Michelle Obama is here!

This past Sunday after a particularly rough morning (note my depressing blog lol), I was invited to spend the afternoon up in the mountains at my friend's family's home for a Sunday dinner.  They came and picked me up and it wasn't a moment too soon because seeing them instantly boosted my spirits.  On the way up to their house we climbed and weaved our way through the rough and steep roads for almost 20 minutes until we were well above the city below.  As we got closer and closer, I noticed the weather got a little bit cooler and the houses got larger and larger.  We passed one home that looked like it belonging in Tuscany or on the California coastline because it had palatial gardens and red tile roofing.  It was truly a beautiful sight after weeks of only seeing devastation.  Once we got to the house, I noticed that they only had minor damage and most of it happened when pictures, glasses, and vases fell inside the home; they were very lucky, thank goodness!

As soon as I walked inside, I was greeted by Snowflake, their westie and Lola, their little teacup puppy.  I met Caroline's grandmother and cousins as well as aunts and uncles.  Altogether there were probably 12 of us.  We had dinner out on their terrace surrounded but hundreds of orchids, her mother's favorite hobby.  It was evident that she was very talented because everything was so beautiful and she even told me that one of the orchids was named after her!  We had course after course and lots of white wine and as soon as the sun was setting the weather turned nice and breezy.  I feel so blessed to have met their family and they have been so warm to me, even offering me a local phone to use while I'm here!  I couldn't have imagined the day being anymore wonderful than it was....a true oasis in the middle of it all.

Last night, my co-workers and I decided to check out a restaurant up in Petionville, one of the nicer suburbs of P-au-P.  We went to this Italian restaurant called Il Vigneto and it was so good!  It turns out the the own speaks both French and Spanish (I guess because the Dominican Republic is so close) which was great because one of the guys we were with is fluent in Spanish so I had the night off.  At 8pm, we were the only table in the restaurant prompting the owner to come out and serve us himself!  It was a nice change to sit in the A/C and eat something besides a dish with rice and a cucumber salad (a staple of our hotel's dinner every night).  We drank wine, had pasta, calamari, bruschetta and strawberry ice cream even for dessert.  Needless to say, I slept like a baby and feel like a million bucks today!

I have been very very busy since I wrote last and I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog until today but so it goes.  It seems that nothing here is very speedy and any errands that I may have to run take most of the day!  Currently, we are facing quite a fuel shortage here in Port au Prince, leaving many people packed in and around gas stations.  Since there are no container laws, most people are just carrying big buckets of fuel home from the stations.  It will be 2 weeks before anymore arrives.  The government knew for months that they would run out after all the people have been arriving here, driving, and constructing, but of course they didn't react until after there was a crisis.

So I've spent my day today securing diesel and solving other little mini crisis, all in a days work I suppose.

Oh, and of course I almost forgot to mention that Michelle Obama was here yesterday!  I overheard the CNN reporters at breakfast mention that she was heading to the palace (which is just out our front door) and to a few schools as well as the UN.  She didn't stay over night, probably for security reasons as I'm sure visiting here would be a Secret Service nightmare.

Don't forget to check out my pictures too!

Jiska pwochen fwa!