November 17/18/19, 2009

Last day in Haiti, sigh. I was up early this morning because I found out on the roof last night that I was scheduled to go to St. Vincent’s School this morning, leaving at 7:30 am. They didn’t think I would make it after our adventures last night, but I proved them wrong and was up packing and ready to go. We had just a small team go this morning, Dorothy for PT and Mike for support. We dropped Kevin, Eric and Travis off at the airport as they are heading home and Kevin is on his way to Guatemala (jealous). At St. Vincent’s we delivered 2 hand carts and toured their therapy department which is mainly physio. They have some pretty ancient equipment in there so we made a needs list and will likely add them to our educational sessions in the future. They even had a treadmill parallel bars, but it was non functioning…and a scary scary electrode machine they use on people’s faces that Dorothy said was an ancient piece of equipment even when she was in school 20 years ago. We didn’t dare touch it after the director turned it on. We also toured their surgery room. Back at the guest house we did some more scrambled packing and then I went with a small group to go shopping along the side of the road. Colleen gave me money to pick out some metal pieces for the Fredericton art sale. I got Colleen’s pieces and then also a metal lizard for Emily’s collection and a painting for Sarah. It was sad to leave the guesthouse, and we always miss saying goodbye to Sultan because she is in school all day. We gave them their gifts, leather notepads and pens with our logo, flashlights, t-shirts etc and then loaded up in our vans for our last ride through the city. Our first little group made it through the airport quite smoothly, but the Fredericton group was held up for a long time downstairs. We all purchased our Barbencourt, and I grabbed more coffee and peanut butter because I felt I was lacking…and I was a little worried that the home roasted coffee Wadson gave me might not taste as good and Chris loves the coffee so I needed back up! I also got a map of Haiti, because Chris never knows the places I am talking about. In another store I found djean djean cubes!! So I got a bunch of those and a Haitian recipe book! Karen got rid of the last of her gourdes and we had hotdogs and a coca before boarding the plane and soaking up the last of the Haitian heat! It is always so sad to leave! On the plane I sat next to a drummer from St. Jo’s. They are on their way to Saskatchewan to publish their latest book based off the shoe shine dance. He is one of the books artists. In Montreal we said our goodbyes and were searched by customs (a very painless ordeal since I knew where all my stuff was packed and they only glanced at my wooden bowls) and then Jim and I went off to try and switch our hotels. I thought for sure we would see the Fredericton crew again because I was confident Air Canada would change our hotel booking…and as I type this I remember that I haven’t even journalled about the flight dilemma! So: Jim, is from Halifax, and we were supposed to fly out of Montreal tonight at 9:30 or so and arrive in Halifax at midnight. But a few days ago Colleen had checked the flights and noticed ours wasn’t there. So I contacted my travel agent who was pretty upset that no one had told us and she got me set up in a hotel and a new flight out the next morning. So, the hotel they put us in was not the same that the Fredericton crew was in…so we wanted to switch. They wouldn’t let us…so I thought at least we would go to their hotel and have supper with them…but no. So I didn’t really get to say goodbye to them. When Jim called them from our hotel they were all just hanging out in their rooms so we ate supper at our hotel and by then it was pretty late so we retired for the night. I was able to fire off a few quick emails saying I was in Canada and where I was staying and then contact my employer to let her know I wouldn’t be at work the next morning (since I would be in the air) and wasn’t feeling overly awesome anyway. I was up way too early the next morning because I hadn’t adjusted to the time change, or more so I tried to adjust but didn’t need to yet…so I had plenty of time to repack my hockey bags for the next leg of the journey. I was freezing cold in Montreal! We got to the airport, cleared security and had a mild wait for the plane. I slept right through take-off while the plane was de-icing I went comatose…I awoke earlier wondering to myself just exactly how long were we going to sit on the runway…then looked out the window and realized we were well on our way! Before I knew it we were landing in Halifax and there was Chris waiting at the baggage terminal with a big hug! We ate at the big stop on the way home because I hadn’t eaten anything all day…it didn’t settle very well in my stomach (that Canadian food eh?) and when I got home I went to bed and slept nearly the whole day. I still wasn’t feeling well the next day so I called in sick and slept for the half the day this time! I guess I was worn out! My body was having a hard time adjusting to the changes so we just ate rice and beans to see if I could trick it into thinking I was still in Haiti :)

Nov. 20, 2009: My first day back at work and in my new office. While I was away they moved the Autism team upstairs so they had to pack up my entire office and move me! I spent the day trying to find things and unpack. It is quite the adjustment. I have lost a lot of my privacy that I had become accustomed to...maybe I should go back to Haiti and try and get a job at the new health centre they are building in PaP...there were 2 OT departments there! ;)