Loving every minute of Haiti

Day 2 – April 06, 2010

Just woke up with Jeanne this morning. We are sitting on our beautiful patio listening to the sound of dogs and roosters. When I was young, my parents had told me that the roosters were getting up around 5am. I believe them now. The dogs, I feel that we are at the SPCA. The barking has not stopped all night. I guess it’s just like living on a farm hours. Something I had not experienced before.

Jeanne and I woke up at the same time, we went downstairs and Nikki had prepared all the blows and cereal for us. She said she will cook us a good breakfast by Wed. They just moved in as well and are not stocked with groceries yet. They had warned u s not to drink the milk if it was not pasteurized but we checked in the Fridge and it was grocery store milk. I think we’ll be safe.

Jeanne said yesterday that she sort of felt ashamed of where we are staying because in our mines, we were supposed to be living with almost nothing because we were in Haiti, not in the DR. We are staying at a 3 ½ to a 4 star resort. The only thing that ticked me off was the bathtub. The water does not drown properly and the water stays in the tub. I’ve experienced that before in Canada so this is not something that I will complain about. We can take a shower ever day so I am extremely grateful for that.

I am really looking forward to leave the guest house and start working with the children. I will blog when I get back tonight.

Yes so I am back from a day’s work at GLA. Before we left for work, I had 2 cups of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal. Nikki and her children, Bailey, Kylie and baby boy were up having breakfast. The oldest one was starting school today. She was all excited. They only arrived back from the US on Saturday. They are adjusting as well. We had to walk to the toddler house to catch our ride to the O. We got there and the kids were all happy to see us. It’s just a wonderful feeling. I haven’t seen so many kids together all getting along. When we got to the Main House (Orphanage), we were assigned children. All day, we went to see the nannies, asked them of a child and we would go up on the patio and play with them. After an hour passed, we returned the child and got another one. As soon as you walk in the nursery, they all run at us and hold their hands up. We are not working at all; all we do is play and eat. Me being the picky eater and being vegetarian, I can always find something delicious to eat.

Today I got to know some of the other volunteers a little more. Yesterday was just too overwhelming. I felt like a new kid in town and benign in my new classroom for the first time meeting new faces. One girl is 19 years old. She has been there over a month and is planning on staying there till the end of May. Angela from BC is very nice. She is leaving next week. There’s a guy that came all the way from Australia. 2 ladies from France arrived today as well. They are here to go sign papers in front of the judge for their adoption. They played all day with their children. It was there first time meeting them. It was so special.

After lunch, we emptied all our suitcases that had the donations. We laid it all on the table for the workers to come and put it away. They were extremely thankful. With everything going on, I completely forgot to give the money donation to Dixie. By the time I went to look for her she was already in her apartment. I will make sure to go see her tomorrow.

After super, Joyce drove us back to the guest house along with the 2 French ladies. Nikki and her husband were home to great us along with their beautiful children. We spend the evening on the balcony playing with them. They are a terrific family. We discovered that we might be related with them. Joyce is from Louisiana and she has relatives that are LeBlanc, Landry and Cormier. It’s such a small world. Brandon, Nikki’s husband will be doing the bible study tomorrow after supper. The minister that usually does it has gone to the states.

This was our first official day and words and pictures cannot describe how good it feels to be here. I can honestly say that I feel comfortable and could call this home. If I could bring Victor, Renée, Sam, George and Sponge along, I think it would be good. I’d have to ask Nicole if she feels the same, but she seems to be having a good time as well. Daniel is just a natural with the kids. They all love him. Tonight at the guest house, he was showing Bailey and Kyla, Nikki and Brandon’s daughters how to do Yoga. It was hilarious.

Well its 8:30 pm. I am going to read a bit and then go to bed. We are on the children’s schedule. We are all tired and need to rest up for another day at GLA.