Not so cynical how bout?

                Okay, so I read some of what I’ve been writing and thought, “Wow, I’m being very cynical”.  So I decided to write about all the things I love about Haiti.  The first is the sun, obviously.  I don’t have to sleep as much because there is so much more light, I have way more energy.  Some of you know that I have a problem with depression sometimes, ok a lot.  I haven’t had to deal with it once down here, I let things get to me and make me upset but I don’t get depressed.  I know that has to do with the amount of light.  Even when I'm sick (like at the moment) unless I’m dehydrated I feel 100% more healthy than I do at home.  My fingernails actually grow and look good.  This is the first time in my life that I’ve had beautiful nails that are all the same length and are long; they aren’t always peeling and falling apart. Beth told me that was also because of the Vitamin D.

                 I love how the sunrise wakes me up at 5:30 on my balcony, I usually go back to sleep for another hour, but I usually watch it for a while.  I love how the birds here are so different sounding and there is always a new one to wonder about.  I can never figure out what sound goes to what bird.  There are pigeons here and they are so pretty.  None of them are the same color.  I love that I can walk into our court and smell lilacs.  There is a tree here that smells exactly the same as a lilac; it has pick flowers that sort of look like roses.

                When I was teaching the kids in my group English they were all engaged and wanted to learn.  They soaked it in.  There were some that had a really hard time but you could tell they were trying their hardest.  I was shocked at how fast a few of them caught on.  That was a very encouraging four days.  I’ve gotten so much better at working with kids. I was hoping that would be something I’d learn here.  Haitian kids are way different than kids in the USA though, so I don’t trust my skills here with the kids at home. We’ll see how that works.

                There is a house behind our house that’s wall fell over in the quake.  The man who owns the house lives in the states.  He came back and hired some guys and they rebuilt the wall.  I got to watch them work when we walked by taking the kids home.  I told the guys “bon travy” good work, and “li bell” it’s beautiful.  It was wonderful to see people working.  I’ve seen a few groups of men with sledge hammers breaking up the rubble of fallen houses.  There was a whole group of street sweepers sweeping dust off an already clean road.  I didn’t quite see the point, but so what they were getting stuff done.  

                I love how you can go to the store and find sourpatch kids occasionally.  I found out that they do have stores btw.  I never saw one the last time I came so I assumed there weren’t any.  They even have an equivalent to Costco, granted it smells like rotting produce but hey, its air conditioned.  O yeah, the only time I experience air conditioning is in stores.  But then it’s almost too cold so I don’t really mind not having it. 

                I love that the rats here are cute; never thought that about rodents at home. 

                I love that I can learn things here without paying an arm and a leg for school.  I love that if I had a dental emergency it would cost half as much here.  I love that I can get tested for malaria for free, or get an IV if I absolutely need one.  If I’m sick I’d much rather be here cuz I don’t have to feel guilty for paying an astronomical amount of money. 

I love how we have a pool and can go swimming whenever we want.  Don’t have that at home.  I Love how all of my showers are freezing cold, it’s very refreshing.  The one warm shower I had I wished it was cold.  I love how I don’t need as much food here to function at the same level at home. 

I love driving here.  Driving at home is completely boring.  I think that will be the biggest shock when I go back.  There are no speed limits, or no one knows what they are. There is so much traffic though you don’t usually go over forty in the city.  No one wears seat belts (that’s probably not a good thing) but it makes things more interesting, we mostly don’t were them cuz most of them don’t work.   Your horn is a massive necessity and is used often.  Passing people on the left is totally ok.  If you get in a fender bender no one cares.  You drive here, you expect to beat up your car; it’s like bumper cars, with a little more avoidance.  It’s great. We regularly shove 10 people in a 7 sweater and have gotten up to 17. We will be taking at least 11 I think tomorrow to the sunrise service on the mountain. 

There are a bunch of other great things about Haiti but I should probably go do something more productive.