1 of 2--- Work Hard, Play Hard

It's been a wild ride in the 6 months that have passed since my last post, so I figured I'd do 2 posts---- One to catch you up on what I've been up to since April and a second post (at an undetermined time) to impose upon you my reflection on my first year in Haiti (my official 1 year anniversary here was on Sept. 29th!).

So, here is post 1 of 2...

APRIL:
Work: I'm not sure that I've ever really explained what I do every day at work (and I've heard quite a few inquiring whether or not I live on the beach based on my blog pictures).  So, to clear up that confusion, here is a brief synopsis of what I do:  I work on a project that aims to strengthen the Haitian health system by building individual hospital capacity and by strengthening a network of Christian hospitals here. From mid-February until around July, I was essentially serving as the Program Manager for our project due to some recent staff turnover. Most of my day-to-day activities involve liaising with the hospitals and other partners to ensure that we are completing our activity plan for the year.  One activity, for example, is to help the hospitals connect with Bio-medical Equipment repair technicians from the US who visit the hospitals to complete repairs on broken equipment (e.g. xray machines, centrifuges, scopes, etc.). There is a serious lack of bio-medical repair technicians in the country, so we're applying this temporary "band-aid" to the problem until we are hopefully able to assist partner hospitals in coming up with a more sustainable solution.
Play: As you might have noticed, there is no shortage of festivals or celebrations in this country.  After Carnival celebrations are over (ending on Ash Wednesday), the country quickly switches gears to "rara" season.  On Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter, rara bands line the streets, playing music and dancing well into the night. Whereas the Carnival parades are more "organized" and feature popular Haitian music artists, papier-mache masks, and party trucks, a typical rara street procession is more down to earth, relying almost entirely on music produced by a variety of handmade instruments-- pipes, drums, maracas, percussion instruments, and trumpets. The most spirited rara celebration happens over Easter weekend in Leogane.  So, after a lengthy (and very, very French) Easter mass and a quick fresco (Haitian snow cone), I headed to my friend's family's home to have some lunch before we enjoyed the rara celebration in Leogane. We also tried Kleren-- a potent Haitian moonshine/cane sugar liquor. As with many celebrations in Haiti, the action didn't get started until after dark, at which point, we were already on our way back to Port-au-Prince, weaving in and out of rara processions for most of the ride home.

Rara procession in Leogane on Easter Sunday

Kleren Sold Here

 



MAY:
Work: In May, I made an unexpected visit to the US to attend a meeting for work and was able to swing by Omaha for the weekend.  May went by pretty quickly after this conference.  During this month, I had the opportunity to lead a day-long meeting for our project's hospital partners.  I also spent some time conducting interviews with other hospital networks in order to learn more about the "best practices" that could be applied to the network with which we're working.
Play: I can't even remember May at this point, but I'm sure I enjoyed a number of rhum sours and Prestiges over the course of the month.  I think I also visited Saut D'Eau, a popular waterfall that is the site of religous bathing rituals.

Katelyn and I at Saut D'Eau

JUNE:
Work: I spent most of the month wrapping up loose ends from our May hospital meeting and planning some biomedical repair visits at a few of our hospitals.
Play: Several of my good friends/neighbors left Haiti in early July, so we tried to squeeze in as many yet unseen destinations as possible before they left.  I visited Jacmel again (still one of my favorite cities in Haiti) and enjoyed the fresh seafood, unique art, and calm, beachside-town vibes.

My favorite building in Jacmel

This little guy : adorable

Coterelle Breeze, Jacmel---my home away from home in Haiti

The food in Jacmel >>> the food in PAP

The newly renovated Jacmel mosaic board walk

Checking out some interesting art at FOSAJ art gallery

Most notably, I finally got the chance to explore Northern Haiti (outside of work), with the main attraction of the trip being a visit to the Citadelle, the largest fortress in the Americas and a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Palais Sans Souci, the palace built for King Henri Christophe and his family. While it was a LONG walk uphill to the fortress in the June heat, the impressive views and the fortress itself were well worth the grueling hike.

Students on field trip doing laps around us

The long and winding road up... The building in the back is Citadelle.

The Citadelle

Just one hill left--- clearly wondering at this point if we should have just taken the horses instead of walking

A little history

Inside the gates- We made it!

Citadelle--- side profile

 
 

Old cannons inside

 

On the way back down: Decided to moto it

On the road down

Palais Sans Souci - side profile

Katelyn and I at the Palais

Palais Sans Souci - sits far below the Citadelle fortress

Marble statue in front of the palace

We also were able to explore Cap Haitien during this trip.  Cap is the second largest city in Haiti (probably also my 2nd favorite city) and serves as a major port for the country. It also recently (just a few days ago this October 2014) opened up its airport to international flights!  We lucked out and ended up meeting the right people at our hotel in Cap Haitien who got us hooked up with a group of Cap Haitien-ites who had just started a boat tour company called Aqua-holics (I think you can see where this is going).  Our new friends took us out to a private island and a few beaches in the Labadee area, and I had perhaps the freshest and best lobster I've ever had in my life (cooked on the beach over a fire just minutes after it was caught by a local fisherman). After our day of booze cruising, we stopped by beachside hotel/bar to catch the last half of the Germany-Ghana game.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere

Will never get used to this crystal clear Caribbean water

Fresh lobster + ocean salt water + a squeeze of lime = PERFECTION

Catch of the day

Which brings me to my next point:  You would think that not having had a team in the World Cup for 40 years would put a damper on World Cup hysteria in the country, but Haitians come out in FULL FORCE to support their favorite teams, the most popular ones being Argentina and Brazil.  I spent probably 3-4 nights a week watching world cup matches in various bars and restaurants throughout Haiti during the month of June and the enthusiasm and passion that Haitians have for the game is unreal.  Throughout the month of June, the country was in World Cup Mode---- tap taps painted with famous football stars, Argentinean and Brazilian flags for sale on every corner, and instead of starting awkward small-talk conversations about how hot it was, everyone started just asking who you were rooting for and where you were watching the next game.  I kid you not, I saw a man bathing himself in beer (and his own tears of joy) after Brazil won the semi-final match.  And of course, I was caught up in the bandwagon action, managing to smuggle in a portable TV for our office so that we could watch the USA-Germany game over the lunch hour.


JULY
Work:  Meetings on Meetings on Meetings about what we wanted the new direction to be for our project and beginning to plan for the new year.  I also took my driving test and got approval to DRIVE!
Play: Watched the last of the world cup games... and then... Carnival Round 2 y'allll: Carnaval des Fleurs is a Carnaval celebration held in Port-au-Prince every year in late July/early August.  It's very similar to the traditional Carnival during week before Ash Wednesday, but this one is always in PAP, it is only 3 days long, and the theme is flowers. We didn't make it to any of the day-time parades, but we were there during the evening celebration for the 2nd night. We were able to hang out in one of the stands for most of it, but we felt obliged to at least brave the crowds once in order to go down on the street to dance when our favorite band, Djakout #1's party float came down the street.  Here's a little sampling of the rowdiness that ensued: Djakout #1 at Carnaval des Fleurs 2014.  A lot of my favorite Carnaval songs from March were remixed into songs for Carnaval des Fleurs, so it was fun knowing all of the songs this time. Predictably, I lost my wallet that night, but in a miraculous turn of events, someone called me the next day saying they'd found my wallet and they returned it to me-- no questions asked!

AUGUST:
Work: I spent the first week of August wrapping up all of my work from Year 1 and getting ready to head to Indiana for two weeks of work.  Also--- I got assigned a car and started driving on my own!
Play: 3 weeks in South Bend, IN, Chicago, IL, Omaha, NE, and Kansas City, MO.  Countless dark beers, Bloody Marys, tons of SALADS (i missed good salads!), DINKER's, pizza, friends, family, and Irish Fest.

SEPTEMBER:
Work/Play: After my 3 weeks in the US of A at the end of August, I arrived on Haitian soil to work for a few days, putting together reports on Year 1 of my time in Haiti and catching up on all of my emails.  Then I jetted off to a certain Caribbean island next door to Haiti for a 10 day vacation. And, now, I'm back in Haiti working for the foreseeable future!  The plan is to be here until probably August of 2015 :)

Year 2, here I come!


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