Tuesday July 17, 2012

Today was an adventure... It started out normal. I got up, showered, got ready. Hung out with the kids for awhile. All us missionaries had our morning meeting/ prayer time. Then we got stuff ready for some of the kids and Kathy to go to Mission of Hope for some tests, and the dentist. Then the day went on normally. Later in the afternoon Jessica and I went out on the Kuboda with the Nurse, and Henry Claude. We visited all of the elderly to bring them medications, and some food. When we were walking back to the Kuboda one time Henry Claude was asking about my name, because they cant shape their tongue in the right way to make certain sounds so he cant say it. He asked “Can I just call you Lee, that is waaaay easier!” I said “Yeah...” A couple stops later he told me “I feel so good, I have never worked with an angel before.” I said “Angel?” “He said “Yes, you.”. At one of our stops, a boy came up to me and said “Haley” I said “Hi” I didn’t know who he was though. Then he said “Do you remember me?” I said “What is your name?” He said “Onelson”. It was a boy that I met from Titanyen in March, and he made me a bracelet. I only saw him 2 times, 4 months ago, and he remembered me! That was awesome(: When he told me his name, and I told him I remember him he gave me the biggest hug ever! It was so sweet! When we were almost done, we probably had about 4 left it started raining. Not just sprinkling, when it rains in Haiti, it rains! It felt like hail, or when it is very windy and sand and little rocks fly at you! So we are on this thing, there is no windshield, so Henry Claude is covering his face with his elbow not paying attention to where he is going because the rain is getting in his eyes, but even if he was looking forward he couldn’t see anything. Jessica and I are bouncing around in the back, soaking wet, trying to keep the rain out of our eyes, and hold on at the same time. It was freezing cold! But it was a super fun experience! We couldn’t help but laugh because its like every time we go out of the gate something has to happen. On top of the that, we found out we were running on empty. Henry Claude said “I cant go fast. There is no gas. We might have to walk.” We told him “it’s okay just go slow..” We figured it was worth being in the rain a little longer because he had to drive slow rather than walking up that treacherous slope in a downpour. We finally made it back, and guess what happened?... the rain stopped. We thought that was enough excitement for one day, but it didn’t stop there. When Allie and I were washing our dishes from dinner, in the bathroom sink it fell off the wall... she caught it just as it was about to hit the floor. Water was pouring out everywhere. She was just holding it there as all of us were cracking up. Like it just fell. Nobody expected it. But it was a great laugh that we all needed. It helped us relax some, relieve some stress, and just have a good time. Then we finally calmed down enough to tell Jonas. Him and another guy came in to fix it. They tied it up with one of the kids jump ropes to the towel rack. I said that is going to pull that rack off the wall too. Guess what happened... it fell right off and the sink fell to the floor again. The decided to leave it and fix it later. So we went to church , then said goodnight to all the kids. We went around and said “Bon Nwit, I love you” and gave each of them a kiss. They didn’t even know how to react because they have never had anyone say “Good night, I love you to them” , and nobody tucks them in at night. They have someone come around and say go to bed, but that totally is not the same thing. So I love that I can give them so much love in a way that they appreciate and have never gotten before.  Some of them started asking when are you leaving? and I told them August 13. They said no, stay forever. That broke my heart. I do not want to leave them!  It is going to be the hardest thing ever!

Wednesday July 18, 2012

Here, instead of buying water in bottles, it comes in a little bag. You bite on of the corners and just suck the water out. This afternoon during free time, one of the boys stretched the bag to make it have “arms and legs.” He squirted all the water out and then blew air into it and tied it. He threw it at one of the other boys. The boy he threw it at stepped on it and popped it. The boy that made it yelled at the other “YOU DEAD MY BABY!” It was the funniest thing. And so cute because he had no idea that he was saying it wrong. It was so cute(: Today had some stress. Tomorrow we are going to the beach with the team. All of the boys started saying that they needed shorts for swimming. So I started trying to get some of them shorts and then it was chaos. They were getting mad because I took away an extra pair they had so I could give it to someone else. Or they would be mad because I didn’t give them the one they want. Or they were mad because the shorts they had in their bin were dirty, which shouldn’t even be a problem because we put a laundry basket in each room and explained that when they wear something it goes in the basket, not back in their storage bin. They got mad when i told them “I don’t care if they are dirty, you should have put them in the basket. We are going in water, that will clean them.” They got mad because they didn’t want to wear the ones that they have. That frustrated me because they have more things than 85% of this country, and they are complaining about what they have. But it also made me realize that that is exactly how we are bak at home “I have nothing to wear” , when really we have a closet and 2 dressers full. Or we buy a new shirt for every new occasion, when really we have 25 that we could wear. I found out my roommate for college today, which is very  exciting, but at the same time sad, because that means my time in Haiti is ending sooner than I would like. 

Thursday July 19, 2012

Today we went to the beach. I tried swimming but I didn’t last long because I couldn’t get anything to stick to my foot and I was worried about infection. So I swam a little, but then I sat out with the little kids who don’t like to swim, which was fine too. One of the boys got stung by a Jellyfish. Nobody would pee on him so he was in a lot of pain. And also, they rubbed sand, and purified water on him, which we found out on the internet when we got back that those both actually intensify the pain, and sting. The people on the beach selling their things kept coming up to us trying to get us to buy their stuff. One guy said “Buy some suveniers for your family. When you go home they will say ‘Thank you for the gift, we love you”. I told him I didn’t have any money and he said ‘Well here is a bracelet for free, it is a gift for your brother.” It was a cute bracelet, so it took it(: The swim suite chaos yesterday was pointless, because they wear athletic shorts, with a swim suite over it, then when they get to the beach they take off the swim suite. They swim in the shorts. Then when we are done swimming they take off their wet shorts, and  put the swim suite back on. All that craziness was for a swim suite, not so swim in, but to wear on the way home... Crazy kids!! The sink fell again today also...

Friday July 20, 2012

My little Andy has been causing trouble. He is very possessive, and when I start to talk to other kids and become close with them he gets very mad and causes trouble either with that kid or other kids to get my attention. And also he starts being mean. Today one of the boys, Gedeon who I totally love and is so sweet, wouldn’t talk to me, or smile at me. For the whole day I couldn’t figure it out why he was mad. I was asking him, I was asking the other boys, and nobody told me. Then during free time in the afternoon he kinda started to talk to me then Andy came over and was being me and saying stuff. Then he walked away and I said “Ou fache avek mwen paske Andy?” (You mad at me because Andy?) He said Yes. So Andy said something to make him mad at me so that I couldn’t talk to him, and I would only talk to Andy. Sneaky, because I didn’t realize that all day. So then I said “No, No fache paske Andy. I love you!” and he was back to his sweet smily self(: Wesly and Woody aren’t allowed to come up everyday just to hangout anymore. They are allowed to come to church on Fridays and Sundays just like all the other kids from Titanyen. We did that because they weren’t always a good influence on our kids, they had been doing some things they knew they weren’t supposed to, and also because we didn’t let any other kids come up every day. Also they have families that are alive, and that they live with, and they are taken care of at home. But Welsy came up to church tonight. It was good to see him because he is such a sweet boy and we hung out a lot when he came everyday. When I was saying goodnight to the boys tonight, there is a room of boys who are a little bit older, like 13-16 probably. They usually act too cool for a good night kiss. They try and get away, but tonight they all said good night I love you back, then when I started walking out of their room one of them said “Anko beau” which means “More kiss” And they all said goodnight I love you again! It was the sweetest thing ever. (: 

Saturday July 21, 2012

Today the Ammermanns made grilled cheese for all of us for lunch. I love grilled cheese, so that was awesome to have one of my favorite foods. I totally miss food from America. Mcdonalds. Steak. Tacos. Ice cream. Chipotle. Anyways, after lunch we put together and armoir for me to put my stuff in. It is so much nicer than living out of plastic bins that you have to slide out from under the bed every time you need something. It’s not totally finished, we still need to put the doors on, but I can have all my stuff in it at least, and it is so nice! The boys started ironing their clothes for church before we had dinner so most of them had them done by bed time. Some of them didn’t and still said they needed pants, which is crazy because they had pants the week before, which means they have pants. But then we found out that they didn’t want to wear those pants so they were just saying they needed more. They were telling us that they gave them to us last week after church which was a lie.

Sunday July 22, 2012

Today I got up. Got ready for church. Everyone got ready. The team got here, we had church. Church was so packed today! There was so many kids! Onelson and Wesly came. It is cool that I am getting to know people from outside our gates as well as establishing strong bonds with the kids inside. I like that because then when I go out on the Kuboda and I see them and say “Hi” they remember me as well. After church the team did their bible lesson with the kids. We ate lunch. I hung out with James because he hasn’t been at church the last couple weeks because he was so busy studying for his final examines. He was telling me that it takes him 2 hours to get here, and he leaves at 6:00am. It takes so much longer to get here because he takes the Taptap, and those stop all the time to let people on and off. But it is so awesome that he goes through all that just to come to church here. But lately the teams have been driving him home because it is so much faster, and better for him rather than taking 2 hours to get home, and it costs money too. It was so hard seeing Tori say goodbye to all of them because I know that that I am having to do the exact same thing in about 3 weeks.. So sad! 

Tuesday July 24, 2012

Some people from Global Outreach stopped by today. I asked hem about my foot and they said to come by tomorrow morning and they would take the stitches out, so I can finally be done with them! Praise the Lord! Today I did a lot for the elderly with Jess. First we got all the food ready. Monthly we deliver each of them a big bag of food with things like rice, flour, pasta, oil, fish, condensed milk, and beans. Also some laundry soap. We also deliver a meal to each of them a couple times a week, sometimes daily. So we got all the bags ready. Then we took about 15. Jonas who was with us, who speaks no english isnt the person who usually does the elderly so he didn’t know who lived where. Each of the bags had a name on it, saying who it was for. So we were making stops at peoples houses and we didnt even have their bag of food with us so we would have to go back later. Eventually we got down to about 5 and we went back to Grace Village to get the rest. We were moving along then one stop was in the market. Our nurse, who’s work ethic s lacking jumped out of the Kuboda and decided she needed her watch fixed, so we had to wait even longer. We got down to about 5 and Jonas said that Henry Claude would do the rest when he got there, so we went home. One of the places we stopped there was some guys sitting around. One said “Hey you” so I turned around and looked at him, and in the most joyful voice he said “I LOVE YOU!” I said, “well thank you”. Then he said “KISS ME!” and puckered his lips at me. I said “pita” which means later... everyone laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. But I was not going to kiss that guy!!