28 January 2012

I think if I ever end up on a construction site in the US, I'm probably going to start speaking Creole just out of habit.

One of the best things about this trip so far is that my creole (while still not good), is continuing to improve to the point that I can normally get the point across. I'm sure I don't sound as good as I think I do, but it is exciting to be at the point where I can actually use full sentences some of the time at least. :)

Most of this week has been spent helping with the Mission of Hope school project, generally getting up around 5am to get to the work site by 6am right as the sun comes up, working all day, and getting back to the Militone property by about 6pm, right as it's getting dark. Yesterday was a treat, because I finished when the workers all left at 4pm, and got back to Kay Militone in time to go for a quick swim and wash some laundry. The last ten minutes or so of laundry was done via headlamp because it got dark, but it got finished nonetheless. Laundry lessons: 1) wash the cleaner clothes first, then the really dirty ones last, otherwise they all end up still slightly dirty in the end. 2) detergent for a high-efficiency washing machine is potent stuff, which is great because you get really dirty working in dirt and concrete all day and 3) Haitian women will always be way better at washing things by hand than I will ever be.

Today, Travis and I left Grand Goave mid-morning and 4 or 5 hours later ended up at Children's Lifeline in Arcahaie, northwest of Port-Au-Prince near the coast. The goal is here is to try to repair a large Lincoln Electric generator/welder that hasn't worked since the earthquake. They have two, one that works, and one that doesn't. We took panels off and started both of them up tonight. The engine on the broken one seems to run okay, but there's no power output to run the welder part. One troubleshooting issue that we did get taken care of tonight: there may or may not have been a chicken sitting on eggs she had laid in the bottom part of the generator compartment. Turns out the chicken actually belongs to the neighbors, so it got returned tonight. We'll see what adventures await us tomorrow!