The traveling teacher

Before I get too far into Brazil, I thought I should update you on the rest of our trip to Haiti. On Feb 11th (Saturday), Mom, Naomi, Marguerite and I headed out at 5:45 am for our day trip to Jacmel, along the southern coast of the island. It had been recommended to me by a teacher at school, although she warned me that the drive was a bit nerve wracking (winding mountain roads). We had been feeling a little bit of cabin fever from staying near the guest house (and I would have been very upset if I had come to Haiti and had only seen one small section of it (which is the richer part). We had to sign a waiver with GLA, releasing them from liability, and then we hired Oz, who is Haitian born and raised stateside. He returned to Haiti about 5 years ago, and runs Haiti Tours and Translations. He gave us a fair price, and organized the driver and activities for us. It took 3 hours exactly to drive from the Main house to Jacmel board walk. We stopped once along the way for a sketchy looki...

So, we have had a few more days here, and unfortunately, it seems that I have caught one of the kids colds. I have a very stuffy nose and sore throat. This is also unfortunate for my roommates as I was snoring last night. Currently I am inside, as the smoke from garbage burning heaps is bothering my throat and lungs. That being said, I am nicely showered, and ready for dinner. On the topic of food, our meals have been pretty standard. Haitian fare for lunch, hot or continental breakfast, and then a variety of carb heavy dinners. It is carbs with a side of carbs. Almost nothing in the way of fruits or veggies. Last night we did have an AMAZING salad. I was dreaming of Kathryn, serving a plate of bell peppers, carrots and dip. How I miss my fruits and veggies! Mom and I have gotten a local teen to go buy us some, although our selection is papaya (yuck), very ripe bananas (delicious with PB) and lovely mangoes (licking my lips at this moment). Needless to say, our guts are not pleased w...

Well, mom and I have had our first day at God's Littlest Angels (GLA) and so far so good. We were warned that the Port-au-Prince airport could be a bit chaotic, and once we reached the baggage claim, we understood why. There were hoards of people trying to reach the Air Canada carousel in what can only be described as a free for all. I set mom up in a corner with our carry-on, and then pushed my way to the front of the line. I am pretty good at making my way through large crowds, and in no time, was at the carousel. My location was not helpful though, as our bags were no where in sight. I left my spot to check on both sides of the carousel, since people were taking bags off and leaving them to the side, but still no luck in finding ours. There were still at least 50 people waiting for bags, although many were waiting for their carry-ons (there wasn't enough space on the flight to have all in the cabin). Finally, an hour and a half after landing, our bags came, one after the oth...

In the spirit of Let's Talk Day, sponsored by Bell to address Mental Illness. For me, it was not depression, phobias or anxiety that got me, but burnout. The thing is, it wasn't clear to me that I was struggling like this. I knew that I wasn't feeling like my normal self, but I couldn't pinpoint why I was so negative. I am normally a very optimistic and positive person, but I kept finding myself focusing on all of the negative things that were going on, and found myself complaining about everything. I had become the type of person that I don't like to be around, yet I couldn't stop myself from complaining. This is not an easy thing for me to talk about, given that physically I looked fine, and I am the type of person who does not quit or fail. Yet even though I felt like I was not achieving what I knew I was capable of, yet I couldn't motivate myself to do anything. The other thing that is hard, is that there are many people who do not believe that burnout...