How I Keep Myself Happy
1. Social media. I thank Jesus and Nadene Brunk every day that we have internet -- and, even better, wifi -- at the house. I text, snapchat, facetime, skype, chat, etc., my friends every single day and that's really what gets me through. Coming to Haiti has made me talk to people I haven't spoken to in a really long time (shout out goes to Maddy, my best friend from the Honduras trip I took last summer, with whom I skyped for the first time ever recently!) and I am so thankful that I'm getting to keep in touch with everyone. It seems like the farther the distance, the better people are at staying in touch (except my family, cough cough). And it makes me really happy that I can share my experiences with everyone through this blog. I really can't explain how great it is to be able to communicate so freely with everyone back home.
2. Nailpolish, mascara, jewelry. I'm not a high maintenance girl in terms of personal appearance. I like to go with the natural look as much as possible, but I will say that painting my nails and putting on mascara make me feel significantly prettier here -- and that's really nice in a place where I'm wearing loose-fitting modest clothing and am sweating all the time. (I wore jeans and a little t-shirt to the disco a couple weeks ago and it was so weird to see myself dressed like that). I brought some of my nice, simple jewelry to wear while I'm here, too. I wear my watch 24/7 and then I wear earrings and rings on other days if I feel like it. Fun fact: I was told not to wear jewelry to the disco because when I'm dancing the Salsa/Cha cha cha/Bachata, a man could easily accidentally rip out an earring or get scratched by a ring. Anyway, it's just nice to feel pretty sometimes.
3. I can't lie or try to deny it, I eat way too much chocolate here. When I have a free hour or so, I'll go hide in my room and throw down like half a big bag of M&Ms (future volunteers, take note: I like M&Ms). My parents recently sent down a big bag of beef jerky (it came down in someone's suitcase -- thank you Monica!) and so I've been hoarding that, too. Ina May always smells it and whines for some, but it's way too precious to waste on my cat, as much as I love her.
4. My Kindle has sort of saved my life here, too. I don't really have a ton of time to read, but I put my Kindle by my bed so I frequently see it and think to read. Whenever I get 20 free minutes, I'll pick it up. Lately, however, I've been reading a hardcopy book called African Friends and Money Matters, highly recommended to me by Carrie, and it's helping me understand Haitian culture much better. My Kindle has made me pick up books and take time for myself, which is so necessary here. I usually grab it and lay in bed or walk up to the porch upstairs and read outside as I rock in a rocking chair. Sometimes I think about life here, and although I work really hard, it's a huge, wonderful, exhausting vacation. (If you're curious, my current book is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and yes, Mom, I know you're way ahead of me.)
5. The disco and dancing, of course! Tura comes every Friday to teach me dance, and I'm really loving it. Not only is it just cool to ballroom dance, but it's a form of exercise and language practice. Sometimes Tura speaks to me in Creole and sometimes he speaks French, but either way it's doing wonders for my language skills. I recently debuted my Cha Cha Cha skills, and soon enough I was feeling confident enough (thank you, Prestige) to dance Cha Cha Cha and Salsa and Bachata (which I had learned literally the day before). It was a blast! We intended to stay for an hour and leave at 10:30, but I got so many dance requests that we didn't get out until midnight! Guilet, the male midwife student, is my dance partner outside of class. He helps me practice, sometimes teaches me new moves, and is my usual dance partner at the disco. Gladias is my go-to disco buddy, and we always have a great time, whether we're with a huge group of American volunteers, I find a group of other foreigners, or we just sit there together and drink a couple Prestiges.
6. Watching movies. Sometimes I shut myself in my room and break out Pitch Perfect (no shame), sometimes the Haitian women and I bring in the porch furniture and project a movie on the wall, and sometimes my friend Emily (who works for PIH) will come over and we'll set up the projector in one of the volunteers' rooms, eat chocolate, drink beer, and watch a movie. I don't know if I can admit this on the internet, but whenever other Americans-living-in-Haiti come around, we always share movies we have on our computers. Just watched Life of Pi -- it's incredible. Sometimes it's great to get lost in a story and forget everything around me.
7. Mini vacations. I love Hinche and the house and everything, but because I live at my workplace, I really do need to leave sometimes. The past few weeks I've gotten a bunch of opportunities to do so! First, I went to Bassin Zim (actually I've been twice now), which is the local waterfall. It's huge and beautiful and you can swim and sunbathe and everything. It's a quick 40-minute drive from Hinche and it's only an afternoon trip, but you forget where you are for those few hours. I also went on a day trip to the beach with Gladias, visited Emmanuel in Lascahobas, and snuck away to the beaches of Port-Au-Prince for a few days, but more on that in my next post!
8. Visitors. Only one person has visited me so far (be patient and wait for my next post!), but it was so refreshing. We had no volunteers, so I didn't have much work for the week besides a few emails and phone calls. My parents are visiting next month, too, so that'll be great, I'm sure. It's nice that people are interested in what I'm doing here and want to come experience it, too.
9. Talk. I meet new people every single week. In fact, I live with new people every single week. It's so important, not only as a representative of MFH, but also for my own personal growth, that I get to know the faces that come through here. Depending on the week, we may have 1 or 13 volunteers in this house, but I always make an effort to get to know people as best I can. The kind of people who drop everything in life for a week or two (honestly, some even quit their jobs) to come to Haiti and use their skills are the kinds of people who are crazy like me. Or they're just really interesting, intelligent, and generous. Either way, they're the people I like to meet in life. Everyone has an interesting story for how they ended up here, and I want to hear them all. Why wouldn't I?
10. I sing my lungs out in this house. I don't even care that I live with 3 other women and that the cooks/cleaning ladies are here most of the time, and that the class is going on downstairs.. nope. I sing anyway. And since they don't really know much American music or anything I'm saying, I feel no shame singing whatever song is stuck in my head -- be it BSB or Nicki Minaj. I am also now the proud owner of a ukulele, so I intend to play and sing much more frequently now!
I think that's pretty much it. Again, I'll add to this list if I think of anything.
