July 1st, 2014 – 9:05 pm
I forgot to mention a bunch of things yesterday, so I’m
taking the opportunity to mention them now. First off, Rachel poured the
contents of her water bottle onto our driver. You see, when water gets left in
the bottle for too long, it actually gets really ridiculously hot, so we all
pour it out after a while if it’s too warm. She didn’t look before she dumped. Hilarious.
Also, I got a huge bruise trying to open our stupid door. Good stuff. Also, Ed
decided to sing along (as loud as humanly possible) to Frozen’s “Let It Go” on
one of the bus rides yesterday. Uhm, grown men shouldn’t have that on their
iPod to begin with, but the fact that he knew all the words and could belt it
out in front of all of us was just downright weird. Weird, but entertaining.
Gotta love Ed. And the last thing I forgot was about the third house we went
into yesterday. With the old man. I was the one that prayed for him, and oh my
goodness, he was so thankful for that. It was so cute. He gave me the tightest
handshake and actually held my hand as he walked me out the door and said
goodbye and thank you. It was so heartwarming. So on to today…
Seriously, it took three days, but the trip finally became
really fun – at least for me and Emi. It was surprisingly cooler today and we
finally got kid time. This morning started off with French toast. An obvious
sign of a great day. Then we got back on the King of the Roads and went to Source
Matelas to paint a house. It seemed like we drove forever before we got there.
We actually made it all the way to the ocean, where there were beautiful vines
full of pink flowers and all of the houses seemed put together and there were
no babies running around without clothes.
The house had four rooms – which in Haiti is pretty darn
amazing. It was definitely considered big when contrasted with the shacks
people live in all along the roads. Uhm, we painted the walls and the outside a
deep green and everything else was cream. We literally painted the entire house
in two and a half hours, which is apparently like record breaking time.
Kensington wins. Whaddup. Too cool.
Nothing really interesting happened besides music playing
and one particular Haitian man dancing and singing in a really high-pitched
voice. He was extremely entertaining. I kept trying to paint in his area so I
could watch and listen. OH! And Emi walked up a hill holding a little boy and
when she put him down, I happened to notice that one side of her chest was all
wet. We made jokes and finally decided that it must have been the child’s
sweat. Later however, she was complaining that she thought she smelled of urine…
Tami has been quoted saying that you haven’t really been to Haiti “until you’ve
gotten peed on.” Well, Emily has officially been to Haiti! After that, we
packed everything up and went back to Main Campus for lunch.
Lunch consisted of nasty little hot dog pieces (Collin
selflessly offered to eat all of mine) and lots of plantains. They were really
hot and tasted awesome. After lunch, we headed back to Source Matelas for more
painting. This time the house was brand new and was a Mission of Hope project.
We painted the walls pink and the trim white and finally, things
started getting more interesting. Of course, all the teenagers quickly deserted
their painting duties when the kids appeared. There were at least five of the
children. Two girls and three or four boys. They were the cutest things I have
ever seen.
There was also this boy, who was 11 years old, and I believe
his name was Valence. It was either Valence or Valdez. No one can understand
the Haitian accent… He was adorable, very talkative and knew a little English. He
counted to twenty with us, taught us how to do the same in creole and then
asked us how old we were. He like, made this hilarious shocked face when we
told him we were 18 and 19. It was adorable. He did the same with Emily –
apparently she looks much older for her age.
Another little boy sat with me for like fifteen minutes doing
magic tricks. He was adorable too. He had my trying to figure out which hand he
held a rock in after hiding it behind his back; he ‘magically’ made it
difficult for me to pull two rocks apart and he put the rocks in crazy
positions between his fingers. I loved him too, and kept trying to make him
laugh.
This is why I came back to Haiti. The kids make it all worth
it.
Emily and Beth taught Valence how to play ninja. He also had
a mini dance party against Ed, who showed off his weird ligament-less shoulder
blade dancing. Joe (who is my new friend crush) actually slipped into a well,
and then like three different people actually dismembered the spout…
Then we drove back to Main Campus after a very distressful goodbye.
Dinner was rice and random different sauces and cake, which was perfect,
because it was Susan Shoemaker’s birthday!
After dinner we had down time until church service at six,
which was just Haitian praise and worship for an hour and ten minutes. Haitians
were dancing, singing at the top of their lungs, Villarson was playing the
recorder just like last year, and one was even bowed down on his knees with his
forehead against the ground in surrender. Haitian church is pretty amazing,
even though you can’t understand anything.
Then we had team time at 8, meaning we had some more down
time. A group of us kids were chilling on the roof before that and I’ve never
laughed so hard. Joe became my friend crush, meaning that I want him to be my
friend, because he’s hilarious and absolutely awesome. Which, by the way, is
where this title came from. We were talking about how we lost the soccer game
(sorry, hopefully you knew that already) and complaining about how weird it is
that the players get their legs massaged, and their thighs jiggle, and then
AshLee freaked out about how gross it is. Yeah, so that’s that.
During team time, we shared stories from the day. Catherine
apparently got to know a kid on a really personal level yesterday and she saw
him today at church. Dale was impressed with the way the Haitians were so free
with their praise. And we finally started our group introductions.
A day or two ago, Tami gave us the homework to meet up with
another member of the group (that she paired you up with) and get to know them
so that you can introduce them to the group. Ryan and Daniel presented each
other; Collin and Dale did the same; and so did Susan Dare and Makenzie. It was
really cool to hear everyone’s stories told from the perspective of a different
member.
Anyways, it’s really late. I love you all, and I’d love to
tell you more detail… but it’s late. I need sleep.
Katie Coming to You from Haiti
So glad you guys are doing better. Also glad I have a nut case for a daughter ... you sure do make life entertaining. Enjoy everyone and make lots of friends and memories. How are the big creepy bugs this year? Love you.
ReplyDeleteHello, Katie from South Carolina. I'm Seth's grandmother, and I just found your blog! Thank you … you are a terrific writer. I have been reading all your trip posts for an hour, and just now finally get the 'on' and 'delay' title you created. Very clever. So, please know you are appreciated for sharing your days with us here at home. I do feel connected through your sharing. Please give a southern hug and 'hey' to Seth, Melissa and Ryan if you can. And, you are really living out God's work, your hands!
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