I am now onto week three here in Haiti. I had hoped to update more but life has been busy. There is a lot to cover so I will break it into sections.
Teaching
The first half of week one was hard. I knew I was unequipped but I really had no idea what I was doing and it seemed like the kids could tell. I quickly had another class added to my schedule as well. So I am teaching the 3 and 4 year olds English vocal and helping the preK with writing letters and numbers. That is why I came here. I am also teaching 4th grade reading now and 7th and 8th grade math. The 8th graders were further behind than we thought so instead of Pre-Algebra, they are doing basic 7th grade math again which makes planning easier for those two classes.
By the second half of the first week I felt like I was making progress with teaching. I was feeling more comfortable but it's a daily struggle to let God work through me, rather than me working for Him. There are challenges and each day is different but most of the kids are warming up to me. I am still trying to work out a preschool schedule and just when I think I have one, it changes. The challenge is that the only time I am available to go down there is usually when they are being served breakfast. So I just go with the flow which means some days it just doesn't work to teach down there.
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| 7th grade class taking a quiz |
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| the 7th graders drew a portrait of me |
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| Kids lining up by class in the morning |
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| 3 year old class during morning prayer |
Haiti Life
I have really enjoyed getting to know the other Americans here. There are two American families that live above the children's home which is a few gates up the street. There is also Katelyn who is the house mom up there. Here at the school, there are four of us women and David. Lucky guy gets to deal with all of us women and our moods!
Tammy is from Florida and has been here awhile but is leaving for good in about a week. Brittany is from Kentucky and teaches the special ed class. She arrived just before school stated in August. Ashleigh, who is from Alabama, has been here since the summer and teaches biology. David is from Alabama as well and has pretty much been here forever. He runs the clinic and takes care of us when we are sick or hurt. He also does many random things that need to be done here.
We try to get out on the weekends and have some fun. Usually Friday night we go to a restaurant called Kokoye. Then Saturday we head to the grocery store and usually grab lunch or dinner out. We don't have meals cooked here on weekends so we chip in and make things ourselves, eat out as cheap as we can, or eat whatever we have bought ourselves. It's been fun getting out around Port-au-Prince and learning to use the tap-taps and figuring out how much a gourde (pronounced without the r) is to the American dollar and trying to learn more creole.
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| My bed with mosquito net |
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| Making s'mores |
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| Walking to Cafe Rebo (Brittany, Ashleigh and Tammy) |
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| Cafe Rebo lunch |
Weather
It is hot. By the second weekend here, I was feeling like I was adjusting to the heat but then I came down with a cold. Being sick in almost 100 degree heat is not fun. My patience levels were very low and I was cranky. Now that I am feeling better, it's still hot and I sweat all the time, but I can tolerate it a little more.
The first week and a half I was here it would storm every night and cool things off but we haven't had rain in over a week. Last night at 7:30pm it was still 90 degrees! The late nights/early mornings are cooler though and I have even woken up cold a couple of mornings this last week. I am glad I have "cooler" weather while I am adjusting and it's not as hot as it was in June when I was here.
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| Rain moving in |
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| Storm coming over us |
The Children's Home
Brittany would often head up the street to the children's home in the afternoon/evenings. She would ask me every day if I wanted to go with her. I declined every night for one reason or another. There were legitimate reasons why i couldn't go but finally one night I asked her if I could go with her. A few of my students in my various classes live at the children's home and I wanted to get to know them more. We went up and it was overwhelming at first. One of the little boys, JW, who was only a little baby when I first came in March, wasn't so sure of me. He eventually let me hold him but it took a little while for him to warm up to me.
A few nights later I went up again and as soon as I walked over to the kids, JW came running towards me and reached up for me to pick him up. This was exactly what I needed after a hard day and it made my night!
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| JW at the Children's Home |
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| Katelyn with birthday cupcakes at the Children's Home |
Adjustment
After the first week here, I had felt like I had already been here a month. I adjusted quickly and felt comfortable. The second week it hit me that this isn't just a short term trip. The reality of living life here long term hit hard and I was homesick. I figured that might happen but it still caught me off guard. The homesick feelings come and go now but overall I feel so blessed that the Lord chose me to live here. There are moments I will go up to the roof and just take it all in. The sights of the Haitian people going about their business, the sounds of the roosters which are all day/night long, the churches giving praise via loudspeakers, the smells (some of which are not so pleasant), and the beauty of the sunsets. He chose me to experience this- something that most people will never see. It is pretty incredible.
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| view from the roof |
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| The sunsets will never get old... |
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| Each one is unique |
