Well I made it to BC on the 17th of February! I was in Port from the 13th - 16th not able to do a whole lot because of demonstrations in the streets. I ended up taking a bus from Port to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and catching a flight out of there! It was an adventure to say the least! This will be my last post on this blog. From now on, you can find me at http://theresajohnstone.blogspot.com
Okay - so the day started off fairly well! I repacked my suitcases and I think that they are both now in their limits. Then I went and spend the day with Ronel in Borel - more fun, taking photos of the neighbourhood kids, playing the "Voyage game" (some little tiny game - it was interesting!) Then I showed Ronel how to play the Frog Hopping game, ate some yummy food and then came home. Decided to check my emails and it was good I did - email from my mom saying that she had gotten a call from American Airlines saying my flight to Florida on Tuesday was cancelled. So, panic starts to slowly set in, try to call my mom - no answer, so next best thing - call your big brother and tell him to call mom and email me more about the cancellation. Well - turns out there wasn't a whole lot more to tell!
well, I am going down to the kids home so that we can have fun and then I'll sleep down there with them - for the first & last time :( We're going to move all the mattresses into the big room and get out the CD player and music and have fun!!! Maybe I'll even get my hair braided! (can do that cause I dyed it this afternoon ;) no more roots and no more grey hairs!!
I don't know if I have ever been so sad to see a Friday arrive! It means that I only have the weekend left oh - and Monday - which I know will be filled with lots of last minute stuff and making sure I am fully prepared to leave (which will include basically taking apart my bedroom - clock, lamp, curtains, bathroom stuff - all must either be down at Ronel's or in my suitcase by Monday evening!) Monday I'll be sleeping in a bare room - with my bed & my alarm clock - I will leave out my toothbrush, toothpaste & hairbrush for Tuesday morning and then they will get tossed into my carry on. Last night I went up to pack and was exhausted! So this morning I took out some time and went and packed - Well, I got everything into my suitcase but when I weighed it - it weighed 90lbs! I am allowed 50lbs and had thought of paying to be able to take 70lbs but either way - my suitcase is way overweight! ARGH! So it looks like I am going to have to do some rearranging and see if I can get everything into my 2 suitcases and 1 carry on and not be overweight - looks doubtful but I'll try! Also looks like I am going to have to be tougher on leaving stuff behind! :S I don't like that idea at all! :(
I did it - I emailed off the financial reports for 2005 this afternoon! A whole day earlier that I had thought! I am so happy!! This means that I basically have 4 days to just enjoy myself here in Haiti {and say goodbye to everyone! :( }
Alexandre had great fun this afternoon. Rose Martha had set up all the marbles for chinese checkers on the tin lid. Alexandre was lying on his stomach on the blue pillow that is in the photos. He was facing away from the lid but managed to work his way over and then start banging on the lid with his foot! He was making lots of noise as the marbles hit the tin lid and he was enjoying himself! As you can see in the photos, he managed to spread the marbles quite a distance! (they were originally all in the points of the star in their places -waiting to be played!)
Okay - So I really find this cluster map thing cool! I saw it on someone else's blog and had to get one for my blog! It shows me in the form of dots on a map where the visitors to my site are coming from! (the funny thing is it looks like I never visit cause for some wierd reason my satellite service seems to be coming from somewhere in the middle of the US - so no dots on Haiti)
craziness has started to set in! I had wanted to have everything done by Friday afternoon so I could not worry about any work stuff my last weekend here. Well - that is looking less and less likely! I have not been feeling well today and yesterday evening so that is cutting into my productivity! I stayed up working till about 1am last night since we had electricity and I am not yet finished with my reports! Getting the Visa stuff straightened out took awhile since we recently switched credit cards for HATS and so I have to combine visa statements from two separate accounts! and figure out which expenses are HATS charges still going on the old card! It's been a learning experience!
Well - the voting stations have now been closed for a couple of hours and I haven't heard any news! There was report of an incident in Liancourt (about 15 mins away) where two voters got into a fight because they were backing different candidates - an innocent by-stander is now in hospital here in Deschapelles after taking a bullet because of the fight between the two voters (but neither of the people involved were hurt!!)
Okay - so this is me just getting out my frustration and since I am alone in my office, I am posting this!
Things that I will miss in Haiti
The countdown is on - I have a week left in Haiti - that means I have 7 days to take in as much as I can. I know that come next Monday night at 8:30pm - I am NOT going to have as big of a smile as I do in this photo! I'll have said goodbye to the staff, friends, the kids and Ronel. Tuesday morning I'll leave the compound at 4am and head to Port au Prince with Nicolas. He'll drop me off and that's it - I'll be on my way to BC. It seems so unreal to me, but everytime I open my bedroom door - reality hits! My bags are almost all packed, I have given away almost all of my clothes that I either am not bringing home or don't see purpose in keeping here at Ronel's, I have brought everything down to Ronel's that I want to save or am giving to him to use. My room is very bare and almost depressing! Ronel and I had another good long talk and a good cry on Saturday. It isn't going to be easy saying goodbye but as we keep telling each other - We know that this is God's plan and He has something great in store for us! I keep telling myself that nothing worth having in life is easy! and I think that we're worth it!
Playing & teaching UNO at Ronel's. I bought Ronel UNO cards for Christmas (another visiting blan had taught him and some others but they had no cards) and yesterday he wanted to play. So, Marie-Berth, Manouchka, Oltrich, Ronel & I all played (Dayana & Joanne just hung out and watched) - Manouchka (girl with pink pants & red top) caught on really quick! The others did well too. Everyone but Marie-Berth won a hand and she was a good sport about it! (but I have to say I won the game - I've been losing at every game lately so it was a nice change!)
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This is 6 cups of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice I squeezed all by myself! (that is 6 cups of pure juice - before I added water!)
Okay - so maybe "Hello" isn't the best program for me to have on my computer right now! I have a ton of photos I wanted to post and it is so easy with Hello and their BloggerBot (I find it way easier than Picasa's Blog This if you are doing more than one photo. Well, once I got started - I couldn't seem to stop! I think I posted over 50 photos in like a 45 min window -all while still doing my financial reports for 2005~~
Pharlie - a friend's daughter. She is so adorable and is slowly warming up to me. She has her name stitched into the front of her uniform (on the blue part - on the left side of the photo) She walks over to Ronel's all the time - by herself and she just turned 3! (she does only live 2 houses away but still)
Mirlande - watching Martha peel and prepare vegetables for our dinner
Ronel & I - all smiles after a fun day at the river
Mirlande and I having fun with the camera while Maudeline braids my hair
Mirlande thought I looked like a good place to sit! I was on the floor after falling over trying to sit "haitian style" squatting with your butt way down and your feet flat on the ground. Not as easy as they make it look!
what a beautiful sight - I am going to miss walking the canal.
Ronel "pushing me around" - literally! He rolled me out of my office into the living room, we chatted with Sandra and then he rolled me back to my desk!
this was hilarious - Dickie & I were in matching outfits all day and no one noticed until like 9pm when I came into my office to help Sandra with that night's blog update.
these are three shots we took today with this HUGE avocado Martha bought at market.
Rachelle took this photo of Ronel & I (just today actually while we were getting our lunch ready
boy, he loves the camera - as soon as you take it out, he breaks into a big smile
Joanne - Ronel's niece, she was just lying there and I snapped this shot.
