premier semaine

a week ago tonight, i was putting sheets on my bed and getting accustomed to sleeping under a mosquito net. i was meeting new people and learning new stories, and actually freezing during that nights sleep. well, some things have changed.

i spent my anniversary day in all of its sunday glory. today; today was a good day.

woke up this morning around 6, not even with an alarm, but laid here and forced myself to stay in bed til 8. went down for a wonderful breakfast of grits, pancakes and bananas. worked on trying to get the internet to load/print ... again. and then we loaded up the van and headed north. to the fort!

freeman took us all tap-tap (taxi truck) style in the back of the pick-up and dropped us at the base of the mountain/hill. it was a huge group of us: me, bryan, dave, joshua, molly, amy, karen (nurse at the clinic), grace (nurse here with mercy ships), ben (french guy - YWAM LA), andy (from seattle, not current YWAM), shane (hawaii YWAM), zach (on DTS here) ... i think that about covers it.

okay ya'll: if you understood the severity of my sunburn from yesterday, you'd understand my reasoning in wearing a long sleeved shirt (rolled up, and it was a vented colu

mbia shirt) in spite of hiking in 95 degree heat. yeah, i know. it sounded like a much better idea at the time. but it did actually work out sunbrun wise.

however, a combination of the sugary goodness that was breakfast and the heat totally got to me, and i nearly had a heat stroke. i don't think i have ever been so hot in my life. i thought i was going to throw up, and almost did. i had to stop a few times, and i felt so bad for the rest of the people that were staying back with me; i hate attention like that, that detracts from what they are doing. luckily, mama karen was watching out for me, and gave me an ice pack for the back of my neck and kept a quick eye on me after we made it to the fort, forcing water, crackers, and hot-shot electrolytes on me, in the shade, the entire time.

i did manage to get a few great pictures that really captured the awe and beauty of this place. it was unreal how gorgeous it was; how turquoise the water, how steep the incline. seriously, something you have to take in for yourself because these pictures can't even begin to do it justice!

the hike down was cake, despite its rocky and slick dusty declines. once we made it down to the road, we hung out for a while waiting on freeman. joshua and i went across the street to this little girl that had been screaming "blanc! blanc! (white)" for about 30 minutes. she shied away, but had brought half the neighborhood with her cries. managed to get one great shot; you know, the shot you take the trip for. this is it, un-edited.

the rest of the day was spent recovering in the pool with everyone (AMAZING!), playing 500 (and trying to stay as far from the likes of bryan, andy, and karen as possible! they are relentless!) and taking a football straight to the face. took a cold shower (should go without saying), and snuck in a 20 minute nap before 4:30 dinner. after dinner, i got to make a phone call before church at 6, and dang. the service rocked. i wish i could be more descriptive, but it was so good, and it is so late. (read: i am falling asleep as i type!) jeremiah 29:11 was the springboard verse for the message tonight and it just reminds me that this, me being here, is part of the Lord's plan for my life. its encouraging and refreshing knowing that, and also knowing that it is part of the plan that works in others lives. thats powerful stuff right there.

after church, we went out for andy and tiffany's last night. ku phai (spelling? word? no clue) was closed, so we went to ... epi-d'or ... again ... this weekend. but it was a good time had by all (tiff, andy, reanna, bryan, dave, amy, molly, karen, joshua, jaysen, edward, ben, and phillipson (i made him promise not to get sick again!)

i'm sad that i'm going to start seeing people leave. i hate cultivating relationships just to never see them flourish. c'est la vie; ne pas finis.

plus du soleil

any day that ends after midnight, with a sun burn, and dirty fingernails was a good day.

how i procured these things, maybe not so exciting, but still.

woke up, sans alarm, at twenty after 8 and slowly moped downstairs for breakfast. oh gee, rolls and peanut butter.... again. i wouldn't be exaggerating if i said i've likely gained 10 pounds between all the bread, spaghetti, and rice and beans/bean sauce/red sauce/special sauce. after breakfast, i worked on finishing my sound cards, but the internet has been very cruel today (i still haven't been able to upload to google docs).

a huge group of us headed out this morning to the market. mainly the teachers (stacia, sarah, anne and i), but also molly and amy from the office and lizzy and katerina (biological and adopted daughters of the snows), and another haitian girl from base.

we walked the streets to the market, riddled in their litter, mystery puddles, and potholes. everything in haiti is dust or has dust. the roads are like strips of compacted dust. it makes taxi riding quite difficult. we walked through the market i was hoping to stop at, with all its grapefruits, coconuts, and plantains galore, and we passed through to what they call 'the mall' (read: the worlds hottest, and most crowded, outdoor garage sale).

long story short, we spent hours in the blazing sun, and i came back with nothing to show for it, aside from an awfully painful sun burn across my shoulders and a great story about getting cussed out by a creole lady for offering too little for a thin, linen dress.

we stopped by the epi-d'or for lunch (i'm practically a regular) and jenna and farron met us there. rode my first solo taxi back to the base, and embraced my cold shower for the first time since being here. in the mid-day heat, the water almost felt ... dare i say ... warm?!

met up with jenna and began to clean out and organize our lone closet in our class. what a disaster! a time consuming one at that! but we managed to consolidate and get rid of a lot of stuff, so now it is all organized and visible! well, behind the doors that is. we had to spray and wipe down, and straight up wash some of our stuff. haiti accumulates dust and dirt like a fly trap. i felt so nasty upon finishing. we didn't get to any weekly planning, and didn't get to change the room around or plan for centers, so it's going to be a work in progress for this week still. but we worked from 2ish til a brief hiatus for dinner at 5:30, and then came back to finish it up. samuel, another snow kid, and joshua stopped in to keep us company as we finished it up, and then we headed back to the base for a little bit.

it appeared as everyone had actually disappeared. everyone i'd typically hang with was MIA, and i was dying from the heat. so i headed to the pool toute seoule ce soir for a lovely swim and prayer time beneath the stars. it was so refreshing and defly helped cool the burn.

did my quiet time back on base in the caf (because everyone had disappeared), and then talked with jenna and mike for a little bit. then joshua and bryan joined us and i got to share some of my pictures and stories from ethiopia. i was really encouraged that they liked them, and reminded that i haven't shot anything lately, and especially since i've been here!!

all of that will change tomorrow though, as we go to hike to the fort! i'm excited to capture a little bit of haiti's history, and also prove that i am, indeed, here, although there's a large lack of photographic proof.

excited about tomorrow. will share and hopefully post pictures (check facebook!) soon!

love you guys, and keep it up with the emails, texts, and facebook messages. it is so encouraging to me :)

xoxo

a haitian friday

i have a confession: all this corporate prayer and time spent together with the Lord is really decreasing my desire to seek Him in my own quiet times, because i feel like every day is lived (how it's supposed to be): for Him already. so i have definitely been struggling with carving additional time out for that. but i am still remaining encouraged, especially in that, because i can even see a transition in even just my thoughts.

aside from that: began this morning with a prayer walk, praying for the base as most of our male leadership is out this weekend and we will have a ton of new volunteers coming in this weekend and the beginning of next week (like 6 or 7 between now and april). spent my time praying in the arena for the church and worship services that occur there, but also for the community that is represented there, and the voodoo culture that is laden in society. (i smell french fries and i just got really exited for dinner tonight! sorry). it was a really challenging but unique experience; i've never been charged with a task of praying for an inanimate object or structure. but i really actually enjoyed the specifics of it.

the morning started of GREAT in circle time. i put my arms around daryl and asked if he remembered to bring his new attitude with him today. he told me no, so i told him to run home and get it! when we came into the classroom, they mainly sat down at their desks, which has been unheard of since i got here! (they wanted stickers, duh.) but after prayer and into the bible time, they were a terrible mess. completely not paying attention and being rude, etc. so i had to give them a little speech about respect; how in not listening and being rude during miss jenna teaching the bible, they were not only being disrespectful to her, but to God. this was their chance to learn about Him and their inattention was saying "God, i don't want to listen to you." i'm not even sure they understood, but they seemed to work out a little better through calendar time at least. jenna and i spent a lot of time preparing two sets of memory cards, one shape-to-shape, one numeral-to-pictorial representation of numbers. it was a disaster, at least for my group. they don't get directions, and waiting their turn. so halfway through the second game, we had to end. at the end of that, we had to sit for 5 minutes with our heads on the desk. they actually sat pretty quietly and learned to line up quietly, one-by-one, for snack/recess.

after that, we had music time. we handed out seed pods from the trees here as shakers out to make music, it was a losing battle. especially with the large tuna tins to make their personal cubbies with. they were banging them all over the desks and each other and completely losing control (or we were of them). you live you learn (what to never do again!) but once we showed them the parachute and ball that we were going to have a PE session with outside before the end of the day, they did a wonderful job with their sound cards and words of the week. seriously, like the class i would love to have. quiet, respectful, waiting turns, raising hands! it was a miracle, seriously! praise God! all that went out the window with the parachute, and we had to quickly put that away because they all would throw it up once and just run under it, so no one was left holding it (even after I explained in english and french, and Irving explained in Creole). they do seem to like story time at the end of the day though, and so that's been a great way to finish it off. but daryl was such a handful today, and just mean and spiteful. would not listen to a thing jenna or i said. i'm really trying to break through with kindness and showing him i've taken a liking to him, but that just seems to make him more mad!

anyway, school day ended, lunch was had, volunteered for lunch duty (4th time on clean up since i've been here... 5 days.), and then i made the decision to check out the pool for the first time! grungy by our standards, but such a refreshing treat! SO relaxing, and so hot! but the water was cool, and i was FINALLY able to at least get some physical activity, no matter how small the movement! went down there by myself, but after a little while Joshua came down for a swim and we got to talk a lot which was nice. then the snows/nettles' kids all came to hang and talk and show off their chickens (tied feet, so wrong). it was a really nice afternoon.

i'm eager to get into the classroom tomorrow and start planning centers and rearranging and cleaning things. theres also talk of going to the fort on sunday, that is perched on a hill overlooking the sea and built by the spanish armada around the turn of the 18th century. i've also been asked to hike one of the local mountains, but its a 7 mile hike. each way. in 95 degree heat. and i don't have a camelbak. tomorrow should be a day we go to the market, which really excites me because i would love love love fresh veggies and fruits! the teachers have been so wonderful letting me use their fridge for now, and i had a wonderful time at ladies group last night in my soon-to-be apartment (small by any standards).

excited for this weekends new explorations, curricular adventures, and productivity fuzed with relaxation. this is haiti.

the rains just began. it sounds like a strong wind through the fronds of a palm. its a gentle sound on the top our roof. it hasn't silenced the other night sounds, and the booming caribbean music and barking dogs only serve as BGVs for this wonderful sound of rain. relief from the hottest day yet, and an even more warm and still night.

but for those not sleeping in between cement walls and under an aluminum roof, it could be the sound that ushers in further suffering in their already devastated and despaired lives. for those living in tent cities, or even worse: structures constructed by found pieces of debris, tarp, and cloth; for those, this could be the sound that drives them to hopelessness and defeat. pray for the ground to absorb this rain, that floods would be thwarted, and that those in dire conditions are able to see God despite their suffering.

***

high-notes today: implemented new curriculum yesterday, they remembered it today and did well! ladies bible study was a blessing. first staff meeting also! ate tuna salad for the first time in my life, and liked it. we had chocolate pudding, garlic toast with REAL garlic, and brownies today. got skype-to-phone account, so i can call anyone at anytime from my computer! such a blessing to talk to my family and friends today. met my financial needs, and am trying to actually use any surplus to enhance my classroom (i used a cardboard box as a bulletin board!)

low-points: class behavior, no respect for self, others, teacher, space, earth. lots of physical violence (hitting, biting, pushing) between the kids. so hot today. worse than hot. dripping with sweat, and i don't usually sweat much.

oh the places you'll go!

i really wish i was able to blog everynight, because nights like last night both prevent it and merit it.

yesterday was a great day in class. i jotted down notes as ideas popped into my head for the classroom. at recess/snack, i spoke with Louisa about some ideas, and she was such a gem with making stuff and doing things for us; like cutting paper for my kids' cubby idea, and picking pods off the trees and painting them! seriously, i wish that woman was here all the time!

we got to do some hands-on math activities with the kids, but it has been really difficult because we arent following any sort of scope or curriculum. after lunch, Louisa came and gave us a run-down on the A Beka Book Phonics guide that we're going to start to follow. We sorted through some 400 cards, and she showed us the proper way to teach the sounds etc. and Jenna and I discussed some new ideas for the classroom, such as set up, decor, behavior management, and lesson plans for the rest of the week. i love being early on those things.

finished up in the classroom around 2:15 (or was it 3:15? anyway), and headed to the grocery with stacia (principal/teacher), keturah (office/married to an MK), and jenna (teacher). the grocery here (we went to SD; which is how its pronounced, not necessarily even its name) is very similar to that in parts of europe that i've seen. it has about 4 aisles, no meat, very very little produce (one stand-up cooler in the back), and an odd array of hair-dye, mosquito nets, and liquor mixed in. craving fresh produce, i bought some meager looking roma tomatoes and a small head of lettuce, all of which i will have to soak in bleach before i can eat (and yes, that is safe. better than diphtheria). also got some crackers, peanut butter, jelly, and some red-drank hawaiian punch cans. the total: 770 gourdes. conversion? psh. i handed her 21 american, apparently what its worth. so haiti isn't necessarily cheap, nor does it have the selection of kroger.

took a death taxi back with enough time to attempt a shower before dinner. my first shower. i tried the shower bag, but apparently it leaked most the water out and i was left with a little less than a gallon. i made the mistake of trying to use that first. oh, and shaving here? should be an olympic sport. the waters so cold you're either going to cut your goosebumps, or have to shave again immediately because of them! but compared to that water, the shower bag felt like a resort spa!

after dinner (and a blow-dry; just because it's haiti doesn't mean i have to give up all my creature comforts!) i went to the office to work on finding some sound cards for the lesson. mais, c'est mauvais. they weren't attached to the link that explained how to use them. after a lot of searching, i gave up and found supplement assignments for today. i made the short vowel sound cards for today, and jenna helped me out by coloring and laminating them like a pro!

while she worked on that, i worked on project #1: creating a calendar for calendar time!

how does one create a calendar? mind you, without the aid of kinkos or the parent-teacher store. well, you start by surveying what you have available. in our case, poster board was out of the question, but i did run into a copious (3 yards or so) amount of felt! but what to make the grid with? no puff pant. no fabric glue. no yarn. a silver sharpie from home! and the pockets? how to label them? with white-out!! add the velcro from santa-saint-louisa and computer-generated and hand-laminated numbers and Voila! you have a calendar!

although, it wasn't quite that easy. i worked on it for about 3 hours, but it was some of the best time i've spent here yet. as i was working, i had plenty of people come and talk and hang and help out. louisa for one. and jaysen, a proud asian, from seattle (i think?) but on staff at YWAM Kona. knows taylor stutts and his wife (taylor staffed his DTS team i believe he said)! very chill and hilarious! bryan, a black, 21(?) year old guy from amish country, PA. worked at YWAM Tiujana (yes, i know, i can't spell) for 6 weeks before heading here about 2 weeks ago for an indefinite amount of time. did his DTS in the dominican i believe, maybe mexico, who knows (its tough when i've met a million people from a million places and a million different DTS stories. all in three days!) but he loves hip-hop, and justin beiber (just for you Lauren!) totally reminds me of alvin love. and there's mike, whom i met last night, and was very sarcastic right off the bat. came, sat down and said "who are you and where did you come from?" haha. he is a YWAM staffer from .... um ... somewhere. whatev. does web stuff (i think?) for YWAM and his

heart is camp ministry. joshua, on staff at YWAM Orlando, is here serving as the kitchen leader, in charge of meals and clean-up etc. responsible for getting us the DELICIOUS!!! FRIED PLANTAINS last night! (last nights meal, although resembling baby-food, was indeed worthy of its own blog post! SO good!) he is originally from charleston, and totally recognized my guy harvey the other day, so he's legit. he'll be here for about 2 more weeks. matt, who is NOT from west virginia, but rather iowa, is here until the end of the month, and his story escapes me, aside from the fact he has his degrees in bible and TESOL, and spent time teaching english in central asia. not sure of his YWAM connection, because i'm really really bad with mixing all these stories up! (Which is why i am logging them here!) Reanna, YES THERE IS ONE!!!, did her DTS in Costa and is here, i think on here own? until Tuesday. she may be working with YWAM in the DR, but that escapes me too. she's a young'n, just 19, but it seems to be that i'm

the old one on base (although teacher-anne is 21, and i think ferran is, too. jenna will be 26 this month, and stacia, 36?)

sorry for the run down, but i'm trying to keep it straight, too!

anyways, they all sat and chatted and helped me peel a million velcros apart. it was really encouraging that they all stayed up, well past 11, when they were definitely exhausted and louisa still needed to pack and shower to leave today. they waited until i was finished to head to bed, and it was really great to get to spend some time getting to know everyone's stories and see how we've all ended up here. it was a good night!

this morning, came early though. quick b-fast bread with PB and then praise and prayer with the staff before school. it was really great, about unity mainly, but sarah asked everyone to pray for the sick (she and i), and honestly although i had felt like crap when i woke up with even less of a voice, more of a cough and sinus problems and a headache, they all seemed to get better after our worship time!

i took over teaching responsibilities today, and started the day off with CALENDAR! they were lost, but i think with a little time and routine, they'll learn to love it! i got them really involved today, getting them to volunteer to lead and repeat certain activities, or to point to things on the board, etc. that worked really well. too much time at math however, did not work very well. the boys were restless, and cedrick (whom bit me yesterday) would hardly pay attention in the group (he is only 4 though). after recess, we did work with the short vowel sounds, and i was really really impressed with them! The sound cards we made worked wonders!!!!

(i've got to go to bed, will finish in the AM)

***

trying to think back...

maybe got a nap this day, had my first teacher meeting and really enjoyed being a part of that with these ladies. they all bring something so awesome to the table and i think we really were purposed to be here together. after meeting and dinner, i began to work on a bulletin board for the class so we could start classroom helpers. except, the walls are cement blocks, and we don't have anything to hammer into or a bulletin board to utilize. but, we did have two empty cardboard boxes, slightly warped from rain, humidity, or cleaning water. add a little butcher paper, some lucky-find noah's ark borders, and a few cut-outs and Voila! you have a bulletin board. okay, again it wasn't that easy, but i did manage to finish the laminate star name tags with pipe cleaner hangers just as rhianna, bryan, and phillipson (on staff w/ YWAM as worship leader i believe) were about to go get ice cream. and since i turned it down the night before... i couldn't do that again!

we all piled in the back of the pick-up and stood holding on to the bars on the back of the cab for dear life. driving here is an extreme sport, no exaggeration. we stopped near the base and picked up philipson's sisters, grace and nicey, and his mom, and then we headed to epi-d'or for some cream glace, pommes frites, and boite d'eau. all for a grand total of 100 gourdes, or about $2.50. it was a fun night to talk to spend in the city.

view from the outdoor patio at epi d'or

zach had to be back for curfew, so he and rhianna took taxis home, but philipson told us he wouldn't be much longer and would give us a ride if we stayed. but once he finished eating, he said he felt sick and headed to the bathroom. poor guy got sick all over!

while he was in there, i got to spend some time speaking to his sisters in french. they didn't know much english, and said that my french was good (lies!). but it was fun to get to speak with natives, and in the native tongue! i also got to talk to bryan for a while and hear more about his life, childhood and story. once philipson came out, we left and dropped his family off, but he got sick again and we had to stop in a slightly bad part of town off the main avenue. i felt really bad because he was legitimately ill and like sweating and everything (not just haiti sweat).

we finally made it back just as they were closing the computer room and i was able to print a few things i needed for the next day. another long, late night, but totally worth spending it getting out and getting to know people and the community.

bon jour classe :)

just a quick update from my classroom :) i skipped corporate breakfast today and opted to sleep in until 7:30. i grabbed a fiber bar (my savior for something sweet) and headed down, even getting here almost 30 minutes early! my sinuses are more or less half of the color wheel, and my voice is more gone today than it has been.

i'm really excited to get to implementing some of the ideas i had for the classroom, especially after bouncing them off of louisa last night. but its going to take time and patience to get to everything i want to do, so hopefully by this weekend, i'll have things in order. there was talk among the teachers about spending the weekend in Port-au-Prince, which i would love to see for sure, but i'm not so sure i'm ready for it on my first week.

miss you all!

xoxo

no, im not internet-ing after lights out... i'm just killing the bugs in my mosquito net.

WHAT a night! i can't even explain. getting to know more people on base, and SO sad some of them are leaving. like this gem of a woman, louisa, who had been apparently waiting for my arrival unbeknownst to me. shes a fellow teacher, from YWAM Baja - Mexico, and we talked great classroom stuff. we actually met and began talking about my fear of showering here (read: cold water only). she gave me a shower bag to hang in the sun! so then we start talking classroom stuff and i told her i wish i had velcro dots. she runs to the back of the room. what does she have, but velcro!?! who even brings that!? this woman was santa. but then, a saint. what a conversation. i told her how i didn't feel a full time call to ministry or missions, and began to share with her my vision for teacher development and training for teachers in developing nations during my summers as a teacher in the states. she starts laugh/crying and pulls a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket as she says "okay, so i have to share this with you because this, this is God." after her experience today with a school in an orphanage, she felt the same call and literally wrote her vision out on the paper. she's called it apples for teachers and so we spent some time discussing that. seriously, divine appointment.

after dinner tonight, i went to play uno with stacia (the principal), keturah (office everything), and sarah, anne, ferran and jenna (fellow teachers). anne had a wonderful idea to take taxis (glorified mopeds) to get ice cream! heck yes! it was my maiden voyage both outside the base and on a taxi (terrifying, and next time, i'll wear my sunglasses (at night even)). it was a great experience tho, and i really enjoyed spending time with the girls and getting to know them better. the epi-d'or (fast food restaurant a top a grocery store) was an interesting experience and we laughed over our cookies-n-cream and french fries.

i've gotta get to bed, but just wanted to share a bit. i can count at least 4 dogs in a barking war outside the windows. PTL for ear plugs :)

please be praying for my health. i've been battling a sore throat and cough along with loss of voice, but the dust (oh, my, the dust!) is settling in my nasal passages and burning and stuffing and draining and its just not fun. better than dengue i suppose.