Jacmel.

Yesterday, I went on a little journey with some friends.

We headed off for the beach in Jacmel, which is on the Southern coast of Haiti.

The drive was about two hours, but every inch of it was completely worth it.  Most of the drive was on a winding road through the mountains.  I wish so very badly that my pictures could do justice to how amazingly beautiful this country is..

We drove through all of this...

...to get to this:  

I didn't get quite that pink..but close. 

And I watched this:

They weren't that good..but the effort was there:)

And I ate this:  

Lambi and bannann - fried conch and plantain.

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The whole time we spent at the beach and driving to and from it, I couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful this country is - just truly beautiful.  And then I realized that I get to see the beauty in this country every single day through the patients that I work with.  God made no mistakes when He carefully and wonderfully made this country full of these beautiful people.  

Twenty-one.

Last year on my birthday, I gave you a list of twenty things that you may not know about me.

And this year as I turn twenty-one I had to think of something to do for my blog.

Ah, so here we are.  Twenty-one things that I will do before I leave this life:  

1. Jump out of a plane.

2. Go to the Olympics.

3. Swim with sharks.

4. Throw a dart at a map and go where it lands.

5. Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

6. Ride a camel. Or elephant. 

7. Go on a safari. 

8. Take my mom to Greece. 

9. Learn how to knit. Seriously. 

10. Camp in Alaska.  

11. Attend Sundance. 

12. Go sailing.

13. See the pyramids.

14. Just go everywhere in Europe.

15. Attend the lantern festival.

16. Go on a hot air balloon ride. 

17. Learn a new language.

18. Get published. 

19. Graduate medical school. 

20. Marry my best friend.

21. Adopt a child.  


Also, thank you for all of the birthday wishes - they all made me smile!
(You should know that if you tried texting/calling me, I did not intentionally ignore you...I just don't have a phone in Haiti.)

Joumou.

Yes, that title is Joumou, not to be confused with Vodou, which is extremely prevalent in Haitian culture and something I'm sure I will talk about at some point.

"Soup Joumou" is a pretty standard Haitian dish and what we had for lunch today.  It is either made with squash or pumpkins..I'm thinking this is of the pumpkin variety.  And it's also full of a bunch of other vegetables.  But fun fact for you all, the French masters would not allow the Haitian slaves to eat this dish as it was sort of a delicacy.  It is now, however, eaten by most Haitians on January 1st, when they celebrate their independence from the French in 1804!

Speaking of independence days, we are celebrating ours' tomorrow night - go America! 

And what spectacular Haitian dish did I have for dinner tonight, you ask?  PB&J. 

Clinique.

Today was my first day in the clinic.  

Patients arrive pretty early and wait for their appointments throughout the day.  First, there are clinic devotions, so every patient is presented with the gospel and offered more education - fantastic!  The clinic administrator then decides the order in which they are seen.  Visits cost the patients about $1.50US, but if they cannot pay, they do not have to.  All of the appointments go rather fast, so the doctors, nurse, and physician's assistant see quite a few people throughout the day, totaling to around 150.  There are two Haitian doctors, one male and one female, on staff, which I think is really great that HHM hires Haitians and isn't exclusively American.  

I spent my morning working with the American doctor, and I saw SO much!  We saw several pregnant women.  I measured some pregnant bellies and was taught several things about how to read a sonogram, which is pretty neat.  I took a lot of blood pressures and pulses throughout the day.  We also saw several patients with diabetes, which, of course, is pretty rough if it is poorly (or not) managed.  I also helped with surgery prep for the minor surgery and the biopsy performed today.  And I saw what pretty advanced congestive heart failure looks like on a sonogram - crazy - and learned how to measure hematocrit.  

My afternoon was spent seeing a whole bunch of children with the physician's assistant, which was great.  We talked about ear infections and respiratory infections that kids suffer from, which was rather common among the little ones we saw today.  

So, in all day one in the clinic was great.  I've learned and seen so much..and I have six more weeks of this stuff to go!  

Revelation of the day:  I must learn Creole or French.  

Arrival.

I have arrived!  

Here's the story:

My flight from MSP to Newark left at 5:46 this morning.  I landed in time to make the final boarding call for my flight to Port-au-Prince.  The coolest part of the whole flight was hearing how excited some people were to be returning to their home and families in Haiti.  I exited the plane to the  music of a small band playing at the entrance.  After waiting for my baggage for a long time (and then remembering how helpful it is to have purple luggage), I was picked up by two people who work at HHM and then we started our journey through Port.  Drivers are incredibly aggressive and don't observe any resemblance of traffic laws, but fortunately my driver was just as aggressive.  There was so much to see on the drive from the airport to the clinic, just amazing.  The storefronts are so colorful and the markets so lively -- people are everywhere.  Mountains surround us and we are right on the water, which does not go unappreciated by someone from the Midwest.  

The clinic is in the country, outside of Gressier.  My first day in the clinic will be Monday and tomorrow morning I get to go to my first church service in Haiti!

Now, enjoy some pictures that I tried taking while simultaneously listening and learning and generally observing:

-markets by the road-

-check out the sweet houses up in the mountains-

-my view from the clinic-

(Better pictures coming later)

Well, friends, I'm heading to bed under my mosquito net after my refreshing cold shower.  Thanks for praying for my travels and I would love it if you would continue to do so :)

And that concludes my first post in the new summer series, 

"The Chronicles of Haiti".

..like you didn't see that one coming..

Stars.

On my last night in rural ND for the summer, I found myself yearning to lie in silence beneath the stars.  

Gazing at the stars reminds me how amazing my God is, how small I am, and how fleeting my time is in this life.  And I sat there asking God who He wants me to be - a wife, a mother, a physician, a missionary, etc.?  What is my life to be about and what kind of things am I to do?

And through the quietness that surrounded me, I heard the subtle whisper, "Just show them Me."

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I can't wait to see what God is doing underneath the Haitian sky.

Preparations.

I leave for Haiti in 16 days.  Crazy.

Since I have posted last, I have..

a) Purchased plane tickets.  I fly out of MSP on June 30th at 5:46 a.m. and will arrive in Port-au-Prince at 2:08 p.m. 

b) Confirmed my place to stay.  Until a few days ago, we didn't know where I was going to live.  The guesthouse at Haiti Health Ministries was lost in the earthquakes a few years ago and they have been trying to rebuild them.  It wasn't certain if they would be finished by the time that I get there, but I received an email informing me that they have all the supplies (and time!) to get the shower, bathroom, sinks, beds, walls, and doors finished!  To be honest, this wasn't one of my major concerns about this whole thing.  All that I knew was that I had tickets and was going, so figuring out a place to live for six weeks wasn't going to be a huge deal.  But hearing this news was definitely exciting! 

c) Found out that I will have internet.  I didn't know if this would be happening or not, but it should be fine - so that's fantastic!  I definitely do not need to be connected for survival, but I am looking forward to keeping in touch with my friends and family.  And of course, I am excited to continue sharing my stories with all of you! 

d) Discovered my summer schedule.  I have been on this quest to become a morning person for some time now.  And I have been failing miserably, embarrassingly.  But, I will have to be up and functional and smiley (maybe that isn't necessary, but I think it is necessary) by 6 a.m. everyday.  This is good, because maybe this summer will go down in my life's history as the one in which I finally become a morning person.  I'll keep you posted! 

e) Seen some friends, been extremely lazy, and had some fun.  After my exam, I went to Wisconsin to hang out with my roommate for a little bit.  Then I headed back to Minneapolis to see some friends (such as one who has been out of the country for five months) and to attend a super cute wedding (I danced?).  Then I ran back home the following morning so I could be at my brother's graduation and help my mother make some cupcakes.  And since then I have been in a pseudo-hibernation state before I get back on track and focus.

And what do I have to do before I leave the country?

I need to get my applications squared away, which includes my personal statement and finalizing my list of schools to apply to.  As girly as it sounds, I need to do some shopping..which also means purchasing three gallons of sunscreen.  I need to get myself to the doctor and finish my vaccinations.  And I need to finish raising support for this trip.  Woo! 

So, with a little over two weeks to go, there is much to be accomplished, but we press on.  It will get finished, I'm sure it will.  It's just a matter of when :) 

And this is where I have been finding rest..

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." -Galatians 2:20