Today marks my first international flight without anyone else by my side. I knew that I was alone when I asked a random stranger to take a picture for me. More importantly, it was the simple fact of taking only one picture of me. Normally, with my family members, they understand the general consensus of taking Luke’s photos. When one takes a photo of Luke, one must capture the moment or a plethora of moments. Key thing is to keep snapping, keep clicking, keeping taking pictures, and maybe one of these photos will appear to be worthy of remaining in my photo album. Below is a photo of me coming directly into Haiti, fresh off the plane (Kindly taken by a fellow passenger).
My language skills were definitely put to work. When you have no other option but to speak Creole or French, you speak it. You find a way to make creative sentence structures, using the basics to form the most complex ideas. When forming sentences you have to find and convey your thoughts from dust—absolute dust. For a moment, it seems like dust, but its not. It is all there in your toolbox, but you just have to find it. You know that you want to use it, but it’s more about the want, the need. Definitely, in Haiti, I have the need and the want.
From traveling from the airport, we stayed at the Visa Lodge to wait for my research partner. It was there at the Visa Lodge that I put my languages to test. I was able to connect with two young men aspiring to be physical therapists in Haiti. They specifically wanted to work with children, and one of them wanted to work with autistic children. This too, I found very moving. The food at the Visa Lodge was awesome, imagine eating Haitian cake from a nearby bakery all of your life and eating a Haitian cake made in Haiti ! The ride from Port Au Prince, Haiti to Deschapelles was beautiful ! Take a look at some of the photos below.
After a long day, most of the core staff and visitors of HAS relaxed in the pool across from the alumni house. I may actually pick up swimming as a way to unwind after a long day. I was floating and allowing myself to be drifted by the calm wind of Haiti. Another interesting aspect of the unwinding in the pool with my fellow HAS family was the importance of the conversations that we were having. We were discussing the medical issues of Zika, Malaria, etc. all over a float in the pool! It was amazing to say the least.
Tomorrow, I will be attending the morning HAS staff meeting and partaking in my orientation! Needless to say, I am looking for to it.