Doing the Gecko Dance

"Beeep beep beeeep beep beep" "Cocka-doodle-doo!!!!!!!!"
"Woof woof grrr ark ark ark woof!!!"
"What time is it??"
"5:20am"
"What time do we leave for church?"
"6:30am"
"*Yawn": Ok"

This is Sheila, and this is a true story.

We did indeed leave for church at 6:30 this morning, which for you Canadians is 5:30 am :) After a hearty breakfast of our favorite oatmeal that has just about every kind of berry and nut in it minus 50 but nonetheless really super delicious we all piled into our trusty cattle wagon and set off to St Marc for yet another phenomenal church service that leaves your heart blessed and your ears ringing, and if you're me, you might just start tearing up at the sound of Haitians singing, as it is seriously my new favorite sound in the world, and really tugs at my heart strings. They sing so loud they put a concert at the MTS center to the test. As you can hear them from a mile away. They really do put their hearts and soul into it and they really do not give a rats hairless tail as to what anybody may think of them. A lesson we have yet to learn. It is truly amazing, and if you don't have it on already, you really do need to put going to a Haiti church service on your bucket list. I have decided that I will fly back to Haiti every Saturday night just to be in church here Sunday morning.... ok so I'll add that to my "If I ever win the lottery this is what I'd do" list.

After church we had a hearty lunch and then some retired for their maddashlope and the rest of us promptly hit the beach for a day of soaking up enough sunshine to get our full intake of Vitamin D to last us through the rest of winter. Many of us are now sporting the awesome Red LOBSTER look.

The weather has been phenomenal, hot but bearable with a beautiful ocean breeze to keep our personal thermostats and just the right temperature.
We never tire of watching the sunset over the ocean as we sit down for supper.
We never tire of hearing the waves 24/7
We will miss this.

We are starting to get used to our new team, which consists of some pretty interesting and fun people.
We are getting used to the over-sized and crazed critters that call Haiti home, as we have now become comfortable with sharing the shower with lizards, and the giant green leaf looking grasshopper butterfly thing does not produce screams from me, but thanks so much for putting it on my shoulder Andrew. I have also perfected my 'Gecko dance' as it is a series of very complicated foot action as a gecko runs between your feet as you walk along almost as if nothing happened. The key word in that sentence is almost. Thankfully I had a shirt in my hand that I promptly put over my mouth as I freaked out greatly.

Did I mention that I spent all afternoon on the beach?
Coconuts and mangoes fall randomly off the trees here all the time. Apparently people have died from coconuts falling on their heads. I don't know if that is fact or fiction. A couple local Haitians showed us how to crack open the coconuts and that was our snack on the beach, and almonds. Yummo!

Did I mention that we spent most of the day on the beach? Well we did, and next week Sunday when we are the brownest faces in church, know that a week ago. We were at the beach.

I personally am not ready to go home, I would be quite ok if the airport would close down on Friday. However not everybody here shares my opinion.

In other news, a Haitian named Sonny wants to marry me, and Rocheny wants to marry Aimee, so we may be having a double wedding this week, you are all welcome to come and share in our celebrations. Sonny and Rocheny (pronounced Washeny) don't want to move to Canada as it is too cold.. So perhaps Aimee and I will be staying behind.

Random Facts:
- Eldon swims to Cuba and back daily. We have made it clear to him that we will be unable to save him if something happens seeing as he swims so far out into the ocean that we can barely see him. Pray for his safety.
- Adam can impersonate a beached whale TOO WELL.
- Alyssa falls off chairs in slow motion in the middle of lunch. I asked if I could laugh at her. She said yes so we all laughed boisterously at her.
- Juanita wanders aimlessly when she is out of the kitchen and gets Pepsi-wasted constantly.
- Jared is heartbroken that one of his arms is more tanned then the other. Seriously heartbroken. Spider bites are also on his whine list.
- Phillip didn't want to play Dutch Blitz with us. We don't understand this.
- Chris doesn't play well with others, and is sick of looking at concrete.
- Daryl is now known as Der-RELLE.
- Aimee refuses to help in the kitchen in the morning because it interrupts her sleep-in, and as of yet has not had a good hair day here (or so she says).
- Christy has re-discovered her childaphobia -aka she still does not like children.
- Steve has 3 kids. He is also known as Teflon Steve around these parts and is a very emotional writer.
- Uncle Stan (as he is known by all) cannot read the song lyrics in the dark. We also pronounce Stan like the Americans now: Staayaann. (We will all come back with American accents just a heads up.)
- Jolene has inherited 13 new kids as she is our team mom, and I give her personal thanks for all the massages and putting lotion on my burned back, and has now resorted to borrowing Aimee's deodorant.
- When Andrew is not "pupping pupcorn" he is shrieking like a girl because of The Leaf BUGS, and can tweak a welder for a week and feel like he's accomplished something. (That did not come out of my mouth Andrew)
- Sheila has been leaving a wake of heart broken Haitian men all up and down National Road 1 from Port au Prince to St. Marc. (stated by Juanita)
- Chase and Tyler from Ohio have become honorary Canadians as they now say "eh" as well as any Canadian. However Tyler still keeps his snacks in the American bag...we still have some work to do, and Chase calls the bathroom "Restroom"...yup we still have some work to do. But nonetheless, we've welcomed them into our Canadian family.
- Pam (our team leader) can now speak with a Native American, a German, and a Menno accent, but still insists on saying she's gonna go "WARsh" the dishes.

Did I mention that I was on the beach looking out at sparkling turquoise blue waters all afternoon?

We start work again tomorrow.