Cooking, Laundry, Weather and Mosquitoes

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post. The Internet hasn't been working too well, and so every time I get a chance to go online I'm on a time crunch.
My mom wrote me and told em that I hadn't written anything about the weather, mosquitoes or food, so I'll give you an update.
A) The weather is hot, but nice. It's probably about 80 degrees during the day, maybe more. At night is cools down and gets really windy, so it's nice, although we could use the breeze inside.
B) There a LOTS of mosquitoes. There is a colony of them that live in my closet, but I'm wearing what I'm pretty sure is a dangerous amount of deet, so it hasn't really been too bad. And I'm really glad I brought a mosquito net, because they definitely come alive at night.

and C)...

The food. The food has been really good so far. It is delicious, and I have never eaten so much rice in my life before. We have rice every day, usually with beans and maybe fish or meat. Let me tell you, Haitians can eat A LOT of rice. Everyone here thinks I don't eat enough, and they never believe me when I say that I'm full. For breakfast, they eat what we would eat for lunch, usually spaghetti, with hotdogs (which sounds weird, but it actually very good), then lunch is like what we would have for dinner (that's when we have all the rice) and then at night we eat what we might eat for breakfast (bead, maybe cereal, coffee or hot chocolate)

I wanted to learn how to cook, so I've been hanging out in the kitchen. Everyone is really excited about me learning how to cook, but at first they wouldn't give me anything to do. I've moved up the ladder and now they let me make the juice. And I have to say, I can make some amazing orange juice now (by the way, the oranges we use are green). But the other day they let me sort the peas, so I'm coming along.

Also, the other day Noe said that before I left I was gonna cook for the whole house (which is A LOT of people because at least 20 people come everyday to eat there)

But if I'm gonna do that, then they better give me a different job, or else all they're gonna have is a lot of juice. haha.

Also this week I decided to learn how to do my own laundry, which everyone also thinks is amusing. The first week I let someone else do it because I didn't have very much and they insisted, but this week Fredeline, a young girl who helps around the house, taught me how to do it. I am still trying to figure out how our machines recreate what I just did. It just doesn't seem possible for some swishing and a rinse cycle to do the same thing. I also don't think I'll be complaining about laundry next year at college. But I'm glad i know how because now I can do it for myself, and don't have to make someone else do it for me.

But there is a specific art to doing laundry. Beside the fact that there are about 5 steps, as you're doing it there is a very specific squishing sound that the laundry makes, and it is one of the most satisfying sounds ever. Of course, as hard as I tried I couldn't get my laundry to make the same sound, but I'm gonna keep working on it.

In terms of work, this week was exams at the schools, so I've only been teaching the 6th grade class. It's been fun to have them because they're old enough to understand and seeing them everyday they've learned a lot. I also started helping Noe with communication which ahs gone really well so far. It makes me feel a lot more useful. I started a blog for him to put updates on his various ministries, which I think will really help his communication and help in in getting support for his MANY churches and schools.

This Sunday a group from Maine/ Vassar college is coming, and we will be going to Gros Morne/ Chaimetre. They are doing a medical clinic, and me while we are there me and Noe are going to hike to Molas, my churches sister parish. It is a four hour hike, straight up a mountain, so I'm a little nervous. We're also doing it in one day and then coming back. Some people have been teasing me and telling me I won't be able to do it, so I need to prove them wrong.
I'm also excited to work with the group that is coming and see what they have planned. It should be fun.
Also, next week Pere Noe is starting a feeding program in Cap Haitien that I am going to help him with. I am really excited to see how he puts the program together. That program is exactly the reason I wanted to come here, to see how he deals with the problems and does his work.

In general, I feel like I've finalyl foudn my niche, I went through a period when I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing, but I feel like I'm now in a really good place.

Well that's the latest news, I'll try to post sometime soon