Lesley and Diego's Wedding

Back to Work

I went back to work today. I've never been so happy to rise at 5:30 and get my day started. I practically jumped out of bed. It was so lovely to see the teachers, they were so sweet. They all told me that they were praying for me. I told them their prayers were answered. Many of them called me while I was sick to see how I was feeling. They were full of lots of advice, how to take better care of myself so this doesn't happen again. We have a great staff. The students were funny. While Karen and I were off sick, they asked if we had gone to Canada, I wish!!
There's was lots of work waiting for me as this week was exam week and next we have parent/teacher meetings with also includes an awards ceremony and the teachers have to write their report cards (which I must look over and sign). Busy, busy, busy, but I LOVE it and wouldn't want it any other way. This is a long weekend because Monday is a holiday. Perfect timing since I'm just starting work again. I guess nothings stopping me from doing some work this weekend:) Don't worry I won't overextend myself and get sick again.
Thanks for all the prayers and love sent my way over the past week. I appreciate it!

Road to Recovery

This morning I woke up and decided that no matter what I was leaving the house at some point, I didn't care where I went but I just had to leave. I sat up in bed and my head started to spin and my stomach started to turn and I promptly laid back down and changed my mind. After a while of just laying there I got out of bed. Since Monday I was supposed to go with someone to get my "Permis de sejour" (a permit to live and work in Haiti). I kept calling him and asking him to postpone one more day. I figured it would be a long day of waiting in lines and I would never last seeing as I hadn't stood up for more than 1 minute in the last 5 days. I got out my phone to call him but he assured me that I wouldn't have to stand at all. I felt bad putting it off one more day so I agreed to go. Well he was true to his word both places we went had chairs to wait in and airconditioning (a rare treat)! However, the ride downtown was very hot and we had to walk a fair bit when we got there because it was impossible to find parking close to the buildings. But the good news is, that I survived and I'm feeling way better. My stomach isn't bothering me and I ate twice today already! Thanks for the many prayers offered up. I can truly say I'm on the road to recovery. Praise the Lord.

MIA

The past five days have got to be the longest ones in my life. It all started with a day and a half of high fevers. I slept a lot and managed to make it to my roomates wedding ceremony but was too sick to make it to the dinner. I was sorely dissapointed but had no other choice. The next day the fevers came back again so I started on Malaria medicine hoping that it was Malaria (and not Dengue, because there's no medicine for Dengue and it usually takes longer to get over). The malaria medicine made me over excited and I could not shut my brain off, I couldn't sleep but my head was in a fog so I couldn't really read or do much else. I tried but was only successful for short periods of time. I was also constantly sick to my stomch. The nights were the worst I'd just toss and turn for hours. I went for a blood test to determine exactly what I had but didn't make it clear that I wanted to be tested for Malaria and Dengue so all the blood test revealed was that I have a viral infection. So five days later I am still not back at work and going stir crazy. Today I feel a bit better and hope to go to the school tomorrow if only to get out of the house for a bit. Karen has also been sick so Randy's been busy trying to do it all himself. To top it all off it was exam week, not the best week to miss.

The internet is working!!! Finally some pics...

My dear friend Manman Manise

Lesley's surprise B-day party

The happy "almost married" couple

Thanksgiving dinner

The resort where I spent thanksgiving

Wedding Bells

I'm sure that title caught your attention! Don't worry the wedding bells are not for me (at least not yet:). My roomate is getting married this Friday. She's been busy running around PAP since I came trying to get everything ready for the big day. I haven't known Leslie for very long but I really enjoy chatting with her and will miss her when she moves out. I've also been able to get to know her Fiance a bit as he comes over to hang out sometimes. Thankfully they won't be too far away and we can always visit. I'm excited for them both and look forward to the big event on Friday. Her parents and aunt and uncle flew in today and we're having a welcoming meal for them tonight. My other roomate is coming back today as well! Jenny was gone on vacation for three weeks and comes back today. It's going to be busy around here the next few days, but I'm sure it's also going to be a lot of fun.

Update

Randy and Karen are back in town! Although I managed to hold down the fort without them it's good to have them back. They had a good time in BC and managed to surprise Karen's family. This past Saturday, I decided that it was time to attempt to do some shopping in Haiti. I convinced Cadeau to come with me so that I wouldn't get too lost. It was an event! First of all, as I was driving down the road, Cadeau pointed out to me that there was a big hole in the road (a sewer hole that was missing it's grate), someone was behind me honking their horn, and people were everywhere. I thought that I'd be able to position my tired on each side of the hole and I'd be fine. Unfortunately I thought wrong. One of the tires landed right smack in the middle of the hole. We jumped out of the car and I noticed that one of the tires was spinning in the air. I thought we were in big trouble and we were totally stuck. People on the street were looking at me like I was crazy, and Cadeau said, "Kim I told you there was a hole!" Cadeau climbed back in and put the car in reverse and slowly backed up, amazingly the car reversed and the tire popped back out of the hole. We looked under the car and it looked like there was no damange. God was really taking care of us! The rest of the day was much less eventful. We went to the vegetable market and bought some vegetables. I love this market, it's very lively and the prices are really reasonable. After that we stopped on the side of the road to buy some furniture. When I was in West Africa this past summer, I found that the salespeople there loved to barter with us (although I didn’t like to barter back), here in Haiti they don’t love to barter with Canadians. They think we’re rich and are insulted that we’d offer a lower price than they are asking (even if their price is outrageous). So even though Cadeau was helping me the one place wouldn’t barter at all so I didn’t buy the one bookshelf that I loved. The next two places were willing to barter a bit. I bought some nice plants, another bookshelf and a coffee table. Overall, it was a successful day. We celebrated by going to Munchies for some pizza and then picked up Randy and Karen from the airport.

Driving in Haiti

I’ve been driving in Haiti for approximately one month now. In the first week, my car was sideswiped during the day as it was parked on the street outside the school. On the way to the beach on Saturday I hit a taptap(a pickup that is used as public transportation),I hit it lightly and the taptap was fine but I managed to scrape the front end of my car a little. For this reason a lot of people in Haiti have a “defence” put on the front and sometimes even the back of their car. A defence is basically a mental contraption that you attach to your car to help protect it from others hitting you or you hitting others. It’s pretty effective, my roommate was hit by another car the other day and her car was absolutely fine, but the other car didn’t look quite as good. I don’t have one on my car yet but hope to get one soon. I was taking to another expat and she said that she hit a taptap and the metal box on the back of the taptap became entwined with her front end and they couldn’t pull apart, they had to use a saw and cut the cars apart. That’s crazy!
In general things are going well. The roads are pretty horrendous in some places and you have to drive super slow. Right now my shocks are pretty good but we’ll see how long they last. The traffic is pretty bad at peak hours and it takes extra long to get places, it makes me homesick for Toronto:) One of the roads that I take each day to school is closed for repairs (I never see anyone working on it however) and therefore I have to drive around, it takes almost double the time, so I’m getting up before the sun rises (it’s good for me I know) in order to arrive on time. That being said, I’m super thankful for a car that works and gets me around safely. I love the freedom it provides as well as the A/C that works very well!

Clean Water

In every country clean water is of upmost importance, but in some countries it is harder to obtain than others. Right now in Canada I know there is a push for the elimination of water bottles because of the garbage they produce and because there is ample clean water readily available in every home and work place. In Haiti, clean water is a constant concern. Although many if not most homes in Haiti have access to water (in an underground cistern, not in their taps) but the water purchased from the city is not suitable for drinking, it is used only for washing clothes, dishes, and showering. Many people buy special drinking water, however, many cannot afford this and out of necessity they drink the water in their cistern, causing them much sickness. At the school we buy drinking water for the staff and students and encourage them to drink a lot each day. Haitians in general do not drink a lot of water, they often have headaches and although I know there may be many different reasons why they have a headache oftentimes it’s because they are dehydrated, we sweat A LOT here! I’ve been reading a blog about a couple who are working with an organization called “Clean Water for Haiti”. I was finally able to meet them on Sat. at the Thanksgiving dinner. They sell a water filter that needs very little materials, no maintenance and they are not expensive. We have two at the school right now but they are not yet working, and need to be set up properly. I’m excited to use them and to encourage the parents of our students to purchase one for their homes. In my opinion they are about one of the best things to ever happen in Haiti. I’m not sure how many Haitians will “buy into” these filters, I have to admit the first time I saw one I was very sceptical and didn't drink the water. So it may take some convincing before they trust drinking the water, I guess I’ll have to be a good model and show them how good the water really is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In case anyone was feeling sorry for me because I'm not able to spend Thanksgiving with my family.... I spent yesterday at the beach, eating turkey and celebrating Thanksgiving with a whole bunch of Canadians who are living and working in Haiti. It was a lovely day. We had perfect Haitian weather (hot and sunny). I spent the morning in the pool and the afternoon on a large patio meeting new people and eating all the traditional Thanksgiving food, we even had pumpkin pie!! The best part for me was meeting new people. Most of them were not from Port-au-Prince but I hope to visit several of them at their places of work/residence.

Flying Solo

My fellow co-workers are enjoying a well deserved rest in British Columbia with family. This leaves me flying solo. I knew about it before I came and I tried to learn as much as I could before they left, but there have already been a few situations that I didn’t know how to handle, thank goodness for e-mail! Overall, it’s going well and I’m thankful for an amazing staff to work with who never tire of my requests or questions. I miss having Randy at my beck and call, “can you pick up…” “can you fix this….” “do you know where…” and of course I miss Karen and Maia’s companionship and long walks around the track at the gym. Well Maia mostly sleeps but Karen is good company. Despite how well everything is going, this week I’m starting to wonder why I ever wanted an administrative role! I forgot how much of a problem solver you have to be all the time. The staff come to me with all sorts of problems and expect me to somehow solve them. Some are easy, others are very difficult and I’m at a loss as to how to help them. A couple of times I’ve longed for the simplicity of a classroom and only being responsible for my own students and maybe a little bit of special education paperwork:) But alas, I’ve decided to add a few challenges to my life and here they are. I just try to take it as it comes and not stress too much about not always having a perfect answer.

Creole

Before returning to Haiti I was worried that I might have forgotten all the Creole that I learned before. Thankfully I haven't forgotten it! At first I was so thankful but I'm quickly becoming frustrated that I don't understand everything! I'm not a very patient person, I wish I knew it all yesterday. Lately I've been having a lot of meetings with the teachers to help them make a personal education plan. I understand most of what they say to me but there's always a phrase or two that I don't understand and they have to try using different words until I understand them. Some teachers are much more patient than others, and some throw in a lot of french words to further confuse me:) I'm trying to learn a few more words each day but it's difficult to find time to review them. I will learn a new word and then not have an opportunity to use it again for several days and by then I've forgotten it. The students in the school are even harder for me to understand sometimes, especially the really little ones because they talk so softly that I have to put my ear right up to their mouth in order to hear them and they seem to think I'm pretty strange for doing that. Despite my occasional frustrations, I enjoy the challenge of learning a new language. When I've perfected my Creole I'm going to tackle French. And I don't allow my frustrations to stop me from making jokes with the kids at school. There are a few students in Grade 5 who really find my jokes funny so of course I visit that class a lot and share a joke or two with them. They really boost my self-esteem when they laugh!!

It's HOT!!!

The last time I was in Haiti I discovered that I love the heat and when I returned to Canada I found the winters very unpleasant. Needless to say, I was quite excited to be back in Port-au-Prince heat once again. Well I wasn't dissapointed. It's hot alright! And to be honest for the most part I do love it. What I forgot was how tired the heat makes you, there's a reason siestas (sp?) were first introduced. Every afternoon at about the same time I start to feel very sleepy and unmotivated. I push through it and keep going but by the time I get home I'm exhausted. I eat some dinner and then I'm pretty much ready to go to bed. I resist the urge though and either read, chat with my roomates, or watch a movie. I suspect I may be extra tired because all day I'm talking in a language that is not my first language and that requires a lot of brain power. by the time I get used to the heat it will be the dry season and it won't be so hot anymore.
An update on my goings on. Yesterday morning I tagged along a few places so that I could begin to get to know where some things are. I'm slowly getting there. I'm not too adventurous yet but I've also never gotten lost. Last night we celebrated Geurdson's, Samuel's and Randy's birthday. We ate Dominoes pizza and wings and watched a movie. Then we played the card game "Cheat". We had a lot of fun. It was great to hang out with the guys and see them outside of the school for a bit. They love playing cards and giggle a lot when they are cheating which totally gives them away. Before I know it it will be Monday morning once again and then back to work. Good thing I love my job and the people I work with!

Finally some pics

Students from the Senior Kindergarten class

All the teaching staff for 2009-2010

Ready for Opening ceremonies

Implementing some new Phys. Ed. activities learned at the summer seminars