Plethora of Preparations...

First off, I truly want to thank everyone for the support as I leave for Haiti. I am blessed with such amazing people in my life. As I am finally sitting down and thinking about the trip to come, it is the most reassuring feeling in the world to hear the words of encouragement and concern from so many of you. I promise you, sincerely, I will be careful. And as my handbook rec commends, every time I walk somewhere, I will walk like I know EXACTLY where I am going (I've been practicing) and I'll never go out alone. We have a (need I say) lengthy list of safety guidelines that I do plan to take seriously. So, I've done a few little things beyond my research to get ready... This week I took Bikram Yoga. It is a yoga class that takes place for 90 minutes in a ~105degree Fahrenheit room. Beyond being a class I have wanted to take for a long time, I felt it could give my body a taste of the heat it must endure for my two weeks without the luxury of our near-artic air conditioning temperatures. The experience was...well, insane. Yoga-goers take their practice very seriously, so beyond the million yoga-ettique rules (none of which I knew), there are also rules for the heat! Once the class starts, you can't leave (unless you are physically showing medical issues) and you are NOT aloud to wipe off any sweat. Let's just say after ten minutes you looked like you stepped out of pool and my body was asked to stretch in ways bodies definitely are not made to go. As death dangled before my eyes towards the end, but now, I am hooked. But I do hope for heat less than 105 in Haiti, and I HOPE they let me wipe the sweat (more their misfortune if they don't). (The picture on the left was my favorite pose...not only do I not know what I'm doing in the class but they explain it so fast!! Arms are swinging everywhere and all the sudden people are wrapped up like a pretzel. One, my short legs do NOT wrap like that and the arm thing made me realize that all my limbs are pretty lacking in Stretch-Arm-Strong capabilities. Ugh.) I assumed packing would pose my biggest dilema of all. If anyone has ever taken a trip with me (whether a week, weekend, or just a night), you have most likely realized that I struggle to fit everything into one bag; a syndrome deemed as 'chronic over-packing'. I am dumb-founded to discover that my 2 WEEKS worth of clothing fits nicely into two compact piles on one side of my duffel bag. But, the packing is not done by a long shot. I will tell you now that I have never (willingly) touched a bug in my entire life, (you think I am exaggerating) but the one time I dared to catch firefly's, I put socks on my hands. (Currently wondering why I would actually tell people that). Keeping that fact in mind, I have now had multiple warnings about the size of bugs I am on the brink of encountering... (insert face of terror here). So my excess space is filled with a multitude of bug repellent products, I'm even considering a mouse trap hearing about the size of these things. So, whether I'm ready or not, looks like I'll be facing my fear head-on. While I will not be able to blog, email, etc, during the trip, Mel got me my (as she named it) "Haiti Journal" to write down anything and everything through my stay, along with the book Mountains Beyond Mountains; The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder--the book was reccommended to me (and to all) by not only Mel but a few teachers from my high school. A blurb (to strike your interest) from the back states:

"In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life's calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most...Profound and powerful, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people's minds through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity"."

So, when I get back I'll add some of the parts of my journal along with the pictures to the blog. Thank you all again for all the kind words and thoughts. I am so looking forward to taking part in this and I look forward to sharing it with you when I get back. Have a wonderful two weeks, enjoy the end of June, and I'll see you in July. Much much love. (oh, and I encourage you all to comment (look under this line) but I'll add that again when the posts are more 'worth-while'.)