Oh my gosh I have been so busy I haven’t had time to write on the computer at all!

After my fabulous breakfast of witnessing such great generosity by the Italians, Wynn introduced me to Yvenson who is now the person helping me out with the pharmacy tasks. He speaks English with barely any accent at all and he also knows French and Italian… pretty impressive. He wants to work in diplomacy, so I think the languages will definitely help him out. The other great thing is that he’s been working at St. Philomene hospital already, so he already has a relationship with most of the staff there. All week he’s been working hard and been such a great help.

Monday night, Kenson and I worked on English for a long time, but it was really fun because there was a long article and then questions on reading comprehension. Kenson wants to study psychology at a university in the US and the article we read was about different psychological views of aggression. It was fun and interesting to hear his perspectives on cognitive versus sociobiological theory and how he could relate to the theories with his experiences directing the FWAL program. It was also hilarious for me to try to explain to him Freud’s “steam engine” analogy of aggression. Especially since I started out my explanation of a steam engine as a train… Kenson was like,” uhh it could be any kind of engine that uses steam, right?”

'Cabri' aka goat, a Francisville resident

Tuesday and Wednesday, Yvenson, Jim (a US volunteer here for a week) and I got SO much done at the warehouse. We completely sorted all the syringes and orthopedic supplies. Okay, so that doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider that’s a total of probably 500 boxes, it’s a LOT. Especially because there were a ton of boxes where we just had to dump the whole thing on the ground and sort through all of it. Wednesday was an especially great work day because first of all, we got a computer! So now we can manage our inventory in excel and I don’t have to come back here and do that after spending all day working at the warehouse. We have to go drag this long extension cord across the “road” from another warehouse and it has two big electrical outlets (like you would plug into a wall) on the end, so it looks totally ridiculous. Although, today some Francisville employeers put up a power line right outside our warehouse, so maybe we’ll get hooked up soon! The second reason it was a great day was that Father Rick and Raphael dropped off cold waters, sodas and chips for us! I did not realize how much I was craving salt until I had those Kettle cheddar chips… mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about how delicious they were. The second reason it was great was that we got to bring a bunch of supplies to St. Philoemene that they have needed for a while, including an amazing find by Yvenson of a huge cooler full of zinc supplements. Later, Sergio, our year-long volunteer from Spain who is working at a wound clinic at St. Philomene, got to come into the warehouse and pick out all the supplies he needs for his clinic. It was so much fun because he’s fairly quiet and his English isn’t super great, but he’s looking around and finding so many things that he needs and he’s goes, “this is like CHRISTMAS!” I’m so happy that the supplies are finally getting to the people who need to use them and it’s very fun that I get to be the one to give them to them. And the FOURTH reason why it was such a good day was that Olson and his wife and daughter came and visited me in the warehouse! I was so sweaty and dirty and of course Esther was wearing an adorable dress and looking amazing, but I was really happy to see them.

Cholera tests, here from the US dripping in reagents and being sorted on our spectacularly clean 'lab bench'

Bryn dancing with the girls at FWAL

Ok now for the fun stuff! Any of you who think I’m so noble for living in a third world country, that it must be so tough, and that I’m truly roughing it… you can just skip over this next part! Haha. Tuesday evening we had a surprise goodbye party for Bryn, a long term volunteer who has been here since the earthquake. It started at FWAL, all the kids were sitting on their little benches waiting for Bryn to get there. The dance group of girls had lots planned, but it was hilarious because they were playing music as everyone was waiting, and these two little boys get up and are putting on their little show for everyone. They’re dancing around, doing like techno foot and arm-work. Oh my god it was hilarious! Then, a few more brave souls get up and it turns into this all-boys dance party! I was taking video and trying so hard not to shake the camera, but I was laughing so hard! I’ll post the two videos I took on Facebook if you want to see. So, when Bryn walked in and all the kids started singing for him and clapping. Bryn was so funny, he was shaking all the little one’s hands and thanking them for making this little party for him. Some of the kids recited little stories and a group of girls sang some nice songs for him. I don’t know how Bryn held it together, I wanted to cry it was so cute that the kids love him so much and are sad to see him go. The directors got up and said some really nice stuff about Bryn. Kenson’s speech was especially great because he was telling the children things like, if they had apples or blackberries for breakfast, that was something they should thank Bryn for. It was nice that he put it into tangible terms for them. Then, in true Haitian fashion of ceremonies going on entirely to long (just in my opinion, of course) the little dance group at FWAL did a whole bunch of dances for Bryn and sang some more. They gave him some little presents and they ended it by allowing Bryn to pass out lollipops, as a special treat for the kids.

Everybody loves an i-phone

Then, we went to Mama Raphael’s for the grown up fun, haha. There was a live band that played such good Haitian music and it was so fun to see everyone together, just having a great time. Father Rick and Augustnel were there, so there was much more toasting, lots of dancing (including another all-boys dance party… what is it with the boys here??) and some ridiculous speeches. I was crying I was laughing so hard at some of the craziness. In Haiti, there are a few words that people overuse all the time, one of them being “dezod” which basically means unruly and ridiculous, but Tuesday night it truly fit the occasion.

On Wednesday evening, we had a little party in Father Rick’s office for Sister Judy because it was her 66^th birthday! We had some drinks and chips and Father Rick entertained everyone with funny stories. Then, Joanne, Sister Judy and I went to Petionville for dinner. We went to a very nice seafood restaurant where they grill the fish right in front of you. A couple who have been friends with Sister Judy for a long time and all their children joined us as well. The restaurant is very close to where the Father Wasson Center used to be, so we drove past on the way. There’s nothing there, just a wall of planks (whatever that stuff is called where they make a sheet of wood out of scraps). Wow not having internet as a crutch creates a big problem when trying to sound semi-intelligent. Also being in a foreign country messes with your language-brain, I’m gonna blame it on that. Anyways, Sister Judy used to come to this restaurant all the time before the earthquake and our waiter remembered her! He brought over some complimentary appetizers for us which was sweet of him. I got my fish which was pretty good, but I was not expecting it to be an entire fish just sitting on my plate. Head, guts, eyes, tail, everything grilled right up! Honestly, it just makes me realize how packaged and processed everything is in the US to make us think that we’re not eating an animal. Okay I won’t get into that, but really, you should watch Food Inc if you haven’t.

And finally, I’m caught up to today! This morning Wynn introduced me to two volunteers from the US who are here for a little over a week and want to help out. So I brought them to the warehouse with me and we sorted all the needles by their gauge which was another HUGE project and I am so thankful for their help. It’s great because the guy, Shane, was a med tech in an ER so he knows a lot more about the supplies and is able to tell me what things are when I don’t know. Also, they are both good organizers and Sabine has worked in a warehouse before, so they had a lot of great ideas for me about how to arrange the warehouse. After lunch we went over to FWAL, so they could meet the kids and I was very happy to take a break from work to go play. I met some new little sweethearts and talked to one of the kids who is in the English class that I went to once, so I straightened out the days and times with him, so hopefully I’ll make my way back there. Shane, Sabine and I taught a big group of the boys how to play freeze tag and red-light, green-light which was so much fun. Hopefully, it was successful enough that the kids will start playing those games with each other. After such a busy last couple of days, I’m so happy that I just get to write, listen to music and relax tonight. And of course I’m going to call Kayla because it’s her BIRTHDAY today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA!!!