I am Haitian. 100%.

Well, I loved Haiti. I learned to say in Creole, 'I am Haitian. 100%.' Unfortunately, I can't read or write Creole, so you'll have to believe me. I guess I am an illiterate Creole speaker, if knowing about 4 sentences in Creole counts as actually knowing the lanugage. I love the place I'll be working. The people there are great and there is a very welcoming atmosphere. I felt at home immediately. There is very much a sense of community with good conversation taking place in at least three languages (English, French, and Creole with some occassional Spanish thrown in just for fun) and two communal meals a day with the staff, guests and longer-term patients from the clinic. It is a safe haven in a beautiful but very scarred country.

It isn't safe for me to be out walking by myself, which is fine since I'll be living and working in the same place. It could probably be compared to walking along Kelvin Way after dark. The landscape itself is beautiful but it is masked by the desperate poverty of her people, who have "torn her hair out" as one Haitian put it. They speak of Haiti so lovingly, as if she is this mother helpless to save her children. They are still a very proud people despite everything.

The poverty did not stike me as hard as I thought it might. In some respects this is a comfort to me, I know that I will be ok to live there. In others was it makes me feel ashamed that I was not touched by it more than I was. I think this was partly due to the fact that there were so many new sights and sounds and smells, that I was too busy experiencing all of these new things. It seems that in general the situation in Port-au-Prince is not as bad as in the rural areas. Hopefully, I will have the chance to see that side of the coin as well.

I think God has a lot to teach me this summer about myself and about his desperate people. Haiti has opened her heart to me and I hope to inturn open my heart to her.

It's been nearly two months since I posted last and for good reason--I've been terribly busy! Despite this fact, I have lost almost all of my motivation to do my uni work, which is not good. I tend to procrastinate more during our spring term. Uni's almost done and the weather is getting nice. This year has by far been the worst for lack of motivation though. There's is just too much life going on to be bothered by uni work.

Life that is going on that is getting in the way of my uni work:

• I am going to Haiti tomorrow. Yes, Haiti. Tomorrow. Just for the weekend. I know, there have been some explitives coming out of my mouth quite frequently the last 10 days or so. I have a placement for the summer with a health clinic in Port-au-Prince, so I am going down this weekend to make sure that I really can commit myself to being there for the summer. My concern, as well as theirs, is that I won't be able to handle it emotionally. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and things like that break my heart. I want to make sure that I won't be needing to phone my mum everyday crying about how horrible the conditions are that people live in there. I'll try and post photos upon my return.
• My birthday was on Friday. I planned my party, which was out of town, mostly by myself. Trying to coordinate the schedules of university students is a bit like herding cats. It was a good time though, once we actually got there.
• Weddings. Lots of weddings. I have three to attend within about a 10 day span during the month of June, one of which I am in. There's a fourth in August, if I'm back from Haiti in time. I don't know about all of this bridesmaid stuff. It's a little confusing. I am hosting a brunch next weekend though. I am hoping I will pull it all off!

With all of that being said, I don't think that I actually failed my mid-term exam for my poltics class on Tuesday, which is a pleasant suprise!