Good Advice from Zia Nicoletta and Co.

Contracts and waivers signed, now it's officially official; I am going to AYITI!

The anticipation is growing, as is my distaste for travel preparation. It makes me anxious. I haven't been sleeping well. It's nerve-wracking. It seems no matter how much laundry I do or how many lists I make, I feel like the time is flying by without much packing progress. Only 2 weeks remain before I leave.

I have been communicating with Michael (the ESL teacher already there) about what to expect and what is actually available. Here are a few things I know:

1. HELP has a driver! It's generally unsafe to take public transportation, so if I need to go anywhere outside of the neighborhood, the driver will take me. I have NEVER had a driver. I think I will feel pretentious and ridiculous, but I intend to become his friend. Hopefully, that will ease my discomfort with the idea.

2. The open-air markets, supermarkets, and general stores have reopened in Port-au-Prince. Life goes on, even after great disasters. It's like my family in Beirut reminded me when I visited in 2008: just because there is a war going on outside, doesn't mean you stop living your life. The necessities (ie. soap, shampoo, food, etc.) are apparently readily available in the capitol. That makes things easier, I think.

3. I get a mosquito net for my bed and screens mounted on my apartment windows. That's a big deal since many frightening diseases are mosquito transmitted.

4. HELP is going to give me a cell phone. Cool?! I am a bit confused about why I'll need it, but I imagine it's for contact purposes in Haiti.

5. They tell me Skype doesn't work very well down there. I have a feeling video chat will be a rare occurrence. So expect emails, not calls! Sorry!

6. Lastly, I am coming home for Christmas! HELP will pay for 2 round trip tickets to the USA, so I requested a winter break. It will be particularly nice because my cousins from Italy will be visiting and I haven't seen them since my junior year abroad!

Now for the good advice that so earned the title of this blog entry.

Sunday evening, I had dinner with our good family friends the Merhmand/Tinozzi's. Whenever we get together we spend most of our time laughing and enjoying Nicoletta's incredible Italian cooking. It's always a convivial experience, and of course, my going to Haiti was brought up a few times. Sara thinks I am going to be crawling over rubble strewn streets, scavenging for food. My mother is afraid I will be kidnapped and raped. Not that these are not genuine concerns--truly the worst of the worst scenarios--but they are slightly exaggerated. After appeasing those worries, we started in on imagining my daily life. Most of that was uninteresting, save my future laundry habits.

Nicoletta gave me great advice, that I think should be a slogan for all people who have to wash all their laundry by hand. From here on, it will be dubbed the Tinozzi Method.

Step 1: Put a little soap in a bucket filled with water.
Step 2: Swish around your clothes.
Step 3: Let it soak, overnight.
Step 4: Go to bed.
Step 5: Wake up.
Step 6: Rinse.
Step 7: Hang, to dry.

In summation, and this is verbatim from Zia Nicoletta: "Soak, Go to bed, Rinse, Hang...And you do this everyday, so your laundry never piles up!" (Now repeat with an Italian accent).

There you have it folks; soak, go to bed, rinse, and hang. This could be the best advice I've gotten thus far.