I've been lazy about writing in my blog lately.

Hmm, what's new? We're getting an office in the warehouse which is much needed and couldn't come at a better time. Now that all the hospitals and clinics know us and that they have access to our supplies (which we are happy to give them) we need a barrier to prevent wanderers and to establish an official system for reqeusting supplies.

Francisville has been a mad house lately with the arrival of a bunch of Italian donors. The NPH Italia office completely funds Francisville, so it has been a mad dash to get all the projects finished and everything cleaned up for their arrival. Tonight we are going to the grand opening of the Francisville restaurant. Quite the monumental event! Well I'm actually about a hundred times more excited that our new office has air conditioning and electricity... but the restaurant is cool too I guess.

I was sick last week so I didn't get up to see the kiddo's much and I realized how much my Creole suffered because of it! When I went up there after almost a week, I realized I missed them so much, but I was struggling to get it out in Creole! So frustrating. We're still waiting on the mom of the little girl in oncology. She said she was coming yesterday and I had said a tentative goodbye to her the day before. I was nervous about it all day yesterday and especially right before going up. I opened the door to the room and there she is, dressed in a gorgeous little white dress, just waiting. It absolutely broke my heart. I talked with her about it a little bit and she just said "manman poco vini" (Mom hasn't come yet). I brought her down to my house and gave her some candy and stickers which she happily gave out to the other kids in oncology.

Last weekend my roommate and I got away for the weekend! We went up to Petionville which is the wealthiest part of Port-au-Prince and spent the weekend in a gorgeous hotel with hot showers, real mattresses and TV! We got to walk all around the town which was such a nice escape from being trapped on the compound in Tabarre. It's so frustrating because one of the things I love the most about Haiti is how friendly people are, how they joke around and help each other out. You get a sense from people that they're all in this together, whether they're helping you back up your car, giving directions, or making jokes while you wait (and you wait for everything here). But because of the security situation we have to be so careful about leaving the organization, even during the day. It was amazing to be able to walk around Petionville, talk with people on the street, shop on the street, eat the street food, just to be a part of Haiti!

The Kinam Hotel, where we stayed. They call it gingerbread-style architecture.