Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The power is back! Well, it was for couple hours this morning. It lasted just long enough to recharge my gadgets (including my laptop), so I'm happy.
I woke up at 4:30AM again this morning to attend early morning service. The kids were up by the time we finished service, and many of them ran to me and gave me hugs. Throughout the day they would do that and say, "Porté," which means "Carry me." If I pick one up, they would shove each other to get picked up next. Every time they see me, they want to play with me. When one sees me, he or she would shout to the others and everyone would rush towards me. They would pull me down to the floor or I would run around the building. They would try to get my attention by saying "Ee-got-chum-bah-yoh" which means "Look at this" in Korean. They would be doing some kind of acrobat or be bouncing tennis balls or something like that. I love kids. They are so easily amused and innocent.
We went to a little village called Cybert today. On the way there, and any time we were riding to places, I learned French and Creole from Haitian guys who are with us. I was quite surprised at how quickly my French was coming back to me, even though it's been five years since I last studied it in school. I didn't like it back then, but I'm really glad I took French in high school. Creole is such an interesting language. It's so simple. I learned a ton today, and I'll learn a ton tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. I'm sure I'll be fluent in no time... right.
Like yesterday, I was once again the "skin specialist." Basically I would disinfect and put ointments on patients when they need it. In one interesting case, I had to do that around a baby's anus while he cried. It looked pretty painful down there, too, but I'm sure the baby was mostly just scared. I would be too if I had my anus exposed to some stranger (with, say, purple skin) putting stuff around it.
We gave out small basins or tennis balls (used one, of course, but it's still a lot of fun for the kids here), but some of those who didn't get one begged me for a basin. We were using some of them to carry and organize medicine, so some people on our team were saying I shouldn't give them because everyone else would want one, too. But I figured we should give as long as we can give, so I emptied a couple of them and gave each to two ladies who were asking for them. It's just a basin. Big deal. That's what you might think, but for the people here, it makes a difference.
When I was in Sierra Leone, which was the first time being in a developing country, I was just overwhelmed by the number of people begging for food and money. I wasn't sure what to do. I thought, if I gave to one, what of the others? But now I think, if I give to one, it makes a difference for that one person. So I will do my best to give as long as I'm able.
We had a late lunch after closing our clinic at Cybert. We went to the same restaurant we ate yesterday. I got a chicken sandwich (I think it was chicken). Then we drove around a bit. We saw the president's house, which happens to be a big white house, and drove through Belvil, which is to Port-au-Prince as Beverly Hills is to Los Angeles, except everywhere else in LA would have be Skid Row. I was busy learning French/Creole, so I didn't get to see much, but I noticed they had nicer buildings (but really not much better than the rest).
I still don't know most of our team members' names. It's because they're Korean names. I'm terrible with Korean names, I'm ashamed to say. I would almost never remember Korean names except, for example, when it's a girl I'm interested in. I just know that the American name of the youngest person (who is older than me; I'm the youngest) is Stephen. I'm sure I'll figure the rest soon enough (or at least how to address them). But my priority is learning the languages. I know most of the kid's names, just not the ones with unique names or the ones I didn't ask.
I need to get a SIM card soon. And I need to call my parents. Well, I don't really need to, but I just want to a way to communicate with them if we had to. I suppose they can call the missionary here if they needed to talked to me. I hope they would call me soon about med school acceptances... But I've decided not to worry about it now. There's nothing more I can do except pray and ask others to pray. So please pray that I get in to a med school... although by the time you're reading this, I've already heard from them (or not). You can pray anyway. God hears our prayers now and even those of the future, because he is outside time.
I'm excited for tomorrow. I'm excited to see the kids in the morning. I'm excited to learn more Creole/French. I'm excited to see patients. I'm excited about Haiti.
