Each week I try to do a few things to both improve the site and also make life more comfortable.  This week that entailed wiring a light to my bedroom.  Previously I’d use a headlamp or flashlight at night.  After a trip to CK Hardware, the premier Haitian hardware store, I had my wire, box, light fixture, and bulbs.  After about an hour, my room had light!  It’s even up to code.  Haitian code. The wire runs outside the walls and the box is hanging by a nail.  But I have light at night and that’s all that matters.

This song came on while I was typing away and I really enjoyed it. Thanks Goo Goo Dolls.

Relationships

One of the most important things to daily living are relationships.  I think this is a universal experience regardless of people, time, and place.  Being away from home in a strange place, I find I rely on these relationships even more to get me through the day.  Part of Haitian culture involves lots of walking.  And when they’re home, people relax by sitting at the curb in front of their house to talk to the walkers.  I realize learning Creole well is a must to converse with the neighbors.  It’s a humbling experience, daily stuttering through broken Creole.  Most Haitians are so encouraging though, and they get ridiculously excited when I string together an entire sentence.  “Chris pale Kreyol!  Chris pale Kreyol tre byen!”  I just smile and shake my head in embarrassment.

Besides the relationships with the Haitians, conversing with native English speakers has been something I’ve missed.  Luckily, the Canadian Embassy has Wednesday night hockey.  No, not ice hockey.  Street hockey.  And a bunch of English speaking 20, 30, and 40-year old’s come out for a night of sport, pizza, and beer.

The Struggle is Real

Many weeks it seems like there is this one thing that’s holding me back.  And if I didn’t have to deal with that one thing, life would be so much better.  For example, if I just found the time to workout consistently this week, if my kid wasn’t sick with a cold, if I didn’t have that major project deadline this week, then I could have been so much more productive, happier, etc.  I think most people can relate.  My first week in Haiti that thing holding me back was hives.  I had a terrible skin reaction on my hands and legs.  I’m not really sure what it was from – pig food pellets we had onsite, a cat allergy to the cats I constantly chase away, or just the heat.  Luckily it went away.  During my second week, I severely sprained my left ankle.  This past Wednesday, just able to partake in the pizza and beer at the embassy, I bought a motorcycle helmet from a Spaniard.  It was a fortuitous purchase, because this weekend I was in my first moto accident.  My driver wasn’t paying attention and rear ended another moto.  We went sprawling.  I was the worst hurt and all I had was a scrapped up left knee.  I was so thankful because it could have been so much worse.  With a little Neosporin my knee has been fine, so physically I’m on the upswing.  I think now, at the end of four weeks here, the struggle has been the diet monotony.  Breakfast means one hard boiled egg and two bread sticks.  Lunch means a large helping of rice and beans with a single chicken drumstick.  We have an outdoor frig on site, but it is only powered about five hours a day and ants sometimes get in, so storing food is a futile effort.  Monday night however I spoke to a game changer.

A Visitor

His name was Braxton.  Braxton and I met about three weeks ago over lunch through a mutual friend we have back in the states.  He is living and doing missionary work in L’Asile, a town in southwestern Haiti and decided to hang out with me before his flight back to the states on Tuesday.  As my first visitor, I was ecstatic!  And a short plug if anyone from the states wants to visit a tropical island, especially with winter approaching, there’s a spare bed, free lodging, and I’ll even let you use my foam mattress pad 🙂 Anyway, Braxton gave me a bunch of tips to spice meals up and even spoke to our cook (since he’s fluent in Creole).  Guerlande (the cook) told Braxton she gave me the same thing every day because she thought I liked it and didn’t want to give me something new I may not like.  While there still isn’t a ton of variety, there seems to be a few meals I can request. Spaghetti and hot dogs, egg sandwich, and fruit juice!

Spending two days with Braxton, catching up with blans at the Canadian embassy, or nightly Creole lessons with the staff are just a part of the fabric of life in Haiti.  A very important part that I’m extremely grateful for.  In three and a half weeks I will return to the US for my military reserve job.  Yes, I am looking forward to pressurized water and a shower in the Atlanta Delta lounge.  I miss some of the comforts of life, but I am happy.  It’s a simpler life.  It puzzles me that I don’t know what I do with the twenty minutes every couple days I save wheelbarrowing my Culligan drinking water up the street.  I have more time in Haiti to read, write, study, and talk.  I’m not sure how that happens with every technology and time saving device at my disposal in the States.

For those of you that made it this far, I’m publishing this just ahead of Hurricane Dorian coming though.  I ensured we are gassed up, have some water reserves, and are ready for the storm.  Please pray for everyone affected especially in Puerto Rico and the US!