Thanksgiving and Goodbyes

I leave today.  All my goodbyes have been said - it was really hard to watch as people left to go to their work sites, but it's great to know that the work continues. My shuttle to the airportis in 40 minutes.  The plan was to take public transportation to the airport, but that was squashed by All Hands' new security measures put in place for the elections tomorrow.  Port Au Prince is pretty volatile right now, so we are only allowed to go there by private transport and only for the airport for the next week.  My timing is pretty lousy - if I had left yesterday I would have been able to take the bus and then negotiate for a taxi from the bus station to the airport.  Maybe next time...

This week has been interesting and fun.  We were to have completed the foundation on school 6, but we encountered some problems with the cement mixers - that's right, not just one, but two mixers that died on us and one that never showed up at the site - so the foundation will hopefully be completed Monday or Tuesday.  I'm sad that I'm not able to be there to complete it, but I'm glad that I was able to work on it for a time.  Thursday was spent in the kitchen preparing Thanksgiving dinner for 140 people. :)  We invited all our local volunteers, who were able to bring 2 guests, and some of our neighbors.  It was amazing.  We had turkey (8 of them and 2 in the stuffing), cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing (meat and vegetarian), green bean casserole, corn bread, gravy, pumpkin pie, croissants (with chocolate or coconut filling), and some Haitian dishes - rice and beans, vegetable mash, a pasta salad, spicy beet salad, and popcorn.  We had leftovers as well, so they were eaten for breakfast and lunch yesterday.  It was a fabulous Thanksgiving.


I am really sad to go.  I have met some incredible people here and made some wonderful friends.  There is still so much to do as well.  I'm preparing myself for the cold that I will encounter when I get back home - I think it will be a bit of a shock.  This has been an extraordinary month and I am so grateful for all of the support that I received from family, friends, coworkers, and even some complete strangers that made this trip possible for me.  I cannot express my thanks enough.