hello moto.

4 days in and i can already scratch trailblazing on a highspeed moto(cycle) off my list.

a few other agenda items already abolished in haiti:

+ salsa dancing looking like a fool as we pretend to salsa dance
   along with everyone else under the stars one night
+ sweating my body weight
+ plantains!
+ pausing between each creole word i attempt
+ churched for 3 what felt like 5 hours
+ swore allegiance to the national beer of Haiti, Prestige
+ absolutely nothing useful

life is pretty glamorous. a glistening, magical, sweaty pits sort of glamorous, if you can imagine. but really, in our defense, we happened to arrive in this town on a local holiday, requiring that all useful activity come to a complete halt (or in our case, never start...).

we're off to the north (cap-haitien area) on thursday where we will be attending the first water technician training and our first act of worth.

AND another thing. if there is anywhere in the world to escape the wrath of shania twain, it's haiti, right? WRONG. as i was spread out on a hammock reading The Rainy Season, her melodious screech managed to successfully overrun the bar next door and spilith over into the rest of Leogane (our current location). ew.

i'll try to upload photos soon to portray a more accurate picture of life here. it's pretty unbelievable. tent cities clustered everywhere. rubble in place of most buildings. and beautiful smiling people.

bon wet, zamni mwen. good night my friend. until next time --- (don't know that in creole yet...)

back! back! back!

i'm finally headed back! in less than 12 hours fin and i will be nestled aboard an American Airlines flight with a stop in Miami en route to its final destination, Port Au Prince, Haiti.

and i haven't a single.thing.packed.

i'm not really sure if it is the rush of adrenaline that only a tight deadline (albeit self-imposed) does to a girl, but here i am surrounded by a bazillion things and not a hint of anxiety. the comfort in leaving tomorrow is that everything must get packed. no alternative. so it will. (maybe?)

you know when you are about to return to a place you loved but haven't been in a really long time? all the stings and burns dissipate in hindsight and the pictures in your memory have a way of morphing into one nebulously hazy glow (like that one scene in 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days')... i guess you know where i'm going with this.

i'm concerned about having over-romanticized my memories of my first trip to Haiti. i'm concerned about not knowing as much kreyol as i thought i would by now (Mwen gen pwoblèm konprann kreyòl.- i have problems understanding kreyol- got that - momentary confidence boost!).  i'm concerned that i will fall off the back end of this blog and eat its dust. but, somehow i'm not nervous.

tomorrow marks the beginning of a 108 days in Haiti, wondering, wandering, and the like. officially, we'll be working with a water-quality organization collecting research and apprenticing with the water sanitation world. i'd hope to return home having learned a lot about the haitain way, kreyole, joy, tragedy, and things i don't even know exist. i'd like to have given somethings of mine, though i'm not sure what as of yet; pressence, participation, elbow grease.

most of all, i hope that you drop by no more or less than you'd like and that if i borrowed something from you for this trip (you know who you are) that i won't lose it...

here goes nothing.

i'm dipping my toes back in blogwater, but only with a little help from my friends.

enter buck + irena. we wrestled up a few links for your perusal...

Lack of Pakistan Flood Support : compassion fatigue following the eq in Haiti?

Higher Education Opportunity Act : finally! a law to enforce transparency between textbook companies and students. will it encourage competition in the market or put bookstores out of business? 

Altangrill : buck and irena's favorite wedding gift! thanks uncle gus!