Days 50 & 51 (10/03 – 04)

Thursday – You know – no matter how hard I try, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to cold showers. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the fact that there is water and it does come out of the wall (as opposed to dipping it out of a bucket with a cup and pouring it over your head). But I think when I get home I’ll stay under a hot shower for a week.

Last night a group of 28 Haitian women arrived at the Guest House to attend some kind of a conference and will be staying until Sunday. With a couple of teams coming and going and our staff, it puts the head count at something over 50 people. We actually could handle up to 60, but it is a bit crowded – particularly at meal time. I ate breakfast standing up this morning. I also have to share my building (The Manse). I’ve gotten kind of spoiled having the whole building to myself (except when Jim Gulley is in-country).

My work routine today was pretty much a repeat of the last couple of days – estimating. If all goes well, I should be able to have the first draft done tomorrow.

Sarah’s mom arrived with a team today, so Sarah went to spend a few days with her in Bernice. And – since I am the utility player on call, I’m filling in in the team hospitality role. It’s interesting to talk with everyone from all over the U.S. It’s also interesting to hear the differences in perspective before and after their missions in the field. It really is a life changing experience for almost all of them.

Friday – I don’t know whether it’s the fact that I’m usually worn out by the time I go to bed at night and fall instantly to sleep or not, but I seem to do most of my reflective thinking in the morning while I’m taking my cold shower and brushing my teeth – making sure not to put my tooth brush under the tap. (Boy is that a hard habit to break). This morning I was wishing that I had a nice, soft fluffy T-shirt to put on. Gerda, the housekeeper that does my laundry every week, does a great job of getting everything clean (by hand) – the whites absolutely sparkle. However, the art of rinsing seems to have been lost or unlearned. Putting on a clean shirt is like rubbing your skin with fine sandpaper. When the soap residue combines with sweat (you do sweat sometimes in Haiti) it creates a toxic element guaranteed to take off 3 layers of skin. (Don’t even ask about the underwear). I’m not complaining, mind you, just wishin’.

Raise a banner!! The first draft of the Guest House Renovation Project is done!! Now I have to go through it room by room with Roger LaPlanche, the EMH Engineer, and Mdme. Ruth, the Guest House Manager, to see if they are in accord with my recommendations. Once that is done I’ll do the final adjustments and write the grant proposal. My reward for reaching this milestone was to be given another job. They want me to design a staff housing project to be built behind the Guest House. Will I ever see my family again?  J