Getting it started

"The feeling remains that God is on the journey too."
-St. Teresa of Avila

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Hello everybody! I guess it's time for me to actually write on my own blog. I'm going to try to update you all once a week with highlights and low points as well as a longer reflection if there is time. So, here it goes:

Highlights:

• We are in the Caribbean! Driving through the streets, it's easy to forget, but the campus is gorgeous with lots of shade, palm and fruit trees, and clean pathways and buildings.
• We have finished our first big project: the living room/dining room/kitchen. When we arrived, they had just finished opening up a wall to make the dining room larger. We painted and watched as the hole became a doorway. We got new shelving, a sealed cabinet (Peter killed two mice), and a new stove. Then a TV was put in on a shelf and all of the kitchen stuff brought in and organized.
  
• No matter what you're eating, food always tastes better when you're hungry and you know you're in a third world country where most people don't get to eat.
• We've gotten specific teaching assignments. I'm teaching sisiem and setiem English (the two youngest grades) as well as art. Since most sisiem students have never had an English class before, I'm going to be teaching with a translator/teacher's aid.
  
• My job within the volunteer is the project manager, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Pretty much, I just make sure everybody has a job and the tools they need to finish it, then I jump in wherever necissary. Once the students come, my job will be more to motivate and keep everybody on task.

Low Points:

• We've been through our first bout of sickness. Mary got sick first and only recently has been able to eat more than bread and coke. Meg and I got sick next...I ended up throwing up outside of church. (sorry if that's too much info...) After church, Peter and Elissa were feeling sick. Only two of us were physically sick, though, so it wasn't that bad.
  
• We're still getting used to how much food to buy and cook, so there have been a few nights where people go to bed hungry.
• Being around the Haitian staff and seeing the Haitian lifestyle, I have realized how much I like getting things done fast and efficiently. Taking two hours to boil whole potatoes and vegetables instead of cutting them up and cooking them faster has been a sore spot between the staff and the volunteers.