I’m in Haiti! I’m writing from the outdoor kitchen where volunteers hang out, eat and socialize. It’s only 9:30am and already 90 degrees, but it’s windy so the breeze helps cool you off.

I arrived yesterday and my plane was actually half an hour early. There was a space shuttle launch in Miami and I think the captain was very eager to see it, so we sped through the first half of the flight. It ended up working out nicely; the captain got to see the space shuttle and we arrived second out of the six flights that all got in at the same time in the tiny Port-au-Prince airport. Even being second, it took about an hour to get to customs. It was so hot and stuffy, but people are very friendly with each other so I was listening in trying to understand some Creole. I pretty much couldn’t decipher anything. Luckily, coming back to St. Damien’s most of the volunteers speak English and I am even able to understand their Creole a little better. I even understood a joke yesterday! They didn’t ask me any questions coming though immigration and at customs they took my paper and I walked through. A little different than TSA who searched my bag as I was leaving the country.

I was able to find Ivy, the volunteer who was picking me up, and Smith and they drove me back to St.Damien’s Hospital where I will be staying. Along the road there are colorful canvas paintings for sale and other really pretty artwork. My favorite pieces were wooden statues about a foot tall that looked like caricatures of UN troops. I’ll take a picture or bring one home because they are hilarious and a written description won’t do them justice. The streets are filled with various NGO cars, tap-taps and so many UN vehicles. Ivy bought me a corn icecream popsicle which was actually really good. Some kids came up to tap on the window asking for money and our icecream, but I knew that that would be a part of living in Haiti. What I was not expecting, however, were enormous cows that wander through the roads! Yesterday we went on a walk and there was a huge bull just staring us down as we walked by. Maybe if I grew up on a farm I wouldn’t be as scared of them, but they don’t like people so they just stare at you at eye-level with their huge horns as you walk by.

Ivy took me on a tour of all the grounds yesterday and I couldn’t believe how many projects are going on. The craziest part is that they are almost exclusively run out of shipping containers. They are building more permanent housing, warehouses and offices but of course obtaining land and building permits takes much longer than plopping down a container. My favorite thing we did yesterday was visiting the Father Wasson Angels of Light program (or FWAL, they all just say the acronym). You walk into their gated area and it’s a large grassy courtyard with toys for the children and it’s surrounded on all sides by shipping containers that the children live in. Many of the kids were friendly and knew Ivy, so they came up to say hi. The high school girls group was hilarious; teenagers are teenagers no matter where you go. They move as a pack and luckily they love Ivy, so they were joking around and even showed us their dance routine that they were working on.

Today is Saturday so people are working but it’s very relaxed. This morning Ivy walked me through St. Damien’s Hospital. They have most of the major departments of a pediatric hospital in the US- ER, PICU, “neonatology”, lab, radiology and pediatric oncology (that’s not an exclusive list). We stopped by the abandoned babies room, which is the same room Molly used to visit to go play with the babies and give them some attention. Ivy usually visits the kids in pediatric oncology, but we stopped by Sister Judy’s house today and she was saying that the abandoned babies really need it the most, so I think I might go over there from time to time to play with them for a bit. Anyways, Ivy and I brought a book with us to oncology which some of the kids were interested in, and others were much more interested in stealing the i-pod out of her pocket. They also have a very new flatscreen TV which is nice for the mother’s who spend all their time in that tiny room with their children who are receiving treatment. All in all it was a great morning and I’m excited to learn some more about what I will be doing and go into Tabarre with Ivy.