Random facts about our daily living in
Haiti: the good, the bad and the ugly!
*The house we
live in is absolutely beautiful and we are able to go on the roof b/c it is
flat. It is great for star gazing and late night conversations. I love the
freedom and ability to hang out on rooftops! I’m going to miss that when I go
back home to America.
*It’s hard not
to compare the beauty here to the beauty of Hawaii. Waking up each morning and
looking outside the windows of this gorgeous house we are staying in takes my
breath away each day. The sun and the palm trees and the mountains are phenomenal.
I never would have guessed that Haiti was this beautiful.
*We don’t have
to bucket flush the toilets here! We can actually use the handle to flush the
toilets here! I’m not going to know what to do when I go back to the U.S. –
I’ll be putting my TP in the trash and bucket flushing the toilets haha. [Our
motto here is: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.”]
– this is to reserve the little water that we have available to us
*We have an
actual showerhead here that works and water actually comes out of it when you
turn the shower knobs! We are able to somewhat take normal showers here and by
normal I mean: Step 1: turn on the water, get yourself wet Step 2: turn the
water off, lather up with soap and shampoo Step 3: turn water back on, rinse
off..repeat until clean! Water is extremely limited here so our showers are few
to none and no more than 2-3 min long.
*Water and
electricity are no longer a necessity in my life. They are luxuries.
*We only have
electricity from 6pm to midnight each day and that is if we are lucky. Some
days we have no electricity at all and other days it might only last for a few
hours at night.
*This month in
Haiti is my “glasses” month. I cannot bear to wear contacts here b/c the dirt
and dust is so bad. I have to put eye drops in my eyes several times a day b/c
my allergies are so bad here. Thanks to nurse Renee, she has prescription eye
drops and puts them in my eyes every morning, noon and night =) Such a good
nurse she is!
*The smell of
burning trash is a frequent aroma here.
*We are all
constantly getting bit on all areas of our body, exposed and unexposed areas.
We haven’t really figured out if they are bed bugs, mosquitos, ants or other
random tiny and/or microscopic insects or all of the above. We scratch and itch
all the time.
*The weather
here is extremely hot and we are in their “winter.” We don’t even want to
fathom what it is like to live here in the summertime. Our new phrase here is
“It is hot as Haiti” instead of “Hot as Hades.” Corny, yes, but oh so true.
*I handwashed
my clothes for the 1st time ever. It actually wasn’t too bad.
However, I will say that hand washing jeans is quite challenging – especially
in a small kitchen sink. They are very hard to wring out but well worth
bringing on this journey b/c I am a jeans and tshirt gurl all the way.
*Pepsi is still
available here in Haiti. I am currently drinking one and after not drinking
soda for so long, it is giving me a stomachache.
*Our meals and
meal times here are quite different than what we were used to in Azua so I am
struggling with being hungry. I think God will be breaking me of my snacking
habits this year. I don’t like going to bed hungry but I am getting a good
feeling of what that is like and how many kids around the world go to bed
hungry as well.
*To go along
with the food, we eat rice and pasta for almost every meal. Our oatmeal for
breakfast should be called “ricemeal” because there are no oats. It is strictly
rice that is cooked until it is mushy. It is mixed with some milk and cinnamon
sticks and brown sugar and blended together.
*I also eat
about 6-10 slices of bread and butter every day. If I continue this diet for
long, I will have some serious weight problems. Rice + pasta + bread = overweight
Steph & a heart attack [most people have lost weight so far while I’m
pretty sure I’ve been gaining weight] oh well!
*Internet
access is available right down the road but it has been down for several days
now and we have no extra money in our budget this month to pay for it as a team
so getting online requires our own personal expense and we really have not had
the time or opportunity to go to the internet. I don’t plan on blogging or
checking emails too much while here in Haiti. I’ll be back in Santo Domingo on
Feb 22nd and in LA with high speed internet hopefully on March 3rd!
So hopefully I can respond to emails and such later on this month
