Very Busy

I realize that I've been bad about updating my blog lately and I apologize to all my faithful readers. I've been busy since my tutor starting coming. (although he's missed 2 days already w/o calling:) I feel that I'm learning Creole and he's a good teacher but I wish he was a bit more predictable.
Sunday I went to the mountains with Ysmaille. It was so nice to get out of the city. Ysmaille didn't think I could do the hike up the mountain, he said I would be crying by the end and ask him to carry me. I was so determined that I would make it to the end and I'd be faster than him. I started out great and walked much faster than him, but by the end I was exhausted. I didn't cry but I had to stop and rest a few times. It wasn't that we walked so far it was that it was soooo steep. When we got to his sister's house we had breakfast and got ready for Church. At church I had to stand up and talk about myself. I spoke in Creole!! After Church we walked around and visited with Ysmaille family. They always love to touch my hair and ask me lots of questions. Ysmaille's siter made us a fabulous lunch of french fries, fried plaintain, rice and vegetables and freshly squeezed juice. I really like his sister's family. They are so friendly that I feel like I'm visiting my family. It was so beautitul in the mountains. There were flowers everywhere and it was so peaceful. No cars honking, no people yelling, it was great.
Other than that, life is going well. I'm very busy with the school. I'm not sure what I do all day but I manage to stay very busy getting things for the teachers and doing organizational stuff. After school finishes my tutor comes until 4 o'clock, then I do my homework, play with the kids for a bit and then I'm pretty much ready for bed. I started teaching English in the evenings. I have two different classes because people are at different levels. It makes my day seem really busy but I know they really appreciate it. This weekend I'm going to Jenny's house again. I'm looking forward to a quiet peaceful weekend with a bit of swimming thrown in there. Should be good.

Doctors and tutors

Here the update you 've all been waiting for. On Monday night, I got really sick again and spent most of the night in the bathroom. At one point I was so tired that when I went in the bathroom and saw a mouse I didn't even scream or anything I just waited for it to see me and scurry away under the door. Tuesday morning I felt better. Everyone was so concerned that I finally agreed to go to see a doctor. Karen knows an American Doctor who is in Haiti right now and staying at the hotel near our house. She said I should go and see him. We went and waited for 2 1/2 hours for him to come. I felt bad because I knew he had already worked all day and was probably exhausted and didn't feel like helping one more person. However, he was really nice and told me not to worry just yet and wait and see what happens. Today is Friday and I've felt fine since then.
I'm in good spirits these days and much more positive about surviving in Haiti. I think feeling healthy is a huge help.
I finally got ahold of my tutor on Wednesday and he showed up on Thursday!!! I had my first lesson on Thursday after school and he said he was very impressed with my Creole! I felt pretty good after that. The funny thing is that he asked if he could be paid right away. He dissappears for 2 weeks with no phone call or anything and he thinks we'll pay him up front!!! How do I know he'll show up the next day? Overall, he's a nice guy though and knows a lot about Creole. Many Haitians can't explain any of the grammar rules to me. I guess most English speakers are the same. We're just so used to English we just know what to say without giving much thought to why we say what we do.
This weekend I am going hiking in the mountains with Ysmaille. We're going to his sister's house for lunch and then going for a hike. I'm looking forward to it. Ysmialle makes it sound so beautiful and apparently it's cool there. Wow, that will be a nice change after all the hot weather we've been having.

Tears and Swimming Pools

I knew it was only a matter of time before I received a horrible bout of homesickness. I was right. On Saturday morning I woke up and broke into tears before even getting out of bed. I wanted to go home soooooooo badly. I started to invent reasons why I MUST go home now. Maybe I could get some deadly desease or maybe someone in my family really needs me right now, maybe.... the ideas kept getting more and more crazy. I decided I better call my mother dearest before I went crazy. My mom and dad were great. I called them EARLY Saturday morning and they were both dropped everything to listen to me ramble on between sobs. Needless to say, they gave me some great suggestions and cheered me up sufficiently.
Later that day I went to check out a hotel that my parents might stay at when they come and it was really nice, I'm so excited about them coming!!!! I plan to spend lots of time a the hotel with them and take advantage of the great swimming pool. Speaking of swimming pools, I took the kids swimming on Sunday and they had a GREAT time. They had never been in a pool before so I was a bit nervous but I brought lots of adults to watch them. (although the adults were sometimes sillier than the kids:) Manu can almost swim, Manice was brave but never took off her water wings. Jacob and Sammy were quite terrified at times but they had fun on the stairs. Overall it was a great day.
My tutor is still a no-show. He came the first day and dropped off two books and then I haven't seen him since. It's a bit of a mystery. Maybe he'll come today. I've been practising my Creole a lot lately and it's SLOWLY improving. Sometimes I say really funny things and everyone laughs but I'm not as sensitive as when I first got here. I still have a hard time understanding people but it's coming. I'm trying to put more energy into learning the language these days, it's very crucial for me that I can communicate with the teachers.
To all my daily blogger watchers sorry I haven't written every day. I'll try to keep you updated on my oh-so-exciting life but somedays I just don't find the time. Later.

Road to Recovery

For all those worry warts out there who have written me and told me to go to the hospital/doctor NOW!!!! I am feeling much better. I'm still not sure what I had but I'm on the road to recovery. I worked all morning and felt fine. I take it easy and take a break if I feel I need it.
I'm busy getting things organized around here. My favourite thing to do.
On Friday I've been invited to a wedding. My friend's aunt is getting married and asked me to go with him. We'll have to see, I can only go if I'm home before dark which seems unlikely. Although it would be a good cultural experience for sure.
On Sunday I'm taking the kids swimming at Jenny's pool. They are SO EXCITED and ask me everyday if today is the day we are going. It will be fun to see them having so much fun.
Other than that, not too much is happening. Some old same old.

Still sick...

I am so tired of laying in bed and feeling sorry for myself:) I'm still sick and I have no energy. Every night I go to sleep thinking that tomorrow I'll feel fine, but this morning I woke up again and still feel far from fine. I'm never sick for this long. I started taking medicine yesterday but if I still feel sick tomorrow I will go to a doctor. I don't want to be sick for longer than necessary. Right now I feel so useless and I'm REALLY bored. I've read a lot and slept a lot and I'm really running out of things to do. I try to get up and do a few things but after about 20-30 minutes I have to lay back down and rest for a bit. Well, hopefully it's nothing serious and I get better soon.

Under the Weather

The first week of school is finished and it was quite the interesting week. Mostly I just observed and helped with crowd control. I have lots of ideas in my head but I think I'll wait and introduce them slowly. The teachers are open to change for the most part (if it doesn't involve too much work) but mostly they just want more teaching supplies (just like every teacher). The worst part of this week was that I got pretty sick on Wednesday night and I still feel quite sick now. I had fever, body ache, nausea the whole bit. I'm not really sure what I have but I sure hope it's nothing serious. Today I just feel really tired and can't stand up for long. I'm sure in a few days I'll be all better.
So on Friday night I went to a women's meeting from the church. It was at my friend Jenny's house and since it went until after dark (my curfew) Jenny offered to let me sleep over. It was great to get together with women who are foreigners. Although I love my Haitians brothers it's just not the same. So we had a small devotional, ate some North American food and had a swim. They are planning on meeting every other week. I will try to go as often as possible but it's difficult because I'm the only one who lives in my neighbourhood, everyone else lives pretty close to eachother. This morning we went shopping at an art shop, they had some pretty cool stuff. Then we went back to Jenny's house for a swim and just vegged. It was really like a mini holiday and I felt like I really needed it. Here house is huge and it honestly feels a bit like a resort.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to go hiking in the mountains but I don't think I'll be up to it so maybe I'll just spend some time at home and take it easy so I'm ready to work hard on Monday.

First Day of School

Unbelievable but it's true. Today was the first day of school for Coram Deo. There were many surprises for me and I really don't feel like a "director" of a school and today I definately didn't look the part with my youthful braids. The teachers really dress up here so I felt I should wear a nice skirt. Thank goodness I brought a few with me.
So of the 80 students registered only 27 showed up today and Karen said this is better than last year! I think we may have to offer a free Mardarin lunch for all the students who never miss a day or come late:) Seriously, we are going to think of a reward for all those students because attendance is a major issue here. Overall the day went quite well. There seems to be very little structure and I'm torn between introducing structure right away or sitting back and observing for a while. I'm leaning towards sitting back and just observing and slowly introducing some structure. I know it's harder to establish routines later on the in the school year but at the same time I don't want to arrive from another culture and another country with all the "answers" and try to change everything. Anything that works well I want to keep.
I spent the morning sharpening pencils for the students (because no one brought one) and feeling very unlike the dignified director that I am:) The rest of the day I made ID cards for the students for when their parents come and pick them up at the end of the day.
Overall it was a good day. I feel sort of lost still but I'm sure I'll get into the groove soon.

Sunday

I just had a great Sunday morning. I went to the English speaking church finally. It was so great to go to church and understand what they were saying. I really enjoyed the service and the message and of course I could sing and actually know what I was singing. I think Ysmaille liked it, he'd said he'd go with me again. I also saw Jenny (the girl I went for lunch with) and she introduced me to a few teachers at the missionary school. On Friday there is going to be a women's get together at Jenny's house and I'm going to try and go. Jenny offered to let me sleep over because it doesn't finish until after dark. Most of the people live really close to eachother so it's fine for them but I have further to travel. I'm really looking forward to it.
The guys are working on the books right now but I told them that I'm not helping. I have worked non-stop on the books for 1 1/2 weeks and I've started dreaming about them. I need a break!!!
Later, I'm going to Ysmaille's house for lunch. Every Sunday we visit some of his relatives and I just smile and say "Bonswa" over and over again while they talk all around me. Sometimes Ysmialle translates especially if they ask me a question. I really need to learn Creole soon so I can really experience the culture.
So, I've finally arranged for a tutor. Another lady who has been in Haiti for almost 3 years and works near us hasn't picked up much Creole and would also like to have a tutor. We're going to hire the same tutor and have classes together. It's a two week intensive course and I'm hopefully going to do it in the afternoon since school is in the morning until 1:00. I know it will be a lot of work with school just starting but I have to learn the language soon.
Well, other than that not too much happening. I got my hair braided which took forever but I like it. I posted some more pictures on my photo album if you want to check them out.
Alright, that's pretty much all for now.

Standard and Sweatshops

I am sooooo proud of myself. Yesterday Ysmaille taught me how to drive standard and I don't want to brag but I was pretty good. When I tried learning in Canada I was always horrible and felt like crying the whole time. Yesterday I learned very quicly and drove all over the place. If we got stuck in traffic Ysmaille took over (he was afraid I was going to roll back into someone I think). I'll need to practise more but I think I did pretty good.
So the Coram Deo sweatshop is busy everyday. We sit and sweat in the living room covering the textbooks in plastic. We work all day everyday but the books seem to be multiplying. They won't be finished before school starts but such is life. We can only work so fast and so long.
I forgot to write about an event that happened on Sunday. It was actually quite disturbing. When we left church there was a large crowd gathering. Karen walked near to check out what was happening. Apparently someone tried to steal someone's car while they were in church. We kept walking and got into a tap-tap. The police truck with him inside drove behind us on our way home and we could see one of the police officers beating the thief with his gun. He just kept hitting him over and over again. I asked Ysmaille if he thinks they killed him and he said, "probably". I was quite upset about it but everyone here just said that he deserved it. They really don't have much respect for thieves.
Well, enough about that. Electricity has been unpredictable these days, so if I haven't e-mailed you back it's either because I'm so busy or because the electricity went out again. I apologize.
I better get back to the sweat shop. My workers will be wondering where I am:)