Port au Prince, Haiti

So we made it to Haiti. After two flights, many questions about why we had so much toothpaste and baby toys, and an interesting entry at the Haitian airport, we are sitting in the local house in Port au Prince. We flew from Philadelphia International to Ft. Lauderdale (i dont know how to spell), then from Ft. Lauderdale to Port au Prince. The Haitian aiport is just a big warehouse. You get off the plane normally, then you walk down a flight of stairs and get bussed over to customs. You go through the customs lines, and then there are two revolving belts that the luggage gets put on. After finding the luggage, the hardest part was making it to the van and finding the people you need to find. In Haiti everyone wants to help you because they know you have money, you are coming from somewhere else. So they all try to grab your bags or push your cart or say that they are the supervisor. They really do mean well, but when there are 7 people trying to push your cart over a cobblestone path, it gets rough. We finally found who we needed, got into the van and came to the building that we are currently staying at. If the computer lets me, I'll try to put up a picture. It is like a hotel at the Jersey shore, except it is mostly offices and there are tents in the yard out front. The tents do house people, and the kids there love to play soccer. I only wish I was better at it, they think it's funny how bad you are. Stranger still is the inability to say what you want to someone and have them understand you. They speak French, I do not. You can kinda get what they are saying, but when they talk to each other, for all I can tell, they could be taking about how funny I look. We got a lot of picutres, hopefully I can put some up on here.
So after we arrived at the house and got our luggage in, we met with "Pastor Freddie". He told us where we could stay the night and when we would move to Petit Goave, and also that if we were interested, he would have someone take us on a tour of Port au Prince. We absolutely went on that tour. We got in the van and a driver drove us around, showing us the fallen buildings, the tent cities, the markets, and the very much broken Presidential Palace. We got sugar cane (which comes in a little bag, like the ones you put vegetables in at the super market). It is like a carrot, except when you bite it, you just chew it. It has the consistency of wood, and when you bite it, sugar water or juice or something comes out. It tastes good, but I personally was pulling toothpicls out of my mouth for a good amount of time after that. We stopped and got out in front of the Presidential Palace, and we met some of the people who were walking around in front. Shelly played with some of the children from the tents accross the street, and she bought a couple of them shoes. Shout out to all my BC classmates, a priest named Joseph was walking by who had spent time in Boston at St. Ignatius (the lower church on main campus). It was kinda cool to talk to him in front of the Presidential Palace it was a little reminder of home.
Our driver needed some groceries and ice, so he went to the local grocery store in Port au Prince. It had maybe 5 aisles and sold pretty much anything. We got some cookies, some Pringles, and I got a Haitian beer to try (no drinking age in Haiti). We went back to the house and ate dinner. The ladies of the house made, Kraft Mac and Cheese, fried plantains, string beans, corn, and chicken. Everything was delicious, no question asked. I was not expecting such good food, but we certainly got it. After dinner we went out and played with the kids a little more before they had to go to bed. We learned a lot about Haitian culture. We learned by the blasting music next door that Haitians love Jay Z, hate Kanye West for stealing the mic from "that coutry girl", and are big fans of music in general. We hooked up our Ipods to speakers and played some music and danced with the Haitian children who live here.
After that, the children went to bed so we followed suit. Our room had a shower that shot water out in a stream smaller than that of a hose, but it was cold and it felt really good. This morning we got up and got ready, packed our backpacks full of medical equipment, and ate breakfast. Breakfast was pancakes, hot dogs cooked in some blend of spices, and toast. They did have coffee (thank God) but that last sip was straight grounds. We played some more soccer with the kids, and now we are waiting for the ride to take us to Petit Goave. Unless plans change.
In Haiti, time seems irrelevent. I dont think many people have watches, and its just sun comes up sun goes down. Early for a Haitian is 4am. We learned this after asking our driver what time he wanted to go in the morning. Haiti also is one hour behind the US, because of day light savings.
If there are no posts to this for a while, it is because we went to Petit Goave and couldnt find internet. We are blessed enough to get internet here, but it was hard to find, and I doubt it will get any easier. Thank you all so much for your prayers, God bless.

Chris

Ps...doesnt look like it will let me upload pictures. Sorry