A Victory Lap, and More Odds and Ends.

In the next few days I expect a flurry of posts coming from me, and I'm sure Denise is going to want to catch up on her blawg writing. In the meantime, some odds and ends.

Denise is done. Like, done done. She is now half a doctor. She is Dr./2 Denise Sousa. Expect a long-ass post from her soon.

I've decided to take a victory lap on Island Thrift. After a year of running around the island getting ridiculous documents, with intermittent agonizing breaks of waiting for a fax or two, it looks like the business is going to be starting up in the next semester. It sucks that I won't be able to see it open, but in the meantime, I'll declare victory. Congrats to Nick and Carly on closing the deal, and I hope the business rocks the shit.

I don't know why my arm is like that.

I walk really hardcore, apparently.

I've never taken to nicknames, or rather they've never taken to me. Recently a nickname for me has surprisingly sprung up, and it has evolved. They have been:

Mark McFuckingTie

Mark McFuckingMoustache

Mark McFuckingHaircut

Mark McFuckingAdvil

Mark McFuckingChickenWings

Mark McFuckingOutOfHere

Mork McFookinOotOofHere

There seems to be a trend.

This plane has little to do with what I'm talking about. But I'm a be on it soon!

Our apartment is emptying in a hurry. It's kind of nice, if sterile, and it really hits home how much shit we normally have. It's a strange thought that one day we'll just live in one place and be able throw all our excess crap in an attic. More likely a storage space, though, because neither of us want to not live in an apartment.

Holy shit she's done! She's done!

The Basket Ceremony

At the Prep School there's a lovely tradition: since the staff and children rotate so often with the ever changing student body, the school takes some time at the end of each semester to honour departing students and teachers. They're a pleasure to watch, because it creates such great catharsis, as anyone can say a few kind words about whomever is leaving. Denise was there to take pictures and video, but unfortunately it's unethical for me to post videos or photographs with students in them without parents' permission, so we'll have to forego that. I can, however, show the basket and the letters the students wrote.

It's a humbling experience, to sit in front of a community you've been a part of for over a year, and hear them talk about how you've contributed. I can be a pretty talkative guy, and I like to tease, but when it comes to accepting compliments I tend to become shy. I don't know how to take genuine kind words (my instinct is to make fun of everything), so I smile, nod, and say thank you. Afterwards, one of the teachers I work closely with came up to me, punched my arm, pointed a finger at me, and laughed.

"Ha ha! You almost cried! When have you ever been shy? Ha ha ha."

Apparently some of the teachers in the crowd got a kick out of the fact that I was lost for words. It's only fair that I get my comeupance: I talk a lot of smack at the school.

It was a fantastic way to leave the prep school, as I dwindle my hours there. The things that were said were heartwarming and kind. Amongst my favourites would be from a girl in pre-kindergarten, who said "Mr. Mark is a nice boy."

Also honoured was Brandi, a good friend of mine here, for her work with Jack, who tore down the house when he said goodbye to her. I'll miss working with her, and I'll definitely miss working at the school.

Odds and Ends

In the spirit of writing more before we go, there were a few mentionable experiences for me this week.

I went to meet some friends at the one cafe in town, Rituals - about a ten minute walk from my house. It was pissing rain. Like an idiot, I had lost my awesome umbrella up at De Champs, a bar up a very steep hill, and there was no way I was going to retrieve it. Instead, I bought a cheap 4$ US umbrella from the store near my house, and prayed that it would hold. Little did I know that it would look so cool. On the outside, the umbrella is sleek and silver, like something out of the Matrix, but on the inside is autumn leaves! It's also too small. I look hip.

I imagine that my father will tell me it's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors, just as I should be spelling "theater" like "theatre". I'm crazy like that.

When I got to the cafe, I ordered a Java Chip Chiller (the alternative to Frappucinos), a bacon cheeseburger, and a cookie. The cashier took my order, and another worker came up to me.

"Why are you so big, Dennis?" They call me Dennis there, and I don't have the heart to correct them. The chain of events is this: I used to go by myself, then I used to go with Denise. When Denise came they would take her name, but couldn't pronounce it properly, so they called her Dennis. When I started going back alone, they kept calling me Dennis. They don't remember her, though, and always ask her name.

"What do you mean, big? Like I've been working out, or eating too much?"

She laughed. "No, your face, your face is so big now."

I didn't know how to take this. "It might be because I'm about to eat a burger and a cookie and drink a chiller."

She shook her head and smiled. "Oh Dennis."

Excellent.

The other day I was about to go to work, when I saw from our balcony that the sea was choppy. The Caribbean is rarely choppy. It's a very calm sea. So I decided to walk along the ocean to work (admittedly, this is a statement I'll miss saying). I've never seen the water like this. The waves were large and angry, and the sky dark. The water would reach to the top of the sand and into the folliage. I often had to sprint across sections when the waves receded to keep my shorts from getting wet. I really wish the sea was like that most days. A calm ocean is nice, but an angry one is exciting.

Today was the first time this semester that I had to say goodbye to a student for good, because he is leaving the island early for vacation. I guess I have to get use to it. These are kids I've known for over a year, and they're the longest relationships I've forged yet as a teacher. Next week the school will be doing something called a Basket Ceremony, where they sit down teachers and students who are leaving, and everyone takes turns saying something nice about them. At the end, they are given a hand-made local basket. It's a lovely ceremony to watch, and I'm sure it will be lovely to participate in it. I can't wait.

5 Things I Can't Wait For

1. Movie theaters

Some things never change. From day one, the thing I’ve missed the most is movie theaters. Everything else here has some sort of passable alternative, but not this. There isn’t a single movie theater on the island, and nothing can compare to having your eyes and ears blown by the big screen while stuffing your face with popcorn and coke.

2. Beer

A good ale. I think one of the first posts we had here was about how much I miss India Pale Ales. Sometimes I smell something a little flowery, and suddenly my mouth waters for a good kick in the teeth that only IPA’s can provide.

3. Cafes

I’ve found enough alternatives for coffee down here that I haven’t been missing out so much: the espresso is pretty good, and we make good coffee at our apartment. It’s not great, but it’s not like accepting Kubuli when you’re looking for actual beer. No, what I miss is the cafes themselves. Denise and I used to live in a part of Vancouver with at least five cafes nearby, two of which were open 24/7. I miss that ready-made escapism, a quiet place to read or write or just calm the shit down.

4. Couches. Like, real couches.

This is something that has been creeping up on me. There are no nice couches here. Well, not many. Everyone I know has these crappy little things made of wood and uncomfortable cushions. Think of a really cheap futon that isn’t actually a futon. After a year it gets to you. I want something I can sink into, curl up in the fetal position with a book with. Mmm.

Ugh.

5. The cold.

Give me a change of seasons. It’s the great debate between going to Florida or going to Michigan. For most, they don’t want Michigan in January. For me, I could not be running there fast enough. I’ve lived in the longest summer of my life for the past sixteen months, and I’m not a summer guy. My genes tell me I’m Scottish, and my upbringing tells me I’m a Canadian from both the prairies and the mountains, so everything about me needs the cold for about half the year. Please and thank you, I’ll take that icy wind right about now.

Winding Down

Our recent trip to Orlando, to see family and visit Hagrid, created a nice little breath before the final plunge here in Dominica (I'll leave the details of that trip to Denise, in the event that she posts something some day). Of the sixteen months we signed up for initially, we've made our way through fifteen. My calculator informs me that that is 93.7%. Seeing family is always a welcome break, and the trip also provides an excellent counter-point for the next month, a reminder that things are about to change.

Yes. This is the second time I've linked this in our blog. It is that good.

For me, I've decided to look at the next month as as much of a vacation as I can. Several spouses came down here with the mindset of "I'm here, I might as well enjoy myself", and went into semi-retirement for a year or two. Honestly, I'm pretty envious that they embraced that philosophy. I think if I had worked for a few years before flying down here, instead of being in school, I might have also welcomed this more as a break. As it stood, I filled my time with odd jobs and personal projects, so I feel pretty good about taking the next four weeks as leisurely as I can.

I've been slowly easing out of responsibilities for some time now. Island Thrift, which I brought to the 99th yard of legitimacy, has stalled because of a piece of paper (it has to do with pooing in a cup), but is now fully in the very competent hands of its new manager Nick. For all intents and purposes, I no longer work there; or, as I like to tell some people, I'm staying on largely in a 'consulting capacity'. I hope the store will be open before I leave, if only for my pride, though it looks doubtful. My other, more important job - aftercare - I have also been backing away from, as my good friend Ronen has taken the reigns. I have dwindled my hours so that I come in maybe two days a week instead of five now. That's a job that's hard to let go of, because I love it so much, but Ronen is awesomely competent, and it's time someone else took over. The last job I have is assisting the teacher in the Kindergarten class, another job I love, and I'll be going in only three or four days a week until I leave. It's weird for me, consciously working less, but I want to take advantage of this time.

In the coming weeks, I hope to do as much writing as I possibly can (shameless self-promotion: download an excerpt from my book!). When else will I have this much time to write? (Answer, very soon when we're in Michigan.) I'll be writing in the blog more, trying to reflect on the year we had, and talk a little about some of the projects I'm working on. I had originally hoped to do the Boiling Lake hike, but have since changed my mind after canyoning (pictures and videos coming in the eventual post by Denise). Going on the hikes has never had much appeal for me, and I've lost all interest in the gruel of the Boiling Lake trip. I'm certain it's amazing though - it's a mark of pride for those who have done it. I'm just quite content to avoid it now.

There's also quite a few logistical things to deal with in the coming month. I'll be going through the ritual of selling most of our stuff, bit by bit on facebook. I'm pretty late to the game - many of my friends have been selling their stuff for months - so here's hoping there's still some demand. We're selling everything because it just doesn't make sense to pay the money to transport most of the crap we have, and we'll just buy everything cheap again when we get to the US anyways. The other big logistical problem we're having is whether to get a barrel or not; we're pretty sure we can pare everything down to a couple of extra suitcases, and save the stress and money of sending our stuff on a boat. Really it comes down to a debate on the lesser of two evils: international shipping, or airline baggage handlers. Hmm...

You look like an honourable, trustworthy fellow...

The most interesting thing in this entire process is that Denise and I are definitely getting rose-tinted glasses, or whatever you call it. Everything that pissed us off is suddenly quaint. We'll see how long that lasts.

We Like to Party

Last night there was a belated Halloween party in Portsmouth, a fundraiser thrown by one of the Ross clubs. Denise made the strange move of agreeing to attend several days ago, so we went.

Why was it a strange move for her? Three reasons. First, our record indicates that Denise and I are phenomenally lame when it comes to our social life down here. Besides the occasional trip to the bar after minis, I can't remember intentionally going out to a party in Dominica. We're homebodies. Second, it was in Portsmouth, and we rarely leave the nearly-gated-community that is Picard (for me, besides the fact that I've never been too adventurous, it's mostly because there normally isn't a reliable taxi service past 2 am, so why not keep close?). Third, and perhaps most telling, is that it started at 10pm. That's like, really late. I swear to god, we took a nap before we went out. I can physically feel myself aging.

Google tells me this is a dude.

It was a good time, to be honest. The bar opened up onto an outdoor dance floor, which opened up onto the ocean. Many of our friends were there, a rarity when it comes to socializing amongst medical students and their insane schedules, and that made it worthwhile. There was one thing I found strange (I suppose I shouldn't have found it that strange): There were skanky costumes. As in well thought out, expensive skanky costumes like high-quality playboy bunny outfits. This is Dominica. To bring down a skanky costume is to consciously decide not to bring something else in the space you would have in your suitcase. This means that they actively thought to bring those outfits for one night, at least two months in advance, instead of extra sets of clothes. And hey, power to them, but I was definitely not expecting it.

I am getting so old.

In Which I Wrote A Book

For those who may have missed it, I recently self-published my first novel, Losing Dominion. If you haven't already, please visit http://losingdominion.wordpress.com/ to read the excerpt, or buy a copy of the book. I'm proud to say that 15% of the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer's Society, so go check it out.

From inception to completion, Losing Dominion took me three years to finish. It began as an idea I had in the middle of the night, and it kicked around in my head for months before I finally put a pen to paper. In the end, I must have gone through almost a thousand pages of writing and editing before I was able to finish my book, sitting at a humble 130 pages. I'm insanely proud of it, with all its strengths and weaknesses. I find that the quote, "Art is never finished, only abandoned," now resonates with me; it wasn't easy to close the book and send it off to print.

I got very lucky in many things for this book to get published. I am grateful that my family was so supportive throughout the process, and that Denise was so patient as I wrote (although in the Acknowledgments section at the back of the book, when I thanked her last of all, she said "well that just shows you don't love me"). I was fortunate enough to have duped Lindsay Vermeulen into designing the fantastic cover of the book, which will no doubt lure in the masses (please message me to contact her for your own graphic design needs). I'm also lucky that I was able to use my grandfather's beautiful painting for the art on the cover. I have brilliant friends who were able to provide detailed, ass-kicking feedback on the original drafts, and that most definitely saved me a great deal of embarrassment. Finally, I am ridiculously grateful that my sister Jocelyn agreed to be my publicist/agent/PR person, and that she carefully crafted the book's publication so that it didn't look like the angsty creation of a prepubescent high-schooler.

The next step is to send the book in to actual publication houses, which I will be doing shortly with the help of Joss. So we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I hope you'll buy my book. If not, please at least download the free excerpt.

Please check it out. Thank you.