"surprisingly miserableless"

Yes I actually said that. My English is finally taking a hit. If only that meant that my Creole was getting better...

Last Thursday we had a big Thanksgiving celebration. Us American volunteers got together to host a Thanksgiving for all the other volunteers and employees who live on campus. We had such a good time eating, talking and drinking. We had most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods- turkey (stuffed with ground beef??), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and yams (which we found the next day). The food didn't even really matter though, it was just so nice for everyone to be together. It definitely made it wayyy easier to be away from home and in a country where no one else celebrates the holiday.


Father Rick and our fabulous Italian volunteer chef carving the turkey




Sister Judy and Bridget getting the food prepared

After dinner, I went to the Hotel Oloffson for the first time. It's the most famous hotel in Haiti and has a huge list of all the famous people who have stayed there. If you've seen Anthony Bourdain's Haiti episode, it's the hotel he stays at. If you haven't seen the episode, he talks with the current owner who tells him how he aquired the hotel which is a super interesting story. Anyways, on Thursday nights there's a popular band that plays so we went to go dance and hang out. It was tons of fun!

On Saturday we got up super early to go on a day trip to Fond des Blancs, a tiny little village in the south of Haiti.

One of our past directors is from this little town and he has since gone back to help out his community. We went and saw a cornmeal factory, bread factory, clinic, school, block factory and sewing shop that he has built there. It was awesome to see everything that we're doing in Tabarre being done on a much smaller scale for the rural community.


Bread factory in a container




Site for the school- it has fruit trees on the property!




Blocks to be purchased. The background is amazing in person, the picture doesn't do it justice!


We also went on a tour of St. Boniface Hospital which is in the "downtown" area of Fond des Blancs. We went to go check otu a provincial hospital, although this one was very nice because it has been financially supported by a group of Americans. The only scary part was that neonatology shares a room with the ER. They also have a cholera center which we stopped by and they only have one patient!! Which is great news for the community, but made me sad that we're still getting so many patients in Tabarre.


entrance to St. Boniface



The visit was very nice and I really enjoyed seeing it, but the drive there and back was definitely the most entertaining part. We had so much fun just joking around, talking about the organization and Haiti and the volunteers and our lives. Driving all over the country is fascinating as well. Haiti is just so completely different from anywhere I've been, I'm still totally fascinated when we drive around. However, this drive was particularly amusing because of the following...

That is my roommate, Bridget, and behind her is the river that we're fording. See how comfortable we were? Ya. The next picture is taken out the back of the truck and gives you a better idea of the size of the river.

But we all survived including the driver and the car, so all is well.

This post is dedicated to everyone who complains that I don't put up enough pictures. You're welcome :)