Today is Sunday again. Usually this would be a day of rest, but because in Emergency Response Situations, most places that we need to go to are still open. Sunday is actually the day that we look most forward to, not because it's a lighter day, but mostly because we can actually get more things done due to less traffic. Roads that would usually take us 35 to 1 hour long, would only take us 15 to 25 minutes today. This is because everyone is at church. There are services all throughout the day, starting from 5am in the morning till 9pm at night. It is quite a sight, to see all the Haitians dress up in their best outfits.
We headed to the JOTC office with the new team today. Once again, it is going through the training stages with the newly arrived volunteers. We got there super early, because we did not want to risk getting delayed for any reason. It was Sunday and the UN compound was pretty deserted. We got the signature from the food cluster super fast, so we still had about 30 minutes to kill. We walked around the UN compound explaining all the different tents and functions within each one. When we were walking around the WFP (World Food Program) tent areas, we met a man named Marcos, who is the security guard there. He is Dutch and invited us in for a cup of coffee. It was really good coffee, turns out to be the local coffee brew. This was the first time that I had just pure black coffee ever since I have been here in Haiti. It was so good. I wanted to have cup after cup. All of the coffee that I have consumed here in Haiti so far has been 3 in 1 packets (Coffee, Cream, and Sugar mix) from Taiwan. OH Tzu Chi, you and your Taiwan stocks.
We had our meeting and this is like the 5th time that I am sitting next to the French Gendarmerie, which is a military institution in charge of public safety with police duties among the civilian population. It is also a military police force. One of the guys, Michael (which is pronounced Michelle) was asking a question that I knew and my reflex was to help him out in French. At first he was like "oh merci (oh thank you)" but then started smiling and was like "Tu parle français? (You speak French)" So we got into this whole conversation about where I learned how to speak French and what I am doing here in Haiti. Then the other guy, whom I have sat next to every single time I go to UN meetings, was like you "Tu as étudié à Angers? J'étais née à Angers. Le monde est petit. (You studied in Angers? I was born in Angers. What a small world.)" Really was a small world. We talked a lot about Angers and the places that I visited. It was super awesome, because he knew all the hang out places that I went to. I was telling him about the Tramway that is being built there and it will be finished in two years. I was super excited.
The world really is a small place. No matter where you go, and no matter who you meet, there is always a special connection between each and everyone of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment