95 degrees in December

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Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
-Albert Camus
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Hello everybody! I haven't written in a while, so here's a quick update.

We are cooling off here in Haiti, and we love listening to all of the mission groups comment on how hot it is since we've started breaking out our jackets.

Thanksgiving was a blast! I spent all day making thank you notes and hand turkeys in my classes, and spent time cooking during my breaks. With our two ovens and numerous dishes, we cooked from 9 am to 6:30 pm. Needless to say, it was mayhem...an extremely festive and fun mayhem that somehow worked. Our sister school from Virginia sent a mission group. After spending a week trying to help them feel welcome and find them work projects, we took a day relax and we played a game of football after work hour. Patrick called the game after his team scored a tying touchdown.

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing. We fed about 50 people and even had leftovers. Our meal was typical--turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie--with a Haitian twist--mango fruit salad, granadia juice, and rice with beans. It was definitely a meal to remember.

After our mission group left on Friday, we received a mandate that there be no work projects over the weekend. Instead, we went to a pool at one of the nice hotels. We were able to order food off of a menu, lounge in the sun, enjoy the shade, and even take a hot shower. Let me tell you what, you don't realize how nice the little things like hot water and menus are until you don't have them as an option.

Unfortunately, everybody has given into the Christmas break countdown. It's hard to be fully present when we're planning a month's worth of meals and activities for when we'll be home. Since everybody's head is somewhere else, a lot of the volunteers are hurting themselves. We walk around bumping into things, fall up and down the stairs, one girl tripped and dislocated a shoulder, and I scalded my hands while making coffee. Still, we are all okay but anxiously awaiting Christmas break while trying very hard to be fully present here.