Ayiti--'Haiti' in her native tongue Creole

I'm currently sitting in a starkly decorated room and sweating despite the fact that I have a fan blowing on me and it's 9:30 in the evening. The water that comes from the sink and shower runs only cold and is non-potable. The bathroom does not have a door and there was just a bug on my computer screen. Nonetheless, I am enjoying myself immensely in Port-au-Prince.

I have been blogging about my Haitian adventures on a different blog, 'Traverse.' I felt like I needed a site dedicated exclusively to my travel adventures (that makes it sound like I travel a lot more than I actually do), so take a wee gander if you'd like.

I've been keeping up a bit about what you've all been doing over your summer holidays through the GUCU emails and, yes, Facebook.

I was in Washington, DC the beginning of July and visited a folk arts festival put on by the Smithsonian Museums. Each year the spotlight the folk arts of different countries. One of this year's countries happened to be Norn Iron. I sat in on a few traditional songs accompanied by various instruments of course. It took me back to Glasgow.

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!

Coffee Houses

I love coffee houses, I always have. My mom used to take my sister and me to get an a special treat on Saturday mornings at a coffee house. For me they are this place of community and intellectual conversations and are brilliant for people watching, when you really should be working on an essay. Here are some recent observations from a place I love called St. Marks.

• One overly stressed barista who was so flustered he about slid a mug right off its plate because he was moving so fast.
• Lots of people sitting in front of laptops studying or otherwise working.
• Fewer people pouring over text books and rapidly taking notes.
• One highly intriguing man who looked like he could be foreign, and sat and sketched for several hours on rumpled pieces of paper. He was my favorite.
• An eclectic group of four. I never could figure out their connection or what exactly they were talking about.
• One private Italian lesson. French has fewer words than Italian and unlike French, every letter is pronounced.
• One guy with a ring in his nose like you see on cows, although at first I thought it was something else.
• Two people admiring the art work of a friend.
• Several fun and lively conversations.
• Several quieter and therfore probably deeper conversations.
• Lots of people sitting on the patio enjoying the warm spring weather.

It was an excellent day for observing and slightly less productive for paper writing.

Time Flies

They say time flies when you're having fun, but I think that time flies regardless of the amount of fun. I have been thinking lately about how quickly time has gone, and how I am feeling more and more like an adult-- a real person, if you will. I am not really sure how I feel about that. It is this change that has been taking place gradually, but seems to have snuck up on me some how. My years at uni are coming to an end. Soon I will be looking for a job and a more permanent place to live. I will have more responsibility over my finances. At times I am not sure I am ready for all of this, at others I am ready to fully embrace it.

My twenty-second birthday is coming up in April and I wonder how I have come this far. In my head, twenty two seems so old. When I was younger, people who were twenty two seemed to have their lives together and knew what they were doing. I do not feel like that person who has her life all together. I feel pretty good about my life and am enjoying it fully (although I wish I could make it back to Glasgow for my Spring Break). Life moves so quickly. When you're a kid you want to grow up fast, but now I wouldn't mind if time slowed down a little bit. Being a kid again does not sound too appealing, but I just do not know where the last four years have gone. There is so much I want to accomplish, but I feel like time is already running out.

Last March, when I was waiting at the airport for my mom and cousin to get in on that day that it snowed so so much, I had a conversation with an elderly gentleman named Bob for several hours. He told me some thing that stuck with me. He said we go through three stages in life: first, "I'm too young," and then it's "I'm too busy," third is "I'm too old." I wonder what excuses I have made about not taking or making opportunities.

Speaking of time, I am currently procrastinating from doing homework, so I should get on that.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Here in Colorado, we are into the depths of winter. It is absolutely baltic (-28c last night), but the cold and snow have not stopped the warmth of life. I have discovered the beauty of Canadian Geese, although I have seen them my whole life. They hang about in the snow on my campus and are stunning. I feel as though they are little gifts from nature to our campus, if only we will see them as such. I tried to take a photo of them in the snow, but when I actually took my camera to uni with me they were of course no where to be seen. If I manage to get one, I'll post it. I contemplated having one for a pet one day, but decided that part of their beauty is their absolute freedom and keeping one as a pet would require having its wings clipped. Maybe that is how God feels about us. He could make us bound to his will, but instead he gave us a free will. Love and loyalty is always much greater if it is freely given.

My other favorite thing of late, is PUB QUIZZES! I participated in some quizzes back in Glasgow and enjoyed them and now we have found that there are pub quizzes at an Irish pub near our city centre. I went on Tuesday night with some friends. They were suprised at my enthusiam regarding such activities, but once they played, they understood how amazing it really is. Our waiter was from London. He had never heard the word 'chav' before though (it was part of one of the questions. Very curious. There will be more pub quizzes in the near future, I'm sure!

Five Things

So, I've been tagged by Dish and as I understand it I am supposed to blog 5 interesting things about me. Here goes.

1. Since none of you have met my family, I'll start with that. It may not quite be an interesting fact, but... I love my family a lot and we are very close, even my extended family (my mom's side). I have a sister, Christie (19). She's a first year at another uni here in Denver. My mom, Nancy, is a teacher and taught English and French at my high school. As of this year she is a couselor at a different school in my home town of Grand Junction, CO. My dad, Randy, works construction in South Western Colorado. My parents were divorced when I was 16. My dad was married before he met my mom and I have a half-sister, Rian (31) who lives in Dallas, Texas, where she grew up with her mom. She moved to Majorca for several months last year and I went to visit her. My mom's parents and my mom's sister and her family live in Grand Junction. My mom's brother lives near Vail Ski Resort (about 2 hours away). I have 6 cousins (I'm the oldest. The youngest is 15.) We spent a lot of time together growing up and in some ways are more like brothers and sisters.

2. I am passionate about horses. My dad grew up around horses on ranches in Montana and Wyoming and passed his affection for them on to me, although I think my attachment to them runs deeper than his. I had a pony growing up named Stormy. She was older and had been there and done everything, she was still quite a challenge at times though. The photo is of the last horse I owned, Janae. She was only two when I got her and we learned a lot from each other. I kept her for a year after I started uni, but knew I needed to sell her. It was the most fair thing for both of us, but it broke my heart. I cried for three days after I sent her to her new home. At 19 I was horseless for the first time in my life that I could remember and I can hardly bear it.

3. I keep a book with things that I want to do before I die. I add to it as things come to my mind. I try to make sure they are not short-term whimsies, but things that I really do want to experience in my lifetime.

4. I like monks a lot! This is not a physical attraction, don't worry. I can assure you, I have psycho-analyzed myself pretty well concerning this. I would like to have my own personal monk who would give me bits of wisdom and calm as I go along through life. This affinity for monks extends to the Christian and Buddhist traditions, but not to the weird 'monks' of Eastern religion ( I don't remember it, because I've never heard of it) that solicit people on Buchanan Street and, I imagine, elsewhere around town.

5. When I was little, I kept two imaginary kittens named Sky and Blue. Their food and water dishes were behind my parents' bedroom door and I would get angry at my mom for moving them. I only vaguely remember this, but it is a story that my mom likes to tell.