The Move, Part 1

I know, I know, you're all perched on the edge of your seats, waiting to hear about my move. Oh wait, half of you probably don't even know I'm moving...

SALT, the 1-year program I came to MCC with, is ending. I chose to stay with MCC-Haiti for an additional year, but this means that my status will change from a "SALTer" to "a normal person" as Garly, MCC-Haiti's interim Country Representative, called it yesterday. What does this mean? I get my own apartment. I get a larger budget (due to the fact that I will no longer have other people providing my supposed every need). I have access to the MCC vehicles (though I do not yet know how to drive a motorcycle or a manual-shift car). umm...I'm sure there are other things, but those are the big ones.

The apartment search has been a bit of a disaster, leading me to wonder if I really do want to stay in Haiti. (For those of you who know about it, no, I did not get the apartment that I wanted -- the one that would have been perfect.) So, for the meantime, while we continue the apartment search, I am staying in Josh and Marylynn's old apartment on Delmas. This isn't exactly a great solution (it's far from work & Delmas isn't exactly anyone's favorite location), but yet, it feels wonderful.

Yesterday afternoon, Joseph and I loaded up all of my worldly possessions (or, at least those that are not currently stored in my sister's basement...or my parents' basement, come to think of it), I said good-bye to Bernadette, promised to come back to visit, and headed up the hill.

Once all of my belongings were inside, I walked to the grocery store to buy the essentials (coffee, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, goat cheese, salt, pepper, etc.), lugged a tank of gas up the stairs for the oven, zested and juiced 2-dozen limes, baked 3-dozen lime cookies, ate a salad, and crashed in my bed exhausted but happy.

With as good as it feels just to be in this temporary spot, I can't wait to find/be in my own apartment. May it come soon.

-L