Things That Continue To Astonish Me

Bioche - a fishing village at sunset









Mero Beach
















We sent a sick young man to the hospital with fever. They sent him back with a vial of his blood, in his hand, not wrapped, just as is, to be tested. He took it to the lab, by bus, to the next town where the lab is. The result of the blood test was that he had dengue fever.

A person with the Ministry of Education was on the public bus, writing government cheques to various agencies.

Reruns of 6 month old news casts on Dominica’s national TV channel.

Dominicans talk to each other at the top of their voice, often at the same time and always illustrating their point with actions and gesticulations.

Often the sun will shine in all its brilliance while it is pouring rain. One wears sunglasses and holds an umbrella!

There are always people about. Even in the dead of night, someone will be on the street, walking or just sitting in a doorway.

There is absolutely NO confidentiality. Everyone knows everything about everyone and can recite every family's geneaology. When meeting someone for the first time they will ask, "Who is your father?", although fathers are often not in the home and have children with several women.

The lab where they dissect bodies at Ross University is at street level with big windows. As you walk by you can look right into the lab and see the students at work on dead bodies. Honest

Going To The Dentist

An old gold crown at the back of my mouth came loose and dropped out. No big deal. This happens from time to time, and Dr. Chaplin simply cements it back, no fuss, no muss. It was uncomfortable wiggling around back there, so I thought I would chance a visit to a local dentist since no drilling or treatment would be involved. There is a dentist in Portsmouth, Dr. A. I called, and they took me the next day.

When I got there 10 minutes before the appointment she was on her way out the door and the “nurse” was cleaning up. They had forgotten, but they would do me a favour and take me anyway. I was taken into the room where there was an antique dentist’s chair and ordered to “sit there”. The “nurse” threw what looked to be a cloth diaper on my chest. The dentist, a tall big boned woman with blond extensions loose around her shoulders hitched herself up to my head on a squeaky rolling stool, snapped on some latex gloves, roughly yanked my already open mouth wider, and stuffed my mouth with wads of gauze. After a very cursory examination she declared that the tooth itself was broken, but she would re-cement the crown on it anyway. She did that quickly, and when finished both she and the ”nurse” left the room with me still in the chair with a mouth full of wadding. When no one came back I figured that it was over. I got up and went into the waiting room. The dentist had left, and the rather surly “nurse” was waiting for me. I was charged 200 Eastern Caribbean Dollars, about $100 Canadian and left. Two weeks later the crown came off.

I phoned to schedule another appointment. They told me to come in right away, as they were about to close. It was 12:30 p.m. I was there by 12:45. The waiting room was full. I took a seat on a hard bench and settled myself in for a long wait…and it was long. I wasn’t called until 2:00 p.m. There were two little girls, about 7 years old, whom the “nurse” was looking after, moving around the waiting room. Finally I was called, and ordered, by a flip of the hand, to get into the chair. This time though, the chair was not fastened securely to the floor and the whole apparatus, chair, lamp, and table, rocked alarmingly to and fro with every slight shift of my body. The headrest had lost its pillow since my last visit. I was obliged to position my head on a post. I looked up at the lamp, which was in a fixed position because its handles were broken.

Dr. A roughly stuck the diaper under my chin, and turned to the nurse asking her, “What cement did we use last time?” “I don’t know,” was the reply to which Dr. A. answered, “I don’t remember, let’s use something different.” My precarious confidence was evaporating and I was getting seasick from the rocking chair. My mouth was once again stuffed with wads of gauze. One of the little girls burst into the room wailing and threw herself on the dentist’s lap! Dr. A, with her gloved hand, stroked the child’s hair, cooed at her maternally, gave her a drink of water and told her she should not come into the room when “Mummy is working.” The “nurse” was preparing some material when Dr. A’s cell phone rang. The “nurse” answered it and handed it to Dr. A. who, holding my mouth open with her left hand, took the phone in her right hand and made babysitting arrangements with her mother. The little girl banged back into the room sounding like I felt, and put her head on her mother’s lap. This meant that she was looking directly into my ear. She poked my ear, ran around to the other side to check out the other ear. The crown was returned to its place. I’m not sure it was even looked at it, or cleaned it out. I was coping with motion sickness. No charge this time, but there would be a charge next time, keep your mouth closed for 15 minutes declared Dr. A, and she left the room. These were the only words that were spoken to me directly in the two visits.

Even though the crown came loose again that very evening, there will not be a next time.

Saturday, March 12 - Just got a call from the dentist who invited me to come in because she has an "idea" about fixing the crown!!! I didn't go. I'll take my chances with it and wait for Bob C. At the moment it is wedged in and only mildly uncomfortable.

UP DATE

Has it really been that long since my last blog?






Since that time I have had Christmas in Dominica – my first away from home. Aside from the obvious climate difference, Christmas in Dominica was almost a non-event. Dominicans are very laconical about the whole thing. I kept waiting for it to happen. When I realized it wasn’t going to happen among the people I am living with, I decided, at the last minute, to make it happen. I invited several if Sono’s strange relatives, and his two children, I brought in some ferns to stand in as a Christmas tree and I cooked a 15-pound turkey, (which cost $60 US!). The menu also included rice and beans, vegetable casserole, curried lentils, salad and ice cream. The guests, who came 2 hours late, sat around the decorated table hardly talking, ate everything in sight and were gone by 10PM. I got through the whole thing on a bottle of expensive (but awful) wine.

New Year’s Eve was something similar – i.e. a non-event.

Question: How do Dominicans (Caribbeans?) come by the reputation of being fun loving, relaxed, carefree and easy-going?

I do not know. I have lived and worked among the people for 2 years, and I find them to be anything but.

I am still working on revising my preconceived ideas, stereotypes and prejudices about Caribbean culture. For example: where is the music? All I hear is horrible computer driven, monotonous so-called reggae. Bob Marley must be spinning in his grave.

I rented a car during the long Christmas break. We took some really wonderful day trips up into the mountains, along the southern coast, explored an ancient volcano, and searched for the Sisserou Parrot. The weather was not good, so we didn’t go to the several nice beaches around the Island. For more photos go to my FaceBook page.

We watched the total lunar eclipse on the full moon from the seashore. Awesome.

It is now the first of February and Dominicans (no doubt, the rest of the Caribbean) are revving up to Carnival, March 7 and 8. Calypso songs are being written, costumes are being constructed, stories of Carnivals of the past are being told, potential Carnival Queens are strutting their stuff, great booming sound systems are being dusted off and there is general tension building. I have been here for 4 carnivals and I have experienced each one as a huge national 3-day drunk. I am hoping that this year I will get behind the scenes, that I have, in fact, missed the point, that I will see, or be shown, the ‘real mas’ “.

Meanwhile I am still teaching and organizing at CALLS, fending off the mosquitoes, and figuring out how to live in Dominica.

An Accident Waiting To Happen

Last night a young man was killed on his motorcycle just where we have the fish stall in front of the gas station. He gunned his motorcycle as he turned left out of the gas station and rammed into an on coming car. He went flying through the air and hit the ground about 100 feet away. This morning his blood was still on the road and running in the gutter.

This was one of those accidents waiting to happen. Completely predictable. No lessons have been learned as today, the motorcycles continue to roar, at top speed, in and out of the gas station.

I think about the woman whom, he struck.

So sad

VIEW FROM THE ROOF

The neighbour’s goat had twins – way too cute for words. The low rise building on the other side has outside stairs that go to the roof. These stairs and the little kids were made for each other. The other day the babies were cavorting around and discovered the stairs. They quickly scampered right up to the top. After running around up there for a minute, they wanted to come down, but couldn’t find the stairs. They peeped over the edge and began to bawl. The mother came running. She stood below and encouraged them to come down in an exasperated maternal voice. They did find their way down and nearly knocked each other over in the scramble to get back to mama.

The neighbour also heard the commotion and came and got his goats.

I went up after they came down and took these photos. You can see the chickens in the front yard, Sono playing his guitar, the bread shack on the corner, the neighbour taking his goats home, and the babies peeping over the roof top.

My Response to My July 3 Blog Post

Well, it is three months later almost to the day, and I am back in Dominica!

When ‘they’ tell you it is all mind set, ‘they’ are right. Some of the issues in the July 3 blog are still present, but many are no longer relevant. I am much more relaxed, the things that used to bother me don’t seem to matter any more. I am beginning to catch on to the cultural and I have given up trying to understand the language.

One of the major changes has been my living arrangement. I am physically much more comfortable in this little house in the centre of Glanvillia. I am recognized, and accepted. I have satisfying work with good people, I am not so up-tight about finances and can rent a car from time to time, Skype certainly helps, I enjoy talking to Anthony and Nick every week and I have the CBC on non-stop.

But mostly I believe my increased comfort is due to my outlook. This is where I am, I like it. I miss my friends and family and some foods, and some familiar culture, but I am happy enough.

I'll go back to Ottawa in July for a couple of months.

Driving in Dominica

Driving in Dominica – my novice experience

Set the scene: left hand drive, hair-pin curves, up and down hills, narrow asphalt roads, no shoulder, ragged edges, huge pot holes, often ocean on one side, mountain on the other. Many pick up trucks, jeeps, heavy equipment travelling at break-neck speed around the S curves, other vehicles tail-gating. Sections of the route are under construction.

I drive a jeep along this route to Roseau. Near Roseau are jam-packed villages where only one car can move at a time, and everyone wants to GO. The entire population is on the street. If you stop to wait for the road to clear a little you will never get through, but somehow I do get through. I am cool as a cucumber, driving with confidence. When I finally get where I am going, I can’t get out of the car. My hands have become glued to the steering wheel and my knuckles are bloodless. I try to get out of the vehicle, but my whole body has seized up. What price COOL!!!!

One rarely hears of accidents, but about once a month someone is killed on the road - usually a young man on a motorcycle. I will, however, continue to drive. I know I will learn the pattern. I'd still like to have my own vehicle.

Driving around Portsmouth is the same but more friendly and easier.