Haiti 2010 adventure begins!!

Saludos!!  Sorry about the delay in posting this, since I'm in the DR now, the Blogspot website is all in Spanish.  I can read and speak Spanish no problem, but I don't speak "blog" so it took me a while to get to this screen where I type up the posting!! :)

Wow I am sooooo tired!!  That tiredness is mixed with a sense of excitement though I must admit.   I'm almost in PaP.  I have so much to tell you about the trip so far so without further ado let me just say how things have gone so far. 


Our day started about 3am when we looked out the window to see how much snow we got.  Joel went out to shovel and clean off the car in case the Dulles Taxi people didn't show up in their 4WD.  Thankfully we only had maybe 3-5 inches and the main roads were fine.  Also at 3:30am no one is on the road.

At the airport, there was already a line for American Airlines.  People were generally in good spirits, talking about the snow and what time they had to wake up.  My good friends were also at the airport checking in for a flight to Panama, so I talked to them while I waited and talked to Joel too.  So I weighed that suitcase, 32 pounds not 27.  How did that happen? :)

Anyway I need to take out 2 lbs before I go to sleep tonight.  I have another bag that I can send on another flight in case I can't take it.  That one is only 17lbs so there is space.

I digress.  Back to Dulles.  I went to the gate where my friends were and talked to them for 20 minutes!  It was so great to see them.  Then I got back on that fancy new Dulles Airport Train (love it!!) and went over to the B gates.  Our flight to Miami was pretty empty.  I had a whole row to myself and slept the whole way to Miami. When I was getting off the flight, a gentleman said to me "do you work for WV?" and I said yes (mind you I have a WV hat on and a WV Tshirt - the plan was to "stick out" in PaP not in Dulles) I also looked, well, like crap! He and his wife were super sweet, they asked me if I was headed to Haiti (I guess that I looked like it or something?), told me they sponsor a child in Kenya and asked if when I get back to DC I'd come down to Lake Anna to speak at their church.  When they said Lake Anna, all of a sudden it was one of those "small world" moments.  My in-laws have a house there.  Joel and I are down there about as often as we can be during the summer.  So that was great.  They said they'd pray for me.

Now at the Miami airport after calling Joel to say goodbye (which was hard b/c I'll miss him the most)....I was virtually transported down to the island of Hispaniola.  Haitians going back to Haiti from Miami in one area.....American Baptist group in another area....Dominicans in another...."Firefighters For Christ" with T-shirts saying they were relief workers and "Haiti 2010" on their arms were also there.  It was interesting.  One of them talked to me briefly about World Vision.  I didn't get to ask them what they were going to be doing in PaP but this group sticks out so I might just run into them again.

The flight to the DR was packed.  I sat next to an American businessman named Sam who runs a textile business in Haiti.  He told me this elaborate story of how is factories are trying to get back up and running but they don't have anyone to do payroll they can trust.  It means that 10,000 Haitians are out of a job b/c the banking system has failed and he was trying to set up a deal with the World Bank to get something going (I didn't ask).

The pilot thanked the "aid workers" on the flight for going to Haiti, and even though I knew he was referring to the larger groups on the flight I thought to myself "hey wait a minute he is talking to me too!" and that was cool b/c I never was the target of a special pilot announcement like that.

So when we arrived in Santo Domingo, the Dominican system is that you need to get a tourist card.  I knew this b/c of all our trips into the DR with the Mission group from PA!!  Anyway, at one point an annoncement is made "all those going into Haiti pass through" and so I went up to the front of the line.  I quickly realized though that was a mistake, b/c they meant "going to Haiti directly" as opposed to just "going to Haiti" and since I was techically " going to the DR" it was an issue that I didn't yet have the tourist card.

My turn came to show the official my paperwork.  I started chatting him up in Spanish and smiling (blondes are especially good at this trick!)....and he asks me "are you going to Haiti?" and so I thought about it and I said "yes" and he says "you have to go over there" and then I said (something to the effect of) "come on man, I'm actually not flying out of this airport I'm flying out of another so I'm really a tourist as far as you are concerned can I just pass through this line here??" and he smiled and said "adalante".  That conversation probably saved me about two hours.  Reminds me of so many times I've had to sweet-talk my way out of jams in other countries!!

Right after getting my bag I walked out and there was a guy with the World Vision sign.  That is so nice to see.  He said "Sonia?" and I said "Si" and we were instant friends.  We joked on the 1 hr drive from the airport to the hotel about all things Dominican.  Besides scaring me that I'd die from Malaria, it was a very good conversation.

So now I'm here and after going through the ordeal of having to get a code to get on the internet (wireless is supposed to be free but I'm paying $6 for it) I'm doing great. 

I'd like to thank you for your prayers b/c I could see the Lord's Hand in just about every detail.  I'm safe so far and the plan is to be safe in Haiti too.  The next step is to meet in the lobby at 6am with my bag packed (in the process of writing this I just heard that I can only take one of my bags).  I hope they aren't including my backpack and computer bag in that count!! Yikes!! :)

Stay tuned and talk soon,
Sonia