So following my last post I spent four more days in NYC. I
met my mom and my girlfriend Michelle at our hotel in midtown and we spent a
lovely couple of days enjoying the city. The first day we met up with
Michelle's wonderful friend Sam and saw Cinderella on Broadway, starring Keke
Palmer. It was a great time despite the fact that Ms. Palmer failed to take up
our tweeted offer of Steak and Shake after the show... The next day Michelle
and I toured around Central Park and I made a fool out of myself on a row boat.
We saw a few other sights, broke into a few places, and overall had a
terrific day. The taxi ride to the airport was heavy as I said my last
goodbyes before I sent the ladies on their way back to Michigan.
After the airport it was off to the Maker
Faire to set up our booth. Maker Faire is a Do It Yourself/Innovator
conference that takes place biannually in San Francisco and New York. I
arrived well before the rest of our organization and had some time to explore.
I saw some pretty incredible things. A 3D printed car was one of
the featured products. Pretty cool to think one day I might be able to
download a car. Finally I met up with the rest of the group and we began
to lay out our stuff. Immediately people recognized the One Laptop Per Child
(OLPC) XO's that we had set up. Everyone was really intrigued and enthusiastic
about what we were doing with the OLPC hardware, and they gave us nothing but
support.
Maker Faire ended and I spent the next two
days running around NYC lugging my 10 laptops and Haiti bags with me.
Nick was kind enough to let myself and others crash at his place, he was
both a wonderful host and tour guide. My flight was set to leave at 6am
so I cut my final night short and set my alarm for 3:30am.
After tossing and turning for a short
while I finally fell asleep, when I woke up I was groggy and confused. I
hadn't the slightest idea what time it was, but I didn't hear my alarm yet.
So I walked over to the nightstand where my phone was sitting and hit the
home button... 5:03. Realizing I slept through my alarm, I sprang into
action rounding up all my bags. I ran to the nearest intersection and flagged
down a taxi. As I sit down I look up at the screen and see that the time is now
5:07. My flight leaves in 53 minutes. I'm 15 minutes away from the
airport. After managing to hit 3 lights in a row red I began to be
overwhelmed with the reality that I might miss my flight. The driver
seemed to be in no hurry and the minutes seemed to be racing by. Finally
he dropped me off, I paid, and ran across the street to check my bag.
Being a flustered sleep deprived mess I waited in line for a bag check
with the wrong airline... I finally pulled it together and found where I was
supposed to be. The gentleman checking my bag saw I was in a rush and
cruised through the procedure. He even chased me down when I walked away
without my boarding pass.
One benefit to a 6am flight is that nobody
wants to be on a 6am flight. The line for security was short and I blew right
through it to my gate D-1. The closest possible gate to security. I
boarded the plane and let out a sigh of relief at 5:40am. Miraculously I made
it and I was on my way to Miami for my connecting flight.
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Landed in Miami and had no problem finding
my connecting gate. Upon arrival I was approached by a surfer dude like
figure with dreads and a polo. He looks at me smiles and says "are
you Sean?"... Baffled I reply "Yes? Do I know you?"
"I'm Sam, the director of Haiti Communitere." (the place that
I'm spending my first 10 days in Haiti). We chatted for a while about
Unleash Kids before we boarded the plane and took our seats.
I read for most of the flight and before I
knew it we were starting our decent. We touched down and the un-boarding
procedure began.
Walking towards customs we were greeted by a Haitian
band playing traditional music. Customs was a long wait but went off
without a hitch. I proceeded to baggage claim and once again loaded
everything up for one last haul. Now most of you have not been to the airport
in Port-au-Prince, so it'll be hard to convey the utter chaos that it is.
Upon leaving baggage claim you are greeted by a flock of taxi drivers who
will all tell you that they are there to pick you up. They will reach for
and often times grab your bags and try and lead you to their car. I
explained about 15 times that I had an arranged pick up and that I am calling
my driver. Finally I reached Bourdeau and he took me to his car. We
raced off to Haiti Communitere. Taxi drivers in New York are crazy, but
they do not begin to compare to the taxi drivers in Haiti. Cutting people
off and driving on the wrong side of the road to do so is something that I'm
slowly getting used to. We safely reached our destination and my home for the
next week or so. My first day in Haiti was spent inside the compound of
Communitere, resting from my long day, and preparing for the day that was ahead
of me.
The next day I met with Jeanide, a younger
Haitian woman in probably her mid 20's. She would be my tour guide for
the day. We walked down to the main road and tried to flag down a taxi to
go up the mountain. After about 10 tries we finally found a willing
driver and we loaded into his van. The vans contain 4 rows of seats and
comfortable can fit 12. 18 isn't all that uncommon though. After
hoping from one taxi to another we finally arrived at the Digicell office where
I was to receive a SIM card for me to use and later donate to a school for
their server. After some confusion on what plan to use we met with Jeanide’s
friend Thompson who is an employee at Digicell. He was very helpful and
even took us to lunch after we finally settled everything
For lunch I was presented with 3 options.
Chicken, beef, or vegetables. Chicken. We sat around the
table waiting for our food and my attention slowly drifted to the TV in the
corner. It was the equivalent of MTV and they were playing the music
video to Wiz Khalifa's "We Dem Boyz", the uncensored version. I
appeared to be the only one phased.
The food arrived and I chowed down, I was then
brought the nectar of the gods. Ji
ceri. Cherry juice. There are no words precise enough to even
begin to hint at how amazing of a creation ji ceri is. I won’t even attempt to try.
We finished up our meal as someone changed the
channel to Planet of the Apes. Jeanide
was very interested and asked me if I had seen it. I explained the plot to which she replied
with a soft giggle. She then began to
watch and did not stop laughing the entire time. I had no idea that apes destroying San
Francisco was so hilarious.
Thompson paid for lunch for which I expressed my gratitude,
and Jeanide and I headed back to base camp.
On our final taxi back we packed into a van of 18 people. I was sitting across from a younger Haitian man
who seemed to love the sound of his own voice.
He looks at me and says “Blan (word to refer to white people)…. (Haitian
gibberish that I couldn’t quite understand.)” I told him I don’t speak creole
well and he began to address me in English.
“Why don’t you rent a car man? You’re taking up all the room in this
taxi. You’re American, I know you have
money.” I laughed and explained I’m a college student working for a non-profit
and that I can’t and don’t need to rent my own car. He then went on some long rant in creole
about America and white people. We
finally arrived and I said goodbye to my Haitian heckler. Jeanide and I walked back to Communitere and
had a good laugh about how that guy was full of himself and loved his own
voice.
Finally I was back at my place and free from all the
hustle and bustle of the city. I spent
the rest of my day reprogramming laptops and talking to people back home. All and all my first couple of days have been
a great experience. I’ve truly gotten to
see some great sites and I’ve met some people along the way, some were
wonderful, and some not so much. If you
actually read all this I’m thoroughly impressed. I didn’t realize I had so much to say. Tomorrow I will be teaching music with
Jeanide at Croix des Bouquets, and Saturday Fefe and I will teach music at
Delmas 28. Should have a lot to write
about and I should have another post by Sunday.
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Hang on,
Sean
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