Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Rest of the Story

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!

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