Mountains and Ice Cream

One of these is entirely expected of Haiti. The other is not. Can you guess which one I've been blessed to experience this past weekend? Yes, you probably guessed correctly: I did both.

First, I had delicious ice cream at the Scalabrini seminary following mass. They certainly know how to make good food. They made this peanut dessert dish to go with the ice cream: simply amazing.

Second, on Sunday we traveled 2.5 hours away from LCS to visit a board member's house in the mountains. An intense drive, with the last hour including surreal maneuvering through a very poor dirt road. Only when we got to the dirt road did the sights and sounds of Haiti begin to mimick the landscape of my home area in Uganda. In fact, I think this road was even worse that the roads near my house in Ugandan, which is saying something.

The view of the mountains was breathtaking: lights and shadows covered the landscape as clouds and fog blew by. We were at an elevation of 6400 feet, which means two things: No mosquitoes and it was cold!! And by cold, I probably mean 70 degrees. But when you haven't felt a temperature less than 80 for a month, 70 degrees feels pretty cold.

The food was delicious, the company was excellent, and the journey was eventful. All in all, a great day and a fantastic weekend.

In other news, this past week work consisted of painting, painting a bit more, and when I got tired of painting I did some touch-up work on previous paint jobs. I painted chalkboards (who knew this was how you get them to look impressively black/green?), buildings, classroom walls, and the kitchen storeroom. It's amazing what I'm learning here in Haiti.

I've also been continuing to work on my lesson plans. I finished reading Cry, The Beloved Country, Animal Farm, and To Kill a Mockingbird this week. I'm about halfway through Romeo and Juliet, still working on "The Idiot" (this is for fun, btw). I figured it just might be a good idea to actually read books before I teach them...

So, I've decided that I'm going to do a little section on U.S. race relations and the civil rights movement in my English class. I'm going to try to connect the works and speeches of Martin Luther King to the words and achievements of Obama today. I'm pretty excited just thinking about playing excerpts from the "I have a Dream" speech one week and then playing parts of Obama's "A More Perfect Union" the next. Fun stuff.

Finally, I have a confession to make: I have personally spent no money throughout the past month. As in Zero USD, zero Haitian dollars, Zero Gourdes. How, you might ask? Simple. I've choose to wash my laundry by hand (so far so good), all meals at LCS are communal and paid for by the organization, and I've somehow resisted the temptation to buy Nutella, Ghirardelli chocolate, and Baguettes. I guess the real question is: how long until I break?

Have I mentioned that Haitians like physical humor? My juggling has been a pretty big hit as people really enjoyed my brief demonstrations after dinner. Perhaps I will bring the clubs after Christmas after all...

Oh, before I go I have one more thing to add. I just wanted to mention to all my faithful blog readers (Dad, Mom, Ginger) that the beginning of the school year is just around the corner and that the yearly budget is still being constructed. Anyways, donations are an essential part of the budget and integral for maintaining the daily functions of the school, the volunteer program, and keeping the school tuition-free for the students. Donating is pretty simple (point and click) and all donations are tax deductible. You can even donate online! http://www.haitianproject.org/donate.htm

Ok, I've done my little speal. But seriously, the kids here are really special and this school is changing Haiti one kid at a time. And it's help from people like you that makes it possible for both myself and the kids to be here.

Thanks again for your help and support.

Peace