Returning to Haiti...

by Jimmy

Three weeks off for Christmas. Three months off for summer. I am spoiled as a teacher. And very very blessed. Returning to Haiti this time from three weeks in Texas was weird to both Becky and myself. 

We had a great time with family and friends. It was cold. We got sick. We ran.

Transitioning from Haiti to Texas weather got us good. I had been training to run the half marathon, but the temperature has always been around 90 degrees here. Returning to Texas we found the highs to be in the 40s with plenty of wet. We even had snow on Christmas Day! Abbi’s first snow.

So we stayed indoors quite a bit. I got out to run once for about 30 minutes. I cut and split some firewood twice. And I really think that was all my getting outside consisted of. Oh. And the half marathon. I have already written about that.

When Becky and I and Abbi got on the plane to return to Haiti, we both felt like it had been 3 months instead of just 3 weeks since we had been here. So weird. But as soon as we got the bags unpacked, and started prepping for the next day’s school, we felt right back at home.

Like always, the biggest culture shock, is not the culture – affluence, materialism, media, etc. – it is the  little things like hot showers, (long hot showers),  and smooth roads. Realizing that you don’t have to leave at 6:00 to get to the restaurant at 7:00. You can leave 15 minutes before and be there 5 minutes early. Or just going into a store (again, only 5 minutes away) and buy absolutely anything you could ever want to eat.

Getting back into a routine here in Haiti is pretty straight forward, I think. There are just a lot of small details that MUST be done. Such as…

The small store trip across the street for water, bread, and milk.

The big Saturday trip for chicken feed, irrigation hardware, and the big grocery shopping list – honey, hand soap, and apple juice (plus a few other items). Time: Almost 3 hours. A celebration that it was not 4 or more, which it easily could have been.

Laundry when city power is on.

Feed the chickens. Water the garden.

Clean the dust from everything.

Pay the workers who cared for the chickens and watered the garden.

Say Hi to the new goat just born. (Wonder who the father was.)

And on and on. Life is very different here in many ways.

Different and very good.