So I have tried to write this blog post multiple times. Like a whole lot of multiple times. Clearly though, I  have inexplicably never managed to be successful. I refuse further failure.

Anyway, back about 2 months ago, I wanted to write a ’6 months in Haiti post’, in which I had all sorts of grandiose intentions to write about what I’ve learned and how things are going, supported, of course,  by a whole bunch of amazing photos.

But then I never wrote it.

Basically, Emily intervened (by not showing up. See prior posts for further details), and then I went on holiday, and then I came back from Europe to discover that almost everything in my little life here had sort of drastically changed (mmmm, excuses…).

But yeah, I’m still catching my breath from it all.

And NOW we’re going on about 8 months. So apparently I’m just being a baby, which is totally unacceptable. Its just that I’m not sure there’s much to say…

I went on a lovely/desperately needed trip home to Geneva (still weird that Geneva would be ‘home’ to me), in which I spent a lot of time playing with a couple of fuzzy monsters that I  missed x 1,000,000, being gloriously mosquito-bite free, packing up my things for movings, walking as much as possible (SUCH a luxury), frolicking in the sunshine  at the lake, and drinking mojitos with friends.  The weather was beautiful (although a bit cold for me now that I’m officially an islander), and my sanity needed the break.

The Large One= content

The Small One is handsome though not enjoying the paparazzi.

Another beautiful day at the lake

Hanging out at Geneve Plage

At the HR Giger cafe in Gruyeres before heading to the museum

Excited for some Alien-ness (It was super amazing)!

Can I just say that visiting the Cailler chocolate factory = good/the best decision-making?

SUSHIS! It may look like we could never possibly finish that much. However...

...The sushis were conquered!

Hanging out at the park

I think this was at 'going away party number 2.' There were 3.... I just. wouldn't. leave!

The Large One, attempting to pack himself into my suitcase.... I miss them.

Unfortunately, however, part-way through my trip, The Canadian came to find out that his contract wasn’t going to be extended as planned. He ended up leaving before I came back (sniff)  (and I should also mention that this was partly due to the fact that my trip was extended for both personal and unavoidable reasons- think Irene cancelling all flights to New York…), as did a good portion of my friends in my little town.

The Canadian relaxing at the beach before I left.

So, needless to say, my homecoming has been a bit bewildering and quite an adjustment. The Canadian, who has been my colleague, my housemate, and my best friend since we both arrived here is gone, and its suddenly very strange not to have the person you are used to being around 96.7% of the time, well you know, around. I no longer have someone in which I can recount all the funny, boring, ridiculous, and obnoxious details of my life to, regardless of any actual interest level in what I have to say (yes, sir, I really must thank you for pretending to listen). I have no one to ‘cook meals with’ (i.e. make coffee or watch him heat up the food that the maid made for lunch), and I also do not appreciate watching True Blood alone. Not as awesome (though still amazing). Nope. Also, when the power goes out after 4 days of both self-imposed and forced confinement in the house with nothing to do, I have no one to go adventuring, play scrabble, or rant with. It is disappointing, and not so much fun. Fact.

Also, work has become more difficult. The staff has been changed out yet again (while I was gone), so I’ve been trying desperately to catch up on old things, finish projects, train someone in a job that I have never done nor know how to do, and meet the regular demands of my work. Its hard for people to keep changing around without handovers, and things are getting a bit messy and frustrating (plus, why do new people never seem to understand that its best not to speak to me for the first full hour of work? Ummm, yeah, I’m not exactly a morning person, per se…).

To top it all off, I’ve spent the last few weeks of my life moving. It starting with the packing of boxes in Geneva, but since coming back, I have moved offices (screw you non-functioning air conditioner!), moved apartments (or rather, was moved. Literally. I came home and unlocked my door to find that everything inside was gone. Luckily I had access to the keys to the other place. I didn’t know I was moving), and moved stock out of the storeroom at the old apartment.

I don’t want to move any more. Like Ever.

My new place is awesome though. Its in the same building, and still a loft, but its just one bedroom. Despite never having really lived alone for any significant period in my life, I really like being there. It has a lot of light and the size and shape of the place just works for me. It’s a bit noisier than the last place, but somehow I don’t mind so much. I actually was quite content to hole up there for a few days, quietly hiding myself away from the world (this rarely signifies a positive thing for me). The cat has had a hard time adjusting though, but he’s surviving, and is still quite decidedly the most spoiled kitten in this entire country.

Jac Jac prior to being moved. This is what happiness looks like. And yes, those are my stripey socks.

The new place. Not a great photo, but it's amazing.

I should point out that its not that things are oh-so-bad here. I still live in a sleepy little town overlooking the beautiful Caribbean sea, full of artists, and good people (however, I would suggest that the variety of music could be drastically improved upon). There’s some adjustments to be made and some new challenges to overcome, but in the end, I don’t think I’ll be too bad off. Hopefully.

Rainy days at the beach

Drinking beer and watching the rain pass

The next step? Well, figure out what that’s supposed to be… And then train the friends I have left to pick up the slack that The Canadian and other people’s departures have left. I have confidence in them… If they would just get back from holiday!

Prestige, lobster, scrabble, and sun

Yeah, we don't have it so bad...

There really isn’t much to say.

Basically Emily just never showed up. She said she was coming (invited herself over I might add), we got all dressed up and rolled out the red carpet, and then, what do you know, the bitch never shows up.

I mean, it was a big relief in many ways (well, in pretty much all ways when you think about it), but yeah, she could have given some warning or something. Whatever, I’m over it.

Anyway, in the end, we spent the day of Emily’s impending arrival at work, waiting for disaster to strike in order to offer a swift and appropriate response.

What we ended up doing in the end was a lot of this:

Catching up on a little True Blood during a break in all the action.

And hey, no judging. We were like 48 hours into office time at this point, and most everyone else was doing this exact same thing. From the comfort of their own homes. We’d done the prep work. We were just in the hurry up and wait phase of things.

Then there was a short period of time in which we thought Emily was actually about to show up.

Is she coming?

But then she didn’t. So we went back to our previously captivating work.

False alarm. Back to looking like zombies.

And that’s about all there is to tell (thankfully). There was some minimum damage here and there on some people’s tents, etc, and a bit of flooding in the rivers, but all in all Emily’s non-arrival passed uneventfully, so we went home, had dinner, and got to sleep in our own beds. It was nice.

]]> http://etiennefishes.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/emily-bails-on-us-the-nonadventures-of-tropical-storm-emily-part-3/feed/ 0 etiennefish Catching up on a little True Blood during a break Is she coming? False alarm http://etiennefishes.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/tropical-storm-emily-the-adventures-continue-part-2/ http://etiennefishes.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/tropical-storm-emily-the-adventures-continue-part-2/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:38:52 +0000 etiennefish http://etiennefishes.wordpress.com/?p=1905 ]]> So our night at the base passed us by completely uneventfully. Aside from a short hard rain burst at some ungodly hour, there was really no excitement at all (well aside from getting invited to eat food with the Sri Lankan military- Oh spicy goodness, how I love you).

Apparently, Emily is just going to take her time getting here (she slowed down to practically nothing). Which would be fine, it IS her party after all, except for the fact that now I have gotten like 2 hours of sleep maximum, not a bit of which was good (i.e. really annoying bar in camp bed digging into my back all night), and I am not really up to facing the world. But, as usual, I’m putting on a brave face and just toughing it out…. (i.e. I am going to take a nap as soon as I finish writing this.)

Proposed napping location (next to my extremely messy desk)

We were lucky enough, however to get the chance to return home quickly for showerings, food, coffee, and teeth brushings, without which I am fairly sure my day would have been infinitely more miserable (as would the day of those around me). Plus, the cat was overjoyed to see us, which, as we are only on this earth in order to serve him, was certainly a good thing.

The sky from outside our office door at around 10:30 this morning.

Its starting to get pretty windy outside now (there is also a slight rain falling). At least temperatures are blessedly within reason at the moment (I’ll be jumping up and down with joy if I have to dig out the hoodie). This is also a good thing, because air conditioners do not like to work in my presence (i.e. ours is once again on the fritz) and our container of an office is suspiciously akin to a large baking device otherwise known as an oven.

In preparation for the weather conditions to come, only essential staff are here on base today, so from our little field team its just myself and the Canadian.

The Canadian attempts to be productive.

With the rest of our staff at home, this means that I was suddenly given driving privileges (which is fairly exciting, I really must say), and I managed to make it from ours all the way to the office (yes all approximately 6.7 minutes of it) without hitting a single motorbike or random pedestrian in the middle of the road (quite a feat in this town to be sure)! I may have been fairly proud of myself, it’s true. And furthermore, I can now say I’ve driven in Haiti (although to be fair I DID drive a friend’s ambulance for like 2 seconds a week or two ago, but I don’t think that counts…)

The sky starts getting dark above our car

And now as the rain pelts down on our metal roof, and the wind starts to really gust, I am going to go find some coffee. Clearly this napping thing was just the stuff of dreams…. Sigh…

As the wind starts, in the last moments before the sky begins dumping down upon us.

So anyway, instead of writing the ‘oh my god I’ve been here for 6 months already’ blog that I was intending to bestow upon the world, I will be writing a punch drunk, sleep-deprived work of art, in which I chronicle any exciting/non-exciting moments of this likely to be completely un-restful night.

The Canadian relaxes in our home for the night

At any rate, things are still calm, although the storm is supposed to hit just about any minute now (possibly? I don’t know anymore). The air is muggy (you know, more than usual), hot (also more than usual), and slightly disgusting (yes, you get the picture). Not much rain has fallen yet, and the Canadian is already taking a nap (yes. Typical. Sigh.).

Basically, it is fairly quiet and boring around here and there’s not much to impart (which I imagine is most definitely for the best). However, despite the fact that most of my friends are laughing at me because I don’t get to ride out the storm in the comfort of my own home like they do, I actually have internet, there is air conditioning (and no mosquitoes!!!), and I have about a bazillion hours of films (although there is sadly a total lack of booze. Sad face). I will totally survive.

The base is quiet

Last I heard, the storm is still a bit less than 2 hundred miles off the coast of our little section of Haiti, and is moving slower than originally suspected.

Helping to keep us safe

I will post further updates as things progress and as time allows. Until then, keep your fingers crossed that people will stay safe and that there will be minimal damage at worst.

Stuck in the office. And so I write! (also, I look horrible in this photo. Its sort of terrifying).

PS- please to not make fun of the pillow. Our linens came with the house. Clearly not of my own choosing.

You know you’re in Haiti when:

1.    A quick jaunt out for supper turns into 2 hours of waiting for food, and then into eating under a torrential downpour. Which after eating you then have to brave it + a raging river of water/sewage (that was once a dry friendly little street) in order to get home, which soaks you (understatement of the year) in seconds and comes up past your knees. There may also be some walking barefoot in this disgusting mixture of ‘unknown,’ so as to avoid losing your flip flops, while a lot of people laugh at the ‘blonds’ passing by who look like sad little dunked kitty cats slogging their way through the streets. Oh, and you may also inadvertently pick up a stray dog who insists on swimming next to you all the way to your door. You’re legs may also have strange stinging sensations in them until the next morning despite the fact that you scrubbed them über clean in the shower the night before.
2.      When you arrive home soaking wet to also find your house leaking from a million orifices strewn throughout the ceiling (all of which thankfully missed our beds), and so you must then run crazily all over the house searching for buckets to catch as many of the drips/cascading waterfalls as possible.
3.    Someone with a GIGANTIC knife is slitting chicken’s throats outside your front doorstep when you try to leave for work.
4.    When you have to buy a new exorbitantly expensive floor fan every week (you know, to avoid dying of heatstroke/mosquito bites) because they keep selling you shoddy models that only pretend to work until you leave the shop.
5. You have to wear a hoodie in your office because you are afraid to touch the extremely moody air conditioner that only works when it feels like it (and which there is no technician to fix), but when it does work, it creates an arctic blizzard that you must just endure with great stoicism.
6.  A cholera patient from the local prison at the UTC escapes by slitting the tarps near the toilets and running off mostly naked.

Misty day in Seguin

An image of Les Cayes from my hotel room. As my coverage areas have expanded, this has become my second home.

So I went to Brazil and then came back again. and I don’t even know what to say. One week is far, far, FAR too short to see all the people you’ve been missing for almost 4 years. But it was wonderful (and sad to say goodbye again so soon), and full of far too many stories for a blog post. I miss Brazil in a different way than I miss any of the many other places that I think of as home. And I think its time to go back for a while. Like a long while. Fact. So there is definitely some scheming in the works to make that happen, hopefully in the near (rather than far) future.

Here are some photos from my whirlwind trip back.

First photo back in Brazil. I'm glad it was with one of the most amazing friends ever!

Pampulha Lake on a walk at sunset. The wheel lights have not yet been turned on.

Becoming Certified- one of my amazing friends' certificate proclaiming her amazingness as a teacher. I went to an improv in education class that she taught that day. It was loads of fun!

Having drinks at the balcony bar. It was freezing but fun. Summer in Haiti, winter in Brazil. Yes, I died. Well, almost.

Photos of us! PS- they have fabulous mojitos.

Serious face.

The gang!

Some of my fav people ever. And yes, that is a scarf around my neck. Did I mention it was cold?

Why yes, that IS a flaming bowl of cachaça. And yes, you dip your fingers in to 'drink' it. Punk Drink deliciousness.

Trying to catch a 'hand in flame' photo.

Close

Happily stuffed after a fabulous night out at a friend's Italian restaurant with some of the best people ever. Such. Good. Food.

Blurry air kisses at the club

Fun night out at the clubs with lots of dancing and other requisite amazingness.

Taking some time out for the bar staff to breathe fire

See? Fire!

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A family portrait

Of course no visit to BH in June would be complete without attending the festa de Junina. Complete with much delicious eatings.

Pretty lights and decorations

Happy faces

Wandering through

More smiles.

Artistic shadows by Ci.

Caldo is delicious. And again. It was cold.

YUM. This is all I have to say.

Serious face.

Cutes!

Clearly they are really walking naturally towards me and not just pretending to walk so that I can get a photo that isn't blurry but which will turn out blurry anyhow. Yes.

Churrasco on my last day. Leaving was hard. Really hard. <3

I pretty much love them all. Its true.

Oh and I thought I should sneak in a quick interlude of D&G with the Liebling Gezicht in Santo Domingo on the way back to Haiti-land.

Since coming back, not much has changed although for awhile there I forgot how to speak French in lieu of Portuguese, and then I had a few hard days/weeks in there when the world pretty much conspired to make work suck. But yes, it’s true that there have been a lot of frustrations lately, but nothing that can’t ultimately be solved (theoretically. Sigh. Positive thinking… positive thinking…). It’s been tiring, and what with the most recent massive increase in cholera in my city, I’ve been tired and stressed. A lot of friends have also been leaving recently, and so our tiny little world in a small corner of Haiti has been growing even more miniscule.

Life goes on though, and there are definitely still many things to enjoy here. I love the random building parties, where we all just end up at someone’s flat or in the alley next to the apartments for chats, drinks, food, peteca, and music. We went to Basin Blue the other weekend as well. We hadn’t gone in a few months, and despite my inexplicable near hypothermia shaking/numb appendages experience, it was wonderful to go back there again (especially when a crazy Mexican is driving you through rivers and fields of fire. True story).

The Canadian takes the plunge at Basin Blue.

The Gang- They really did all jump from up there. I am clearly not as cool as any of them, and felt no real desire to change that (plunge to my DOOM). I was quite happy on the little rock, thank you very much.

The Mexican contemplates life.

Mentally preparing to leap

Pretending to have intellectual conversations while the teeth were chattering.

What a beautiful place to spend a Sunday

And of course, there have been some fun trips to the beach, some parties, voodoo festivals (OMG complete with goat and chicken sacrifices, people falling all over the place and talking in tongues, amazing drum music, and an Australian voodoo priest) , dinners in the middle of nowhere in the hills, and some good movie nights. Recently as well, the apartment cat has decided to take over our flat and claim us for his own. Luckily though, he has considerately allowed us to remain in our his home, and so of course he has been a fuzzy, and terribly adorable distraction in our lives as well.

This face can get away with pretty much anything. And he knows it.

The preferred Jac Jac lounging position. You are not allowed to move until he says.

Jac Jac's spot in my bedside table

Ready to cause some trouble

So really, all in all, it’s not actually been that bad, just tiring sometimes/most of the time. I’ve been also adjusting to an increase in responsibilities and working areas, and so sleep and fun haven’t been especially high on the to do list lately. Luckily, however, Saturday night was the best sleep I’ve had in about a month, and despite not sleeping really at all last night, I’m still feeling more capable of facing the world today than I have in awhile, which makes me at least slightly less likely to complain about absolutely everything. Even if I didn’t get my day at the beach yesterday that I’d been counting on.

Beach/Frisbee adventure with friends a couple weeks ago. I am ready for another one of these. Yes. Immediately.

But yes, this blog post is just another boring catch up post with no real fun anecdotes or stories (sorry), but at least I’ve tried to put in some photos to fill the gaps and will hopefully commence with the normal posting again soon. With that said, I will leave you with the image below:

A typical morning with The Canadian while getting ready to go to the office. He mostly always has heatstroke so he avoids becoming fully clothed until the last possible moment. I think it's hilarious.

Either way, the end of May is upon us, and I have barely posted this month.

Oops.

Mainly, this is due to the fact that I have to, you know, work. Like a lot.

Working. Hard. Looks are sometimes incredibly deceiving. Actual fact.

Actually, things have really been getting busy for us around here. The rainy season has been bringing cholera into the country with a swiftness, although after some shortish-term emergencies around here, things are more under control, even as it’s now exploding elsewhere. We are doing our best to be prepared for another explosion in this area.

In fact, it was in the middle of one of these spikes in cases in the department that I spent my best day in Haiti thus far. For any of you who know me, you also know that I like to work under pressure, and I love it best when things are in crazy, chaotic, emergency mode. It’s sort of like it’s the only time that I can calm down Monsieur ADHD and concentrate on one thing for more than 2 seconds. It’s actually sort of a relief for me.

Anyway… our team went into the mountains nearby(ish) to respond to the increasing cholera caseload with members of a couple Red Cross teams. So we arrived, and there were patients waiting to be transported, and there were no medical personnel to treat them. So in the meantime, there was a lot of not tolerating of SROs, vomiting, some unconsciousness, and even a seizure… So I got to treat patients! And by this I just mean I got to stick a good number of people with needles (i.e. give IVs)! It was awesome. I miss doing that. Like a lot.

En route up the mountain.

Still en route... And we may have been lost.

Heading up the mountain and into the mist

Near Seguin

Seguin

Tap tap in Seguin

Water point in Macary

Cholera education in Macary

Passing out SROs

IV time (I realise I shouldn't add exclamation points here, but, yeah...)!!!

Checking on the patients

So then, at the end of the day, and on the way back down the mountain, we were stopped by a community with an extremely dehydrated, extremely ill cholera patient. I had just been happily going back over my day in my head, and thinking about how perfect it had been. When I saw the patient, my heart sort of dropped. We were in the middle of a large group of people, who were loudly talking and with great passion, and generally creating chaos. We carried the patient into the back of the tap tap we would transport him in. As I looked for a vein, I was worried. He was around 60, extremely dehydrated and frail, pretty unconscious, and lacking a distal pulse. Awesome. I thought there was a good chance he might die, and finding a vein with no light in the back of a truck as dusk was falling, while an entire community of people watched, commented, and pressed in on me, was a little intimidating. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t get it on the first try. Or the second. And maybe not even the third (which was quite demoralising after not missing a stick all day). It was stressful. But I found a vein in the end, and there was a lot of relief on my part. And my feeling of good dayness returned, even if I was slightly more exhausted.

Finding a vein in the tap tap. At least the crowd had dispersed.

I totally want to do more of this. It was an amazing day.

Other than that, this month has been good to me in other ways. I have officially decided I love the town I live in, my contract was extended, we moved into a larger apartment (which, incidentally, also has the bonus of being maggot free! Big YAY there!), we/the entire apartment building has a cat that is mostly adorable and only sometimes annoying, I have a good group of friends/a social life, I’m spending a lot more of my days off at the beach, and I have actually gotten close to beating my housemate at scrabble (your day will come my friend. Your day will come).

Port au Prince

The Canadian and Eli, our chauffeur, at the base.

Setting up a cholera treatment unit with A LOT of help from MSF (PS- Thank you SO much).

Where I often spend my weekends. Try not to be too jealous.

Relaxing during the last days of our old apartment

I know it's a bit belated, but this is what Easter Sunday looked like from my balcony. It was madness.

More of the beach. During worry, I would hate me a little bit too.

We live somewhere down there. It's a very hard life.

Our new home. Yes, yes. It is, in fact, a loft.

Levels!

I live on that level. I love my room. It contains a real bed and no maggots. It's pretty much the most amazing thing ever.

Jac Jac the cat making himself very much at home. As usual.

This is the 'why does nobody give me any love' face. Do not be fooled.

I’ve also been learning a lot, including how to get the foods I love and miss into my little world here (there is rarely a lack, for example, of cream cheese, wine, or gummies in our house), how to tolerate being a tourist attraction (i.e. I have a lot of tattoos. Most Haitians do not have a lot of tattoos), how to pretend to coordinate a cluster meeting in pretend French (I’m getting much better at that these days. Thankfully.), how to feel cold in any kind of temperature below 30 degrees, how to sit without twitching/doing much of anything for many many hours (sigh) each week during drives to various sites (well, I’ve mostly/sorta/slightly mastered this one), how to eat massive amounts of fried food, how it is just a new fashion statement that all my jeans, shoes, and even some shirts are are covered in bleach spots due to the amount of time I spend going in and out of cholera treatment clinics, and how to sleep past 6 am (sometimes).

Despite the fact that I love the sunshine, the sea, the people, and generally my job here, I can’t wait for my overdue holiday in two weeks time. Oh Brazil, how I have missed you!

PS- I have shamelessly stolen a few of these photos from friends, edited them, and posted them. In case you were wondering.

No. I’m not joking about this.

And yes, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more disgusted about something in my life. Fact.

So basically, earlier in the weekend, while, ahem, lazing around on the sofa being absolutely worthless, I pointed out one or two caterpillar-ish worm looking things to The Housemate. I suppose that I just assumed they were yet another typical form of Haitian wildlife intent upon invading my happy home. I wasn’t worried, and I let the squirmy things continue on their merry trek across the floor, promptly forgetting about their existence.

Then on Sunday night, we went out to see this famous Haitian band called Tropicana (more on that in another post). By the time we got home, I was pretty exhausted, and knew I had an early day on Monday. As I prepared to fall face first into bed, however, I noticed another little wormy thing inching it’s way across my bed. I didn’t find this a huge deal, but I also wasn’t totally into sharing my already tiny sleeping space, so I oh so carefully picked him up with tweezers and flung him over the balcony. I looked around, didn’t notice any other creatures, so I passed out without a further thought.

Monday morning, I woke up, and blurrily stumbled to the shower without incident.

Clean, dressed, and considerably more bright-eyed (although more than a short distance away from bushy-tailed), I started to pick up my room a bit (you know, so our cleaner wouldn’t have to cos I’m ridiculous like that), and upon grabbing my plane neck pillow (which I often use to prop my balcony shutters open with), I found a horrifying little surprise waiting underneath it- a massive writhing nest of disgusting worm thingys. There may have been a large sigh. Typical. Then, I started to look around me, and noticed that a good portion of the floor was also covered with these same worm things. I felt my stomach sinking, knowing what was going to come next. Steeling myself for the worst, I looked down at the sheet on my bed.

After choking back down the previous night’s dinner, I proceeded to pick up the sheet, and look underneath it. Awesome. Yep, sure enough, I’d been sleeping, wrapped up all snug and tight, in a bed full of maggots. It was definitely a shining moment in my own personal history, let me tell you.

Then, as I didn’t know exactly what one is supposed to do in a situation such as this (I mean, no one gave me any ‘when you’re sleeping with maggots in Haiti’ training or anything), I delicately put the sheet back on the bed, and walked out of the room and went to stand in the lounge. And then I walked back in. You know, so I could stare at the creepy crawlies for a second time, just in case I was imagining things. And then I walked back out. It was after a few such repetitions that I found myself standing for about 5 minutes, motionless, in the middle of apartment, that I realised that there wasn’t exactly a best-case response to this situation.

So when considerable indecision brought on, no doubt, by a significant lack of caffeination in the form of strong coffee, led me to stand in front of The Housemate’s door, I am not ashamed to say that I managed a fair impersonation of a giant baby, and I demanded that he deal with the ‘worm situation. Immediately.’

And so valiantly, clad only in boxer briefs and armed with a broom, The Housemate bravely fought off the disgusting intruders. I may even have helped a little (and yes, by help, I mean I pointed out the ones that he missed).

This is when, however, I learned where they were coming from. They were dripping (please take that as literally as it sounds) from the ceiling and onto my bed. I’m not going to lie, this was sort of the most disgust-inducing moment ever. Fact.

Actually, I was thinking about it later, it is extremely lucky that I didn’t (as I sometimes do) decide to sleep in the opposite direction that night. For if I had, not only would I have been sleeping and rolling around in maggots (yummy), but I probably would have been eating them as well. Not that it really matters, though. With my luck, I’m probably already dying of some hideous maggot disease as I type this. Wonderful.

Anyway, unsurprisingly I spent absolutely the entire day Monday fixated on my roll in the hay with these delightful new friends. And I still can’t really stop shuddering. At lunch we went back to the flat, and the room had been disinfected, but they were still dropping from the ceiling in a never-ending wave (and I mean, who else has luck like this? Seriously). Anyway, we informed the landlords, and they had someone go check it out.

So of course, an investigation yielded the happy knowledge that a rat had crawled onto the roof and died there. And the maggots were slipping through the cracks onto yours truly. Oh yes, how I love my life.

But, at least the rat has now been removed and everything has been thoroughly cleaned. However, I’m still planning on sleeping in the lounge for the time being.

I cannot wait until we move apartments.

I woke up a second time. The light coming through my windows was diffuse, and strangely soft. It was not quite 7 am. This, was a massive accomplishment. One of the latest mornings I’d had since arriving in this country of early risers. The rain was still marking the steady, staccato beat on the metal roof above my head, but for once no noise was coming from the streets below. As I believe it should be on a Sunday morning, far earlier than any decent person really wants to be awake. I spent a couple hours at my desk, looking out the window onto the empty street, and enjoyed stealing some peaceful moments to get some thoughts on paper (or screen, rather).
Most of the rest of the day followed in the same manner. There is a comfort, beyond almost all others, of passing a Sunday ensconced in comfortable clothes with a book and a cup of coffee (of a non-Haitian variety, of course. And yes, I am a coffee snob, fact), with the smell of rain filling your nostrils, while it pounds down outside, washing the world clean. Preferably this scene would also include a fuzzy, fuzzy cat (or two), and a cocoon of blankets, but really, we can’t have everything we want.

As the day progressed, the skies cleared, but they never really lost their grey, cosy feel. Meaning, of course, that for once it was blessedly cool, which was a fact made doubly exciting, as both the city power and our generator were out, meaning no fan action for us should we desire/need it.

When daylight faded, we made our way down the street. Some friends had just helped to build a park in an empty corner lot, and to celebrate, they were holding a bootleg film festival. So we watched Avatar, in French and by the light of the moon, projected onto a crumbling and abandoned façade, of what was once clearly a gorgeous building. Above the ‘screen,’ Orien and his belt danced across the sky, marking the passage of time. The moon was full, or nearly so, and every once in awhile I’d take a break from the moving pictures in front of me, and just look around at the increasingly large quantity of rapt, silhouetted faces, caught up in the action. It was a nice moment.

There were, of course, some technical difficulties. Nothing here progresses smoothly. That’s just a fact of life. The film had to be stopped a number of times, as the generator kept sending out vast (and clearly toxic) quantities of smoke in anguish and distress before cutting out, and the computer decided that in retaliation it would go on strike. Rara bands marched down the streets in waves, splitting the attention spans of the audience, and forcing people to their feet for a quick dance move or two. Cars, motorbikes, and people tended to wander through in front of everyone, hoot their horns, flash their lights, try to sell you things you didn’t want and/or generally be obnoxious. But this is Haiti, and it was to be expected, and so therefore tolerated with good will.  But it was sort of the perfect venue and ambiance for such a film (and what a huge contrast from seeing it in the dead of winter at an imax cinema in London, when if first came out), and I couldn’t have asked for a better evening.

We rounded it all out with a celebratory drink in a nearby art gallery/bar in what is left of yet another disintegrating building, much damaged by the earthquake. Some friends lauded it’s former glory over a beer, and I could see the ghosts of a time gone by flit past as they talked. A troubadour band played, their smiling faces flickering by the light of candles, outlined by moonlit doorways facing out towards the sea.

These are the moments that make times like these special.

And now I ache. Every single part of my body just hurts, and I don’t imagine I will ever voluntarily want to move again.

Taking a break on the side of the mountain.

You know, I had dreams when I was a kid that I would be doing work like this. I mean, of course all I knew about the WHO was from what I’d seen in films, and the work looked exciting, and fun, and full of adventure, which of course fulfilled all my basic requirements for the perfect job/life. I thought I’d be a medical doctor (which I’m not, but have a health background nonetheless), and when disasters struck, I’d rush off to help, bringing lifesaving medications and supplies.

Helping us unload one of the trucks. I had to include this photo due to the shirt this guy was wearing. I also saw a Myrtle beach shirt and an AYSO shirt for all of you Oregonians... Additionally, I should note that it was sunny for the entire drive, UNTIL 30 seconds before we arrived with materials. Then, there proceeded to be a downpour through most of the unloading process. Typical. Sigh.

Cholera kits

And to some degree, I guess we do that. Although the reality is far less dramatic and exciting, I do get to respond to crisis situations, and I do climb into a vehicle with the rest of the team and bring what aid that we can. This is most notably demonstrated, for instance, by the simple fact that this week I have spent far more hours in a car than I have in a bed sleeping.

The wounds of battle: one Canadians fight with a cholera bed.

Yesterday was no exception. While the landscape was absolutely gorgeous and I spent most of the trip imagining the photos I could be taking (which was sadly mostly impossible due to the following statements, and the fact that it was so incredibly dusty on the road), or the things I could be writing and/or reading, we spent upwards of 14 hours driving yesterday, on the worst roads that I have ever been on in my life.

Full stop.

At one point, somewhere on the long, dark road home, we just couldn’t stop giggling between getting thrown into the air or knocking our heads against windows/ceilings, as it was either that, or start crying. I’m pretty sure that all my internal organs are bruised/ruptured (despite the fact that I found that the best use for one of those airplane neck pillows on a road trip in Haiti is to use it as a tummy buffer between your tummy (obviously) and the evil, evil seat belt that seems to be simultaneously interested in choking you, suffocating you, and forcing your stomach contents through your lungs.

We took a break in one seaside town. Its one of the nicest little villages Ive seen thus far.

Late afternoon sunshine

Taking a break

Watching their friends play

Not that yesterday was all complaints, mind you. We were able to respond to a crisis quickly, assess the situation, and identify some other needs and gaps. It’s just been a long week, full of a number of such trips, and sometimes its interesting to realise that you have achieved, at least for the moment, a childhood fantasy, even if the reality is nothing at all like you imagined it would be.

I’m just very, very excited to spend some time in my bed, as unconscious as possible, and as soon as possible. Fact.