Lighthearted Notes

There are a few things I forgot that I wanted to mention about the sensibilisations and life in general that are a bit more lighthearted than my previous entry.

1.) My contact at the Ministry of Health (MOH), the 70 year old with no teeth? I observed his training on Tuesday from the beginning. Before he started he said something to me, but because I can't understand him and he didn't seem angry, I did my classic smile and nod. The next thing I knew he was making all of the volunteers stand up and sing a few different songs before he started the training (I imagine one was the national anthem, but I don't actually know). Then he asked someone to lead a prayer and some girl just spontaneously started leading one. Apparently this is somewhat normal, because I observed a different training today with a different trainer and he did the same thing. And, almost as though they planned it ahead of time, one girl immediately started saying a prayer (for the training) almost immediately after he asked someone to do it. Reminds me of the game where you have a group of people try and count as high as they can go with only one person saying a number at a time and without looking at each other, but with no predefined order to anything.

2.) My organisation employs about 8 or so different local chauffeurs. A few of them are these young guys who are just too cool for school. All they listen to is hip hop, rap, and r&b, despite not really knowing what any of the songs mean. They wear their chains and sunglasses and are basically the epitome of cool. In their minds. And that means I'm usually subjected to their music, too. Today I was in the car alone with one of the chauffeurs who thinks he's the coolest of the bunch. In the CD player he had his own mix he created. On it were such classics as "Lady in Red," by Chris DeBurgh, "Unbreak My Heart," by Toni Braxton, "Because You Loved Me," by Celine Dion, and "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men. The one that really made my heart ache and think of my college roommates, though, was "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" by the Backstreet Boys. I mean, basically whenever I hear anything by the Backstreet Boys it makes me think my college roommates. I should probably be embarrassed about that. So now you have to picture me and the too cool for school chauffeur belting out, together, Backstreet Boys lyrics in the middle of Port au Prince. It was awesome. On the 4th round of that CD it stopped being so awesome, and I now can't get the words out of my head despite, before today, not having even thought about that song for years.

3.) On Monday I somehow managed to catch a glimpse of all three trainings that were happening at the same time in different places. The last one I went to wasn't a disaster, per se, but it was incredibly chaotic and my staff member had zero control of the room. It was very hectic and stressful for my control-freak self, so when we finally finished cleaning the room and packing up the car I was really relieved and psyched to see that it was only 4:15. I knew that meant that at the latest I should be back home around 6 and that I didn't have much work to do that night so I could maybe even relax. So imagine how excited I was when we hadn't even left town yet before we were sitting in standstill traffic. Oh, also keep in mind that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast at 6:30am. The traffic continued, so once we finally made it to a grocery store type place I bought a bag of doritos, a packet of m&ms, and a can of sprite. Dinner of champions. Once we were back in the car we were still in traffic. At some point we started off-roading and I thought we were taking a short cut. And then the driver turns to me and says he's not feeling well and that we have to pass by his house first. He was very apologetic, but it was quite clear to me he needed to use the bathroom, um, urgently. It was 6:00 by the time we arrived at his house, and he does not live close to the office. Inside I was not happy about it, but on the outside I was sympathetic since I'm not completely heartless. When we got to his house he asked me if I wanted to come in and meet his wife, who is 6 months pregnant. I couldn't say no, so I got out of the car and went inside with him. Well, it turns out she was absolutely lovely and we got on really well. They wanted to show me their wedding video, so all of a sudden I was roped into a half hour, slow-mo version of the highlights of their wedding, cheesy music and all. While watching the video they asked me if I wanted some "rice," and I said sure, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. His wife brought me some delicious fresh juice with ice in it (Haitians are very particular about drinking cold beverages) and we continued to watch their wedding video through to the end. They were clearly really happy that I had watched their video and wanted to know what I thought of their wedding, etc. Despite being exhausted, filthy, and hungry when we showed up and me being in a big rush to get home, I actually really enjoyed meeting his wife and knowing that it was important to him that I did. Two nights later she met him here at the office after work and he made sure to tell me she was outside and wanted to know if I wanted to go say hi to her. I said of course, so I went outside and we chatted for a bit while she waited for him to finish his paperwork. She's really, really great. Now me and the driver have totally bonded and he really likes me, which is an improvement from before when I was pretty sure he didn't like me. And, oddly enough, the next day another driver who I wasn't sure liked me either decided to have a big D&M (that's deep and meaningful, for those of you who don't speak Australian) with me in the car. We talked about American music (of course), but also about his parents being political refugees (is that how you say it in English?) in Canada because of their involvement with the last government, who should be the next Haitian president, etc. It was really, really interesting. Bonding with two drivers in one week! Awesome!