greener grass

I refused to look at the clock this morning when I woke up to sunlight, tweeting birds and screaming pigs. Instead I shoved my face back in the pillow pretending that I could trick myself into falling back asleep. No luck - my mind was already up and running. After 15 minutes or so, I pulled my cell phone over and looked – 7:05am. Ugh. Our scheduled grocery shopping trip with the clinic’s driver is still 2.5 hours away. In theory I could sleep that time away. But I went to bed around 10:30pm and my body doesn’t really do more than 7-8 hours of sleep at once. Instead, I am going to have to find a way to fill it. Hence the blogging.

This far into reading, I’m sure that my many lovely mommy and daddy friends (at least those with enough time to check this blog from time to time -of which I doubt you are many) think I’m being ridiculous. Sleeping 8 hours? Not knowing what to do with your time? Sounds like heaven. There are days when I feel that way too…but for some reason not this weekend. Not this LONG weekend.

Monday May 18th is Jou Drapo Flag Day in Haiti – commemorating the day in 1803 when Haitian General Dessalines ordered Catherine Flon to rip the white center out of the French flag and sew the red and blue portions back together to represent the new republic. (You can read a longer version of the history here) For many Haitians it’s a big day. Schools probably have parades. I’m sure that people sing the national anthem. Maybe there is even a revolutionary-inspired food that everybody eats. But for me, looking from this Saturday morning to the days ahead, it’s just another reason why the clinic is closed. Yet another long weekend. (We had a long weekend 2 weeks ago...and I am pretty sure another one two weeks before that)

As I’ve said before, my time in Haiti has been an emotional roller coaster and apparently, even with only 10 or so weeks to go, I’m still riding it. This last week was painful. Not because of anything particular happening or not happening (except that I was working on designing MS Access databases which is not exactly fun)…but just because time moved really slowly and well, I felt particularly alone while it passed by.

I’m anticipating there is still a high point or two to come on this ride – and maybe a couple stomach-lurching drops to keep things interesting. Even this long weekend could hold some promise. While I made multiple phone calls to friends/acquaintances here yesterday that all went unreturned (which prompted thoughts/visions reminiscent of my all-time favorite Steven Kellogg children’s book..even though i know they were all likely just busy or out of phone credit) - I do have one friend who mentioned wanting to take a day trip somewhere. My neighbors are around and likely willing to play tennis. Plus, I have A TON of work to try to make a dent in – seemingly endless amounts of data entry, some bills to pay and planning for my Africa trip which starts at the end of the month. This is a good chance to do that.

Just looked at the clock. It’s 8:19am. Sounds like a good time to start trying to find some greener space here...even if it means I will plant and water it myself.