Random Reports (and Mis-Reports) (Day 24)

EDH: 9:30PM-11:30PM, 9:30AM-7:10PM (!!!)

Today the gods of power gave us a full day’s share of electricity. As a consequence, we spent from 9:30AM-1:30PM doing the laundry which had piled up for several weeks. Eight loads is a lot of sheets and towels. In order to do the wash, we have to fill up the machine with wash-water and soap, then let it run through the clean cycle, draining the water into the dirt (all of the machines are outside), then filling it up again for the rinse cycle. The rinse cycle water gets poured into the neighboring machine (we have six in a row in various stages of functionality), then the whole process begins again. After rinsing we have to hang all of the sheets either in the washing courtyard or upstairs on the roof. Then we fold them and organize them according to size so that we can make and change beds quickly between large groups. It takes a lot of energy, at least for me, unaccustomed to such honest labor.

It was a hot day, so I took off my shirt to garner a nice burn, which I hope will turn into the tan I expect people assume I have absorbed here in the Carribean. A sneak rainstorm approached this afternoon, so we had to rush to get the remaining towels off the lines.

The remainder of the day I spent relaxing, napping, and reading in my air-conditioned room, so that the Lord’s Day had some resting involved.

I realized last night that I had reached a turning point about being ready to come home. This is because I only have five days left, not simply because I miss everyone and my life in Lexington—though this is true to some degree as well. If I had to make my life here, I could do it and get by gladly; but, as the trip winds down, home seems more graspable and therefore wanted. I was at Mass this morning thinking about what I would be playing at church today had I been there. These thoughts led to all sorts of “what-ifs,” but not so much that I could not enjoy my day here completely. It will just be good, different, to be back home. I will have to jump right into all sorts of projects, which may be even more stressful after such a quiet time here. Of course, I am already anticipating Edinburgh in August.

Living in community here with Father Alan, Ted, and Helene has helped me to reflect on how many moments I control at home without having to make a sacrifice of any kind. This is something I have known for awhile, that my alone time at home can let me do as I please. It is very difficult to be with someone 12 hours a day. I have tried to reclaim some personal time and space alone, but this can be very difficult even in this relatively large house. There are limited resources—one computer, for example—that must be shared. I live on my own schedule most of the time, so to compromise and make room is not a bad thing, but often surprisingly difficult for me. Everyone has been easy to get along with and pleasurable to be around, but I have been challenging myself to imagine married life or monastic life. After this experience, I am not sure I could do either, which means I will hopefully be led to one in order to practice yielding more often.

I hesitate to post this because it may seem like I am besmirching the good workers of Matthew 25; it just an odd set of occurences that I must relay. I have begun to suspect that someone working here in the house is taking my personal belongings. Obviously this is not an accusation to take lightly, even though I am not going to pursue any possible punitive results, so I underscore the fact that I may simply have misplaced them under accidental and unknown circumstances.

I had a camera disappear right around the trip to Carrefour, which I simply shook off as Ted mistakenly putting it in his bag, or my inability to keep up with my things--I had taken it out of my room as I was packing for the day, leaving it on the kitchen table. Then the day Ted left my toothpaste went AWOL. Again, I thought that an accidental packing by him or the guests who stayed in his room that night was to blame, though it seemed obvious that it was not a communal toiletry. Today I discovered that my razor was gone. This is more than just taking something off the common shelf accidentally--my razor was packed under the table in the bathroom in my toiletries bag. I am trying not to be angry about things being stolen, if indeed they were, because they are simply things and can be replaced; I had intended to leave most of the belongings I had brought down anyway. I can also, understandably, not assume that it is one of the staff here--our house is open at all times that we are here. But, I am a bit concerned how, should a security guard, for example, be bogarting my goods, I can trust him to protect us during the night! Mostly I am just very disappointed at that chance that someone would not ask us and take advantage of our trust. These are materials which could so easily be provided by us or the supplies stockpiled in the house--because there are, in fact, stockpiles of toothpaste and razors, and even a few extra cameras around. I also hate to be suspicious of anyone around here, so I write this to cleanse out the suspicions and let the matter go; similar things have happened to me before without resolution, so I set the scenario down to bed here.

Speaking of, perhaps I should check to see if they have been pushed under my bed by my carelessness. Nope.

If someone has indeed taken them, may God bless their wants and needs, and may He bless the using of what I do not really require.

***
Our Internet suddenly decided to work again, so I just read on Yahoo that a Canadian missionary who was kidnapped last week in northern Port-au-Prince was freed last night during the awesome rain storm we had. Both of these pieces of news were, well, new to me (“If I haven’t seen it, it’s new to me!”). The byline of the piece mentioned “an upsurge of violence in the capital.” This is also news to me. As always, I cannot tell if this is the typical misreporting (the standard whipping-boy, “gangs loyal to former President Aristide,” was, of course, to blame) and sensationalism (though I only went to church today, everything seemed fairly quiet on the block-and-a-half drive—and I have yet to hear gun fire at any point this whole month, though there are police and UN tanks with all sorts of large weapons) about Haiti, but this man had definitely been kidnapped. We were also definitely stopped at a checkpoint the other night (though not by the UN as listed in the report). I post this not to make anyone fearful for my well-being, but to say that not everything is as is reported; we certainly will remain vigilant and cautious, but this reminds so much of the terrorist alerts we have to endure back in the US, not to mention all the false information coming out of the city into the rest of the world. “Upsurge of violence” indeed! It’s equally strange that I have not heard a word about this kidnapping until a week after the fact, though I do not doubt its authenticity.