Last Days

Today is my last day at work in Dominica. After a much unexpected final presentation of my work I will spend the next two days traveling from Roseau to Marigot in Dominica, then from Dominica to St. Lucia and then on to Little Rock. I passed out a few gifts in the office and am going to dinner tonight with some friends.

The number one question I’ve been asked is about what I want to eat when I get home. I think I crave good ole beef the most. I want a burger, a steak, and some spaghetti with meat sauce, but I am not really craving food as much as I just want to see my friends and family. This summer has been unbelievably hard, and I cannot imagine being away for so long without skype to see everyone’s faces and talk for free. What a blessing (although sometimes Jonathan may have thought of it as a curse!)

Anyway, what I really want is to go home to the farm, go fishing and just relax with family. I miss getting pedicures with my girlfriends and the freedom to go wherever or drive whenever. The week I get back will be busy catching up, helping Liz move, attending Junior League training, then off to Denver, San Diego, and New York within the next month!!! Oh, and I’ll be in school too!

I really will miss some Dominicans. Not many, but some. I think what’s so strange about saying goodbye is that I will never email, facebook, or plan to see them again in my life… it’s not like I’m going to be pen pals or promise to come back to visit. I like the people the most who didn’t have to be nice to me. They gained absolutely nothing from making me feel welcome and safe. These aren’t the people that were supposed to help me with my project or obligated in any way; they are just really sweet.

A few times I’ve mentioned the old Protex man. He works at the store on my street and we don’t really ever speak, but I see him every day. He tosses me a bottle of water and I toss him EC and a peace sign and go about my way. I really like how quiet he is, and it has been reassuring to know he works in the same store, 24/7, and not in a creepy way but I know he keeps his eye out for me. I don’t know his name but he has four gold teeth at the bottom of his mouth and a few times I’ve heard him say to thugs outside the store “leave that girl alone.” I think I’m going to be a little sad to say goodbye to him.

At first I didn’t want to have anything to do with this old veteran from Kentucky on assignment for business here… we ran into each other a few different ways (pool, shopping) and finally became “friends.” In casual conversation he screamed at me about Israel and Palestine; cried about the pledge of allegiance, HATES obamacare, and told me worse Vietnam stories worse than Apocalypse Now, and may possibly be in favor of sterilization of welfare recipients. Yikes. I’m not making excuses for his behavior, but he arranged for me to have a ride to the airport and said “Americans take care of each other.” And I know he is really homesick too.

Because there isn’t a mental hospital here, there are a lot of mentally handicapped people on the streets. Of course there are dirty, pervy, crackhead, homeless men that will steal your diet coke off your lunch table but I’m talking about innocent, happy people who are taken care of by their families- they just like to sit outside and watch the street. One guy in a red shirt sits on far side of my porch every single day and never says a word but we wave at each other. A few times I’ve seen him all the way out in town and he gets excited to wave at me. Isn’t it silly but I think I will miss him the most.

I am also going to miss the girls that work in the coffeeshop. They are so much fun and every day we chat and tease each other. (Last Sunday I walked in on a homeless man sitting on the pot in the restroom and screamed and jumped and turned and ran back into the store. You don’t expect someone to be in the bathroom with the stall door open, and I’m sure I scared him too because his eyes were as big as golf balls.) Anyway, that little bonding experience made us all friends, but as most people in the service industry here hate their jobs, maybe they are hyped up on espresso, but these girls have fun at their job.

I’ll try to put up one last post, but as I don’t see much else exciting happening within the next 48 hours, so this may be it! Potentially last blog post- that’s pretty exciting in itself!