Endless smiles

Well today Haley and I look like complete lobsters. We spent most of the day outside in the sun and the sun is defiantly stronger out here. In the morning we observed in the classroom and we are slowly getting used of the craziness in the classroom. Today Haley and I had so much fun playing with the kids at the orphanage. We took a bunch of the little ones out to the soccer field. First we started holding their hands in spinning in a circle. They loved doing that but not me. I was so dizzy I had to go and sit down for awhile. We also played tag with them. I have never seen so many kids screaming and laughing. They were having the time of their life. It was so fun to just spend the afternoon with them and play. Today Indaina would stick her head out of a door and yell my name and hid. After she yelled my name I ran to where she was and went in the room to find her. I scared the poor girl she jumped like a foot off the ground and then she realized it was me and sat down on the floor and just giggled. It was funny watching her face when I walked in the room.

After playing with them for a while some of older boys started yelling my name. They wanted to play tic-tac-toe with me again. I literally have like 10 kids sitting around me yelling in French what next move I should make and I have no idea what they are saying. Sometimes I think that it is a good thing that I can't understand what they are saying to me. They just point and yell at me telling me what move I need to make. They also will keep score for me. This helps me work on my French counting!  I bet that we played tic-tac-toe for over a half hour.  I don't think these boys will ever get sick of playing this game.

We are officially half way through our trip and it is very bittersweet. Overall, I am ready for some American things. For example I am excited to sit on an airplane seat because it has cushion. I have not had a cushion on my chair since I left. I am also very excited for a shower that I don't have to worry about getting water in my mouth and that has warm water. The showers here are about hose water temperature which is fine since it is warm here. I will also enjoy constantly having electricity and not having random power outages. For example I was showering the other day and the lights went out and I had to finish my shower in the dark. I will miss the chicken. The chicken is so good and fresh. I will also miss the fresh fruit. The fruit here is delicious. I will also miss all the friends I have made so far on the trip. I have met some truly amazing people in Haiti. The people at the orphanage have been so welcoming and helpful to us. They have given us rides around the city and showed us how to get around on our own. We have also met some great people at hotel. Since we are not at a touristy place most of the people here are doing similar trip as us. Its fun to exchange stories about our days and its nice to have people to talk to when we get back for the night. This trip so far has changed my outlook on life and taught me so many life lessons.

Communication is key

This morning we headed over to the school for our morning of teaching. One of my biggest regrets of this trip so far is not being able to speak the language. The teachers are also unable to speak English. Elisse is able to translate for us but sometimes he does not understand what we are saying. This makes teaching very difficult. One of the things I think that would be very beneficial for this school is to get a translator. This way the teachers would be able to understand what we want the students to do. The teachers out here truly do an amazing job with what they got. The noise levels in these classrooms is insane. I mean one of the rooms has three different classes going on at once with only a chalkboard separating the classes. So just imagine three teachers speaking loudly trying teach plus fifty kids in the classroom. That is a challenge. Haley and I were sitting in a class just observing and we couldn't focus to save our lives. There were kids running around outside poking their little heads in the classroom and giggling. There were multiple people talking trying to conduct a lesson but somehow these kids seem to be able to learn in this environment. On the right is one of the kindergarten girls!

This morning Haley and I had the opportunity to teach the kindergarten class. This kids are so stinking adorable but they can also be a little bit naughty. The kindergarten teachers do an awesome job of classroom management. These kids listen to the teacher very well, better then in the states. Haley and I started teaching and it was like the blind leading the blind. We tried teaching them the alphabet the students knew the song but were unable to recognize the words. We tried multiple methods of trying to teach them and none of them were working. Haley and I walked out of the lesson so frustrated because the kids had no idea what we were asking and we had no idea what they were saying. On the left is one of the kindergarten classrooms.

We sat in on a couple other classes today too. We watched a fifth grade history lesson. I found out that I have no problem with reading French. The teacher wrote all the notes on the board and I understood what he was writing about. He started reading the board and that is when I lost him. They enunciate totally different parts of the word and there sentence structure is set up differently. Slowly but surely I am catching onto to this language.

After the school day was finished Haley and I got asked to tutor. There were three nurses that are trying to learn English. They are coming to the states in March to observe hospitals in the states. In order for them understand what is going on they need to learn English. They had a dictionary with all the hospital terms they need to learn. First we pronounced all the words with them and then started doing a little role playing. That is when it got interesting. I have no nursing background so to hold a medical conversation in English was interesting. I was trying to remember all the things my mom always talks about along with what I have seen on Grey's Anatomy. Haley and I finally got the hang of it and they were able to speak a couple of complete sentences. On the left is Michelle giving me a ride on a moto he lives and works at the orphanage.

Once we completed the tutoring we headed up to where the orphan kids were playing. I love going up there and just hanging out with the kids. These kids get so excited when we come and play with them. When we walked up most of the kids were just playing with rocks. They don't have toys to play with so more often then not we see them playing with rocks, sticks, or garbage. When we come up they have so much fun just because they are getting attention. I can also tell that they are warming up to us because they talk a lot more when they are around us. Indiana the girl who always hangs around me fell asleep on me again today. I feel bad for her because she should be getting naps throughout the day but that just doesn't happen here. Whenever I come and visit she always falls asleep on my lap. Today the poor thing was so tired that she left a huge drool spot on my skirt. On the right Indiana is holding my hand. After school she grabbed my hand and would not let go.

I think after today I can finally say that I have used all forms of transportation in Haiti. Today we used what is called a people mover. This is like a motorcycle but it has three wheels. It has a little box in the back kind of like a bed of a pick up where people can ride. So when all got into the back we headed back to the hotel. This was probably the most uncomfortable ride I have had so far. I sat on like a two inch wide bar and hung on for dear life as we bounced along the Haiti roads. On the left is a people mover.

Tonight we headed over to Sean and Carolines house tonight. It is so nice having a house we can go to whenever we want. This way we can get a change of scenery instead of being at the hotel all the time. I also like being able to talk to them. They are doing about the same things we are doing each day so we can compare stories and relate to what we have been doing. We also help each other think of ideas to help make the orphanage better. There kids are also adorable and fun to play with!

With

Love,
Abby

Remembering the earthquake

This morning we were informed that school was going to be cancelled today. Many of the schools in Haiti cancelled because January 12 is such a significant date out here. In the states January 12 is just an other ordinary day for us. In Haiti this date in 2010 changed their lives forever. It was just like any other ordinary January day until an earthquake came later in the afternoon. I can't even remember what I was doing on this dat and I barely remember hearing about this quake. People had no idea that this quake was coming and had no way of preparing for the damage it was going to leave on them. This morning I read a little bit about the earthquake since I didn't know a whole lot about. The quake hit Port Au Prince the worse. That is the town that we flew into. You could see that most of the town was damaged and most of the buildings were ruined. In the Haiti they do not have building codes. So most of the buildings are not built very strong or on level ground. When the quake came many of the buildings could not with stand the vibrations.  The quake had also hit Jacmel which is the town I have been staying in throughout this trip. The orphanage that we are working at was once in Port Au Prince but the damage that was done to the buildings and the space they had was not big enough.

This is where Rick and Barb come into play.  They came and saw the orphanage and the living quarters and decided it was not acceptable. So they moved the orphanage to Jacmel and built a place that would be beneficial for the kids. As I was reading the facts about the quake it was heartbreaking. There were points where I wanted to stop reading because being here made it all feel so real. For days after the quake they were still pulling the deceased out of houses that had collapsed. It felt like a genocide because the streets were filled with people that were killed. Can you imagine walking through what was once your home and seeing family and friends just laying there? They said the smell was horrible because the heat made the bodies smell. Amidst this pain and devastation you could here people singing in the streets. They were singing hymns. Even though these people were hurting they still found the courage to praise. I cannot even fathom what these people have been through. They have been fighting for their lives since day one. Many Haitians lost their homes and families due to this earthquake. Haitians slept in the streets and away from all the buildings in fear that they may collapse on them again. I see kids at the beach each morning picking up shells just so they can sell them to get enough money for food and school. Yet I catch myself complaining about school or how the food I have isn't good enough. Every time I saw someone today I was wondering what the day was like for them and how it had affected their life.

This afternoon we got an opportunity to go to a deaf school. Their are some retired teachers at our hotel who are teaching at the deaf school and invited us to go and visit the school. It was an eye- opening experience. I have had very little experience with the deaf population so I was excited to see what the school was like. The retired teachers were doing a professional development for the teachers at the school. They were giving them the resources to be successful in the classroom. It was interesting to see a sign classroom. I was also amazed by the teachers. They were so into the professional development. They were so excited to learn about teaching these kids. Haitians have such a passion to learn. The picture to the right is at the deaf school.

On our way down to the school we hopped onto a very full tap-tap. There was no place to sit so Haley and I were standing on the bumper of the tap-tap. This is a small little pick up. We had three garbage bags of food on there along with two chairs in the bed of the pick up. We had all that stuff in the pick up along with twenty people in the truck! It was a little squished. On the way back to the hotel we decided to take the moto! I love riding these things and it was really nice to not be crowded for once. When we got back to our room I had a little visitor in my room. I saw gecko running across the ceiling of my room. After a little screaming and laughing we got one of the workers to come into our room and get him out. I will not miss these little critters when I get home! The picture on the right is the gecko that was in my room.

With Love,
Abby

We took Ryan to the beach today and took some more pictures. While taking one of the pictures a wave come up and we nearly went under water!

Life as a teacher

The van was finally fixed today so we got to travel by car but in reality I didn't really like it. I would rather have the fresh air.  I was so excited on the car ride over to the school to see the kids. One of my favorite parts of being a teacher is walking into the classroom and hearing the kids yell Miss Abby. The kids at the orphanage have just started doing that and seriously just melts me heart every time. These kids also look adorable in their little orange school uniforms.

One of the main things we are taught as pre-service teachers is to be prepared for anything. We are also told that we need to be able to think on our feet when lessons don't go as planned. In Haiti we do not create lesson plans we just do our lessons based on what we think the kids need to know. I feel so unprepared when walking into these classrooms but I just go with it and try to teach as best as possible. One of the hardest things is the language barrier but they want us to fully immerse the kids in the language. I don't know how many times Haley and I have looked at each other and thought what the heck are we supposed to be doing! We are slowly learning and getting an understanding for how the school is runs.

One of the cutest things happened today at the school. So the kindergarten class was outside playing. One of the girls picked something off of the ground and ate it. Soon the teacher was asking the little girl what she put in her mouth. She just stood there and acted completely innocent. The teacher just kept asking and asking. After asking the little girl stuck her tongue out and she ate a piece of chalk. The teacher in me was saying don't laugh but I couldn't help but laugh because her tongue was all white and it had gotten on her lips. Chalk is very special out here. They have a limited supply of it and we have been told to never let go of it because the kids will take it. I guess they will also eat it!

When we got into the kindergarten classroom one of teachers showed us an art craft she wanted us to do for class. She literally had picked one of the hardest things to do. It was a flower that was more like origami. I would maybe do it with a fourth grade class but we were doing it with kindergarten. It was asking us to cut out over 300 squares to create the flower for the students to make and they gave us ten minutes to get prepared. So just imagine 21 kindergartners running around the room while Haley and I frantically cut out squares. Let's just say the craft was a disaster.

In the other classes that we were teaching today they told us to teach the kids how to type. For anyone who has seen me type I am not the greatest typer nor do I have any idea on how to teach typing. The teachers also did not tell us that we were going to be teaching typing today so they literally just threw us to the wolves. For not having a clue of what we were supposed to be doing I would say we did pretty well. Tonight we both looked up activities for the kids to do to work on typing so hopefully tomorrow will go a little better. It was also very hard because there was only one computer per three kids. So the two kids who were just sitting were getting distracted and bugging other students.

Haley and I decided to go to the beach today. (shocker) I don't think I could ever get sick of going to the beach. I love reading and listening to my music on the beach. We had one heck of a tap-tap ride back. First of it was all younger guys on the ride. Just put that together. We were very happy to get off when it was over.

Before coming on this trip I had all these intentions of changing the school and really helping these teachers. As we are on week two of the trip I am realizing that there is way too much that needs to be done in this school. There is no way we can accomplish that in the three weeks that we are here. As much as I want to help the school you can't do everything we are only human. My main goal is to love on these kids because they love the attention. I just love how they are becoming so comfortable with us. I am starting to catch onto all of their personalities and what they like to do.

With Love,
Abby

Exploring Jacmel

First of all the meal last night was so good! We had a buffet style meal with chicken, steak, plantains, rice, fish, and fresh salad. It was so good! I have never been so full in my life. I might gain like ten pounds by the time I get back.

Today we decided that we wanted to go visit the boardwalk in Jacmel. We took a tap-tap to downtown and Haley and I were not entirely sure where we were so we just headed towards the ocean. After walking for like twenty minutes we finally came across the boardwalk. It is so weird because the boardwalk was so pretty. There were mosaics on the ground and all the walls. It was absolutely gorgeous but no one was there. We maybe saw ten people on the boardwalk and that I was it. I love the raw beauty that this town has and that it is not a tourist attraction. After walking we headed over to a coffee shop for the a drink. I tried the passion fruit juice. It was very refreshing. I am going to have a really hard time drinking our sugary drinks when I come back home. The fruit juices taste so different because they don't add sugar. After our drinks we headed back on the tap-tap. Haley and I had a little incident on the tap-tap today. So the tap-tap was very crowded and Haley had to sit on my lap. On tap-taps they slam on the breaks a lot. I wasn't paying attention and lost balance and Haley slid of my lap onto an older Haitian gentlemen. Thankfully everyone on the tap-tap thought it was funny and laughed with us!

After exploring the boardwalk we headed back to the beach that we went to yesterday. Its nice to go somewhere besides our hotel and this beach is a lot bigger! I spent the afternoon listening to music, reading my book, and watching people on the beach. One of the observations I made on the beach is that Haitians are really good at soccer and they are almost mean. They are throwing elbows at each other and pushing. It was fun to watch and I was wishing I knew how to play soccer so I could join in! Secondly, a group of American tourist came and it was very entertaining to watch them at the beach. They came out of their van with fanny packs and cameras in a hand. It was fun to watch them explore the beach and try to speak the language. We had a little boy come up to us to sell us items. We kept saying no to him and then he goes this helps me pay for my schooling. That literally broke my heart into a million pieces. Its like he knew that we were teachers. Haley and I felt so bad because he was trying so hard to get money to try and pay for his schooling.

We headed back to our hotel by tap-tap again. The tap-tap ride back was a little interesting. All the benches were taken so Haley had to stand in the back. There is nothing that hold you into these tap-taps and we had like nothing to hang on to. I was just praying Haley and I didn't fly out of the back but the Haiti people were holding onto to us making sure that we didn't fall out. I think I will be forever amazed by the kindness these people have while riding on the tap-tap. I think that traveling by tap-tap is one of the best ways to travel in this country. It is a super cheap way to travel and you really get to feel the culture. I mean we get the opportunity to interact with the Haitians. We also get to see so many sights. I love that when you ride in them that you are constantly getting fresh air and you get to experience all the smells. When traveling through the market there tends to be some nasty smells. We smelt some bad things that brought us to the point of almost gagging. I feel like all these Haitians watch out for each other even if they don't know you. They are like a family out here. If you are having car trouble you see like 10 or 15 Haitians surrounding the vehicle trying to help you fix it. When walking down the streets they always say hello and smile at you.

Tomorrow schools starts up again and I can't wait to see the kids again and spend the day with them! :)

With Love,
Abby

New friends and new adventures

We had our first day off from the orphanage and we took full advantage of that. Earlier in the week we met some English teachers that work at a local school. They told us they would love to show us all the places around Haiti. They met us in the morning and we all ate breakfast at our hotel. Shad, Jaci, and Jessica are all elementary teachers who have been in Haiti all school year.

After breakfast we all got onto a tap-tap and headed toward a different beach. We rode the tap-tap for about twenty minutes and then got dropped off at the beach. The tap-tap ride to the beach cost us about 75 cents. It is so nice to travel for so cheap around here. I am always surprised at how welcoming the people are when we get on the tap-tap. They are always smiling and making room for you.



This beach was so pretty. The water was clearer then pool water and it had sand. When you were in the water you could see the mountains in the back ground. The beach did not have very many people at all. It was nice to get away from our hotel and see some other parts of Haiti. The beach we went to was called Kabik. We spent most of the afternoon floating in the water and exchanging travel stories. They also told us of all the places we need to visit while on the island. Haley and I are so excited to visit all these places. It was so nice to hang out with people our age and who had the same interests. After a long week of absorbing this country and feeling a million emotions it was nice to just relax. We both said we finally had a day where our minds weren't running a million miles thinking about all the ways we can help! It was a great ending to our first week. Tonight we are heading into town to go try out a restaurant that apparently has beef. I am so excited I have not had meat since I left home and I am craving it so bad!

With Love,
Abby

Patience

Today we got the opportunity to sleep in but sleeping in for us was 7. It very hard to sleep in here just because the sun rises so early. Also their are lots of animals outside our room we are always hearing chickens and dogs in the morning. We had our breakfast oceanside and then headed over to the orphanage and we took the tap-tap today. We were the only people on the tap-tap ride so that was really nice. We arrived at the orphanage and the kids were doing their morning chores. They are trying to teach the kids to pick up there trash and that they don't just leave it laying around. Many people just throw their trash out in Haiti. This is a very dirty country.

Once the kids were finished with their morning chores we brought out the chalk for them to play. They swarmed around us trying to get pieces of chalk. These kids are so eager to learn they were all working on their counting and writing out number lines on the sidewalk. They would say the numbers in both French and English. We also take some books out and read to the kids. They loved being read to and repeated every word that we said to them. These kids are so motivated to learn English and speak our language. All the little boys came up to me today and asked me to play tic-tac-toe with them. They get so excited over such a simple game. I am also going two days straight of being the tic-tac-toe champion. These little boys are so competitive and so am I.

Later on in the morning the older girls started playing a new game that involved singing. They would say a letter and then you had to think of a song that starts with that letter. The girls sang in French while the others sang in English. It was a lot of fun even though we didn't understand what other people were saying we had a lot fun singing and laughing at each other. We also pulled out a phone and started playing music and English and had a little dance party. After playing with the kids we headed back to our hotel. Our tap-tap ride back was a little more interesting. The tap-tap was full when we got on and some Haitian just pulled me down to sit down on his lap. While Haley was standing right in front me with no room to move. We also could not see out of this one so we were hoping the driver remembered where we were supposed to be dropped off. We made it back safely! We are truly getting to experience the Haitian culture on this trip.I wouldn't change that though because we are really getting an understanding of their lifestyle. Haley and I did some homework and then headed to the beach for about an hour.

The beach that we go to is not like a beach in the states. Its very very small maybe twenty people could fit on this beach. The beach is also very rocky and we take like ten steps into the water and then swim because the rocks hurt our feet so bad. We have also realized this beach is common place for Haitian's to bathe. It makes you feel real guilty when you are just going to the beach to relax and all of these people are going because its the only way they can get clean. You never truly realize how much you have until you see the life that other people are living.

On Friday nights our hotel has pizza night! We were all so excited to finally have pizza but man did it take forever to get our food. We had not had food since 7:30 this morning so by 5 we decided we couldn't wait any longer for our food. We ordered our food and waited this is very typical in Haiti it normally takes us and hour or two to get our food. After ordering our food it had been about an hour and we were getting impatient. One of the servers came over and said they did not have the ingredients for the pizza we wanted... So we then ordered a new pizza and did not get our food until 6:30. Let me tell you by that point in the day my patience was running so thin. All I wanted was food!  This whole Haitian time can be tough some times for us. We are so used to getting food when we want it in the states.

I am still amazed by the kindness by all of these people. They are so kind to us. We may look completely different then them but they are so welcoming to us. Walking down the street people are always saying hello and French and smiling to us. I sometimes wish that everyone was this friendly when we are in the states.

With Love,
Abby