Thursday, January 14, 2010

Haiti

I don't know what are the contributing factors are, but this devastating earthquake in Haiti makes me very sad, beyond what I can say. My touches of Haiti are few and very far between. But it's been such a poor desolate place for so long, that this additional damage seems hard to take.

I don't know anyone personally who lives or works there at the moment. I just know that if you were to look at the island of Hispaniola from Google Earth, you would see the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic is half naked, all vegetation is gone. Now, as if to rub salt in a horrible wound, a shattering earthquake demolishes so much of what is left.

The problem of what to do there was already hard, and would feel like a drip in a leaky bucket. Now it's far worse. All I can do from here is pray.

There is plenty we can do, some are listed at the DG blog.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Evacuation for Renovation

On December 29 the landlord decided to pop in for a look at the damages. In a matter of minutes he decided to paint the entire apartment and refinish all the wood floors, starting the next morning! The contractor promised to be done by Sunday night, January 3. Even in the best of circumstances, I knew that wouldn’t happen. So I packed for a week.

I’m still not back in and being a “refugee” is getting old. I have made periodic stops at the flat to see how it’s going. It’s a bit of a shoddy job, but I shouldn’t expect anything different. It’s a little sad to look at the newly finished floors and see paint drips and smudges that have three coats of clear vanish over them. Also sad to hear the contractor admit the floors are still wet under the parquet and so some of the wood will likely come loose. He’ll fix it later after it’s all dry!

God willing, I can move in tonight, more fully. I am so thankful for dear friends to stay with while I am out of my place. And here’s to hoping for no more floods.

Next job, finding someone who cleans carpets. (Well, that is not counting work stuff.)