weird things that happen in Haiti

As my Dad likes to say, "weird" is a compliment. So here goes. Some of this stuff occurs on a regular basis, and others have only happened once... but they were memorable enough to put here. I'll let you guess which is which :)

• taking a shower out of a bucket
• a rat in the warehouse drinking an entire bottle of ciprofloxacin for injection
• taking half hour motorcycle rides to get to and from the store
• rearranging gauze for 6 hours
• evening chats about how Bill Clinton's assistant and celebrities are coming to visit tomorrow
• carrying dead bodies before I've had my coffee
• eating, well in my case watching other's eat, the goat that was running around at work earlier that day
• listening to the call to prayer in Arabic at 4am
• sharing a water bottle with a kid and later finding out he has TB
• turning to hear who is calling "cherie" (my dear) to me and having a nice little chat with a man carrying an enormous machete and no teeth
• seeing a Lexus SUV and BMW convertible at the grocery store and having a really good time trying to guess which people those cars belong to
• getting my $20 bill rejected because it has a pen mark on it
• driving a forklift
• drinking beer at church
• needing to have at least three items you want from a menu, because they might not have what you want
• getting a new assortment of cereals each time you go to the grocery store
• watching all the food stands of the women who sit outside the hospital being burned in the middle of our street in an enormous bonfire
• keeping cholera tests in my living room
• learning Italian
• sorting through neuro and open-heart surgery kits to get to the alcohol pads and ibuprofen

Alright, that’s my list for now. I know I’m forgetting tons… I’ll post this list again in a couple months.