The Past Week

(Written last night)

Last week seemed very long, especially since we didn’t have an entire day off at any point last weekend. This weekend was much better. On Friday night Justine’s friend Brian came over and we young folks (all but the CD) just hung out. We made some punch using the fresh juice our cook/cleaner had made that day and had a nice time just sitting around and talking. On Saturday Brian picked us up in the morning and we headed to the beach. We went to a “secret” beach that he knew of right near Obama Beach. It was really nice. There was hardly any one there and we were the only foreigners for most of the time. Well, besides the UN guys from Pakistan who came over to take a picture with Justine in her bathing suit. The water, again, was like bathwater, so we spent a lot of time swimming and hanging out in the ocean. We ordered grilled lobster for lunch which was delicious and brought plenty of snacks and drinks to keep us going for the afternoon.

Saturday evening we were sort of hosting a party at a local bar/club type place. The playlist Ali worked so hard on ended up being a bit of a disaster based on a lack of communication with the DJ, I think, but it was still a really fun time. The place itself was quite cool. The bar/eating area was covered, but looked out on a dance area that was open to the outside. We had a fair number of people come and had a really fun time dancing. My friend Jesse came who I know from my Peace Corps days. He just arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, so I was very impressed with his ability to rally some friends to come to our shindig. It was great seeing him and catching up a bit. We ended up having a very late night and didn’t go to bed until around 4. Today was a very lazy day involving napping and surfing the internet (very slowly) most of the day. Justine and I did some planning for next week, but in terms of work that was about it, which was nice.

Rewinding to last week: like I said, it was long. The good news is that I’m starting to feel like I have a better handle on what’s going on and am actually starting to feel a bit useful. A nice change. We’re working with the Cuban Medical Brigade on one of our very big projects, so on Wednesday Justine and I spent all day with two of them going around to their different bases to try and make plans. We left the house at 6:30am, picked them up at their house 45 minutes later, and then drove three hours to their base in Petit Goave. We met the guy in charge there, Frank, who is probably one of the funniest people I’ve interacted with in a long time. The Cubans don’t speak a word of French, but they do speak Creole. Since we don’t speak Creole, most of the day was conducted in Spanish (which Justine understands and speaks a little of) and one woman, Maria’s English that she learned during her four years in The Gambia and used to translate the Spanish for us. We went to three different bases of theirs that day, spent about 7 or 8 hours in the car, and didn’t get home until 9:30 at night. Luckily the Cubans were so lovely and I got to see so much that it was worth it. I loved that at each base nothing could begin until everyone had kissed everyone on the cheek, coffee had been served (even at 6:30 at night), and pleasantries had been exchanged. Everyone was so nice and seemed really open to our crazy project and totally willing to help us. They’re very laid back, which I know will sometimes be frustrating, but they also really know their communities, so I think they’ll be a great partner for us. We ended the day by treating ourselves to some Domino’s Pizza. Yes, they have a real Domino’s Pizza in Port au Prince. Who would have thunk it? It cost us approximately one million dollars, but it was worth it.

It was really good for me to get to drive through some of the areas we work in, even if it was just barely scratching the surface of each area. Now I have a visual when we talk about these areas for planning purposes, have some idea of how far apart they are, and have first hand experience with the legendary traffic. I’m going to spend Tuesday and Thursday of this week going to different areas, so I’m hoping to get more and more comfortable with the lay of the land and be able to plan and make decisions more effectively because of it.

I realize that someday I’m going to have to sit down and write a more detailed post about what the heck it is I actually do, but this post is long enough as it is and I’m tired! That’s for another day. Goodnight for now!