PAP

So I arrived in Haiti safely, soundly, and with all of my luggage! Amazing. Everything went pretty smoothly, minus the part where we sat on the runway for over an hour in Miami. They said someone was sick and had to deboard the plane, so they had to unload all of the bags to find that person's bags and then load all of the others back on. Or something. Justine thinks it was because Wyclef came into town. Leave it to me to arrive the same day Wyclef announces he's running for president.

Anyway. The airport experience was quite similar to Conakry - only slightly less chaotic. Slightly. By some miracle Justine found me (thank god! Realized I had no address or phone numbers or anything if she hadn't) despite my lengthy delay and we hopped in the air conditioned (also thank god) car. I got to experience some of Port au Prince's (PAP) infamous traffic and about an hour or so later we arrived at the house/office!

It was amazing to me how much the drive to the house reminded me of Conakry. And what was more amazing to me was to realize I actually had missed it a bit. All of that organized chaos...it's just so funny to be in it again, but with lots more white people this time.

When we arrived at the house I met the other expats currently here. A French guy, Ali, an Italian guy, Felix, and the country director, a French-Canadian, Alain. We dove right into the French eating dinner together and I tried my best to keep up. My understanding isn't terrible, although Alain's accent is quite difficult, but my speaking is incredibly rusty and will need a lot of work/confidence building. Everyone seems really nice, though, and Justine said they were incredibly excited to have a new team member, especially a girl. Felix is leaving on Sunday and the only other girl (forget her name right now) comes back soon....and I think that's all the expats we have for now.

I'm utterly exhausted and am so excited to sleep right now. I feel like I haven't had a proper, full night's sleep in ages. Not that I'll get one tonight with the heat and mosquitoes, but at least some of the anxiety has subsided now that I'm here. I still can't really believe I'm finally here and that this is finally happening! Tomorrow we dive into the work, so wish me luck and cross your fingers my French improves quickly!