This morning was very reminiscent of my first few months living in Bangladesh. I thought for sure that yesterday the CNP driver, Jean-Claude, understood that I was going to go with him to the airport in the morning at 6am to pick up Ashley, my boss, who would be arriving from the USA. The plan was for me to go into Port-au-Prince and then on the way back to Leogane stop at the bank and the Caribbean grocery store. On the drive back Jean-Claude and I even discussed this and then before he left the hospital last night I told him, in what I thought was very clear Creole, that I was going with him in the morning. He smiled and said he understood. Well, this morning I was up at 5am so I could be ready to leave for the capital at 6am. I waited outside for a while and then Pere Deravil, the director of the hospital, came by to say hi. He asked why I was up so early and I told him the story. He said, “ohhhhhhh”. Then he told me that Jean-Claude had taken the car with him last night so that he didn’t have to come all the way back to the hospital this early to get it. Ah, miscommunication. Luckily I’ve had plenty of experience waiting for long periods of time and at least this time I was just able to go back to bed!
Jolina, the guesthouse coordinator, woke me up around 10am. I muttered some words in the first foreign language that came to mind, Bangla, and she just smiled and walked away. I got up and sat outside and studied some Creole. I expected Ashley to arrive at the hospital around 12pm, but lunchtime came and went and still no Ashley. Yesterday there was some confusion as to what time Ashley was actually arriving. Everyone here thought she was getting in at 3:30pm, but the message I received from her the day before I left for Haiti said she would be getting in at 9am. This is why Jean Claude left at 6am. I was really worreid that I got the time wrong and that he was going to be waiting at the airport all day! Hmm…
I went over to the hospital around 11am to see the girls who work for the nutrition program, Yva, Evelyn, Felicia, and Mme. Gerard. I said hi and that was about it. On the way out I met the Ob/Gyn doc, Dr. Mersier, who the ex-pats think could be a soap opera star, and ran into Albert, the hospital maintenance guy with a NYC accent.
Ashley and Jean-Claude eventually arrived at the hospital around 1pm. Turns out her flight did arrive at 9am (phew) but they ended up spending hours at the bank in Petionville.
Ashley will only be here until Friday morning. So much for my week of orientation in Haiti! So we got right to work discussing exactly what it is I’ll actually be doing here.
In the evening Pere Devavil came by with a big basket of mangoes. Mmmm….
