A Day in the Life

Kirk has been challenging me to write something a little more basic to give you a more direct view of what our day to day lives are like here in Haiti, so thought I'd take a whack at that today, since I haven't written in while.  So here is A Day In the Life of the Vander Pol's, just to give you a glimpse of what a "typical" day might look like.  I sort of snicker to myself, even typing the word "typical" because I was going to attempt this once before and,well, it was so far from typical I couldn't know where to begin, but today is a new day, so here we go.

Thursday, October 18, 2012
 7:15 AM Kindle alarm goes off.  Hit snooze.
 7:25 AM Elijah hops in bed with us/me.  I say me, because our twin bunks are beside one another, but mine is 5 inches taller than Kirk's so Elijah does have to chose which one of us to come snuggle with.  I guess I'm the more receptive one this morning.
 7:30 AM Do devotions, get up and get ready for the day.
 8:00 AM Kirk is out the door to walk over to COTP to start his day.  Some days are earlier, but there are no pressing issues today, that he yet knows of. Today is my dear friend, Heather Pluimer's Birthday!  I write a quick birthday greeting to her.  Set our laundry out the front door for the laundry lady to pick up.  Ternicille works M-SA doing our laundry and that of some of the children.  She returns it by early afternoon, smelling fresh, nicely folded, and stain free.
8:30 AM I start school with Noah and Elijah.  We do a literature lesson together (we start the first chapter of The Hobbit), do a Kreyol lesson of reviewing 15 verbs we started yesterday, and do Noah's Alpha Omega Bible lesson together, before breaking off for individual work.  Noah starts his science lesson and begins to write a report on a NASA mission.  Elijah and I practice reading, do spelling words, and practice addition facts on the Kindle.  He likes to write the answers on the drawing app and it is good practice for his letter and number writing as he still has trouble with a few reversals.  Noah is really into his Apollo I project and is really getting into the history so I let him continue researching and learning instead of moving on geography.
10:30 AM Mid-morning meal/ breakfast is served at COTP, but we decide to keep pressing on with school work.  M, W, F are "American" days and TU, TH, SA are "Haitian" days.  The boys and I are still not crazy about breakfast pasta, so we just eat at home and wait for the afternoon meal.  tomorrow AM is french toast and fresh pineapple day, so we won't miss that.  : )
12:00 PM Finish up school work.  Rob calls from COTP to bring one of the older kids to come visit his bio-mom who has arrived for an appointment.  His Nanny washes him and dresses him in clean clothes to look handsome for his mother.  I walk him over to supervise the visit. Following the visit, the child is sad, so Carla, a Nanny, and I spend time talking with him and comforting him.  He also has ear pain, so I take him to visit the nurse for some Tylenol.  This was the time frame I had planned to bake a cake for this evening's good-bye party for one of the kids leaving, but while I am attending to the older kid, Tori agrees to bake the cake.  When it is finished and cooled I frost it and put it in the fridge.
Kirk is working on cleaning up the office, finances, and other paperwork in the office with Rob.  The boys are playing with the VandeLune girls on the playground.
2:00 PM I return to our apartment to tidy up and put away laundry.  Milouse cleans on TU and F so I don't need to do a thorough cleaning today.
2:30 PM I return to the main compound to eat the afternoon meal/lunch.  Today we have cooked beef pieces in a slightly spicy sauce, rice with beans, and a bean sauce, along with breadfruit salad (ends up tasting like potato salad) and fresh sliced tomatoes.  Somehow cold glass bottled Coke always goes good with the afternoon meal!  Otherwise it's filtered water.
Rickerns returns to COTP with Agape mail.  There is a package for us (which I don't find out until the next day).  One of the adoptive families sends a package for their son's birthday and sends a whole separate box of treats for our family - Pringles, chocolate, ground flax (yeah, I requested that), baking supplies.... bliss in a box!  Thank you, Jeff's family!!!
3:00 PM Tori helps me prepare the afternoon snack for the kids in the baby house.  I haven't actually served at snack time before so she is nice enough to help me out today.  Some of the kids will be going to a peer's birthday party in a little bit, so we only prepare snacks for those who won't be going to have cake.
3:30 PM Go into the pharmacy/clinic to use the database to enter notes from interactions with kids earlier today.
4:00 PM Pick up Natalie from the pavilion where she is playing with peers and take her back to our apartment for a visit before her supper time. (I do not spend time with Rose today - complicated, but she is having a hard time with seeing us and letting us go, so we don't want to do more relationship building with her until we are closer to moving her in.)  She is feeling shy today, likely because her special Nanny is working today and it is still quite hard for her to separate from Bouta.  She wants to be carried.  We have a little snack together, Noah and Elijah play blocks with her, and we read a few books.
5:30 PM I tell her she is going to go back to eat with the kids and Bouta and sleep, and that we will play again tomorrow.  She agrees with this plan.
I go from the pavilion to the mango tree in front of the volunteer house where the staff are beginning devotions.  We have prayer, worship, and study time together, while the sky darkens and rumbles threatening rain, as it does most late afternoons this time of year.  During devotions, Noah stayed back at the house to play Poptropica (first time since moving here!) and Elijah goes to play with the VandeLune kids.
6:30 PM Dodging raindrops, I get the cake from the kitchen for the going away party.  Kirk and Elijah and I attend along with a couple other staff.  We give our nightly greeting to the tarantula we see each evening on our way back to the apt.  He seems to come out at dusk.
The little girl is dressed in her most "bel" clothes and enjoys the attention of her farewell gathering, complete with picture taking and a lot of messy cake.  Some of the other kids (and a few of the Nannies) are sad about her leaving.
7:30 PM We head back to our apt. as the thunder booms and rolls above.  Noah and Elijah play a computer game together until it is time to shower and get ready for bed.  They each take their (cold) showers, have bedtime snacks, and brush their teeth.
8:30 PM They hop into their bunks, listen to devotions, and pray before going to sleep.
Kirk and I spend a little time talking and checking fb/email.
9:30 PM Kirk goes to bed.  I read, write, and spend time on-line.
11:00 PM I go to bed.  Good-night.

So there it is -- typical day.  : )