lazy sunday...

I love sundays! everything is so relaxed around the mission, even the staff gets to wind down a bit. all the big groups left yesterday so there is finally some quiet at night. the only other people here are a group of 4 guys from north carolina. they are all so nice and funny and really active, we all hit it off right away...it should be an interesting week!

the church service this morning was really beautiful. the excitement of the sermons and songs is contagious and everything sounds so beautiful in french and kreyol. the kids are pretty much let loose in the church and they randomly find laps to sit on and arms to grab and snuggle up on. my little church buddy's name was rebecca and she was probably about 7 yrs old. she had a yellow dress on that i'm pretty sure was formerly someone's costume for Belle from Beauty and the Beast. really thick costume material with sleeves and all. that's one thing i've noticed about here...for special occaisions like church or the graduation, everyone wears their best clothes which for women often means someone's old wedding dress or something that was someone's discarded prom dress in the states. it doesn't matter if it is a dress made of velvet, if it is the nicest thing you own, then you wear it to church. back to rebecca...she hung onto me throughout the service, but as soon as i sat down for a break she laid herself across my lap and fell asleep. of course the church was as hot as hades and all of us were sweating, but it is a whole different story when a child falls asleep and completely sweats through their clothes. she had completely soaked her yellow dress. another younger child with a red and black velvet dress (probably an old christmas dress) fell asleep against my right side and sweat was pouring down my right arm. the kids never complain, i guess they are used to it. a visitor from ohio passed out right in the middle of the service...

we then went to children's mass which is always pretty fun, but i had to leave early bc i was supposed to be "sick" to bait wiki and cadrak to our place. we had made a no-bake oreo pudding cake last night and so then mal and i cut up 5 mangos while we were waiting for them to get there. we also decorated the room with balloons and streamers. wiki was so surprised when he got there! he does this thing where he smiles and shows all his top and bottom teeth, it's so cute. he was like "what?! for me?!", he really couldn't believe it. we ate cake and mango and talked and wiki played the guitar. it was really funny bc when we were about to leave to go into town wiki turned to me and said "so brittany, are you feeling better?"...we all started cracking up, but he was completely serious! then he said, "so you LIED to me?!?! on a sunday!?!". that just made us all laugh harder...

afterwards we all piled into the back of a pickup truck with cody and roger and the other 4 guys f/ NC and went to get lunch at Papa Poule's in town. i had chicken and plantains and rice and beans and picklies. picklies look like coleslaw but they are really spicy...really good when mixed w/ everything. after eating, i went outside for a bit to get some air and there were some kids hanging around outside. they were really wild, but cute as always. they kept on doing kung fu moves and wanted to take pictures of everything. for a second i got nervous that one would run away with my camera, but they never did and i felt bad for thinking that. at one point a little girl grabbed mal's sunglasses and she hadn't even noticed until the girl's dad dragged her back with the glasses in her hand. mal said that another time she had put her sunglasses on a boy and then he had disappeared for a while and she just assumed they were gone....but hours later when she was getting back onto the bus the little boy comes running up out of no where and gives them back to her. i thought that was a cute story. anyways, back to Papa Poule's. the tallest of the little girls took my water bottle and told me to take a picture of her like she was an american with water.... she did a little model pose in her ripped skirt and tank top, it was so funny, i know she was going for some type of movie star.

when we returned to the compound i walked around for a bit...very hot as usual. i bought an awesome hand-carved wooden statue from some old ladies for my grandpa; it is a man carrying a fish on his back. i also bought some cards made out of banana leaves.

ham and cheese on hotdog rolls for dinner. and pringles and little debbies of course. processed food bc it's cheap. the NC guys are really outgoing and they organized some dodgeball...one of the guys tried to teach cadrak how to swing a baseball bat which was a hilarious sight to see. he's never seen baseball played, nevermind know how hold a bat!

the chickens are getting fat. i think they will be dinner on wednesday.

it was really nice tonight bc it was just all of us and the 3 families that live here. we've all gotten so close living in this type of environment, we bust on each other a lot and have a good time. they've really taken us under their wings. mal, sarah, and i did the dishes for the day and someone had an ipod player and we blasted the dixie chicks in the kitchen. it's the first time we've had something like that.... it was so weird to hear american country music in haiti, in the dark, on the side of a mountain. the guys said that we look more natural on the construction site than in the kitchen...i believe it! i really love the dynamics here.

i tried calling home using scype to wish my dad a happy father's day...it didn't work too well bc i didn't know where to talk into and they couldn't really hear me, but it was good to hear my parents' voices.

tomorrow all the other interns are assigned to the school, but i am assigned to work w/ the NC guys. we are probably doing some type of construction project bc they all do construction, but i think it will be fun bc they are all really enthusiastic and a lot of fun to be around. i am in the clinic the whole rest of the week. there is a dentist coming on tuesday that is going to give all the kids sealants at the clinics and local orphanages...hopefully i'll be working with him a bit. that's all for today, nothing too exciting...but that's half of what i love about sundays.