I started the morning off by attending the first hour of
creole class where I learned research and volunteer-related vocabulary words,
but then decided to spend the rest of the time doing “independent study” since
I’m so far behind the other students. I
did get a special lesson on the alphabet for me and a couple of other students
who missed that lesson, as well.
Shortly
after my little alphabet class, K. came and found me and said that there was
an ETS student who needed to talk to someone.
She has been the unofficial counselor for awhile, and had told me about
this person. She sat in through most of
this impromptu “intake session” while I listened to my first client. I have to say that no office will ever beat
my makeshift counseling “room”. We needed
a private space, so I suggested the side of the house. We sat on small wicker chairs in a tropical
garden complete with picturesque moss-covered stone walls and a light breeze
blowing through the trees.
After that
I went with some of the people from the house to walk down to the river. We live on one side of a very steep narrow
valley. Some of the ETS students came
with us to show us some new baby pigs that were just born yesterday at one of
the guys’ houses (and I also just found out that were were the first “blan”
(white people) to ever go to his house), and then we walked down the incredibly steep, rocky path to the river.
We kept
getting passed by children carrying water on their heads, and at one point
looked up above us to see what seemed like the entire village wondering why a
bunch of white girls were walking along their road.
We got to
the river, which was more like a big stream with a watering hole where people
were washing and bathing. The sun was
just starting to set which cast an amazing glow on this entire scene. The path back up the mountain was another
adventure as we had to jump across muddy ravines, etc. Good thing my new Haitian friends were
willing to lend a hand to help us girls across.
I finished
off the night with an impromptu dance party that evolved out of a
roommate-effort to unclog a toilet….don’t ask.
J
No comments:
Post a Comment