Totino-Grace Day 3

This morning, Jake, Eric, Natalya, Sarah, Tom, and the Haitian ladies prepared a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and spicy peanut butter… Still not sure how we feel about that one. Tom has now cracked 105 eggs. After we ate, we got ready for our day at Grace Village, only to realize we still had an hour before we had to leave. Clearly, we were full of anticipation.

After a 45 minute (bumpy) tap tap ride with singing and lots of laughs, we witnessed a beautiful mountaintop view of the blue ocean. Upon our arrival, kids were instantly running up to us and greeting us. While the boys played soccer with the kids, some of the girls played on the playground. After this, we were given a tour of the beautiful Grace Village, an orphanage in Titanyen. The wonderful long term missionaries told us the touching story of Jamesly, a two year old boy who was left on the streets and taken in by the organization.

Following our tour, half of us did crafts with the children, and the other half gave makeovers & mani pedis to the Haitian Mommys (each house of the orphanage has a Mommy). Some young girls even painted the TG boys’ nails... what real men! Then, our drivers said the famous “chop-chop to the tap-tap” phrase and we quickly said goodbye and headed back to our guest house. On our way back, we witnessed the amazing view driving down the mountain. We also sang a Haitian song, as well as belting Don’t Stop Believing and many more. When we got back, we changed into our swim gear and headed to the hotel pool. The pool was refreshing for some while others slept poolside (all the boys except Henry were photobombed by all the girls when they were sleeping!) Alani, Nicole, and Kate played a very competitive game of monkey in the middle in the pool. Tom managed to splash every single girl when he jumped into the water but no glass was broken today! Only the plate of plantain chips was soaked. After swimming, we headed back and had a delicious pasta hot dish with vegetables. We then started to wind our day down with team time and we are getting ready for tomorrow’s activities! We all journal together as a group, reflecting on our day and sharing a word of the day that we felt best applied to our experience. Some today were smiles, joy, friendly, and blessed. We also all sang (a common theme this week), as our musicians Ellie, Eric, and Kate have been learning songs on the guitar and ukulele. Tonight’s rendition was of Count on Me by Bruno Mars. Currently, we are all playing cards, making necklaces and bracelets, and relaxing.

Today’s superlatives:

Most likely to have 3 kids climbing on him: Noah

Most likely to have to do 5 pushups (and make everyone else do them too): Grace and Alani

Most likely to become famous from his one line song “Pou toujou” IN his John Lennon glasses: Jake

Most likely to be put on a leash: Kate

Most likely to get a Chaco tan:  Lauryn

Most likely to have her hair braided every day (and complain about it): Natalya

Most likely to have a deep religious talk in the top-top: Henry

Most likely to make a life long friend in Haiti: Tom

Most likely to have a gecko dropped in their mouth during cards: Nicole

Most likely to come home with a man bun: Eric

Most likely to NOSEdive because of a kid going crazy on her shoulders: Ellie

Most likely to keep her cool during a laughing contest: Sarah