May Diary (Jamie's diary)


MAY 1, 2012
I’M LEAVING HOME
Where do I begin?  I’m Jamie.  I’m 22 years old.  I train horses for a living.  All my life I’ve lived in Maine, but in exactly two weeks from today, Jao Institute (they’re a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company that hired me) is sending me by ship to a small island somewhere between India and Indonesia.  They don’t tell us exactly where for security reasons, and this is very frustrating.

Jao hired about 20 people to conduct biological research on this island.  My job will be to train the horses that are indigenous to the island (so they don’t have to fund roads and ship jeeps).  There’s only a five-man research team there.  They’re the only ones involved in the biological testing.  The rest of us are doing other things — there’s a doctor and two nurses, an administration staff of three people, a computer expert who's supposedly this super techno genius, two cooks, and two maintenance guys.  There’s even a three-man security team there… as if anything’s going to go wrong.

MAY 2, 2012
I NEVER LEFT HOME BEFORE
I’m a bit nervous about leaving home.  I’ve never been outside the United States before, unless you count Canada.  It’s not like I’m leaving much behind, though.  My parents were killed in a boating accident when I was nine.  My uncle Calvin and Aunt Priscilla took me in on their farm, and I didn’t exactly “feel the love,” I should say.  He never beat me, but he shook and pushed me.  And she looked the other way.  Nope, I won’t be missing the two of them, but I will miss the horses.  And my dogs.  And Melinda and Jack from the stables.  Other than that, I don't really have many friends.

MAY 3, 2012
I TAME HORSES
I tame horses.  That's what I do.  I grew up on my Uncle's farm after my parents were killed in a boating accident when I was nine.  I have a feel for horses.  As a child, I started training dogs for neighbors and school friends, and was surprisingly adept at it.  I was the girl who could not only get their dogs to do tricks, but to behave and listen.  Training dogs led to training horses.  As a teen, articles were written in the local paper about my abilities.  I hope this doesn't make me sound like I'm bragging.  After a while, the articles switched from the local news to a couple of articles in the national news.  I even had a television appearance once.  I believe that's how Jao Institute found me.  I am wounded inside and thus can sense when other animals are, and I soothe them.

MAY 4, 2012
10 DAYS
I board the ship towards India in 10 days.  Nervous.   Jack and Melinda wonder why they don't just fly me to India, then get a ship there; it'd be a LOT shorter.  The answer I got from Jao was "security reasons."  What's the huge secret with this research project???

MAY 5, 2012
CONTACT
I'm thinking on emailing someone who's already on Jackel Island.  I got their contact info from the Bio Sheet on Employees that Jao Institute gave.  All of them (except for me) (I was the last one hired) are already working on the island, and have been there for a year and a half.  I will be the new-comer.  It's a two-year biological research project, and I'm coming in on the last 6 months.  I'll be back home for Christmas.  Woop-dee-doo. It may give some comfort to talk to one or two of them before I arrive on the island.  Otherwise, meeting 20 strangers at once on the day I arrive may feel too weird.  I'm told that any email I send will be under scrutiny for "security reasons."  I honestly don't know what the huge secret is.

MAY 6, 2012
EARL
I started to send an email to Earl.  Earl is head of the Equestrian Department, which sounds bigger than it is.  Earl is a one-man operation.  They hired me to help him train the horses on the island. Earl's a 52-year-old man from Colorado.  What do I say to him?  I want to know about the horses, what they're like, and at what stage of training they're at.  I want to know what the paddock is like, what life on the island is like.  But all I wrote was "I understand I'll be working for you..." and I stared at the email for 20 minutes.  I never sent it.

MAY 7, 2012
TOM
I decided not to send an email to Earl, who's to be my boss once I reach the island (see yesterday's entry).  I started to send an email to Tom, who heads the Administration Department.  He's everyone's boss, the "head guy", our leader of sorts.  I started writing what a pleasure it will be working for him, yada yada yada, but that's as far as I got.  I fear that this Tom guy is too above my head for me to write to.  So again, I stared at the screen and didn't send the email.

MAY 8, 2012
EVAN BRONTE
Melanie, my friend from the stables, sent me an article in NEWS AND SCIENCE magazine that Dr. Evan Bronte wrote.  Dr. Bronte is on the island, and he's head of research for our project.  Fat chance that I email him!  He's Mr. Big Shot who's world known in the science world, with two Ph.D.'s  --  one in neurophysiology (did I spell that right?) and the other in biochemistry.  He's written tons of books which sold millions and are in many languages.  When I was interviewing at Jao Institute, one of the staff members told me that it's rumored that Dr. Bronte had bodyguards on the island, illegally, but Jao couldn't do anything about it because Dr. Bronte could easily just up and leave.  It was all hush-hush.  Now, why would this man need bodyguards???

MAY 9, 2012
DARCY
I did it!  I actually wrote to someone on the island!  I wrote to Darcy.  I don't know her, but she's not a department head so she's more in my league, and she's female.  Besides Darcy, the only other women on the island are two nurses and an Administrative Assistant named Sheila.  Darcy is about ten years older than I am, and is Tom's assistant in the Administrative Department.  I wonder if we'll become friends....

MAY 10, 2012
DARCY WROTE BACK!
Darcy from the island wrote me back!  She said she can't wait to meet me, and that the other girls on the island on Main Campus are catty and clique-ish, and only cling with each other.  She says there are two other women on the island, but they're in the Research Department which is 3 miles away, and no one from Main Campus really sees the 5 people on the Research Team.  That seems strange.

MAY 11, 2012
I LEAVE FOR INDIA IN 3 DAYS!!
Oh my God, I leave for India (or Indonesia) (or whereEVer this secret hush hush island is) on Monday!  That's in THREE DAYS!  I'm laying out everything I'm going to bring in the guest room.  The Jao instructional handbook recommends what to bring and what not to bring.  I will miss my dogs and horses intensely.  I'll miss Melinda and Jack at the stables.  I will NOT miss Uncle Calvin or Aunt Priscilla.  I'll miss the Maine coastline.  I imagine the tropics will be quite different from Maine, the only life I've ever known.

MAY 12, 2012
COZY CABINS
Darcy and I have been writing back and forth.  The Jao handbook spoke about our "adequate living quarters that meets all our needs" but didn't give much detail other than that.  Darcy says we each have our own little cabin and it's cozy and cute... just one room though.  No one has their own bathroom except for the research staff on the other side of the island.  We all eat at this large main lodge.  Sounds like Girl Scout camp.  Darcy was telling me about all the people on the island.  She started seeing Tom a month or two after they arrived.  They kept it "hush-hush" but everyone knew within a week.  There's a little boy on the island, the Computer Guru's son.  She says one of the security guy is a real jerk, always hitting on all the women on the island.  She tells me to beware.

MAY 13, 2012
I SAIL OUT TOMORROW!
I leave TOMORROW!!  By ship.  I'm pretty much all packed, got the mail stopped, will have the water turned off, and Melinda will periodically check on the house.  Can't believe I'm leaving all this behind.  Talk about changing your life!!

MAY 14, 2012
EMBARKATION
I am in a waiting area, ready to board the ship.  I thought it'd be like a cruise ship, but it's more like a cargo vessel.  There aren't many passengers.  The mood isn't cheery like it is with cruise ships... it's more a mood of "business only" with people walking around all serious.  They had me detained in a separate room where they        thoroughly checked through my luggage, and then they did a detailed body search, much more detailed than is done at airports.  Thank God it wasn't a strip search, but almost.  They downloaded all the info from my computer.  I think what they'll find will bore them.  Then they took a blood sample.  Another one.  They took a sample of my blood two times during the interviewing process that lasted about 3 months.  I'm starting to wonder what I got myself into.

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