She didn’t say anything.
The party started. Maryann was given the large Dominica photo book & a memory book of PC photos and wishes. I was surprised to see my writing in there as it was. I thought it was going to be compiled and typed with the others. Maryann spoke as well as Virginia Woolf and Catherine. Maryann and Isabella cried, but not for too long. Most people including myself feet sad. Then we finished eating.
I was the last to leave because I did some things on the computer. I ate at the Callalou. I guess I wasn’t too hungry because the Roti was difficult to eat. It also tasted different from most of the ones I’ve had.
I slept at Michelle’s. She went to Vielle Case with her neighbor who lives above her. I listened to her tapes, read her women’s magazines, exercised and showered. I saw lot of cockroaches. When I saw her a week later she said she couldn’t even tell anyone was there. I slept in her bed and used some of her acne stuff. I tried to keep it like it was.
Saturday morning I went to market. I bought a watermelon, lettuce, and mangoes. I also accra and bakes. Then I went to the Peace Corps office. I saw Maryann for the last time. I used the computer to do some last-minute work on my files. Most of the volunteers were at the meeting for non-COSing volunteers. Most people left to go to the party at Sue’s and Elaine’s. There was going away party there. I had to head home to Calibishie. I ran into Ruth during my last run through to town before leaving. Doris was at Ruth’s house waiting for a bus to pick her up. It didn’t seem to be coming so she headed to the bus stop. I bought some chicken and chips at Creole Kitchen. After eating it at the Peace Corps office I went to the bus stop. There were no Calibishie buses. It was before 1:00 o’clock. They all left early. This was probably due to the fact that there was a funeral for a Calibishie man in Wesley. I saw a lot of Calibishie transports heading to Wesley on my way home.
I waited standing next to a Marigot bus. I was hoping that a Calibishie bus may come by after driving around town. When it became obvious that there were no Calibishie buses I got on the Marigot bus with Doris. I had a few more minutes to talk with Doris as we got close to her home and the bus started to empty. I got off just past the airport. A man going to the funeral in Wesley got on at the bottom of the hill in Marigot. We both got a banana transport and got off in Wesley. I bought a drink and fudge. Then I got a bus which I could have got on in Roseau. It took me to Calibishie via Woodford Hill. We ran into Mike Joseph. Apparently my driver had some unfinished dealings with him.
Sunday I did not go to any church. There was a quarterly meeting at Wesley. I was willing to go there, but I didn’t know how to get there or when. Quarterly meeting services are short, so it probably wouldn’t have been worthwhile to try to get there.
I didn’t go to Fete Marine Grand Anse. Rawlins was going to go Sunday night. I saw him waiting for a ride when I was going to A&A for sugar. He was still there when I was coming back. The next day he told me that he never made it there.
I had lobster for dinner. One of the boys in the village came to sell me some after I eat lunch. The larger lobster was very soft after I boiled it. Neither of the lobsters yielded much meat. I made some garlic butter.
That afternoon I also took a walk to visit Mrs. Nixon. I wanted to thank her for the grapefruit and pay her if I owed her money. She called Neil while I was visiting her. Neil wasn’t home. She made me talk to Richard, whom I never met. Richard tried to refuse. I told him to let Neil know that Ingrid was planning on calling while she was home.
Monday morning I went to the Adult Education Center to finish my videotape project. I was going to do it Sunday, but when I went in the morning Clem didn’t have the keys. When I went back in the afternoon someone was using the VCRs.
Before I started working on the videotape on Monday morning I went for a walk. I hoped to make it to a trail in Woodford Hill and spot some parrots. I gave myself a half hour or so to find a ride but I didn’t get any. I ended up walking back home. I took a picture of the bay.
I put together the visual part of my training tape once I figured out how to record from the VCR on my camcorder. I had to go home to get the manual after I set up everything. It wasn’t too upsetting because I also had to go to the bathroom really bad. A lot of students we’re watching me while I was in the adult center. Before school started I kept the door open. Then students started gathering in the doorway; some came inside. I felt uncomfortable working on the tape while they were around. They also disturbed me with their talking. So I sent them out and closed the door.
When I finished collecting the scenes that I wanted, I was ready to add my narration. I went home to get the tape recorder. As I reached home Rawlins called. He was ready to give me a haircut. I didn’t have a towel over my shoulder so I got hair all over myself. He did a pretty good job. He got rid of all my long curling hair, mostly on the sides. My head felt much lighter. I went home to take a shower and eat. Then I recorded the narration on my tape recorder. The tape recorder was not good at recording. I alternated my narration with actual sound and finished the tape.
I went to the post office to check on mail for the last time. I got mail from Micki; Ingrid got more books. I took home some books. I asked Cleve, Glenn, and Randy to get the other books. I gave Glenn watermelon. The other two left. When they learned that Glenn got watermelon they came back, but I only gave them 25 cents like I originally promised.
I ate Ginger Spiced (ground) Turkey and rice for dinner that night. The ground turkey was a good substitute for the chicken.
Tuesday morning was good. I did my wash by hand for the last time. The bakery was back in operation. I woke up late. Clarise had left to go to Portsmouth, the bread wasn’t baked yet. I cleaned the kitchen, my room, and the dining room. There were lots of ants in the cupboards. I also saw roaches and spiders running away from the smell of the cleaner.
Mrs. Joseph told me to come over to the restaurant for a meal. After I cleaned, showered, and tried to nap I went over. There were some Dominicans eating there. Some French tourists also arrived. I waited for the meal of tuna and provisions. Gaylon told me that she was leaving Domenico soon. Merlin found out that I was leaving for good. I drank pineapple juice with my meal. She gave me quite a bit. I finished almost everything. I know I didn’t finish the avocado.