Friday, June 7, 2013

Fête

I do not think I have ever given Physical Plant at Providence College the credit that they deserve. This morning we cleared out all of the dorms, collecting any trash that we could find and placing it in the incinerator. While the students tried to leave as little behind as possible, it was evident that there was a lot of work to be done. Although I always try to leave my dorm room at school as spotless as possible when I leave, I never truly appreciated the work that Physical Plant does when cleaning out the dormitories. And I especially appreciate my family for cleaning out what they could of my dorm room as I was on my flight to Haiti!

For about three hours this morning, we swept trash down the stairs of dormitories, placed it in wheel barrows, and brought it to the incinerator for some of the Volunteers to burn. I give the Volunteers working at the incinerator a ton of credit because I was only helping out over there for about twenty minutes and I could not handle the heat that it was giving off. By the time we were done cleaning out all of the dorms, we were cheering for what we had accomplished.

After showering off the dirt and dust from the dorm rooms (with limited grass and trees, these two accumulate quickly in Haiti), we all started to make a dent in our other work. All of the Volunteers got to work grading their exams and filling out paperwork for the end of the year. I was able to help grade a Biology exam so that one of the Volunteers could grade some of her other exams.

After a delicious lunch prepared by the cooks, I headed to the computer lab to get some work done on my paper. Although I was trying to stay focused, I was having a hard time making any progress because I had a terrible headache. Whether it was from the heat or my allergies I am not sure, all I know is that the Advil that I took did not seem to be doing the trick. Regardless, I made sure I kept hydrating and tried to get as much done as I possibly could.

By 4:00 I was feeling a little better and I was able to help some members of the Haitian staff with the preparations for tonight’s fête, or party. As a way to celebrate the end of the year and all of the hard work of the Volunteers and Staff, the Dean of Academics decided that we should throw a party in our house. Everyone was really excited for the night’s events, so a whole bunch of us decided to pitch in and help out the cooks where we could.

On the menu was fritay, or basically fried everything. It takes a long time to make, but it was totally worth it! I helped chop the carrots and the beets for the salad that we would have. It was unbelievable to watch everyone at work in the kitchen, especially with there being so many little details to worry about. Plantains needed to be cut up and smashed, dough needed to be made then fried and refried, and all different types of vegetables needed to be chopped into small pieces. After three hours of preparation, the dinner bell was finally rung at 7:00!


Here's a picture of all of the delicious food before it disappeared!

Dinner was absolutely delicious. Members of the Junior Staff and Staff were all in attendance, and it was great to see the whole community together in one year. Even in the few weeks that I have been here I have been lucky enough to witness the hard work of all of the members of the community here. Everyone seems to give their all to whatever they are doing, whether it be teaching a class, directing a student performance, or working in the office to make sure the day-to-day operations of LCS run smoothly. The entire staff truly deserved tonight’s party to celebrate all that they have accomplished this year!
                                                                                         

The party was so much fun! A lot of the staff stuck around for a while. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone, listening to music, and dancing! By the time we had cake and cleaned up, we were all in need of a shower and a good night’s sleep!

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