Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Boy does this statement feel true right about now. I just counted the weeks: tomorrow will mark 17 weeks in Haiti….almost 4 full months. I’m in that weird feeling place where it feels like I arrived only yesterday, but I am also so comfortable here that I feel like I’ve lived here for years. A little counting forward also marks tomorrow as 3 weeks until I go back to Texas for Christmas break. I don’t know if it’s because it’s so close or if it’s that we are entering December tomorrow and I am wearing shorts and tank tops, but I am really excited to go home. In saying that, don’t hear that I am miserable and homesick. I’m happy here. Really, truly, happy. This is where God wants me to be, I know that without a doubt. He put a desire in my heart to come to Haiti and he met that desire and it feels me with joy being in the middle of his plan. But even in all of that, I am ready to go back for a bit.

I’m excited to see my family. I’m excited to eat all the yummy homemade treats. I’m excited to be cold!

There are a lot of things I’m looking forward to: fast food, running around white rock lake with my nose frozen from the cold, driving a car, preparing a salad and not use bleach at any point in the preparation, fireplaces, and more. But, what I am looking forward to most is seeing my family and friends. Sitting and laughing with people I love and haven’t had a chance to see in a while.

I am also looking forward to Starbucks, which I fully intent to get the minute I land in Miami. mmm, 3 weeks J

Haitian Thanksgiving

Well, today it’s back to the grind. Thanksgiving weekend is over and we had a blast! I won’t write every detail, so if you want a more detailed account, check out Larissa’s blog here.

Wednesday:

Picked up my friends at the airport, had a quick tour around the school and then headed to the Child Hope feeding program. This was also the day that Christmas happened early in our apartment! Larissa and Roseana brought me tons of goodies from home including…a Christmas tree!! We had a nice dinner at Epi D’or and then called it a night

Thursday:

We got up and took a taptap up to Petion-ville in search of three places: Marie Beliard (best bakery ever), Giant grocery store, and Rebo Coffee shop. We got lost and ended up at Giant which sells coffee and bakery treats from the same bakery we were searching for. Win!

We got back to school and went with MIquette to the TeacHaiti school to check out all the awesomeness she has going on over there. You should check it out too, click here.

After we returned from Teach Haiti we spent a couple of hours resting and baking in preparation for Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner with 40 friends, new and old, at the O’Kelley’s house. It was great to meet new people and laugh and fellowship over a veritable feast of turkey, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, salads, green beans, desserts, and so much more

Friday:

We went to Kaliko Beach club. We sat in chairs and did nothing all day long. It was glorious.

Saturday:

We wanted to go up the mountain to Hotel Ibolele however, taptaps don’t go up there and I don’t have a car. What do we do? Take a mototaxi. A man that works for Mrs. O’Kelley drives a moto and had two friends who agreed to take us up the mountain. It was scary and fun all at the same time, but I don’t think I’ll be making this a regular form of transportation.

We spent a few hours at Ibolele swimming and eating before heading back down the mountain. We spent the evening at a local basketball game. One of the teachers at QCS coaches a city-team and they had their first game of the season. This game deserves its own blog post and might get it, but here are some pictures until then.

Sunday:

My friends were incredibly patient this weekend. I have had a nasty head cold, now turned sinus infection, and by today I was beat. We went to the house church, had lunch at Epi D’or and then sat around. I wanted to take them to the waterfall, but couldn’t manage it. I thank them for their patience. Thankfully, they were both engrossed in reading The Hunger Games series so they were kept well entertained by Katniss Everdeen and her antics.

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend and I’m excited I got to share my world here with my friends from Dallas! I am also thankful no one got food poisoning or killed on a moto. Win!

Santa came to Haiti!

It is Thanksgiving Day and I am wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I will walk around all day in shorts and sandals and still probably sweat an abnormal amount. The trees are green, there is no nip in the air, people aren’t wearing scarves. It doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving. It doesn’t feel like Christmas is around the corner, but it is.

This is my first Thanksgiving to spend away from my family. If I linger on that thought too long I get a little sad. No snitching scraps of turkey as its being cut, no listening to the annual debate on whether or not the stuffing has enough….I forgot that one spice that is put in that the aunts “discuss” whether or not there is enough in it….Anyway, if I was back home I would be hanging at my grandparents house with a fire behind my back, football on the tv, brown trees outside (we get some leaf changing in Texas, but mostly it’s just green to brown), and delicious smells all around. But, I’m in Haiti and, despite how sad I am to miss the family celebrations, I am so happy to be right where I am.

Most of the QCS crew is 5 hours away at Port Salut, but I am here in PAP because two of my best friends in the world came to visit! Larissa and Roseana arrived yesterday and brought Christmas with them. Seriously, they brought Christmas to Haiti. After we arrived back at my apartment and they had eaten a bit of lunch, they eagerly asked if they could give me presents….presents? I had asked them to bring a new set of sheets, a couple of towels and a pillow with them, but those aren’t exactly presents. (I won’t lie, I was WAY too excited about having another pillow. They cost about $20 here so the $2.50 walmart pillow was going to be awesome!)

After they had pulled out the items I had asked them to bring, they began throwing, literally, throwing things at me. Clothes that I had left back home that I wanted, but not enough to ask them to dig in my boxes for them, toiletries I had purchased before but were too heavy to bring on my initial trip, books, movies, my shoes, Peanut Butter M&Ms, frosted animal crackers, and, best of all…..A CHRISTMAS TREE! Yes, my friends brought a friggin’ Christmas tree to Haiti! See, I am a Christmas nut! They brought me a 3 foot, pre-lit tree, an extra string of lights, a tree topper, garland, and ornaments! After dinner last night we put the tree and lights up. So nice to see that soft glow in the apartment. It will go great with the holiday candle and Christmas music they brought as well! I am thankful my friends brought Christmas to Haiti (along with themselves)!

First Volleyball Match

I am very familiar with how high school, extra-curricular sporting events work. Very familiar. I have been going on busses to away basketball games since before I can remember. As the daughter or a coach, I went to lots of away games and many times we rode the bus with the team to get to the games. I know how games work in the states, I know the UIL rules, all that jazz. I did not know how games here in Haiti would work, but I do now (or at least I know how the one we had yesterday worked). Let me highlight some differences.

After giving the girls their uniforms and getting everyone together on time (well, sort of on time), we headed to the bus…well, the truck. All the girls piled into what we lovingly refer to as “the cage truck,” because that is basically what it is. A white truck that has the back covered and there are benches you can sit on. It gets you where you need to go, but no way would this fly in the states as a vehicle to transport children in. Also, none of the parents had to sign permission slips for their girls to leave the school in a vehicle driven by a teacher. I love it!

After piling in the truck, the driver turned the key and….nothing. He called the mechanic over, he banged a bit under the truck and it started. Off we went. We drove through the streets of Port au Prince which is always an experience. If ever I forget where I live, all I need to do is wander around the streets a bit and it comes back quickly.

We arrived at the school which has a very beautiful campus, and went in search of the court. We found it and began warming up. Eventually the other team arrived and began warming up as well. When the time came to actually begin the match, the other coach asked for one of our coaches to be a referee. What? Yeah. No official ref paid for this game. One ref from each team.

The girls played very very well! They were up against a tough team of girls who have played together since middle school and have practice almost every day. Our girls were competitive and kept them on their toes, I was so proud!

After the game some girls left with their parents or boyfriends and the rest of us piled back in the cage truck and entered the afternoon traffic to return to school.

Maybe someone else wouldn’t be as confused or interested in the differences between this game and one in the states. I guess growing up around basketball and away games and UIL rules and all that, you notice the differences a little more. Altogether it was a great experience and a great day for the girls to show how much work they have put in and how far they have come in such a short time. Go Lady Eagles!!

Learning, Learning, Learning

I swear I have learned more in 14 weeks than I think I did my entire college experience. Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but on days like today that feels like an accurate statement. There are so many things to learn about Haiti alone. Food (what to eat, what not to eat, how to clean vegetables, price, what street vendor to buy from, how to cook with a very limited amount of pans and utensils), customs (how to greet, kiss on both cheeks or one, shake hands), language (ugh, don’t get me started), everything! And then there is school. I’m teaching history, which I’ve never taught before, so I am relearning things I learned years ago. Also, teaching students skills like MLA formatting and in-text citations requires me to go back and relearn the old rules or learn the rules they have changed since I’ve last had to cite references in my papers. And then there are sports: volleyball, ultimate Frisbee, and soccer. None of which I had any extensive experience in before I came here. Add to all that the reading we are required to do for certification with our accrediting agency, and then you can add student names (I’ve got most of those down by now), student’s siblings names, student’s problems at home, their struggles, their hopes their fears, etc.

Thankfully, instead of being bogged down with all of this, my brain has turned into this super sponge. Maybe not super in the amount of knowledge it is able to hold, but super in its thirst for more! Tonight we had a two-hour Creole lesson with a tutor and I found myself eager and excited to start and halfway through the time seemed to be going by too fast! We will have ten sessions like this in the next 2 ½ weeks, so ask me how I feel in a few days…

Jacmel Part 2, Bassin Bleu

In all honesty, the main reason we decided to venture south to Jacmel was to visit Bassin Bleu. If we had not seen the beach or even entered the town of Jacmel but had seen Bassin Bleu, the trip would have been a success. Go ahead, take a minute or two and do a google image search of Bassin Bleu. Yes, it really is that beautiful in person.

To get to Bassin Bleu is a bit of a challenge; they make you earn the beautiful scene you get when you arrive. Bassin Bleu lies somewhere up a large mountain just outside of Jacmel. The trip up takes about 45 minutes. It isn’t that far, but you have to carefully meander through the switchbacks up a mountain on rough, rocky road around tight turns. But first, to even get to the base of the mountain you have to cross a river. Originally we thought the only way across the river was to literally drive your car across. It isn’t too deep, but we were rolling in style in the Jin Bei van which has a clearance of about 3.5 inches. We pulled up to where we were going to ford the river and began to doubt the power of the Jin Bei. We saw some cars make it across, but when you are driving a vehicle that A) is not yours B) was broken down a mere 36 hours before and C) has to drive you 3 hours home the following day, you are a bit more cautious than normal. After discussing options with the random people outside the car, we found out there was a bridge over the river. Problem solved! They pointed us in the direction of the bridge and we took off. I will pause here and mention how Haitian directions work. As we were driving in Jacmel and then later looking for the bridge, we would stop, ask someone where we needed to go, and their response was always to point in the general direction. No mileage, no time, no landmarks. Just point.

So off we went in search of the bridge. I’ll spare you the boring details, but about half an hour later we found it and with a joyous cry we crossed over! We didn’t have to risk our food or our oxen and ford the treacherous river (Oregon Trail reference…I made lots of those to the annoyance of the rest of the crew).

After crossing we began the slow crawl up the mountains taking in the ever increasing beauty. At one point we had to stop and take this incredible photo.

We eventually (with the help of a guide on a moto leading us) found the place where we park and begin the short hike. We paid, got a guide and were off. After about a 15 minute walk we reached the first spot of three. We were amazed and our guide laughed and said “Oooh, it gets so much better.” He was right.

We hiked a little more and climbed some slippery steps. At this point, I saw a rope tied to a tree and knew what we had to do. We had to shimmy down this rope in order to get to the good stuff. This may seem lame, but this is the most scared I got this entire trip. You had to climb down this rope (which, in all honesty was not that high) but you couldn’t see where you were going! Needless to say, we all survived.

Once we were safely off the rope, we stowed our bags on a rock and hopped in the water. It was cool and deep. We swam out to a large rock in the middle of the pool. Here is a picture of where we jumped off into the water.

After jumping in, swimming, playing and exploring, we decided it was time to head back. We stopped for lunch at the first set of falls and then headed back to the car. We meandered our way back down the mountain and into town. We ate dinner at a nice hotel with a great view.

If you ever come to Haiti, let me know. We will go to Jacmel and play in Bassin Bleu. It is a must-see.

Jacmel, Part 1

It started out as only an idea; a “wouldn’t that be fun” kind of thought. But, over a couple days the idea began to take shape into an actual plan. We battled problems of communication, a place to stay, and transportation up until the very last minute and we won. At 5:30 am 8 of us left the walls of our school riding in the trusty Jin Bei van and began the 3.5 hour trek to Jacmel. Although we were all a little blurry eyed and tired, the decision to leave early to avoid traffic was a wise one. We made it through the streets with ease and were met with minimal traffic in the downtown area. I had not seen downtown Port au Prince until now and what I saw shocked me a bit. I hope I will never become dull or immune to the poverty I see around me, but the urban-povertiness (I sometimes just have to make up words) startled me a bit. More wet, muddy trash lined the streets, more yelling, more holes in the road, urine smells so strong they seep into the vents in the car and assault your senses. This was what we left that morning.

Not an hour later we are cruising along a smooth road at high speeds and all of us are pressing our faces at the windows like children when they pull into Disneyland. Green everywhere. Vibrant green palms, clear, lush farmland, fruit trees and other tropical plants adorned the large mountains we were climbing. In the span of many minutes we had left urban chaos and entered tropical paradise. As we meandered the switchbacks that crawled up and down mountains the quiet in the car was interrupted only by the occasional camera click or gasp at the beauty seen around the bend (or a gasp at the near miss of a taptap bus on the opposite side of the road getting a bit too close for comfort).

Around 9:00 am we pulled into Jacmel. This smaller town was bustling for a Saturday morning with locals and tourists going about their business. We found the hotel we would be staying at, Hotel Ozana. A friend had told us about this hotel and we received an amazing deal. We dumped out bags in the room and hopped back in the van to explore the town.

Our first stop was the Jacmel arts district. We roamed around the beautiful Hotel Florita and were awed at the beautiful brick walls adorned with paper mache masks, a traditional element of the annual festival of Carnival that is held in the spring. After leaving Hotel Florita we browsed through several galleries where we saw more large paper mache masks as well as other local items like coasters and place settings hand painted to look like various fruits and vegetables.

After we had our fill of the galleries we walked down the street to a local beach and dipped our toes in the water. Once there we were greeted by several children shouting to us “you, you!” and holding out their hands. We talked with them and played for a while but eventually made our way back to the car. We spent a couple of hours at the hotel eating, relaxing, and playing a mean game of Phase 10.

After a while though, it was time to hit the beach! We changed and drove out to a public beach to play. After finding a secure spot for our belongings we ran into the water with the gusto of children being let out of the school building for summer break. For the next few hours we flipped and dove in the water. We threw the Frisbee to each other and dove into the waves to catch it. We were kids at the beach and it was joyous.

When the sun was getting low, we got to witness an incredible sunset. Amidst the trash on the beach we watched the beautiful display of yellow, orange, and red dance across the sky as the sun sank behind distant, silhouetted mountains. I sometimes forget that I live on an island in the Caribbean, but this day reminded me of it. I was surrounded by natural, God-made beauty and we all drank it in. This was only the first day of a weekend in paradise.

P.S. I lost my camera so these pics are all borrowed from my friends Josiah, Katie, and Robbie who took great pictures and then posted them on Facebook :)

What a weekend!

I will write in more detail about our weekend trip later (it’s too much for one or even two posts), but I cannot stop singing praises for this fantastical weekend we have had. Due to random holidays were in Haiti for All Saints Day and All Souls Day, we had a 4-day weekend. A few of us have been wanting to go to Jacmel (a town in Haiti) and more specifically to Bassin Bleu for a while now. Bassin Bleu is this gorgeous natural water feature a few miles outside of Jacmel. There are three large pools and a series of waterfalls. The largest pool offers a spot you can climb to and jump into the pool from. We’ve heard many guesses on the depth of the pool, but the rumor is that it is so deep that no one knows how deep it goes. More on Bassin Bleu and its amazingness in another post.

This weekend started on Friday night with a dinner of tasty Mexican food with the fabulous Ben & Katie K. Early (really early) the next morning eight of us loaded up in the Jin Bei van and headed south to Jacmel. Threeish hours later we pulled into our hotel. We spent the morning wandering around Jacmel and the afternoon playing at the beach. I felt like a little kid at the beach again; running into the water, diving under the waves, playing Frisbee…such fun to use the healthy bodies God gave us to play in his playground!

 The next day we woke up and had a mini church service at the hotel together and then went to Bassin Bleu, more to come on that) and at night we went to a nice hotel and had grilled conch for dinner.

Yesterday morning we woke up, packed up, and headed out to the beach for more playing. We had fish, lobster, and avocado on the beach for lunch before beginning the beautiful drive back to the city.

Last night we had a movie night and then had blueberry pancakes for breakfast altogether this morning.

It is a really testament to the beauty of this community that we are not quite sick of each other yet. We are still planning some volleyball and Frisbee for today and tomorrow. Today is our last day of this long weekend and it will be spent catching up or getting ahead in work and life as well as moving at a bit of a slower pace.

I’ll write again with the details of Jacmel and Bassin Bleu if you care to read them. This post is mainly about how incredibly rested I feel. My heart is full of joy at the last few days. Not just that I got to enjoy a side of this island that is breathtakingly beautiful, but that the community with whom I got to enjoy it with is exponentially more beautiful in its design. Thank you God for this weekend and for my friends.

Playing at Bassin Bleu.

View from Hotel Cap Lamandou where we ate dinner.

I lost my camera so I stole these pics from my friend Joisah.