Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Healthy in Haiti...
In my case, "Healthy in Haiti' during my first semester her can surely come off as an excellent example of an oxymoron. Right up there with 'military intelligence' or 'airline food'. Is it the heat or the dust? The constant groping from the hands of 26 three-year-olds a day or the lack of nutritious food? The wet season or the dry season, or lack of seasons? Or all matters combined?
I've been in Haiti since the beginning of September so I'm beginning my fourth month. The first cultural shock period, after about three months, has come and gone, I no longer get burnt in the sun, I've become complacent eating rice for two meals a day, and sweat no longer pours off of me beginning at 8am and on a daily basis; granted, it is currently the beginning of the dry season.
However, in these past 3.25 months I have accumulated quite the list of rather curious health-related issues. If you're reading this and know me quite well, you know that health is one of my favorite past times. Even to the point that sometimes I believe I've convinced myself that I actually could apply to Medecins sans Frontiers and they would wonder where I had been for the past ten years, why I hadn't applied earlier given my unprecedented wealth of medical knowledge and cunning skill to diagnose illnesses in impoverished children. Yes, that could happen.
In the meantime, what I have held so dear and spent so many listless hours studying and researching, has been quite challenged being in Haiti. Odd things, things I used to Google Image or have disgusting conversations about with fascinating preschoolers who have no social filter, I have somehow acquired here in Haiti. For example (and in chronological order):
1) Bit by a child in my class the first day of school. Terrified I had contracted AIDS or Hepatitis, immediately Skyped my physician in the US. Actually, she was at more risk than I was. I believe the scar has faded.
2) Destroyed a muscle in my shoulder attempting to do yoga at 6am before work. Luckily that injury had a positive effect and ruled out morning yoga from there on out. And sometimes even evening yoga, heaven!
3) Hypothetical cotton lodged in my ear canal from a q-tip. It came out with no cotton, but no cotton was ever found. Even after going into 'town' to see the eye doctor. Yes, the eye doctor, the only doctor on St Marc with the instrument to see into my ear. Is the cotton still there? Reason one of twenty I've scheduled an appointment with my doctor in C'ville. I don't think 15 minutes will be enough...
4) Fever? No. Thermometer under the arm, Vitamin C.
5) Fever? No. Thermometer under the arm, Vitamin C. Becomes a serious hacking spell that I carry up the mountain with me to Jacmel where I end up on a horse in the rain. Invest well-spent money in my own care which consists of American cough syrups, French cough syrups and a local honey concoction from a pharmacist in Port-au-Prince; which I think helped the most.
6) Mucous goes from chest back up to sinuses.
7) Mosquito bite? Nope, ringworm. School nurse gives me a salve for eczema. I promptly hop on a bus to St Marc to get my own cream.
8) Still full of mucous, dry season approaching, more dust, more irritation.
9) and 9, culmination, pink eye. First one eye, then two. Back to the eye doctor, he literally is taken aback by the redness of my eyes, diagnoses viral pink eye and sends me home with eye drops for the redness and antibiotic eye drops also lets me take off work for a week! He says days at first, I say I'd like the week, he says okay, I try to bargain with him to go home early for Christmas, he is malleable but not spineless; good doctor.
So, here I am, ample time to blog, perhaps looking into the face of my own insanity sitting up here for five days alone, but that's yet to determine. I did sneak down to the classroom today for scissors to attempt to chop up some reindeer antlers for my class for their Christmas performance while they were out at the library. I saw them from afar going back to the class and we waved and yelled at each other across the campus. Poor little elves. I hope they don't think I've abandoned them to the trenches of Haitian education...That's for later. For now, I have to blow my nose and administer eye drops.
I've been in Haiti since the beginning of September so I'm beginning my fourth month. The first cultural shock period, after about three months, has come and gone, I no longer get burnt in the sun, I've become complacent eating rice for two meals a day, and sweat no longer pours off of me beginning at 8am and on a daily basis; granted, it is currently the beginning of the dry season.
However, in these past 3.25 months I have accumulated quite the list of rather curious health-related issues. If you're reading this and know me quite well, you know that health is one of my favorite past times. Even to the point that sometimes I believe I've convinced myself that I actually could apply to Medecins sans Frontiers and they would wonder where I had been for the past ten years, why I hadn't applied earlier given my unprecedented wealth of medical knowledge and cunning skill to diagnose illnesses in impoverished children. Yes, that could happen.
In the meantime, what I have held so dear and spent so many listless hours studying and researching, has been quite challenged being in Haiti. Odd things, things I used to Google Image or have disgusting conversations about with fascinating preschoolers who have no social filter, I have somehow acquired here in Haiti. For example (and in chronological order):
1) Bit by a child in my class the first day of school. Terrified I had contracted AIDS or Hepatitis, immediately Skyped my physician in the US. Actually, she was at more risk than I was. I believe the scar has faded.
2) Destroyed a muscle in my shoulder attempting to do yoga at 6am before work. Luckily that injury had a positive effect and ruled out morning yoga from there on out. And sometimes even evening yoga, heaven!
3) Hypothetical cotton lodged in my ear canal from a q-tip. It came out with no cotton, but no cotton was ever found. Even after going into 'town' to see the eye doctor. Yes, the eye doctor, the only doctor on St Marc with the instrument to see into my ear. Is the cotton still there? Reason one of twenty I've scheduled an appointment with my doctor in C'ville. I don't think 15 minutes will be enough...
4) Fever? No. Thermometer under the arm, Vitamin C.
5) Fever? No. Thermometer under the arm, Vitamin C. Becomes a serious hacking spell that I carry up the mountain with me to Jacmel where I end up on a horse in the rain. Invest well-spent money in my own care which consists of American cough syrups, French cough syrups and a local honey concoction from a pharmacist in Port-au-Prince; which I think helped the most.
6) Mucous goes from chest back up to sinuses.
7) Mosquito bite? Nope, ringworm. School nurse gives me a salve for eczema. I promptly hop on a bus to St Marc to get my own cream.
8) Still full of mucous, dry season approaching, more dust, more irritation.
9) and 9, culmination, pink eye. First one eye, then two. Back to the eye doctor, he literally is taken aback by the redness of my eyes, diagnoses viral pink eye and sends me home with eye drops for the redness and antibiotic eye drops also lets me take off work for a week! He says days at first, I say I'd like the week, he says okay, I try to bargain with him to go home early for Christmas, he is malleable but not spineless; good doctor.
So, here I am, ample time to blog, perhaps looking into the face of my own insanity sitting up here for five days alone, but that's yet to determine. I did sneak down to the classroom today for scissors to attempt to chop up some reindeer antlers for my class for their Christmas performance while they were out at the library. I saw them from afar going back to the class and we waved and yelled at each other across the campus. Poor little elves. I hope they don't think I've abandoned them to the trenches of Haitian education...That's for later. For now, I have to blow my nose and administer eye drops.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
90 Degree Thanksgiving...
With only three more work weeks until Christmas break and two more weekends I am already beginning to pack my bag in my mind and jam-pack my days in Virginia breathing in the icy, cold air and letting my body dry out to the point of crispy from all of this lovely Haiti heat and humidity.
I can't wait:
-not to hear mosquitoes buzzing in my ears at night
-to stop swatting at flies
-to be in a house free of dust from the outside, inside, all over
-to be cold
-not to see rice for two weeks
-not to see bean sauce for two weeks
-to experience the liberty of getting where I need to go in a car
- to feel clean after a shower
-to feel convenience
I will miss:
-my co-workers I'm used to seeing
-eventually, the kids in my class
-constant sunshine
-lack of a to-do list because there's no where to go and no way to get there, so sit still
-fresh fruit in the mornings
-Haitian coffee
-the lack of rules in Haiti
-the overwhelming natural beauty of Haiti
-the overwhelming natural beauty of Haiti
As always, it's a love/hate and give/take relationship, as it should be. I will always miss things about home and America, because that's how I was raised, but when I leave Haiti, I will always miss the things I thought I detested while I was here; if you've ever lived anywhere else you'll understand. So while I'm dying to be in Va, I know that (hopefully) I'll be ready to come back and see my class and friends here again in January. It will be a long haul until July but then coming home will be worth it again.
Our Thanksgiving here was mildly uneventful. We celebrated at a restaurant in town over Salsa music and grilled lobster. My class loved singing 'Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you?' and parading around the school as Indians. On Thanksgiving Day we visited the bus to sing 'Wheels on the Bus' so I quickly taught them 'Happy Thanksgiving' and they actually did a great job pronouncing it.
I've changed our classroom calendar into an advent calendar and I'm ready to count down the days; 24 and counting 'till Christmas!
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Ode to Stephanie
I had to give Stephanie her own little page here because she literally takes up that much space in character. How to describe it...
Stephanie is the girl who has the biggest, cheesiest grin, but who gives the tightest, bestest hugs in the class (yes I said bestest). You will find Stephanie on top of chairs or the table in the cafeteria, slyly, but once she sees you, she will grin like the sun, stare right at you and ask, Emily, mwen gentil? (I'm nice?), from the top of the table. She used to come up to me about every ten minutes on the playground crying that some older boy had hit her or pushed her. I defended her at first until I learned more about our dear little Stephanie and watched her chase and torment and really, flirt, with the older (older as in 4 and 5) boys until the tables turned and they chased and tormented her and she would run to me screaming and crying. Ah, Stephanie. She has recently started doing this nodding, grinning thing to me and mouthing words, she knows exactly what she is doing. And I don't even have to guess what she is saying to me silently from a distance, or from the circle time of her after school class when she sees me walk by and should be paying attention (of course, I nourish her character and can't help but stop and taunt her): "Emily, I'm nice? You'll give me a candy? Emily, give me a sticker, Emily, I'm nice no?"
I'll have to video her facial expressions but here are a few images I caught of her during Halloween that really sum up for me her presence. Also, she loves, I mean, LOVES Wilbengy and is so cute when she says his name. It's 24/7, Wilbengy, Wilbengy, Wilbengy. One time I asked her if she loved Wilbengy, of course her answer was 'yes'. This is them napping, priceless.
Stephanie is the girl who has the biggest, cheesiest grin, but who gives the tightest, bestest hugs in the class (yes I said bestest). You will find Stephanie on top of chairs or the table in the cafeteria, slyly, but once she sees you, she will grin like the sun, stare right at you and ask, Emily, mwen gentil? (I'm nice?), from the top of the table. She used to come up to me about every ten minutes on the playground crying that some older boy had hit her or pushed her. I defended her at first until I learned more about our dear little Stephanie and watched her chase and torment and really, flirt, with the older (older as in 4 and 5) boys until the tables turned and they chased and tormented her and she would run to me screaming and crying. Ah, Stephanie. She has recently started doing this nodding, grinning thing to me and mouthing words, she knows exactly what she is doing. And I don't even have to guess what she is saying to me silently from a distance, or from the circle time of her after school class when she sees me walk by and should be paying attention (of course, I nourish her character and can't help but stop and taunt her): "Emily, I'm nice? You'll give me a candy? Emily, give me a sticker, Emily, I'm nice no?"
I'll have to video her facial expressions but here are a few images I caught of her during Halloween that really sum up for me her presence. Also, she loves, I mean, LOVES Wilbengy and is so cute when she says his name. It's 24/7, Wilbengy, Wilbengy, Wilbengy. One time I asked her if she loved Wilbengy, of course her answer was 'yes'. This is them napping, priceless.
Where I "Run"...
La chance, n'est pas? ("Run" in big fat quotation marks because obviously there is more picture taking being done here than running, and, I must say, the track is really quite nice to lie down on and stare at the clouds; run-shmun.)
I Can't Believe...
I'm going on three months in Haiti. The kids in my class are already 6-year-olds in my eyes and I've grown to believe that I was very egotistical when I arrived in Haiti; thinking I knew what I was here to do and what I was capable of doing. Ha, that's a laugh. After three months, I'm beginning to find out that I have no idea on either front and that I am learning and growing as I go. That, perhaps, this is a stepping stone onto another learning experience. And, that instead of racing through it believing that I'm the best 3-year-old teacher Haiti has ever seen and that my hugs and high fives will solve these kid's problems for life, that maybe, just maybe, I have some growing to do as well. And that maybe after this year I'll come out of this as more than just a better teacher to children.
In the meantime, some shots and videos from our latest expeditions in PSB:
(We started talking about "trees" and made our own using our early writing techniques of, vertical line (the trunk), scribbling circles (the leaves) and points (the red apples). Then since we started talking about blue we made blue bird handprints and put them in our tree. We also tried painting trees
we saw outside with watercolor, Karlens got carried away with the 'blue' but he had such good concentration I let him do whatever he wanted. We also made salt dough 'points', painted them red, and made them into necklaces, which the girls had no trouble modeling; you will spot Rose Darline easily. I'm not sure they are used to mirrors so they're always astonished to see themselves, I was trying to capture that, their faces are incredible when they see their reflection. Also, some photos from Halloween, trick-or-treating between the classes. I just taught them 'trick-or-treat' as we were walking out the door but after candy was placed in their bags, they quickly caught on. Also, Manndy's self-portrait, which I was VERY proud of. We were practicing drawing circles on their little boards and he drew a circle and made it into himself. When he showed me it had no features and I asked him about eyes and he said, "Oh, yeah, eyes, let me draw those." Then a nose, hair, and random other circle I'm guessing is his chin. But, he quickly improved himself and gave himself arms and legs, it kind of does look like him. I'm just glad he got the chance to do what he wanted with a board and chalk, usually it's so prescribed here. And finally, dress-up. I bleached my entire classroom and got rid of furniture that was collecting mosquitoes and hung up a sack of dress up clothes that had been stashed away. The kids are slowly learning what it is to play and imagine and just have fun in their classroom, and, have no hang-ups about who wears the skirt and who wears the fireman coat; yes! However, Manndy does put that skirt on often....)
In the meantime, some shots and videos from our latest expeditions in PSB:
(We started talking about "trees" and made our own using our early writing techniques of, vertical line (the trunk), scribbling circles (the leaves) and points (the red apples). Then since we started talking about blue we made blue bird handprints and put them in our tree. We also tried painting trees
we saw outside with watercolor, Karlens got carried away with the 'blue' but he had such good concentration I let him do whatever he wanted. We also made salt dough 'points', painted them red, and made them into necklaces, which the girls had no trouble modeling; you will spot Rose Darline easily. I'm not sure they are used to mirrors so they're always astonished to see themselves, I was trying to capture that, their faces are incredible when they see their reflection. Also, some photos from Halloween, trick-or-treating between the classes. I just taught them 'trick-or-treat' as we were walking out the door but after candy was placed in their bags, they quickly caught on. Also, Manndy's self-portrait, which I was VERY proud of. We were practicing drawing circles on their little boards and he drew a circle and made it into himself. When he showed me it had no features and I asked him about eyes and he said, "Oh, yeah, eyes, let me draw those." Then a nose, hair, and random other circle I'm guessing is his chin. But, he quickly improved himself and gave himself arms and legs, it kind of does look like him. I'm just glad he got the chance to do what he wanted with a board and chalk, usually it's so prescribed here. And finally, dress-up. I bleached my entire classroom and got rid of furniture that was collecting mosquitoes and hung up a sack of dress up clothes that had been stashed away. The kids are slowly learning what it is to play and imagine and just have fun in their classroom, and, have no hang-ups about who wears the skirt and who wears the fireman coat; yes! However, Manndy does put that skirt on often....)
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