Happy Birthday Kristen Wilkinson!

So my dear dear friend Kristen and I were texting back and forth the other day and I was telling her that my life has had many twists and turns since we were last together and that I needed to fill her in with a looooooong chat. Her response was "or a fork in the road blog update... just sayin!"

And she is right. I never even did my last Haiti post. And things have changed. BIG TIME. So for all my friends, and especially as a belated birthday gift to Kristen, I am going to resume blogging. There will be a couple of action packed posts, but mostly my day-to-day life here is pretty quiet. I am doing a LOT of reading and movie-watching, so expect reviews and thoughts.

Although I feel a bit pretentious thinking that my opinions count for anything. But there ya go.

So this first post will be my last batch of pictures from Haiti.

Now that the focus in Haiti has switched from Distaster Relief to a permanent Rebuild project, the house got a makeover. The room that I stayed in with Kim the first go-round once had 4 bunkbeds and was very cramped. My last couple of weeks I moved back in, but this was my bed, and it was glorious!



Sarah and I went to work making signs for all of the doors. I am particularly proud of this one:



This is the upstairs landing of the Florida house:



Looking down into the entryway:





Ah the office. Where I spent MOST of my time.



Here's the outside of the CMBH offices/Florida House.





My last day I took my favorite guys, Dasy and Miguelson, to Dominos. I cannot tell you how much I miss these guys. They are so full of care and joy and earnestness and love. *Sob!*



They are not very good at taking pictures. :)



This just cracks me up. Dominos. In Port-au-Prince. It was delicious- a nice taste of home. It was also VERY EXPENSIVE.



Haitians love their painted murals...





These next few were taken while we were driving back from Dominos. The restaurant is in a wealthy section of the city, up on the hill. So on the long drive home we passed through several residential areas.





Kim and I noticed this street name the first time we were here, and no one could explain it to us. "Avenue John Brown" tends to stand out in a Creole-speaking area. So I put on my nerd cap and solved the mystery. From PBS:

John Brown was a man of action -- a man who would not be deterred from his mission of abolishing slavery. On October 16, 1859, he led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan to arm slaves with the weapons he and his men seized from the arsenal was thwarted, however, by local farmers, militiamen, and Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured.

So yeah, Harpers Ferry. I've heard of that. ;) Well, apparently his efforts made him a hero in Port-au-Prince, who also underwent their own rebellion against slavery. So they named a main thoroughfare after him and also put all of the flags at half-mast when he was hanged for treason.



Haiti does have a few American-style grocery stores, even though they are cost-prohibitive for the vast majority of Haitians. But they allowed me to get my Diet Coke fix! Sarah and I went to one and found these unusual cakes:

"Happy Birth"



"Mon Dieu" (My God)



"I missed you Honey"



A lot of people asked me about a typical meal. So I took a picture. Our breakfast and dinner each day were prepared by the house staff at CMBH. The ladies spend literally all day either cooking or doing dishes, since everything is done without the help of any kind of electronic device! Our breakfasts were almost always eggs with onions and chicken boullion, and although it is pretty good for the first couple of days, I quickly grew tired of it. It got to where I couldn't even smell the eggs without feeling queasy! There was also lunch meat and cheese and fruit. I knew it would be a great day when I came downstairs to the smell of oatmeal!

Dinner was a variation of the photo below. Rice and beans, a meat, rolls, a couple of vegetables. Almost all of it was delicious. Some of it was mysterious...



My last morning I went around and got lots of pictures with all the people I love.







Ah, this is Fennel (sp?), my favorite security guard. He speaks English quite fluently, so we chatted lots about his family and his life. He called me his "Pwincess" (he did have some trouble with the letter 'r', as did most of the Haitians). One day he came with us to go get lunch, and let me tell ya, I have never heard a man squeal with delight like he did when he found out. :) He has a deep booming voice, and if I didn't know his big soft heart, would be the most terrifying man I have ever seen. When we took this picture, he said that he had to put on his sunglasses so that my friends wouldn't see the tears in his eyes.



So that's Haiti. I certainly could not have predicted that I would spend 3 months of 2010 there, but I am SO THANKFUL for the experience. I always have way more trouble readjusting back to normal life when I return from a missions trip, and this was no exception. And this time was even weirder since I came back to such chaos. I am not sure when the doors will open again for me to return, but I hope and pray that it is soon.

More on the interim between returning from Haiti and the present moment SOON AND VERY SOON.