Halfway Done With Haiti!

Week three was more uneventful than the others have been which is not something I am complaining about. It meant nobody was getting sick (which almost all of us have had the stomach flu or some other fun illness), it meant no protests or riots were happening (that happens a lot too but our translators keep us away from those so we are very safe), and no new awkward experiences (like trying to go to the Haitian equivalent of Time Square on New Year's Eve. Everyone just stopped and stared at the white people). We did get one of our team members back though! She had left us before we came to Haiti due to the several illnesses she was trying to fight off. It was fun getting to welcome a team member back after we had been without her for a couple weeks. The end of week three does mean we are more than halfway done with our time in Haiti. It is crazy to think how fast everything seems to be going. We do spend the least amount of time in Haiti but it still feels like we've been here forever but then again, not long at all. That's kind of how everything is. Like part of me feels like I've known my team for years but really it's just been over a month.

For the most part, we have a very relaxed schedule in Haiti. It really is like we live here, we just do as we please. We do have some classes that we teach. Mondays and Thursdays we teach English to elementary age children so it's a lot of "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" lessons and songs. The kids do seem to have so much fun and a true love of learning from us. Fridays and Saturdays we teach English to young adults. Many of them know a pretty decent amount of English so we get to work on things like sentence structure and grammatical stuff. Saturday mornings we also help lead kids club at a local church which is just like a children's church. That is challenging because a lot of the songs and games that we usually play with little kids require English and we don't know enough Creole to translate those games over. They are a big fan of the Macarena so we fill up lots of time with that!

Haiti has been fun and full of new experiences but it has also brought some challenges. The one that has probably been the hardest for me is the inability to properly communicate with Mona and the other families that live in our area. We definitely saw this when we attempted to do laundry last week. Imagine someone giving you three different soaps and telling you that you use certain soaps with the lights and the others with the darks and you sometimes rinse in between switching soaps but other times you don't. Now imagine they can't use words. Gesturing is the only effective communication. That and the words "No, no!" Now imagine getting that from six different people who made do things slightly differently. That's laundry at our house. I do love all of the moms in our area but it's overwhelming when they all try acting like moms toward us. It was slightly humorous but it quickly became frustrating because we literally had no idea what was going on.

We have definitely still had some great experiences this past week:
-We found this bakery that has hot bread that kind of tastes like a thick pretzel. It's addicting! Plus it's only like 15 cents for a little individual loaf.
-We got to go to this really pretty area up in the mountains to go watch our translators and some locals play soccer. The ride there was long and terrifying bumping along on our tiny motos. But definitely worth the near death experience.
-One of our host sisters will bring us chocolate cheetos! Yes, it's a real thing.
-There is a place here that sells hamburgers! Definitely hit that up this week. Got me thinking about how excited I am for 4th of July hamburgers (family: that was a hint for you)
-Every morning, my roommates and I tell stories about all of the weird stuff we did in our sleep the night before. Apparently Tiffany and I have gotten so close we were having a conversation in our sleep.
-There was a rooster right next to our room that we named Dinner because he would wake us up every 15 minutes starting at 3am and we just wanted to eat him so we could sleep... and this week someone decided to have Dinner for dinner. We sleep much better now.
-Friday night we had gotten snuggled in bed were awaken by Wilson knocking on our door saying "Girls, did you brush your teeth?". He knows that we love rice and had been given some by one of the ladies in our area and wanted us to eat some. Then Monday morning we woke up and saw for breakfast Mona had bought us rolls and peanut butter. We had all been talking about how much we missed peanut butter and apparently Wilson told Mona we wanted some. Wilson would make a great American boyfriend because he understands that food is a girl's best friend. I think it really makes him happy to see us so happy when we get surprised with food we like. We got a good one, he loves us!
-My chaco tan is coming in nice. Still struggling with being in love with the chaco part but the fact there is a tan at all makes me feel pretty good.
-Also, if any of you gave me a letter with your donation or my last day at church or at any other time, I have those with me! And I read one a day just because I like being reminded people are praying for me.

My time with God everyday is definitely the biggest thing that has kept me going. I'm reading through 1 Corinthians and I found this really awesome verse in chapter 8 verse 6 "yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him, and we exist through Him."

Let's Go to the Beach, Beach!

From our house, it is about a 10-15 minute walk to the shore. It's the same ocean as back in Florida but it looks a lot different than the ocean view I'm used to. There's no sand. It's black rocks. And there's really not like a big open area to lay out blankets and beach chairs and play volleyball. But it's the ocean. It still has waves and the salty ocean breeze that I love. Well on Wednesday, we had a free day and our translators told us we were going to go to the nice beach. So basically I was pumped! We were going to go to a nice beach with water we could swim in: every Floridia girl's dream! The nice beach (it really doesn't have a name) is within walking distance also. So to get there we walked on one of the main roads for awhile and then Wilson took us down a dirt path that ran in between houses. Not really the kind of road you would expect to take to a nice beach.

Finally we made it to the shore and it was obvious there were a couple problems. 1) It didn't look like an area I would define as a "nice beach". The water was brown. The sand was brown. And there was trash everywhere which is something you would not find on any of the beaches back home. 2) We had gotten left behind because there was a little miscommunication about when we were supposed to leave as a group and our house had kind of slept in. So naturally we expected everyone else to already be there. And it's usually really easy to pick us out because we definitely stand out. But there wasn't anyone. So we started walking down the coast because we thought eventually we would find somebody. Then way off in the distance you could see a bunch of white heads floating in the water. We had found them! But there was a catch. To get to the nice beach you have to walk along the rocky terrain of coast. Like I felt like I was on Survivor climbing over and squeezing in between rocks. And then we walked on this really tiny path and came out on what was definitely the nice beach. Still no sand but white stones. Sky blue water. Green mountains behind us. It was all there. And it was beautiful.

So as I'm trying to treat everything that happens on the trip as a teaching moment from God, here's what I realized about our beach trip. The different beaches we have visited represent the different places we are in our journey to find what God has for us. The beach by our house is like the beginning. We can be content where we are. It's not terrible and maybe we can even learn to love it. But maybe we have seen other things that show us there are better things out there than our little beach. That's the point when God calls us on our journey. Then we reach the second beach. We think we have been following God along all the right roads and we end up at a spot that isn't as nice as we thought it would be. We reached the end of the road. Surely this has to be it. And then God takes us on the road (or coast) less traveled to the place He really wants us to be. That is the place where we see and feel God in a new and powerful way. This is where we can dance in the water because we have reached the place that exceeds all the expectations we had. Right now, I feel like I'm walking along the coast between the second and third beach. That's what this trip is. God brought me away from a place I would have been happy staying in and now He's leading me to the "nice beach", the place where I can truly feel like I belong.

Going to the beach was definitely the highlight this week. Week two was more of a physical struggle than week one. Our bodies are adjusting to the food we eat and the times of the day we eat them. That has brought some interesting side effects. Sleeping at our house is sometimes a challenge. We have a tin roof which is great when there is a nice gentle rain shower. But there are cats and chickens that like walking around up there during the night and when it wakes you up, the first thought you have is that the aliens are coming. But we have lots of great laughs about it in the morning. One super cute thing happened on Valentine's day. The boys on our team told us to go to the beach at 7. They gave us all M&Ms and whipped out a candle and got all cheesy saying how much they love all of us. It was beyond precious! And today Wilson bought us apples! Which is a big deal because I hadn't even seen an apple since we had been here. He looked so proud to surprise us and make us so happy!
The verse that has been on my mind this week is one that I kind of picked out as being my motto for this trip. I read it as if I am the river because I can't succeed on this trip without God's strength and power flowing inside of me. Psalm 46:4-5 "There is a river- its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is within her; she will not be toppled. God will help her when the morning dawns."

Let's Talk About Water

In my first week here in Haiti, I have realized one thing we definitely take for granted back home. And that would be our ability to access water. I mean think about how many places you have running water in your house... it's a lot! And even if you aren't about drinking the tap water because it tastes weird or whatever, you could drink it and you would be fine. It's not going to kill you. And this is the craziest thing, you can adjust how hot or cold the water is coming out of the faucet. Now let me tell you about the water situation in Haiti: As far as water that is safe for us to drink, there is none. Unless you go buy clean water that comes in these small plastic bags that you have to bite the corner off of and drink the water from the bag. Now for bathing water, some of the host homes have a well near the house where they go get water from everyday and bring it back to the house. At our house we are dependent on the government turning the city water on everyday. It does have it's benefits. Like when it does work we can flush the toilet (we're the only house that can do that!). There also is a water spout that is set up like a shower so we can actually shower and not take a bucket bath. But it does have it's problems too.

For example: last week, we had water on Monday and Tuesday. So we all had our first experience with the patience of waiting for the water to come on so we could take a proper shower. And even though looking back we probably should have, we didn't shower Tuesday because we didn't think we were that gross and we were trying to save water for other people. Well, Wednesday the water didn't come. All day. And it was hot on Wednesday. So Thursday, the three of us that live together woke up dying from the dirt in our hair and the layers of bug spray clogging our pores. We just laid in bed and prayed God would bring the water today because we needed to bathe. So normally the water comes around 10. 10 came and went. No water. 11. Still no water. 12. We started talking about just walking to the beach and sitting in the water because we were so hot. And then we heard it: the sound of rushing water. We all sat up and about cried because we were so happy God had given us water. You will never appreciate a cold shower until you have been so miserable waiting for one. I just stood under that freezing water thanking God for hearing our prayers and giving us water. And then it hit me, when is the last time I thanked God for that?

Learning to thank God for all that He has given us will definitely not be the only thing I will learn from this trip. Here are some of the other things I have learned this week:
- One of the ladies that lives near us makes homemade potato chips and coleslaw. Kettle cooked chips ain't got nothing on this girl!
- Being able to purchase something simple that reminds us of home like Gatorade really does make a difference
- Motos do not have the ability to make it up hills (Wilson literally saved my life!)
- Spaghetti can be made into soup! You just gotta stick it in the blender. Don't try this at home. Your American stomach will be so confused
- Newborn bunnies are not cute. They are naked and wrinkly
- Cake icing here is so much better than it is in the States

Something I would like to start doing is finishing my posts with a Bible verse or a quote from devotionals we are reading here that have really stood out to me. This week it was from a devotion in the book "Grace Immersion" about the story of Martha and Mary found in Luke 10:38-42: "Now before you jump to the conclusion that Jesus doesn't want people to cook and clean, let me ask you this: If He had asked Mary for a drink, do you think she would have sprung to her feet and helped Him out? Of course! But she started with- and stayed with -a restful focus on Christ."

Hanging Out in Haiti!

It would be impossible for me to fully describe everything that I have seen and experienced in the past few days. Also, this is our first time using the internet cafe and I'm not super sure how paying for time and stuff works so I will keep it short and sweet. Haiti is very hot and humid just like Florida so I'm all about it. Some of my teammates from more northern places are struggling a little but we're all doing pretty good. I am staying with two other girls from my team. Our house "mom's" name is Mona although she's only 24 so I guess she is more like a sister. The place where we are staying a like a big house with a couple other families with an outside living room. We have to shower and use the bathroom outside but there is running water most of the time so I'm not complaining. Although it was a surprise the first time I went to go use the restroom and there where bunnies chilling in there.

Every where we go we hear "Blanc! Blanc!" which basically means "Hey, check out the white people!" We have a translator named Wilson who goes everywhere with us because we would be super confused and lost and it is just a safety thing. He is the only translator with only girls and no boys so we do feel kind of bad for him but we know he loves us! But it has definitely been a fun change in culture. Everyone we live with shares everything and I'm all about that because sharing is caring!

Here's a couple random things I have gotten to experience in the past few days: I got to ride a motorcycle for the first time. Those are kind of like the taxi service here. I got to have coconut fresh from the tree. We got to go to the ocean. There is no sand, just rocks but the view of the landscape from the beach is amazing! I did shower outside where you can see about from my shoulders up but that's how everyone does it at the house where we are staying so it seems totally normal to them. I have eaten my weight in homemade potato chips! I am learning some words in Creole but it's really hard because the sounds are so different from English. Names are the hardest to understand and remember but of course everyone is super sweet if we have trouble.

Basically, I love it here! It's so fun and different. One of the things that I am adjusting to is the idea of not caring what time it is. If we ask Wilson what the time is, he just looks at us and goes "WHATT?! We don't care about the time. We run on Haitian time!" So I have no idea what time it is ever. But hey, I'm a native Haitian now so who cares?!