A Land of Contrasts...

Saturday, October 3^rd, 2009 10:15 a.m.

I have now been in Haiti a total of twelve days – the longest I have ever been in this country. But it feels as though I have been here for months already. The time passes slowly, but I am never bored. Crash and I were saying just the other day that in America we are always busy but never seem to be getting anything done…here we may not appear busy but things are getting done all the time. And here, down time is really down time. These people know how to rest. When I am taking a break I never feel like I am being lazy…I just feel like I am relaxing. It is wonderful.

School has been going very well. The girls are enjoying it, and they are both doing great. All A’s for the first week! And, our “school room” is only twenty feet from the ocean! There is a wall separating our desks and the shore, but the sound of the waves crashing on the rocky beach is lovely for background noise while I am teaching. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be teaching school on a beach, right next to the Caribbean Sea. That’s God for you. He likes surprises, and I’m totally okay with that! Also, the girls and I are getting to know each other better. I love answering all of their questions, some that have to do with school, and many that don’t, and I ask them questions as well. Ashley has been helping me some with my Creole, which has been very nice, and we’ve had movie nights and song times, and random fun games and such. It has been good.

We are just coming to the end of the rainy season, so it has rained almost every evening since we got here. Yesterday it stormed all afternoon and evening. A thunderstorm over the ocean with mountains and islands for a landscape all around is a picture of God’s might and beauty too marvelous to describe. But I will try. Crash and I went for a swim while it was pouring down rain, and we couldn’t stop smiling the whole time we were out there. The sound of cold raindrops hitting the waves, of thunder crashing high on the mountain tops, the angry sky in a turmoil of blues and grays above us, the dark outline of coconut trees against the cloudy heavens…all only put us in total awe of our Creator. It continues to amaze me that a place of such breathtaking beauty also contains so much danger and heartache. Haiti is truly a land of contrasts. The longer I am here the more I realize that fact.

Well, it is late morning, and as such the generator is not on. My computer is all too quickly running out of battery life, so I guess this journal entry must come to an end.

Until next time,

Shaina Marie