Nine Lessons & Cats

Does the title sound like Christmas? It seemed clever. All day long we learn new lessons here.

Lesson 1 - Persistence pays off!!! Writing about being in meetings is pretty boring, but today I met an amazing young man! He's been taking classes at AUC for over 8 years because he could only afford one course at a time. He got a D on a couple of required courses and had has to retake and re-pay for those. But in the whole time he had never given up! He is very nearly ready to graduate which will be a big event for him!

Lesson 2 - A cold shower in Haiti is still a "cold" shower! One should wait until mid-afternoon when the cistern water has heated up from the sun.

Lesson 3 - Remember that the kitchen sink doesn't drain well and the drain under the sink will overflow if you drain both sides at once. We've had that lesson twice this week!!!

Lesson 4 - Be very careful when washing clothes in the same sink where you rinse dishes in bleach water!

Lesson 5 - Students here cannot just go out and bring back a "copy" of something. Most of them have no computers, no flash drives and no way to make a copy of a document. This also means they may not have kept a copy of an end of year project they had to write up. :(

Lesson 6 - Bananas and bread don't last long in 90 degree heat.

Lesson 7 - Every student appreciates being listened to.

Lesson 8 - Thin sandals are tough to walk in on rocky roads and my "blan" feet are not nearly tough enough to do that without pain.

Lesson 9 - The AUC guesthouse needs a cat because of mice. We have 4 cats but catching one is a lot easier said than done!!!! Stay tuned to see if we manage it. ;)

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