Haiti

Being home is great. I love having people around again(most of the time) and to return to having a social life was pretty sweet. Working only 40 hours a week now seems abnormally short, which is good because that sure makes work pass quicker. I took most of the last two weeks to adjust to being on regular, non graveyard hours, but am now pretty sure that I have returned, in whole, to life as an Edmontonian.
So my trip is booked! This summer I am going to spend 6 (SIX) weeks in Haiti! I will be volunteering at an orphanage where my job is to spend an hour a day with 8 babies. I will be living at the orphanage, eating there, working there, everything. I am super excited and quite nervous, but am looking forward to this trip with everything I have.
I fly out of Edmonton on July 29 and land in Fort Lauderdale Flordia for a 3 day adventure with mom. She just happens to have a work conference in Flordia at that time and so we get to meet up and have some time, just the two of us, under the hot Flordia sun. Then it is off to Haiti. I will depart Haiti for Fort Lauderdale on September 11(I had to do it), then its off to Toronto where I have a 6 hour overnight lay over before getting home at around 10 am on September 12(Dads bday!).
I have no idea really what I am getting into but here is a little taste of what I do know. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world. Something like 75% of the country does not have access to the main urban centers. It is also one of the more dangerous ones as it has had abotu 80years of civil unrest. When I land in Port Au Prince(The capital, I am not staying here), I will be picked up by Orphanage volunteers accompanied by an ARMED GUARD! It is going to be ridiculously hot there and I will have to learn to eat food that I am uncertain about. Spicy food, vegetables, refriend beans, if they cook it, I will have little choice but to eat it, and for those of you who know me, this is no small task!
But I am excited. I still feel strongly that this is something that I have to do. Whenever I start to think about bailing out, I get this pull inside reminding me that sometimes we just have to do what we have to do. We have to get up, leave our comfort zone, and enter a world that is completely forgein to us. A world without cell phones, without daily internet access, without the luxuary of money to spare. Thats what I am about to do(in 101 days!) and I am scared out of my wits!