I am home now but I thought I should finish my story of how the trip went. I was using my friend Debby’s computer and it seemed like everytime I had a chance to email, that was when my sister wanted to use the computer too and I got tired of “fighting” over it so I gave up and just let it go. Now I wish I hadn’t done that because I don’t know where I left off and I will probably miss some of the interesting details because I didn’t write this the same day! But it’s hard for me to concentrate to write when someone else is standing there waiting on the computer so it would have taken like forever to write anything anyway. So now I will try to continue….oh and I also don’t know where I left off writing because I am used to my emails being saved on my hard drive but other people’s computers don’t save their “sent” emails I guess so I have no way of retrieving what I sent so I can see what I sent last. So bear with me if I overlap.
One of the things I did miss was the decent driving here in PA. Yes, I actually am saying decent driving! Well, anything is decent compared to how they drive over there!!!!!!! Seriously the way they drive it is hard to believe there are not accidents left and right. They pass all the time and squeeze through where you are certain there is no room, like you are going to clip the mirrors off at best……but somehow they deftly come through without any damage! Insane! I guess you learn to drive like that cause everyone else does and you have to learn to survive. I guess it would take me twice as long to get places over there cause I’d be too timid to drive like that…….for a while anyway! And another thing I didn’t like was the constant beeping. In PA if you beep your horn it is because you are: A. Ticked off at someone, B. someone is sitting at a green light, C. Someone is pulling out in front of you and don’t see you coming, etc. But in the Dominican and Haiti they blow their horns more often than not, or so it seems! It is not out of anger, it is to let them know you are coming alongside of them so they keep driving straight! It is to make animals scat. It is to get pedestrians off the road because you WILL hit them if they are in the way! In general, it’s to let them know you are here! So noisy and some of the horns were LOUD. When we were shopping in the Haiti market on the second to last day of our trip, there were some vehicles that came right up behind us and laid on the horn and I’m telling you it hurt my ears badly! Happened a few times and made me want to scream in frustration! I was already on my last nerve because I can’t stand shopping in crowds. (And yet I’m one of those crazy ones that goes shopping on Black Friday). I think this market was as bad if not worse than a Black Friday back home! The aisles in the market were very narrow so if you were standing there looking at products there were constantly people trying to squeeze by and rudely bumping you in the process and suddenly someone with a cart would come by and you’d have to find a little niche somewhere to dive into out of the way because they stop for no one! Argh! That really got on my nerves, like let me alone for 5 blessed minutes so I can see what I wish to buy!!!! But once we were in the fabric side, it was a lot less congested and then it was almost humorous because all the merchants wanted us to come into their booths and see their fabrics. And they would rattle off a row in Creole and I didn’t know a word they said. We had a guy along who knew the language and he helped us barter for our fabric. Anyway I guess I’m not talking in the right order cause now I’m talking about the end of the trip but since I’m on the subject I will continue. The market was very smelly at some places, like smelly as in a sewer! There was a carpet of trash, and when I say carpet I am not exaggerating, you could not see the dirt at all in a lot of places! It was very gross to walk on and I was glad I had Crocs on and not thin sandals. Most of it was that way but the parts that weren’t, were mud puddles and so I missed looking at products when we first came because I had to watch my steps. Once we were farther, it was not as treacherous walking and I could look at what they were selling. It is a gigantic market.
Now backtracking in my story….we painted the entire outside of the church and the inside of it and the benches as well. I learned what painting is Dominican style. They mix kerosene with their paint! Here I grew up thinking that you use kerosene to get paint off of things….I mean we even cleaned our hands with kerosene to clean the paint! Yet they also mix it in to paint as a paint thinner, to make it reach farther! Makes no sense at all! But Pastor Kiko is renting the church and the landlord does not pay for the paint so that’s why he didn’t care so much how it was done. But he was much more picky with the benches, and I kinda gathered that the benches are his!
We watched Pastor Kiko have his first taste of licorice! His face was priceless! Yet he reached for another after that! He said it is like eating plastic! LOL!
I learned what cold showers are. You get used to them quickly and they actually feel very refreshing! Only on my way home did I realize how excited I was to get a hot shower! And it was hard to remember to not put toilet paper in the toilet! There is a trashcan for that and well, I would tell myself over and over as I entered the bathroom not to put it in the toilet but I guess my brain has a way of roving off to lala land even while I am chanting something else! I don’t know how many times I had to fish the toilet paper out.
The couple we stayed with was very hospitable and I really enjoyed them. They are German Baptist. I didn’t know what to expect but they are wonderful servants of God and the wife is definitely epitomizing the Prov. 31 woman! There were some issues going on and she was a good understanding listener but at the same time her words were guarded so as not to disgrace our Lord!
A funny thing is that I took a spoonrest for her as a host gift and wouldn’t you know I could not find it when I got there! I was so very frustrated cause I had it in my carryon and I was sure I had kept a hawk’s eye on it even while it went through the x-ray machine! I could not see when the airport security could have possibly taken it and I was really upset that they would do that and not tell me! I had some very resentful thoughts toward them because this spoonrest was a special one that is not available anymore and I wanted my host family to have it! Well, on the last day when I was in Haiti I was repacking my things and as I came across my crochet bag I felt something unusually hard. I almost passed it off as the pack of crocheting needles but decided I had better look cause it felt like more than that! Well, lo and behold, there was the spoon rest! I then remembered wrapping it in my afghan because I thought that would be the best padding! And I didn’t touch my crocheting stuff the entire time so that is why I never found it til the last day. That was pretty embarrassing and we all had a good laugh. I was just glad that I found it before I got back to PA. And, my sis had to point out all the nasty thoughts I had towards the airport people so I had to take all that back too! Oops! I should keep my mouth shut more, it would do me good!
The girls got their hair done in corn row braids and they begged me to do so but I declined because my hair is thin and tight things in the hair are bad for it. I didn’t want to lose hair just for the sake of corn rows.
We did some baking with neighborhood girls. That was fun! It made a full kitchen but it was fun. They loved cutting out the heart shaped cookies and rolling out the dough and decorating and icing them afterward.
We also went to a place that is an orphanage in progress. A missionary family lives there and they plan to run it. They already have a preschool running. It is a big complex and pretty comfy looking. Beautiful scenery and mountains around it. We helped them bake some Valentine cookies for the preschoolers.
The way animals roam is pretty cute. There are goats and dogs and chickens and cows just roaming all over the countryside. It’s cute and quaint and you have look out for animals when you are driving too!
We had fun using the wringer washer. But I am certain that it is harder on clothes than a regular washer would be. I didn’t wash some of my stuff just because of that. I think some of the things looked more worn/faded after going through that. Maybe it was my notion but I only washed what had to be washed and the rest waited til I got home. I like to have my dirty laundry in my check in luggage anyway to hopefully discourage the security to paw through it! I guess that is kinda mean, they are only doing their duty. But I just don’t appreciate when they dig through my stuff as they mess up my neat order of things and it’s just not a comfortable feeling to have someone digging through your personal items without you being present!
We went to a sandal lady one day. She had boxes of sandals of lotsa sizes that she takes to market. I found one pair that I “had” to buy. There was another one that was even prettier but she didn’t have my size. Some of their sandals are very narrow. I don’t wear wide, I wear regular but I really wonder how people wear some of their sandals with them being so narrow. 2 of my toes were falling off the edge on those!
One day we went to the river. It brought back memories of En Gedi Israel. It was not as vast or as beautiful but it was like a mini version of it. We saw some Haitians coming through the water with their donkeys loaded down with goods and the ladies were carrying things on their heads. They actually travel 3 hours to their homes so that makes 6 hours of walking in a day’s time just to bring their goods to sell at the market. Some were walking barefoot. Ouch! I can’t imagine but I guess that is the only life they know. They do what they can to make a living. Made me so thankful for my job. Would I be willing to travel that far to sell something? Hardly! I’m a spoiled American!
Well I think that is all I have for now. Probably as soon as I send this off I will think of more things I could have written but …….I guess I will close.
We got home on the 18th on a Thursday night around 7pm. No incidents on the way home, thankfully!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Feb. 7-9
Monday the 7th we got up early and went to the market nearby. Lots of veggies and fruits laid out on tarps that they are selling. Also some other things like piles of clothes and hair accessories. There was soap that supposedly they are well known for and the soap is called a miracle stain remover. So I hope to get that as I was looking for lestoil and had not found it yet in the states so this might be better and definitely less expensive. There were sacks of spices as well. There was fish laid out and also chicken. The couple we stay at, she bought some chicken and we watched the guy cut it up and put it in a bag for her. Thankfully, he cut the head off! LOL!
After market we went to the church and started painting. It is old barnwood type of wood, rough and a few places the termites destroyed so it just crumbles when you try to paint it. We are painting it cream. It is a dear little church though, and I never saw such a small church. Could pass for "the little country church in the wildwood" except there is no wildwood here! We got most of the inside done in a few hours. A person would go by with the roller and paint all the slatted wood and then the paint brushers would go by and fill in the cracks and crevices. We weren't at it long until we had a whole bunch of helpers! I caught onto it soon that whenever there's a missionary at the church, the little children from all around come to see what is happening and then they want to help! Only, they really got in the way and you try so hard not to get paint all over your clothes and the concrete floor but when you can't even turn around without bumping a child...well...it's just not convenient! I kept saying to my self, "Jesus would say 'suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not.' " But when we breaked for lunch and came back, not many came back to join us so I was grateful for that. Of course they had all wanted to help and kept stealing our brushes and paint if you only laid them down for 5 seconds! We got most of the inside done but then we ran out of paint. So we had to stop. The benches and window sills will be done another day as well as the outside of the building.
In the evening we did a doll craft with the girls. I think I will try it with the shelter girls when I get home. It's a cute yarn doll made out of used empty water bottles. You wrap yarn around the bottle for the clothes and put on some lace to make it look like a skirt. Then you are supposed to put on a wooden spoon head decorated with hair for the head but we are going to make clay heads for them. So they got the yarn put on MOnday night. The next time we work on them is Thursday night, we hope to finish them then.
Tuesday the 8th......we woke up at 7:30AM & went into town, actually crossed the border into Haiti as the one volunteer was taking her parents to the IFM base for their flight back. We hung around the base for awhile and then we toured the clinic. Made me thankful for our US hospitals! Seems like I would be able to work in a clinic/hospital like they have here and I would want someone smarter than me to work on me if I was sick! LOL! I'm sure they have a good doctor, it's just that the appearances of the hospital are very crude and simple. They have 54,000 files of people and that is all manually filed! Imagine! Someone commented that they need a computer and the guy in charge of the files chuckled and pointing to his head he said, "No my computer is right here!" They just have simple desks for a nurse's station and it really looks like someone having fun playing doctor! We toured the cholera tents and there were maybe 6 or so patients. They used to have all the rooms full as well as people lined in the hallways. They explained to us how it saps all the hydration a person has if they are not treated in time and they can die fast. They showed us the beds/cots and they had a hole cut out of the middle. That was because the people with cholera cannot control their diarrhea and they just put a bucket under each bed.
There was a line of people waiting to be seen by a doc. They sit on benches just waiting.
We also toured the orphanage which is really just a home with 6 children. One is handicapped and in a wheelchair. Her family has alot of children and didn't have the resources to care for her but they still love her and come visit her. There was a 7 month old baby that is being adopted by one of the volunteers. She is adorable. There were at least 2 little boys I saw there that were adorable as well. Why are black babies so much cuter than white ones? Well I guess there not, it's just that we don't see them as much so they are just more fun to look at since they are new to us!
We also toured a work site where they are building a house. And, we ate at the IFM base. A Haitian lady cooked us lunch and it was VERY good! It was rice with some kind of meat gravy kind of thing with beans. So tasty I wanted to eat more but got full fast. I am not drinking enough....I miss my ice cold water and the water at the mission was ice cold so I couldn't get done drinking that! If I thought I would lose weight on this trip.....ummm....that is a joke because I have gotten less picky of food over the years and everything so far was good so I ate alot.
When we headed back to the border to come "home" we had an interesting time. The road nearing the border is a narrow and bumpy (alot of their roads are paved then stones then paved then stones, etc.) and it winds by a huge body of water, a lake. They keep having to redo it (pile more stones on) because it keeps going underwater. They have a problem that the lake keeps coming higher and higher and covering things, they don't know why. Anyway so we wind around and pass everyone who is going slower than we want to go and honk our horn to let them know we are here! We finally made to the border and then we were stuck there for awhile. There were piles of trucks and all jam packed there and waiting for approval to be let through. None of it making any sense how they let these trucks block all the others and have a royal road block. Seriously, it's pathetic management. Then when they finally let some of the trucks go, you would still have to wait as all these other vehicles came 3 abreast just barreling on through, and some with literally only 3 hairs width in between them and the other vehicles! I would not be brave enough to steer like that!
Now we are back and getting ready for church tonight. Guess we will carry the benches outside for church as the inside stinks like paint.
Oh, and everyone but me climbed up on the roof from a long long ladder and they plan on sleeping there tonight. Not me! I would love to be up there but I hate ladders so badly!
Oh, and I ate some crab meat. They were doing crabs while we watched and they begged me to eat some so I did. Fresh crabs. Not too bad. I would eat them again if they are fresh like that.
Feb. 9, Today we painted the whole outside of the church. We painted it Dominican style! You put kerosene in your paint and make it really soupy so that is splatters and runs all over the place when you paint! It stretches it that way! You save yourself money! The inside we were able to paint regular but Pastor Kiko wanted the outside done Dominican style. They rent the building and would like a new building eventually so that was some of the reason for being sloppy I guess. The landlord does not pay for the paint. Oh, and if there are outlets or wiring for the lights, you just paint under and around them and who cares if you get paint on them!
I forgot to mention in yesterday's email that they also grow sugarcane as a crop. We went by a pickup load of sugarcane and the guys handed a stalk over to us to eat. Reminded me of when I was in Panama we got to try some when we visited a sugarcane farm.
We painted til lunch time then came home and ate lunch and then made heads for a craft we had started with the girls Monday night. They have girl's night Monday and Thursday nights. Remember the yarn dolls I talked about before? An empty water bottle that you wrap yarn around? Well you are supposed to put a wooden spoon in them for the head but we didn't have any so we made clay heads out of homemade playdough and baked them. Then we drew faces on them and put a clear coating on them. Next we made yarn wigs and glued them on the heads. We made 23 of them. So it took most of the afternoon. Then time for shower and off to the church to do the craft. The girls loved them! Sadly though, a few of the heads broke and some extra girls came too that weren't with us the first night and that caused us to not have enough heads. So some girls have a headless doll! It was chaotic. I want to do this craft with my girls in at the shelter. I am thankful for the order the staff keeps in there because these girls here are everywhere. I mean everywhere and they get loud and if you are trying to hand things up they all want to mob you to make sure they get something. For me it was a challenge also because they would come up to me and say something in rapid Spanish and I didn't pick up enough of words to understand what they were saying.
That pretty much sums up the day. Tomorrow we will paint the church benches and the windows and doors. I don't know what we will do the rest of the day but I'm sure we will do something fun. We just got done playing a game of Skip-bo and got so silly that we quit and came to bed. So we are making memories.
After market we went to the church and started painting. It is old barnwood type of wood, rough and a few places the termites destroyed so it just crumbles when you try to paint it. We are painting it cream. It is a dear little church though, and I never saw such a small church. Could pass for "the little country church in the wildwood" except there is no wildwood here! We got most of the inside done in a few hours. A person would go by with the roller and paint all the slatted wood and then the paint brushers would go by and fill in the cracks and crevices. We weren't at it long until we had a whole bunch of helpers! I caught onto it soon that whenever there's a missionary at the church, the little children from all around come to see what is happening and then they want to help! Only, they really got in the way and you try so hard not to get paint all over your clothes and the concrete floor but when you can't even turn around without bumping a child...well...it's just not convenient! I kept saying to my self, "Jesus would say 'suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not.' " But when we breaked for lunch and came back, not many came back to join us so I was grateful for that. Of course they had all wanted to help and kept stealing our brushes and paint if you only laid them down for 5 seconds! We got most of the inside done but then we ran out of paint. So we had to stop. The benches and window sills will be done another day as well as the outside of the building.
In the evening we did a doll craft with the girls. I think I will try it with the shelter girls when I get home. It's a cute yarn doll made out of used empty water bottles. You wrap yarn around the bottle for the clothes and put on some lace to make it look like a skirt. Then you are supposed to put on a wooden spoon head decorated with hair for the head but we are going to make clay heads for them. So they got the yarn put on MOnday night. The next time we work on them is Thursday night, we hope to finish them then.
Tuesday the 8th......we woke up at 7:30AM & went into town, actually crossed the border into Haiti as the one volunteer was taking her parents to the IFM base for their flight back. We hung around the base for awhile and then we toured the clinic. Made me thankful for our US hospitals! Seems like I would be able to work in a clinic/hospital like they have here and I would want someone smarter than me to work on me if I was sick! LOL! I'm sure they have a good doctor, it's just that the appearances of the hospital are very crude and simple. They have 54,000 files of people and that is all manually filed! Imagine! Someone commented that they need a computer and the guy in charge of the files chuckled and pointing to his head he said, "No my computer is right here!" They just have simple desks for a nurse's station and it really looks like someone having fun playing doctor! We toured the cholera tents and there were maybe 6 or so patients. They used to have all the rooms full as well as people lined in the hallways. They explained to us how it saps all the hydration a person has if they are not treated in time and they can die fast. They showed us the beds/cots and they had a hole cut out of the middle. That was because the people with cholera cannot control their diarrhea and they just put a bucket under each bed.
There was a line of people waiting to be seen by a doc. They sit on benches just waiting.
We also toured the orphanage which is really just a home with 6 children. One is handicapped and in a wheelchair. Her family has alot of children and didn't have the resources to care for her but they still love her and come visit her. There was a 7 month old baby that is being adopted by one of the volunteers. She is adorable. There were at least 2 little boys I saw there that were adorable as well. Why are black babies so much cuter than white ones? Well I guess there not, it's just that we don't see them as much so they are just more fun to look at since they are new to us!
We also toured a work site where they are building a house. And, we ate at the IFM base. A Haitian lady cooked us lunch and it was VERY good! It was rice with some kind of meat gravy kind of thing with beans. So tasty I wanted to eat more but got full fast. I am not drinking enough....I miss my ice cold water and the water at the mission was ice cold so I couldn't get done drinking that! If I thought I would lose weight on this trip.....ummm....that is a joke because I have gotten less picky of food over the years and everything so far was good so I ate alot.
When we headed back to the border to come "home" we had an interesting time. The road nearing the border is a narrow and bumpy (alot of their roads are paved then stones then paved then stones, etc.) and it winds by a huge body of water, a lake. They keep having to redo it (pile more stones on) because it keeps going underwater. They have a problem that the lake keeps coming higher and higher and covering things, they don't know why. Anyway so we wind around and pass everyone who is going slower than we want to go and honk our horn to let them know we are here! We finally made to the border and then we were stuck there for awhile. There were piles of trucks and all jam packed there and waiting for approval to be let through. None of it making any sense how they let these trucks block all the others and have a royal road block. Seriously, it's pathetic management. Then when they finally let some of the trucks go, you would still have to wait as all these other vehicles came 3 abreast just barreling on through, and some with literally only 3 hairs width in between them and the other vehicles! I would not be brave enough to steer like that!
Now we are back and getting ready for church tonight. Guess we will carry the benches outside for church as the inside stinks like paint.
Oh, and everyone but me climbed up on the roof from a long long ladder and they plan on sleeping there tonight. Not me! I would love to be up there but I hate ladders so badly!
Oh, and I ate some crab meat. They were doing crabs while we watched and they begged me to eat some so I did. Fresh crabs. Not too bad. I would eat them again if they are fresh like that.
Feb. 9, Today we painted the whole outside of the church. We painted it Dominican style! You put kerosene in your paint and make it really soupy so that is splatters and runs all over the place when you paint! It stretches it that way! You save yourself money! The inside we were able to paint regular but Pastor Kiko wanted the outside done Dominican style. They rent the building and would like a new building eventually so that was some of the reason for being sloppy I guess. The landlord does not pay for the paint. Oh, and if there are outlets or wiring for the lights, you just paint under and around them and who cares if you get paint on them!
I forgot to mention in yesterday's email that they also grow sugarcane as a crop. We went by a pickup load of sugarcane and the guys handed a stalk over to us to eat. Reminded me of when I was in Panama we got to try some when we visited a sugarcane farm.
We painted til lunch time then came home and ate lunch and then made heads for a craft we had started with the girls Monday night. They have girl's night Monday and Thursday nights. Remember the yarn dolls I talked about before? An empty water bottle that you wrap yarn around? Well you are supposed to put a wooden spoon in them for the head but we didn't have any so we made clay heads out of homemade playdough and baked them. Then we drew faces on them and put a clear coating on them. Next we made yarn wigs and glued them on the heads. We made 23 of them. So it took most of the afternoon. Then time for shower and off to the church to do the craft. The girls loved them! Sadly though, a few of the heads broke and some extra girls came too that weren't with us the first night and that caused us to not have enough heads. So some girls have a headless doll! It was chaotic. I want to do this craft with my girls in at the shelter. I am thankful for the order the staff keeps in there because these girls here are everywhere. I mean everywhere and they get loud and if you are trying to hand things up they all want to mob you to make sure they get something. For me it was a challenge also because they would come up to me and say something in rapid Spanish and I didn't pick up enough of words to understand what they were saying.
That pretty much sums up the day. Tomorrow we will paint the church benches and the windows and doors. I don't know what we will do the rest of the day but I'm sure we will do something fun. We just got done playing a game of Skip-bo and got so silly that we quit and came to bed. So we are making memories.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Feb. 5 & 6 Haiti & Dominican Republic
Well, we started out with icy roads Saturday morning! They were pretty much a sheet of ice in some places! I was so happy I did not have to drive on them. Sharon Martin had the fartherest to drive and we ended up picking her up in the Kmart parking lot because she could not drive up the hill. It was nasty stuff. So we started quite a bit later than we planned and then we met up with lots of other folks who were scared to drive and some just stopped right there in their lane and held up the traffic behind them! So we were late late LATE! Of course the traffic jams didn't help the situation and we were all thankful for my dad who was clever enough to maneuver down the middle yellow line to pass all the petrified people up. He is a good driver and got us safely to the airport and I'm sure there were angels looking out for us as well. I did not know that sometimes they change carriers if you have a layover on your flight. All the times I've flown local and international, it was just one carrier. So I had glanced at my itinerary and saw American Airlines and told Dad confidentally to drop us off there at that gate. So he did and we were just like 25 min. before flight time....and of course needed to go through security and check in yet. We were nervous, knowing that you are supposed to be there 1.5 hours ahead of time, not 25 minutes! I was so sure we would miss our flight. Anyway, so we walk up to the counter expectantly hoping to shove through as fast as possible. Well, the attendant kindly informed us after looking at our agenda that we are starting out US AIRWAYS, not American Airlines! We were not to get American Airlines til we get to Ft. Lauderdale Florida! AAAAAGH! So we ran as fast as we could with our big klutzy suitcases, 3 each! You know it's not very convenient to run with all that stuff! But it was just one gate down so we ran in the rain. The lady said we might want to wait on a shuttle but we were outta there like lightening! We didn't want to miss our flight! So we found the correct counter finally and then while they were trying to check us in the computer shut them out because the cut off time was right then, we were too late. I didn't see it but my sis said they as much as rolled their eyes and mumbled "interesting". Apparently they were not impressed with us but they kindly overroded the computers and send us through miraculously fast! Also, because I had been looking at American Airlines online I had seen we do not have to pay for luggage check-ins. Well, US Airways charges so we paid $60 for checking in our luggage. We were peeved, especiall me because the girls were not expecting this and I was kinda in charge so I felt responsible. We were at the tale end of the line of people at the gate, 15 minutes before flight time. However once we were in the plane, because of the icy runway...I guess, or maybe it was just the weather making the flight time behind schedule but anyway we sat there 51 minutes because we were number 12 in line for takeoff. Well, I wasn't too concerned, just relieved to be on there in time. The flight went well once we were up. It was fun to be with my sister on her first flight. To see her enjoy being above the clouds and experience how it feels for takeoff and landing. It was noneventful which was fine with me.
We landed in FT. Lauderdale exactly the time we were supposed to be ascending in our next plane. I did not feel like even trying to run because I was sure we would not make it. They board 20 minutes before flight time and certainly by flight time the doors are closed. But we ran anyway and it was set up different there than some airports so we went in some circles, retracing some steps and finally finding the right place....only to find out our hunch was correct, too late. The best they could do was give us a flight for 6:45 Sunday morning. I tried to see what they could do for a hotel for us since they made us late and they said it was weather and they won't take the blame for it, it's our baby to rock! However they gave us a number to call for a discount and we got a room for $99 with 2 double beds. It was a nice hotel with a pool. We weren't too upset because hey it's adventure and at least it as that cheap. $25 per person isn't bad. We used the pool and went to a cute Italian restaurant. We enjoyed a pizza.
We had to get up at 3:45AM then to get our next flight but we still got 7 hours of sleep as we went to bed early! We wanted to be there in plenty of time and we were. Security wasn't too bad. We had had to claim all our bags instead of having them go straight to Haiti so we had to check them all in again to go to Haiti with us. In other words, they did not go on ahead of us.
And, while there I either had my camera stolen or lost, not sure which. I had it in the case and hung on my shoulder and within 10 min of it being gone, I knew it. I asked everywhere I could think of and retraced my steps which was a very small area and it was nowhere. THe strap is very thin and would have been a piece of cake for someone to snip it and take it without me knowing it. So I dunno what happened. The camera is 4.5 years old and outdated in the camera world so it's not a huge loss but I really liked it, it still printed out very good pictures and I was not planning to get a new camera anytime soon. So I was not devastated but at the same time I love photography and was pretty sad not to take my own pics. I see things that are unique that others would not see because they are not me. LOL! So I was looking at the disposeable cameras but they only do 27 pics and I usually do 600-800 pics on a trip so I wasn't sure what to do. Also I know that those kind of cameras are not very good. So, while I was trying to decide someone spotted a Best Buys station with a camera identical to the one I lost, only it's an upgrade. The price was not insane either so I quickly bought it and a memory card as well. So I was grateful to God for that! I hope I can hang onto this one now and not lose it or ruin it. ANd I will be sure to call the airport and see if they found it later. I do want it back! It had several memory cards and an extra battery.
Our flight to Haiti was uneventful as well. We all agreed we like American Airlines much better than US Airways. I had never flown US Airways before and I noticed that they only give you drinks, not snacks and they don't give you the whole can, only a cup of liquid and all in all they are not as accomating as other airlines. AA gives snacks and a whole can of drink and they are so friendly and when in the plane they tell us BEFORE they start descending so that we know what's happening when we start plummeting and they tell us the altitude and all that jazz. The other airline didn't tell us as much and they told us they are descending after they were already doing it!
Debbie and a guy from the mission were waiting on us. We hopped into the back of the truck. Away we went, and I mean AWAY we went! LOL! There are no speed limits here and they drive as fast as they can handle it to get where they want to go fast! So forget the neat hair and plan on dust ALL over you because when we finally got to wash our faces, there were little rivulets of black on our faces. It was great, standing up on the back of the truck and flying so fast that you felt as if the Rapture could happen any second and spiral you on up to meet Jesus! And, flying so fast at times you felt like you could not get your breath either. The scenery was pretty, lots of mountains and a huge lake and lots of greenery and banana trees and lotsa tap-taps which are brightly colored contraptions to all things and people. People ride on top of vehicles some and ladies carry things on their heads. It was interesting trying to get pictures of everything real fast before the moment is gone. I wonder how many of my pics will get because we were flying so fast!
We briefly saw the Clinic then. Drove by it. We ate lunch at the IFM base and then piled approx. 25 people in the back of the truck because there were guys what needed to go along to the Dominican Republic. Another hair flying trip with dodging other vehicles on the road! We finally crossed the border and got to see where Debbie lives. We will be staying with her. There is a German Baptist couple who lives here. They are very nice people. Debbie has her own nice room. She will be here for at least 6 months. She came in January.
Tomorrow we will start painting the church. Debbie says we will learn to be flexible. You never know what a day holds and don't plan too much because you take it as it comes. We will not be helping in the orphanage after all. They only have 5 or 6 children. The clinic doesn't have many cholera patients anymore either, like currently only 5. So I don't know what all we will be doing, gotta take it as it comes.
We will have church every day except one day. Often girls church. Speaking of church, I must go get ready! It's time to soon go!
We landed in FT. Lauderdale exactly the time we were supposed to be ascending in our next plane. I did not feel like even trying to run because I was sure we would not make it. They board 20 minutes before flight time and certainly by flight time the doors are closed. But we ran anyway and it was set up different there than some airports so we went in some circles, retracing some steps and finally finding the right place....only to find out our hunch was correct, too late. The best they could do was give us a flight for 6:45 Sunday morning. I tried to see what they could do for a hotel for us since they made us late and they said it was weather and they won't take the blame for it, it's our baby to rock! However they gave us a number to call for a discount and we got a room for $99 with 2 double beds. It was a nice hotel with a pool. We weren't too upset because hey it's adventure and at least it as that cheap. $25 per person isn't bad. We used the pool and went to a cute Italian restaurant. We enjoyed a pizza.
We had to get up at 3:45AM then to get our next flight but we still got 7 hours of sleep as we went to bed early! We wanted to be there in plenty of time and we were. Security wasn't too bad. We had had to claim all our bags instead of having them go straight to Haiti so we had to check them all in again to go to Haiti with us. In other words, they did not go on ahead of us.
And, while there I either had my camera stolen or lost, not sure which. I had it in the case and hung on my shoulder and within 10 min of it being gone, I knew it. I asked everywhere I could think of and retraced my steps which was a very small area and it was nowhere. THe strap is very thin and would have been a piece of cake for someone to snip it and take it without me knowing it. So I dunno what happened. The camera is 4.5 years old and outdated in the camera world so it's not a huge loss but I really liked it, it still printed out very good pictures and I was not planning to get a new camera anytime soon. So I was not devastated but at the same time I love photography and was pretty sad not to take my own pics. I see things that are unique that others would not see because they are not me. LOL! So I was looking at the disposeable cameras but they only do 27 pics and I usually do 600-800 pics on a trip so I wasn't sure what to do. Also I know that those kind of cameras are not very good. So, while I was trying to decide someone spotted a Best Buys station with a camera identical to the one I lost, only it's an upgrade. The price was not insane either so I quickly bought it and a memory card as well. So I was grateful to God for that! I hope I can hang onto this one now and not lose it or ruin it. ANd I will be sure to call the airport and see if they found it later. I do want it back! It had several memory cards and an extra battery.
Our flight to Haiti was uneventful as well. We all agreed we like American Airlines much better than US Airways. I had never flown US Airways before and I noticed that they only give you drinks, not snacks and they don't give you the whole can, only a cup of liquid and all in all they are not as accomating as other airlines. AA gives snacks and a whole can of drink and they are so friendly and when in the plane they tell us BEFORE they start descending so that we know what's happening when we start plummeting and they tell us the altitude and all that jazz. The other airline didn't tell us as much and they told us they are descending after they were already doing it!
Debbie and a guy from the mission were waiting on us. We hopped into the back of the truck. Away we went, and I mean AWAY we went! LOL! There are no speed limits here and they drive as fast as they can handle it to get where they want to go fast! So forget the neat hair and plan on dust ALL over you because when we finally got to wash our faces, there were little rivulets of black on our faces. It was great, standing up on the back of the truck and flying so fast that you felt as if the Rapture could happen any second and spiral you on up to meet Jesus! And, flying so fast at times you felt like you could not get your breath either. The scenery was pretty, lots of mountains and a huge lake and lots of greenery and banana trees and lotsa tap-taps which are brightly colored contraptions to all things and people. People ride on top of vehicles some and ladies carry things on their heads. It was interesting trying to get pictures of everything real fast before the moment is gone. I wonder how many of my pics will get because we were flying so fast!
We briefly saw the Clinic then. Drove by it. We ate lunch at the IFM base and then piled approx. 25 people in the back of the truck because there were guys what needed to go along to the Dominican Republic. Another hair flying trip with dodging other vehicles on the road! We finally crossed the border and got to see where Debbie lives. We will be staying with her. There is a German Baptist couple who lives here. They are very nice people. Debbie has her own nice room. She will be here for at least 6 months. She came in January.
Tomorrow we will start painting the church. Debbie says we will learn to be flexible. You never know what a day holds and don't plan too much because you take it as it comes. We will not be helping in the orphanage after all. They only have 5 or 6 children. The clinic doesn't have many cholera patients anymore either, like currently only 5. So I don't know what all we will be doing, gotta take it as it comes.
We will have church every day except one day. Often girls church. Speaking of church, I must go get ready! It's time to soon go!
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