WHAT UP? I like your shirt today. Have I said that before? No matter. Let's do this thing.
Nothing super exciting has happened in the last week or so, but I really like writing this blog and I hope you like reading it, so I'm just going to kind of ramble today.
Just got back from REBUILD this morning. I went over for like an hour just to check on the plants and let me tell you, they are coming along and I am so full of pride! It's crazy how such a small thing can mean so much. Haiti is such a rough place and I feel like I'm adding a little beauty to it, even if it's in one garden plot in one area of one city. These little seedlings push through and grow in spite of the dry, rocky dirt. And the apprenticeship kids who help out are so eager and excited about it. Makes me feel like I'm doing some good here.
Every now and again I think about what I could be doing if I was back home with my friends. It's their summer break now, and they're all in our hometown having adventures and being with each other, going out late and driving around town with the windows down (I've mentioned before how much I miss doing that. I totally took that for granted back in the States). I miss being with people who know me, but I'm also finding a place here. It's not the same as it was, but I'm finding people that I'm comfortable with and I'm finding out things about myself that I wouldn't discover if I wasn't here. Does that make sense?
I get very easily frustrated here though, with the people and the culture. It's kind of a Caribbean mindset, I think. Do everything on your own time and don't rush, just do it when you feel like it. It's not a bad way to think, it's just so different from the US. People will stroll down the middle of the road, and I'll be driving behind them thinking "seriously, why walk so slowly right in the middle of the damn street? What can you possibly be doing that requires you to be RIGHT THERE?" I have to remind myself that I'm not in the states anymore and people think very differently here.
On a happier note, my job is going well. I really like my boss and my coworkers. The other interns and I have become good friends, which is totally saving my sanity. If they weren't here, I would go nuts. With all the events that happen here, I still feel a bit trapped. That's the hardest thing for me- the lack of freedom. But I'm learning my limits and what I'm comfortable with doing, which will set me up well for college, I think. Even if I turn into a really aggressive driver. I won't apologize for swerving around manhole covers. I should get a bumper sticker that says "Just back from driving in Haiti, apologies for my road behavior."
That was a bit of a ramble-y post, sorry. More later. N a we pita!
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