When I first got back to Haiti after break we had quite the trip here. First my flight got cancelled because it overlayed in Fortlauderdal and all the flights there got cancelled because of the shooting. So I left a day late, but so did a few other teachers as well, I was able to meet with Samantha in the Fortlauderdale airport the next day. I was so happy to see her. We spent the night in the airport, I was able to sleep for 2 hours which I was glad I could sleep at all. And then we got into our next flight to Haiti, when we got to Haiti we stayed at this amazing hotel called Karibe. It's beautiful. Then the next morning we were supposed to fly to Port-de-Paix and we actually got into the plane but there was bad weather so after flying halfway there in our little 10 seater plane we had to turn around. And then Amber, another teacher at Sonlight who stayed in Haiti over break, was amazing and helped us get a car to come to Port-de-Paix in. Before we left we were able to go to a grocery store in Port-au-Prince and buy cereal! Which was exciting because there aren't really any grocery stores in Port-de-Paix. And there was also a small restaurant where I ordered a cheese pizza, and I thought they just sold it by the slice so I just said "Cheese pizza", but you can actually buy whole pizzas there too so I accidentally bought a whole pizza hahaha. It was so good though and I was able to share it with our driver and Wilbur (A guy Amber is friends with who helped us get our car and everything) so it was good I ended up buying a whole pizza haha. Then we finally go there, this was Monday night, we got Tuesday as a work day so we didn't have to teach immediately after returning. On Tuesday Mme Johnny, one of my aides came in to help me and during the day I went to Mme Ilaire's restaurant to buy food for Mme Johnny and I, and Mme Ilaire was so happy to see me, she made me feel so special and she gave me a big hug, it was sweet. Then we taught Wednesday. Thursday we had the day off, it was the anniversary of the earthquake. That day I got to have homemade mango juice made by Kimley, it was the best juice I've had in my life, oh my gosh, Haiti has the best mangos. And I had spaghetti at the restaurant and I had missed Mme Ilaire's food so much while I was home in the States. :)
When I got back I was still struggling a lot with teaching, and just with the behavior of my class. This last week an amazing teacher named Ashley came and helped in my classroom. She gave me some great ideas. Like this behavior chart with clothespins and every clothespin has a students name on it and their clothes pin starts on a paper that says ready to learn and it can move up to great work and then up to excellent and then up to Outstanding but it can also move down to warning and then consequence and then parent contact/office. And so if the kids get on Outstanding 3 days out of the week they get a small little surprise (This last week it was a mechanical pencil and they loved it). But a lot of the kids want so much to be on Outstanding that they are noticably better in class, so I hope it keeps working because I want them to want to be good in class and this is helping them do that. And samantha has been teaching math for me while I teach art 2 days and spelling 2 days in her class. I have been enjoying getting to do art more, especially with an older class because I can do more them than I'd be able to with second grade I think. Right now they're learning about vanishing point and making their name in 3D with a vanishing point behind it.
Today we had church at our house and watched a sermon, it was really good, I liked being able to hear a message in English, cause I could just relate and understand and apply it to my life. And then we had breakfast with Katie, Baradina (she teaches French) , Samantha, Ryan, Catherine, and little Conrad.
Last night we had dinner at Rendez-vous and the monkey from the fwa was there, I got to touch him again haha. But that monkey, you have to be careful with him because he was totally reaching for my purse so I just made sure I stood far enough away from the cage that he couldn't grab it haha.
And then before that I went to Parc Detente, it was awesome. There is a huge trampoline there!!! I went with Bendjy and Kimley, we had so much fun. That trampoline, I went like 5 feet in the air on it I feel like, it was soooo fun. And Bendjy made friends with a little boy there and they were going down a slide together and Bendjy, he is 13, but he was like a little boy, when he went down the slide he'd yell "sarah! look at me!!!! Look at me!" So I'd watch him go down the slide, he is so funny. Then they had bikes for little kids and Bendjy was riding it too, it was way too small for him though, he was so cute, having the time of his life. And it was so pretty, there were coconut trees, papaya trees, ton of really nice plants. There were also some puppies there and chickens walking around. I tried to pet one of the puppies but it was afraid of me and ran away. There is also a soccer field there. You have to pay to go in this parc, but it was 10 haitian dollars which is like 80 cents, totally worth it, especially because there is a trampoline, I loved that trampoline. It is also right by the river, so after we were done there we walked over the bridge that goes over the river, it was so pretty. And Bendjy had his sunglasses on for the taxi ride, he looked really silly.
Silly Bendjy (this is on the bridge by the river)
