Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noel

     I’m home for Christmas. Maybe you guessed that when my blog posts stopped last week. Thursday morning, Makendy drove Meer and I to the PAP airport for our flight to Miami. After clearing security, we walked to the gate and upstairs to the lounge where there is a bar and a fast food counter. Meer ordered a cheeseburger and water. I ordered fries and a Prestige. It was 9 am but one last Prestige before leaving Haiti is sort of a tradition. That, and buying Barbancourt rum at their duty-free window (seriously, the Barbancourt “store” is a little box-like booth, not unlike the ticket booth at your local high school football stadium; but the rum is excellent). Wi-Fi Internet access is free at the PAP airport. While we waited for our flight, I logged in to check my email and got some good news. A company that makes rapid diagnostic kits to detect Giardia, Cryptosporidium and Entamoeba histolytica, agreed to send us kits to help us detect these parasites in stool samples. We will set up a collaboration with them as part of the diarrheal disease surveillance project that Meer is directing. This will be a good way to expand our coverage and improve our detection capabilities.

     The flight home was uneventful, the plane, surprisingly, only half full. I got off the plane and went through immigration control figuring I’d meet Meer at baggage claim. I got my bag and waited. Forty five minutes later, still no Meer. I called UF to tell them that I was worried that it was taking too long for Meer to get through immigration control. They told me not to worry and that it was normal. I had a flight to catch to BWI so I headed for my gate.

     It was actually relatively warm when I arrived in Baltimore. Pierre drove out to pick me up at BWI. Cecile had just come back from UVA that afternoon for her winter break so she came along with Pierre. I was very happy to see them. Pierre loaded my mostly empty suitcase (nothing leaves Haiti) into the trunk, we got in the car and started talking about dinner. We finally decided on Panera Bread. I got an Italian combo sandwich. It had meat and some green lettuce. That’s all I needed right now. Time to start getting used to a different diet.

     Almost three months into my sabbatical and now I’m home for a short break.

Our Christmas tree

Time to relax, spend time with my kids, catch up with family and friends and meet with my lab group. I also have meetings and calls to make to move my projects in Haiti forward. So it is a working vacation. I went to work on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. I actually had to get into my car and drive myself to work. Traffic. Different than Port-au-Prince traffic but in Silver Spring, I don’t have a driver. As I sat in traffic, I wondered how Makendy would drive in the DC area. I think he would do just fine but he might be labeled an aggressive driver, which is the normal driving mode in Haiti.

     In Bethesda, I caught up with my lab team. I also sent out emails to continue to update and monitor my projects in Haiti. When our Program Manager came in, I sat down with her and went over the administrative issues that still were not resolved on the USU end. I have been very relaxed and focused during my three months in Haiti. It only took four hours in my office in Bethesda to start getting stressed out again. Some things never change.

Presents in front of our shoes
(ignore the old TV)

     On Christmas Eve, we went to Mass. After Mass Cecile made soupe a l’oignon and we ate foie gras for dinner. We decorated the Christmas tree. I made overnight sticky buns for Christmas morning brunch. On Christmas morning, Pierre made a couple of trays of Pillsbury crescent rolls and biscuits and I baked the sticky buns. We snacked on the rolls and biscuits and sticky buns and pizzelles (that I had made Monday night) while we opened our presents. Later that day Cecile made bœuf bourguignon for Christmas dinner.

   

Odile, Cecile and Pierre, Christmas morning

     It’s Christmas. It is time for giving, time for traditions, time for remembering, time for family, and time to be together. I hope you have all of these and more and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!