Clothes are optional for many children and even some women here. My preference is that they would be clothed, but I guess I'll add that to the list of things that I am not entitled to. I like to think that I'm entitled to my own clothes, but I can not force anyone else to wear them. All that to say, here's something "fun" that happened. If you've been following my blogs you will already know that I have the freedom to run on my own this month. However, you never know what you're going to encounter… goats, cows, teepees, being chased by dogs… or being chased by naked Haitian boys! Let me describe it for you in one word… awkward! Two little boys and all of their naked glory running with me on the Caribbean shore yelling "You! You! You!" Then wanting me to stop so they could listen to my ipod music. Oddly enough, this is not the first time I've run with naked people thanks to Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. Oh goodness… this is probably good preparation for further nakedness in Africa.
I don't leave until Sunday, but this is my last day to use the internet here so next time you hear from me, I'll be in Romania! My squad's last day of construction ministry was Tuesday… we are officially done. It has been a lot of hard work and manual labor in the hot sun working at Mission of Hope International. Many days we finished up tiresome and weary. But we survived and left our mark here. We have spent the past 4 weeks pouring concrete, doing backfill, shoveling and moving sand, dirt, and rocks and my favorite (sense the sarcasm in my voice)… unloading and moving bricks… again and again and again. I. Hate. Bricks. No, not the kind you may have in your fireplace. I mean 20-25lb suckers that break your back. But, drum roll please… no more bricks for me! Yay! (Lord, please don't make me move bricks in another country.) This has been an amazing yet rough month for many on my squad. Numerous people have had the flu so bad they were tested for malaria… all tests were negative 🙂 A few people have gotten rashes, concrete poisoning, and stung by sea urchins and jellyfish. But everyone's fine.
My squad has coaches who fly out to meet us and debrief about our time every two months out here on the field. Roger and Rozy got here last night and are simply spending some time with each of us so we can process how we are doing two months into the race and how our teams are all doing with each other. And they brought us candy!!! I'm so excited! In Haiti, they don't give change for American money (because they don't have it in the country), and their currency, Goude is hard to come by. So we haven't gotten to get out and spend any of our own money on snacks or anything we would want to buy. However, I have managed to get a few goodies. As I type this, I am chowing down on some Casino cookies (sort of like Oreos) and am waiting for a special time to break out my Snickers I got the other day. Treats here are hard to come by so I ration out one cookie a night 🙂 And one of the guys who comes to stay at Militone (the name of the beach front property where we are staying) and work with Mission of Hope every month or so also brings us a bunch of Coke's that we can buy for $0.50 a pop. I don't even drink coke at home, but let me tell you, my heart jumps when I have one here and it's even better when they're cold.
Monday, we drove about 2 hours on our old, rikity school bus to the city Jacmel to go the the beach. There was surfing, frisbee, and just enjoying the water. I walked away from there being able to say I've now had a whole lobster. I've only had lobster tails before, but this was the whole shebang. I paid $10 for a whole lobster, fried plantains (super delicious) and a soda. All while sitting on the beach, which was beautiful. On the way back, a few of us plugged our headphones into one Ipod and had a dance party on the bus. Although no one else on the bus could hear what we were listening to, we danced and lip-sang the whole way home, looking like fools but entertaining everyone else on the long drive.
Up until a few days ago, I had corn rows. Although I only intended to get one braid on the side of my head, Lovely (yes that is the girl's name) decided to almost scalp me and keep braiding to give me corn rows instead. What a look! (Yes, I have pics). I must say, I felt extra gangsta as my teammate Rebekah and I created a birthday rap for my teammate Reagan… they gave me the power to create some bomb lyrics.
Ants!!! Those ungodly, unrighteous, sinful bugs have been relentlessly bugging me… slapping my knee laughing at my awful pun. Twice in the last week I've had small fire ants trailing into my tent. I've had to clean everything out and wash out my stuff. Thanks to one of my squadmates for bringing a small broom and dustpan so I can clean out the ant graveyard that lives in my tent. Ugh, I hate those things. I spent an hour Tuesday night (til midnight) on my hands and knees with a flashlight in my tent looking for any little booger I could find to kill it. I found myself voicing out loud, “Why do you even come into my tent? You live outside! Stay out there you unrighteous bugs!”
CARBS. Carbs. And more carbs. Bread, pasta, rice. Bread, pasta, rice. Can you guess what I've had every single day since being here? Ding ding ding. You guessed it… bread, pasta, and rice. And a few pounds as well.
I only have 2 more sunrises to enjoy after today and that makes me sad. But I am looking forward to the JFK airport. I have a list of the things I want to consume in our time there… a cold, flavored, frothy Starbucks drink, ice cream, and a nice big salad with some meat. And I'll probably buy a hamburger for the plane ride as well 🙂 Oh, the little things I miss.
Things to be praying for…
We have a super long travel day on Sunday… leaving our residence at 5:00am, flight's at 10:00am out of Port au Prince, about a 4 ½ hour flight to JFK airport in New York, 7 hour layover, 7 hour flight to Bucharest, followed by a 2 hour train ride to my apartment in Romania. Ay-chi-wa-wa! 45 people all traveling that long together… Sweet Baby Jesus help us! Pray we all maintain positive attitudes and arrive safely with no problems to Romania.
God has been speaking to me so much lately about surrender, letting go, and living in the moment of where I am now.And forgiveness. I've been thinking of the race for so long as a season of my life but not really my life, but it is. The longer I only see it as a season, I'll miss the reality that this radical life is actually mine, today, and it is so good. I still can not believe that God would choose to do this with my life.
While the hardest part about leaving the DR was leaving the people and our contact Noky, the hardest part for me about leaving Haiti is going to be leaving our residence. The beach is so peaceful, beautiful. I've seen every sunrise since being here and listen to the crashing waves non-stop. Jesus and I have had many talks out on the beach. I've played the guitar out there and spent some good time reflecting on various things while admiring the beauty in the warm air. I am sad to leave here and go to a cold place with potential snow. From a place where I can have free time to get away down the beach, run alone, and be independent to a place where there will be 13 people all living in one apartment or house and alone time will be hard to come by. Pray for a smooth transition.
My team will be living with another team next month and doing ministry with a third team who will be over at our house often. That's a lot of people to be around all the time. Pray that my team will be intentional to maintain our team unity and time together amidst the other people we'll be with and that all of us get along well for the month. That we manage our groceries, cleaning, and internet sharing time well.
Thank you all for your support. I can not believe just two short months ago I boarded the plane from Fresno to Fort Lauderdale, then on to this God ordained adventure. Only nine more to go… wow that's still such a long time. But it's going by so fast!
(Stay tuned for my next blog. My idea so far… changes in me that you may or may not like… we'll see)
