My First Week
I’ve been up to a lot in the few days I’ve been here!
-Moving in and unpacking
-School and missionary/Haiti orientation. We start with a team building activity (think trust fall!) then do some Haiti history and culture. We also did a prayer walk through the school one day. I've been LOVING learning more about this country and seeing the hearts of my coworkers for these kids and this nation!
-Starting to set up my classroom. Here are “before” pictures (“after” coming later):
-Having some pretty good meals/game nights/movie nights with the other Sonlight missionaries and getting to know everyone.
-Meeting two other new missionary families now living in Port-de-Paix. They
don’t work with Sonlight, but their kids will be going here.
-I’ve been gradually getting more comfortable riding taxis, the preferred mode of transportation here. Now by taxi, I mean a man riding a moped that I hop on the back of and ride down the bumpy, muddy streets of Port-de-Paix going a million miles an hour with no safety gear or street signs/lights/road lines. A 15 minute taxi ride cost me about $1 US.
-Took a couple trips downtown to buy a sim card for my phone (found out I can call the States!) and visit the main market. The market is in an old iron factory I think. You walk down a few crowded alleys, then step into a huge building full of vendors. You can buy everything from meat to fabric to weaves & relaxers! Now if I can just figure out the Haitian money system I’ll be doing good! The exchange rate is about 8.5 us dollars for 1 Haitian dollar. However, the bills and coins you use are all in “goudes” and there are 5 goudes per 1 Haitan dollar. So if a vendor tells me something costs $34 Haitian, I have to divide that by 8.5 to figure out how much that is in US $ (in this case it’d be $4 US) to decide if I want it. Then I have to multiply the Haitain dollar amount by 5 to figure out how many goudes to give him (in this case, 170). I might hand him a bill worth 250 goudes then hope that he doesn’t rip me off when giving me change cause my brain doesn’t want to do any more math.
-I visited an orphanage called House of Hope, about a 15 minute taxi ride away in La Pointe. I held an adorable little baby named Manushka for most of the time.
-I've braved it a few times and had some street vendor food – banan (plantains), marinad (fried dough), rice & beans, pate (folded over dough with meat, onions, & peppers inside) - and prayed I wouldn’t get sick after, lol. So far so good!
-Went to my first Sonlight church service on Sunday. I didn’t understand a whole lot, but was able to make out some. The sermon was on generosity.
-I’ve also been able to meet a few of the students I will have this year.
Next up, some sights and sounds of Haiti!
-Moving in and unpacking
-School and missionary/Haiti orientation. We start with a team building activity (think trust fall!) then do some Haiti history and culture. We also did a prayer walk through the school one day. I've been LOVING learning more about this country and seeing the hearts of my coworkers for these kids and this nation!
-Starting to set up my classroom. Here are “before” pictures (“after” coming later):
-Having some pretty good meals/game nights/movie nights with the other Sonlight missionaries and getting to know everyone.
-I’ve been gradually getting more comfortable riding taxis, the preferred mode of transportation here. Now by taxi, I mean a man riding a moped that I hop on the back of and ride down the bumpy, muddy streets of Port-de-Paix going a million miles an hour with no safety gear or street signs/lights/road lines. A 15 minute taxi ride cost me about $1 US.
-Took a couple trips downtown to buy a sim card for my phone (found out I can call the States!) and visit the main market. The market is in an old iron factory I think. You walk down a few crowded alleys, then step into a huge building full of vendors. You can buy everything from meat to fabric to weaves & relaxers! Now if I can just figure out the Haitian money system I’ll be doing good! The exchange rate is about 8.5 us dollars for 1 Haitian dollar. However, the bills and coins you use are all in “goudes” and there are 5 goudes per 1 Haitan dollar. So if a vendor tells me something costs $34 Haitian, I have to divide that by 8.5 to figure out how much that is in US $ (in this case it’d be $4 US) to decide if I want it. Then I have to multiply the Haitain dollar amount by 5 to figure out how many goudes to give him (in this case, 170). I might hand him a bill worth 250 goudes then hope that he doesn’t rip me off when giving me change cause my brain doesn’t want to do any more math.
-I visited an orphanage called House of Hope, about a 15 minute taxi ride away in La Pointe. I held an adorable little baby named Manushka for most of the time.
-I've braved it a few times and had some street vendor food – banan (plantains), marinad (fried dough), rice & beans, pate (folded over dough with meat, onions, & peppers inside) - and prayed I wouldn’t get sick after, lol. So far so good!
-Went to my first Sonlight church service on Sunday. I didn’t understand a whole lot, but was able to make out some. The sermon was on generosity.
-I’ve also been able to meet a few of the students I will have this year.
Next up, some sights and sounds of Haiti!
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