Long Days

Whew.

Two long days in a row!

Yesterday we set off earlier to take some of our lovely UMCOR friends on a visit to Mellier. It was awesome to be there and see how far the project has come in the short time I've been here for.

We weren't there for too long, though, because Melissa and Lauren had a meeting with President Paul at 1 and needed to get back. Also, we had to get back to pick up Mike's other son, Nathan, who is visiting for a week.

We dropped them off at the UMCOR Haiti office and then went to the airport. Bryan really wanted some bread or something to munch on, though, and I wanted water, so we stopped by a gas station before the airport. Walking inside, though, I saw the guy that I sat next to on my flight to Atlanta. During that flight he told me that he lived in Haiti and traveled to Port-au-Prince fairly regularly to pick teams up at the airport. We laughed and said, "Maybe we'll run into each other!" Lo and behold - we did! Crazy.

After that we met up with Nathan and decided to get lunch. As we had gone to the Epid'or the day before, we wanted to do something else for lunch. We found a restaurant that was good... but it took two hours. We left "lunch" at 4:15. When the dinner bell rang an hour and a half later at the Guest House - I just had a fruit cup.

I woke up thinking today was going to be a slow day. However, it quickly picked up. I took Melissa, the communications person at UMCOR, around Freres campus a bit and introduced her to Davidson. We colored outside my building a bit and she was able to take lots of pictures. It was fun to hang out with Davidson and she thought he was a hoot - it's hard not to love that boy!

Around 9:30 or 10 the COR team came back from Arcahaie and told me that they had an AMAZING time. So good to hear! They asked if they might be able to visit College Bird (a Methodist school that collapsed.) I know that it will probably become a big focus of COR so I really wanted to visit it, too. It's right by the Presidential Palace and it's... very sad. Actually, they've already done most of the rubble removal so you can't even tell that a building used to stand there. Crazy. I'll have some pictures up sometime soon.

Also, we went inside the College Bird church on the campus. It was the most beautiful church I have been to in Haiti - mostly because of the AMAZING stained glass at the front of the church. It was just... wonderful.

After that, we went back to the Epid'or for lunch and then went back to the Guest House. Shortly after arriving back, the team wanted a tour of campus. I didn't take them too far because classes were still in session... but we went far enough for them to see some of the buildings and the students enjoying recess. I also introduced them to McKinley and Steven. :)

Just 15 minutes after that, Belorne, Oge, and I left for a shopping trip. We have a team going to Mellier on Sunday and so we had to buy food for their week there. It was a TON of stuff. Definitely necessary to have two people (me and Belorne) simply because you have to drive two carts! Crazy.

After going to the Big Star store, Belorne wanted to get the eggs and rice off the street because it's cheaper. Oge parked the van and Belorne told me to wait inside with him. Right outside the van was a group of guys selling Haitian CDs so I asked Oge if any of them were good. He got out of the van and talked to the guys about a few Haitian artists. He worked out a deal for me and I am now the proud owner of two Haitian CDs - they're both pretty good! Oge did well.

Finally I arrived back to the Guest House right before dinner feeling hungry and exhausted. After dinner we gave some of my boys some food and laughed and chatted with them a bit. Now, though, I am exhausted... and feeling a bit... under the weather and I'm just really ready for bed. So goodnight world!

Beth

Also, here is the recent photo update if you're not friends with me on Facebook!