I have not seen Farley in over a week. My guess is he’s either been run over by a car or poisoned for chasing someone’s goats. He was a newborn pup when I moved in, so that would make him not even a year and a half old. If he was downstairs and heard my front door open, he’d rush up to greet me. Some days I’d be walking up or down the road and I’d hear something running up behind me at full speed and it would scare the daylights out of me; it would be Farley, so excited to see me. I had to teach him “stay down” because he just wanted to jump up all over me, and with muddy roads, dirty paws and dress clothes, that’s just not a good combination. All this from a pup who literally took months before he was comfortable enough to take a biscuit from my hand. When I first attempted to pet him, he would pull back confused; I don’t think anyone had ever tried to pet him before. Then he discovered that he liked it. It’s just killing me all the animals that I’ve seen come and go around here. I thought he was a survivor, but now he’s gone too. It breaks my heart.

I noticed the other day that Smores was no longer pregnant, however there’s no sign of kittens anywhere. I had been seeing spots of blood on my porch for several days beforehand; it’s probably related, as I haven’t seen any since. This is her second litter in a year. None of the kittens have survived.

This past weekend we enjoyed our annual holiday potluck held once again out in Seatons, next door to Joanne’s. 8 of 11 PCVs attended and we had a good time with good food and company, and a free trip out to snorkel with the stingrays courtesy of the folks at Stingray City.

The college finishes up this week and then I have a two-week break before we start again. We actually have to require that the students come back a week early (it’s supposed to be a 3-week break) because we’ve missed so many classes due to transportation problems getting out to ABIIT that we were unable to finish the course material by the end of the term. This affects 3 different classes, or about 60 students total. No one’s really thrilled about it, but this was the only solution that my department head had.

Have been enjoying Christmas and a very nice break from work. George’s sister Linda and brother-in-law Len are visiting from the US for 2 weeks. As luck would have it, Bernie needed someone to housesit his home up in a rather affluent section of the island and take care of his dogs while he and his wife were visiting their daughters up in North America for the holidays. George was able to hook them up together so Linda and Len found themselves staying in a beautiful home complete with pool for their vacation, and all for free! It’s even within walking distance of a secluded beach, although via a rather rugged and overgrown path. George has to work several days during the week, and I’m trying to get some work done at home as well, but we’ve stayed with them on the weekends.

The weekend before they arrived, we sailed in the Christmas Series regatta down in Falmouth Harbor. As Bernie was leaving in a few days and quite busy, he didn’t want the hassle of having to move the Huey Too back to his dock in Jolly Harbor after the race, so he convinced Bob Low to race his boat instead. We met them early Sunday morning and sailed Bob’s boat down to Falmouth, arriving with enough time to spare to relax and have lunch before the start of the race. We finished something like 22 minutes ahead of the next boat in our class, so even with everyone’s ratings taken into account, we likely won that race. The Series, however, was 3 weekends long and we only did the one race, so I don’t think we placed in the end. After the race we left the boat at the Antigua Yacht Club docks and headed home. Linda and Len arrived the following day on Monday, then on Tuesday, we offered to help Bob move his boat back to Jolly Harbor. Bob’s boat is far more conducive to pleasure cruising than Bernie’s, which is a highly physically demanding boat, so Linda and Len were able to relax in the back while Bob helmed and George and I worked the deck. Actually, with the wind at our backs we were on a run nearly the entire way, so there really wasn’t much that we needed to do but sit. Although tired from all the traveling, it was a nice way for Linda and Len to start their vacation.

Christmas Eve we stayed at Bernie’s and in the morning, opened gifts. In the afternoon, we had all been invited to Ms. Lewis’ (one of George’s coworkers at the library) home in All Saints for Christmas dinner. She had a huge spread set out with lots of good food and we had to try it all. Although she had stated that it would be traditional Christmas fare, we weren’t exactly sure what that meant, knowing that traditional meals in the Caribbean are quite different than what we’re accustomed to in the US. It turns out it was a bit of a mix – there was turkey and ham and stuffing and green bean casserole as you might expect, as well as baked macaroni and boiled white yams and black cake. It was also a little bit surprising that we had to talk her and her sister into sitting and eating with us (after I explained to her sister that enjoying the company was part of the fun), as it seemed that the meal had been set out for people to come and go as they wished. While we were there someone came in and fixed a plate to go and left with it, and her nieces left without eating, reportedly planning to eat later. In any case, Ms. Lewis was a wonderful hostess, inviting us to come by again anytime. After learning that they had several spare bedrooms, I suggested to her that they host Peace Corps volunteers – these are exactly the kind of people that should be host families.

The following day, Boxing Day, my neighbors invited us to dinner. Michael had to work on Christmas so they reserved their Christmas dinner until Sunday. Again, a wonderful spread was set out with lots of good food (we ate very well that weekend), but this time our hostess had set up several tables so everyone could eat together. They had a few friends over as well, so along with the kids, there were 11 of us at dinner. Julia, Michael and family were all very welcoming to everyone, and they even presented me with a gift of a dress and beach towel that Julia had picked out for me. After dinner we followed the shade to the back patio where the guys played dominoes. It was a very enjoyable day. (Note to prospective vacationers: They recently furnished the apartment on the first floor of their home and rented it out for a few weeks to some visitors from the states – friends of friends. So if anyone wants to come for a visit, I can get you a lovely apartment, probably for a very good rate!)

On Monday we relaxed at Bernie’s and went for a swim at our private beach. In the afternoon, Len drove us into town where we each planned to catch a bus the rest of the way home. As it was a holiday, my buses were nowhere in sight. A lady told me that she had seen a 22 earlier, but there was no guarantee when or if there’d be another. On Sundays, I’ll sometimes ride the 20 out to Jolly Harbor (about half way to my place), and then catch a ride the rest of the way. It was already 5pm and by the time I got there, it would be starting to get dark and I don’t like standing out there alone in the dark, trying to catch a ride home. So we decided instead that I would head to Swetes with George and catch a bus home the next morning. As we were walking from the main road towards Swetes, one of my regular bus drivers, off-duty and way off-route, drove by and saw me then pulled over and asked, “goin’ Ol’ Road?” It was fantastic. I was so far from home it really didn’t make any sense to think that’s where I was headed, but these are the type of offers that you don’t want to turn down because the next time, when you really could use a ride, they’ll just assume that you’re visiting in the area or maybe just out for exercise and will pass you by. And it’s always good to encourage the relationships when someone recognizes you, even if it is something as simple as the guy who drives your bus. (Do you know that I rarely have to ask the drivers to stop for me anymore because most recognize me and know my road? They just automatically pull over and let me off without me having to say a word.) So I said goodbye to George and hopped on the bus and when we reached my road and I asked the driver how much (since this was not a normal bus route), he shook his head and gave me a thumbs up. So I returned the thumbs up, thanked him very much and walked the rest of the way up the hill, home after all and with a free ride as well.

Tuesday Ms. Martin from the college called to ask if I would like to drive around with them in the evening to see the Christmas lights. Again, it was another one of those invitations that I don’t like to turn down (invitations to do anything with the locals are too few and far between), so I gladly accepted. After a half hour wait in the rain, I was getting discouraged thinking that I may have missed the last bus into town, but one finally arrived and I made it to town late but fortunately everyone was still waiting for me (love those cell phones). There were enough of us to need 2 cars, so first we found a parking spot in town and walked around St. John’s to see the stores all lit up, then headed north to Pari’s pizza for a light dinner. Afterwards, back into the cars for a drive up north to Crosbies and Blue Waters (driving right past Bernie’s) to see the homes that had been decorated, then south of town, then out to Falmouth. In Antigua, they have a lighting/decorating competition at Christmas time in which anyone participating in the contest gets free electricity for the month of December, so other than the actual cost of all those lights, they don’t have to worry about the otherwise prohibitive cost of turning them on. Finally we headed back to town to drop the others off, then Ms. Martin and her boyfriend consolidated into one vehicle to drive me home, getting me there at midnight. (Good thing I’m on holiday!)

I think what has really impressed me most about this holiday season is the friendliness and welcoming attitudes displayed by so many of the local people that we’ve come to know over the past year and a half (almost). It is really touching and warms my heart more than I can say.

One thing that you often hear from PCVs at the end of their service is that “the second year is easier”. I would have to say that this is becoming my experience as well. The first year started with a lot of anxiety, a lot of loneliness, and a lot of well, unhappiness. Then it “progressed” into resignation – a sort of giving up, accepting the hand that I’d dealt myself with the attitude that this is temporary and I just have to stick it out and see it through to the end. Now that I am 4 months into the second year, easier is a good description, although not sufficient to fully describe it. I’m no longer anxious, I have a routine (boring as it is), I know how to get where I need to go, know what to do, and generally know what to expect from people. I’ve become more efficient, planning trips to say the Peace Corps office for example when the bus from ABIIT will be driving right past there, so I’m no longer walking all over the island and back in the heat or rain. I even stopped paying my utilities monthly to reduce by half the number of hours that I waste standing in line at APUA to pay my bills! So “easier” works, but it’s more than that, although I’m not quite sure of the right word to sum it all up. Comfortable isn’t it – I would still rather be back home and actually doing things in the evenings instead of sitting home at night. I’ve watched far too much nonsense on TV and am far too proficient in solitaire to admit. I know that there are many more productive things that I could be doing with my time, but I find motivation to be a huge problem. I can blame it on the place (lack of motivation seems to me to be status quo in the Caribbean, unfortunately) but really it’s up to me, especially considering how big I am on self-responsibility and living a victimless life. This is the time that I look ahead to what I want to do next, and what I still want to accomplish before I leave. So I need to think a bit more about what the proper description is for this phase of my service, and particularly about what I want it to be.

Farley’s back! I don’t know where he’s been all this time, but I got up early to take the trash out this morning and there he was, jumping all over with excitement because he hadn’t seen ME in weeks either! We celebrated with a couple of dog biscuits and a rawhide bone.