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We ended up in the Caribbean but the journey wasn't smooth

Finding "home"

The next step in the journey was to get official sworn in and then find out where we were going to end up, which started the process of finding a new home of our own in a new country....

Settling in...

After a month or so, Deb and I began to get a little more settled. We would still experience some more extreme culture shock (you can see it beginning) but we know what our days will be like, even though we still struggle to accept all we see.

Culture Shock sets in

It's been our companion for almost 6 months and shows little sign of abating...

Shaken and stirred...

There are many realities to living in a developing country and some of them can be frightening.

Business as Usual

Eventually, even the "foreign" becomes the new routine.

Home for the holidays

Back to "Home"

Getting back to St. Vincent and heading into our last year as PCV's

Introduction

What this represents is the journal I wrote while we were in the Peace Corps from October 25th, 1982 until December 1984. Originally I was just going to scan and present the actual written pages but after checking what the scanned PDF's would look like, I d...

Oct 26 1982

Just got back from the clinic. Funny how its been what I have dreaded and hoped for for these last 5 months. But it wasn’t bad at all. Typhoid, Diptheria, Tenanus, polio and (last, but certainly not the least) yellow fever innoculations this morning given to u...

Oct 29, 1982

Things have been moving rather rapidly around here. The two additional days of comprehensive staging here have come and gone. Wednesday was filled with last minute paperwork. Legal hassels, even the most minor traffic violation or unpaid parking ticket, must b...

Oct 31 1982

Jamaica was at first, just what I knew it would be: Hot, humid and sunny with showers off and on. Island paradise… actually on the surface it was all I knew it would be. I was anxious about what the below-the-surface look would reveal. My first peek as an eye...

Nov 1

I was talking about money & currency because I didn’t have the energy. Energy is hard to come by also. Whether it be personal energy or public energy. The heat seems to sap you of all strength. It also prevents me from moving because to move generates discomfo...

Nov 2

Dogs and more dogs. And things are mellowing a bit. I should say something about our ‘host’ family. Joan is the head of the household and has a daughter Qun (Kwan). Qun is sixteen. Joan also has a sister who lives in. Her name is Angela. Now, of all of them, A...

Nov 7th

Went to church today at the Anglican church. 7Am is a bit early to be wanderin around Spanish Town but the service was familiar enough to be worth it. It was nothing like last Sunday. Went to Ocho Rios yesterday. It was really quite a shock. Ocho Rios is su...

Nov 9, 1982

The ride up to the training center is quite an experience. The road between Spanish Town & Sligoville is not necessarily in bad shape, but rather it is its narrow design and tortuous route, which it winds up the mountain to Sligoville, Traffic is not very heav...

Nov 12 1982

Even though we learn more & more each day, it becomes less and less distinct from the rest of our experiences. We’ve adjusted to Jamaican life. At least to where the surroundings & people aren’t a constant surprize. Perhaps it is just due to the constant assau...

Nov 13 1982

That restlessness is tempered somewhat by excursions into the countryside. Today Deb & I (with Julie and Dan) went to Port Antonio as much to see more of Jamaica as it was to get away from the dogs and pressures of staying at the Waugh’s. Unfortunately, they h...

Nov 17 1982

The weekend in Port Antonio was well worth the time and expense. The night was cool and very quiet. No dogs no hassles. It was wonderful. In addition, we had a chance to take some relaxing walks with few solicitations to buy Ganja or change U.S. dollars. I was...

Nov 21 1982

It’s peculiar how I’ve been preoccupied with enjoying ‘the comforts of life’. I’m afraid its culture shock but not quite the kind I had expected. I had guessed, perhaps wrongly, the I would be overwhelmed by how different the Jamaican and the E.C. culture woul...

Nov 24 1982

Well, I successfully passed my 27th birthday without complications. We had a morning at the UWI and spent the afternoon at the New Kingston Hotel. If it wasn’t for this flu bug I’ve had for two days, it would have been a perfect day. How many birthdays will I ...

Nov 30 (week to date, Embassy & T-Day, Man showin house)

The last day of training! I thought I’d never see the day. I realized I had been quite remiss in keeping up to date in the Journal. A week has passed and I haven’t written. First though I need to review the past week to see where I am at. The training for the ...

Dec. 1 [The end of the beginning]

For the last day in Jamaica, it’s been rather trying . Got a letter from Gram saying that Dad was going to have a hernia operation but not saying when. I called this morning to find out that Dad was in the hospital & already had the surgery. I realized that th...

Dec 9

Its been quite some time in between entries. I’m concerned that it will become the rule rather than the exception. Much, much has ensued in the past week. All of it good! The flight from Jamaica was uneventful yet very beautiful. It was a rather long (2hr) fl...

Dec 11

We had a confused and brief swearing-in ceremony at the P.C. office in Bridgetown. The reception following was the best part. Millers High Life & a lot of free Pepsi. A good deal of food. The best thing was that we were now official Peace Corps Volunteers. The...

Dec 21

Its been too long again. Much has happened. Much of it positive. We decided to take the house in Edinboro. The Ambassadors Club next door has been vexing at times. With Nine Mornings going on, sleep has been a rather difficult commodity to obtain lately. Howev...

Dec 27th

Bank holiday today (Boxing Day whatever that is…) so Deb and I are lethargically wandering about the house trying to find stuff to keep busy. Not that there isn’t anything to do. But the weather is rather threatening & it’s been raining on & off this morning. ...

Jan 4 1983