Canada Day at GLA

My very first Canada Day outside of Canada did not get off to a good start.  Last night around 8:30, I began to feel really nauseous - more than usual – and I knew it wasn’t going to be a good night.  I would have gone to bed early, but I had washed my sheets and was waiting for them to dry.  This nausea was the beginning of a case of the infamous “Haitian Happiness”, which causes your last meal to exit your body at both ends, either simultaneously or in alternating spurts.  In my case, it was the latter.  After a couple of rounds of that nonsense, I laid awake in bed for several hours, generally feeling yucky.  My exhaustion was compounded by the heat of the night and dehydration, and yet I couldn’t sleep.   Finally, I took my novel and journal and went to the kitchen.  I drank an oral rehydration solution, finished reading the final chapter of the book, and wrote in my journal for a while.  I had no idea what time it was – there’s no clock in the kitchen.  It was still dark outside, but the roosters had begun to crow, an indication that it was likely sometime between 3 and 4 AM.  Finally, I went back to bed and slept fitfully until almost 7:00. 

On Friday mornings, Pastor Brandon and his wife Nikki have all the volunteers over for breakfast and a short devotional and discussion about our week.  I managed to make it up the hill (thankfully they live only two doors away, in the guest house).  I didn’t eat anything, but tried to participate in the discussion, since this is my last Friday in Haiti.  Then I promptly went back to Toddler House and crawled back into bed.  My symptoms had now upgraded to muscle aches, a headache, and a fever, so I took a couple of Tylenol and went to sleep.  By lunch time I thought I felt well enough to go down to the Main House.  However, I spent most of the afternoon sleeping on a bench on the balcony and, when that proved to be too hot, the couch in the living room. 

Nonetheless, I am proudly donning a red t-shirt with the autographs of the Canadian Olympians from Vancouver 2010 arranged in the shape of a white maple leaf.  Below are some pictures of the Canada Day celebration at supper time.  I ate fresh fruit in lieu of pizza, in hopes of keeping my supper down.   Emelyne and I decorated a slab cake to look like the Canadian flag (we didn’t quite have enough red food colouring, so it turned out to be a pink and white flag). 

 Here’s a picture of me, Melissa, Becky, and Emelyne (the “Canadian girls”) and one of Jocelyne and George, a couple from Quebec City who now live in Port-au-Prince, but will be moving to Fort Jacques as soon as their house is built.  

Happy Birthday, Canada!