Weekend adventures...

Last week was crazy busy at school. I was at school by 6:30 am on Wednesday and didn't get back home until after 8:00 pm. We had open house Thursday night so I had the opportunity to meet several parents. I've been surprised how supportive the parents are here. All the ones I have talked to are just so happy that we're here and teaching their kids (I'll post more on school stuff later... )

Friday night we invited a few of the other female teachers over to the house for a super salad supper and mani/pedis Haitian style. I forgot to fill up the water tanks Thursday night so we didn't have water Friday night. Luckily we're all adjusting to life in Haiti and learning to improvise. I think we've all learned to make do the best we can with whatever is thrown at us here. At the house, we have to wait until we have EDH before we can turn on the pump to fill the tanks. It was after midnight Friday night before the city decided to turn EDH on. We were very thankful when we saw the street light come on and we could fill the tanks and finally take a much needed shower.

I got up bright and early Saturday to go to the market. It was quite the adventure!! It was my first real ride in a tap-tap (Haiti's local transportation). You can buy anything and EVERYTHING at the market! Lots of people selling fruits and vegetables, there's a butcher section where they are chopping up various meats with machetes, live chickens, turkeys, pigeons, clothes, shoes, household items, hats, bags, etc

hundreds of vendors are set up under those tarps

this is just one small section of the market

We got all this for about $17 at the market. We're eating really good this week!! ;-)
 The watermelon alone would have cost us $20 at the little grocery store near school. 

Anyone want goat for dinner???

I stayed busy trying to get some other stuff done yesterday but unfortunately, I didn't get any of the school work done that I needed to prepare for this week. Luckily, today I had a chance to get some lesson plans finished and spend a little time trying to figure out what I'm teaching this week. I'm still in awe that I'm really here and all the incredible opportunities I've been given.

sunset from the roof of our house 

Some weeks seem longer than others...

You can usually guess how busy my week has been by surveying the contents in my jeep.  Of course, as a music teacher, I usually have various instruments in my jeep, but that's not really what I mean.  I started loading up my jeep Friday afternoon to go camping, and realized how busy I have been.  I had 4 different pair of shoes in my jeep: cowboy boots, flip flops, dress sandals, and ball cleats.  My running shoes would have been in there too, but I took them out to go running Thursday  night.

The past three weeks have been very, very busy, but they usually are.  I sometimes wonder what I would be doing if I wasn't a teacher.  If I had a "regular job," I know I wouldn't be as busy, but I feel like I'd just fill my time with something else.  Yes, a "regular job" would probably be a whole lot less stressful, but I guess I like living on the edge, even if it means going full throttle for 15 to 16 hours a day...just makes my "free time" more valuable to me!

I was so busy I started this post Friday afternoon, while waiting for a load of laundry to finish, and am now coming back to it on Sunday afternoon.  But it's definitely been a great weekend for the most part.

I woke up this morning with a headache, and sadly missed church and went back to bed.  Sometimes I think our bodies have a way of telling us "enough is enough." A few days this past week I was barely able to drag myself to bed when I was finished with everything I needed to do, and one night I just crashed on the couch and was awaken by the weather man on the tv I had left on.

But oh, how I had forgotten how much I loved camping!  I have some dear friends that let me go camping with them, and this weekend was the second time I have gotten to go this year.  This summer was busier than ever, and I guess some of that stress has compounded into the school year also, so this weekend was much needed.

There's just something about sitting around the campfire, playing ukulele, surrounded by friends, and sharing stories, while teaching the younger ones about life that brings me to a "stress-free" state.  Also, we spent most of Saturday on the lake riding seadoos, diving off natural diving boards in rock outcroppings, swinging from rope swings, swimming, floating, and falling into a slower pace of life.  This is why I am still doing what I do.  This is why I love where I am right now in my life.

Crazy busy ....

It's been crazy busy here in Haiti. We're in our 2nd week of school and I feel like I'm spinning in circles just trying to keep up with everything. Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to go on a short hike in the mountains. The views were incredible. It was so good to get out of the city for a little while and enjoy some fresh air. There's no way to properly capture Haiti in photos.....

There's so much going on right now, I'll try to update more when I get a chance to slow down and breathe. Thanks for all the prayers, emails, notes, cards, etc. 

Welcome to Haiti....

Too much swirling around in my head to write anything that would make sense to any of you so here's a few snippets of what's been going on...

1. We moved into our new house on Wednesday afternoon. Yay!! I'm finally unpacked. We walked to a local restaurant Thursday night to celebrate.

the house 

2. We're connected to EDH (Haiti's power company) at the house. EDH only turns power on for 5 or 6 hours at night. So no power at the house any other time until the inverters get set up (basically car batteries that charge at night when EDH is on and then provide enough power during the day to keep the refrigerator running). Looking forward to having a refrigerator hopefully soon! Beyond thankful for the power we have at night so that we can sleep for a few hours with fans running. Last night EDH didn't turn on until really late. There wasn't any work I could do in the dark, so I just went to bed super early and got some much needed extra rest! 

my bedroom

3. We're having water issues at the house. We're manually filling the toilet tanks with water so we can flush. Thankful that we have running water in the sink to fill the toilets and extremely thankful for the little bit of water we have running in the showers. 

afternoon view from the roof

4. Our neighbors have several chickens. The roosters must be a little confused b/c they start their wake up call at 2:30 am. 

5. I have 2 kids in my calculus class, 11 in pre-calculus, 7 in physics, and 21 in chemistry. Ready or not, schools starts Monday!!!!

6. No internet at the house yet, so I walked over to school this morning to get some work done and check email. No power or water at school today either (apparently they don't run the generators on the weekends)

7. We have the sweetest guy who is our night security guard at the house. He also works as gate keeper at school during the day (weekends too). I need to hurry up and learn creole b/c I would love to know his story. Does he have kids and/or grandkids? Is he working night and day so that they can go to school and eat and have clean water and shoes and a roof over their heads ... 

8. Even with our little hiccups at the house with power and water and a few other things going on, we're still living better than 90% of the people here.

9. We walked to Epidor (Haiti's version of fast food) for lunch. We've been there a couple of times and every time there have been a few ladies begging on the street. The other day 1 of the ladies had a small toddler with her. She has already taught him how to stick his hand out and beg for money when he sees a white person walk by. He's barely walking, but knows how to ask a white person for money!! Today another lady, who has been there every time we've walked by, had 4 kids with her. They chased us down the street trying to take our drinks from us and begging for money. This is the hard stuff here. If I give them money this time, then what? They'll tell all their friends and I'll have 50 people chasing me down the street next time. Or it'll buy them bread today, but what about tomorrow and the next day? How do you help empower these beautiful people so that they don't have to beg on the street. I've been blessed, therefore it is my responsibility to bless others, but how? In the states, I would have just bought them lunch and went on with my day. Here it's so much more complicated than that. If others see me give them money or buy them food, it could put them or me in danger. How do I help those in front of me in my everyday walk here without doing more harm than good......

  

One week down...

Today is the last day of the first week of school. I found myself this week comparing things to how I thought it might be in Haiti. It just makes your whole outlook seem different when you think like that. I have jokingly said that my motto this year is going to be:

"No matter what happens it's got to be better than what's going on in Haiti."

It hit me this week how much we complain about the little things. The air-conditioner has been broken in my classroom at one of my schools this week. It was hot but not as hot as it would be in Haiti. The pants I had on one day had small pockets so my phone wouldn't fit. There wasn't extra barbecue sauce at lunch one day. I even had to stand in line at lunch every day. And tonight takes the cake...the ATM wasn't letting me deposit but one check at a time...I had 4.

But really does any of this matter?

It does...but not enough...

I was worried that Becky wouldn't let me know if she needed something, but thankfully she's already sent me two different lists. The first list included some books, note pads, and a pillow.

A pillow. How basic, but yet so important to me.  I have 5 on my bed right now. I take two when I go stay at camp or with friends.  Every night this week, when I climbed in bed exhausted from teaching at 3 schools all day, I have thought about my attachment to a pillow, and just how many people in the world don't have one...but that could be said with a lot of things.

The second list had some more items: jug to mix Gatorade or lemonade in, binders for school, silverware, and a few other things.  In America, we would usually just run to Walmart, or somewhere like that, and buy the items, along with many things not on our shopping list.  Haiti is different.

Orientation for my school year was last week. Two days of meetings that include school policies, student confidentiality, and even a specialist about finances so we stay out of trouble with the auditors.  My attention always wanders during these days, so I make origami out of candy wrappers...flying cranes to be specific. Sometimes I'm so bored I make a whole flock of cranes. This year, I only made one. Two days of meetings, one tiny paper crane.  I just couldn't keep but thinking about what was going on in other parts of the world. I kept wondering if I really was making a difference.

All of that went away Monday morning when I arrived at school. Smiling faces, elementary students running up and latching on to me like they thought they would never see me again, record attendance in my after school choir, and parents telling me stories of their children practicing throughout the summer to be ready for Miss Sandy.  Even though I'm not in a 3rd world country, I know I'm where I need to be, and I'm doing what I need to do.

One week down, a lifetime to go...

8 days ...

For whatever reason I'm in a writing mood today ....  enjoy b/c it may not happen again any time soon  ;-)

Today is day 8 of life in Haiti. We've spent several hours this week at orientation. I assume it is similar to inservice for teachers in the states. We've covered the normal school things like classroom management, grading system, discipline, lesson plans, substitutes, etc. But we've also covered many other things such as laundry (the washer on campus has to be filled up w/ a hose), hired help (creating jobs for locals), conserving water (clean water is crazy expensive in 3rd world countries), applying for residency, buying things on the street vs the market, using the school accounting office as a bank (Haitian banks aren't exactly reliable or convenient), and lots of other stuff related to the challenges of living here. I'm sure once the kids get on campus next week and we get started, things will be very similar to teaching in the states. Or maybe not. Right now, I'm sitting at the picnic tables and the ladies working in the snack shop (our 'cafeteria') are singing while they clean and prepare for tomorrow.  There is a constant flurry of activity outside our gates.... street vendors selling everything from bananas to shoes to perfume (and everything in between), moto drivers lined up waiting for customers, large trucks rumbling down the street, sirens from police, lots of horns from the afternoon traffic jam,  kids playing, thunder from the storm moving in, etc. There's almost as many smells here as there are sounds. Burning trash, toilets that haven't been flushed in days, things cooking on the street, sweaty boys, etc. Haiti can be sensory overload, but that's part of what I love about this place. Life is so real here. There's no way to sugar coat life in Haiti. It's impossible to go around in your perfect little pretend world and ignore everything around you. Everyone is struggling through life together. I feel like I constantly have a million thoughts running through my head. Today has been one of those days that it's been impossible to concentrate on anything important. Our time to prepare and adjust is running out .... Friday is the first day for the high school kids. Monday we hit the ground running full force with a campus full of students. I'm still in temporary housing while we wait for the electric company to turn the power on to our new house. Hopefully, we'll be moving soon so we can finally unpack and get settled. I never thought I would be where I am, but I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity I've been given.

3 days in...

Sandy is determined that I'm going to do this blog thing so here it goes...

While Sandy is teaching music in TN, I'll be teaching calculus, pre-calculus, physics, and chemistry at a private Christian school in Haiti. We are definitely teaching worlds apart.

I arrived in Haiti on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday, I was able to find the books I'll be using and was finally able to start reviewing. I'm still trying to come up with a game plan. I've been working as a med tech for the last 8 years. I haven't had a math or physics class since high school (15 years ago) and I haven't done chemistry since college so I have a lot of reviewing to do myself before I can teach these subjects. This will be my first teaching experience so ALL of this is new and just adds spice to the adventure. The first day of school is Aug. 12th. I have a little over a week to figure everything out. I was given the books, but the rest of this teaching thing is basically up to me. I need to decide what exactly I want to teach in each subject and come up with a rough draft for the year so that I can make a syllabus. I also need to start working on lesson plans, labs, figure out a grading system, etc. The books we're using are 10-15 years old, but I'm extremely grateful that we have books. Lab supplies are ancient and limited, but I'm thankful we have supplies (I'm a little scared to even touch some of those chemicals in the cabinet!!). Yesterday, I found a drawer full of old tests, worksheets, quizzes, etc. They are almost as old as the books, but it was helpful to see what was covered in the past. I have an incredible amount of work ahead of me, but I've always enjoyed a good challenge (did I mention I'll also be moving this weekend and trying to get settled into a new house?). Next week, we have teacher orientation, meetings, work days, etc. Obviously, I need to get off the computer and get to work!!!

The school campus is so nice and almost 1st world. It's easy to forget that outside these gates is the hard, messy Haiti that I fell in love with...

The Journey Begins

Becky moved to Haiti Tuesday, July 30, 2013.

Sandy moved to Clay County, TN,  July 2009.

Even though I have a head start in my teaching career over Becky, every year is completely different, and feels like I'm starting over. In the five years I have been a teacher, there have not been two years with the same responsibilities.  Every year the grades I teach change, or possibly even the schools or subjects.  As a music teacher, I learned from the beginning that I would need to fly by the seat of my pants and be willing to jump off of cliffs to accomplish my job.

This year I am the only music teacher for this school system, as opposed to having two teachers county-wide the years past.  I have been told I will be teaching Pre-K through 4th grades at two elementary schools, and choir, band, and music history at the high school.  I also direct the elementary choirs at both elementaries, and will be trying to figure out when to meet the beginning bands at those schools. As if that wasn't enough on my plate, I am the teacher sponsor for the PYLI and SADD clubs at the high school.  I also teach private music lessons at my home, and teach Sunday school and a class on Wednesday nights at church.

But I'm sure that's nothing compared to Haiti...

I chatted with Becky a little while ago, and she had found three of the four teacher manuals for her classes.  She was also sorting through books, old tests, homework, and quizzes trying to decide what to use.  She still doesn't have a phone, but thankfully Internet was finally set up yesterday afternoon.  I think school starts for her next week.

Many of us wanted her to write a blog about this journey, but Becky isn't one to share freely.  I told her I would write one if she didn't, but when I got the idea of making one together, I had to do it.  Some posts will be written by her, some by me, and some together.

Separated by miles, time zones, continents, languages, and cultures...we definitely will be teaching worlds apart...