Recent highlights and lowlights*

Note: activities are not listed in order of importance or level of enjoyment.

Ben:
- Filming Lisa Simpson in the Central Plateau. I'm not making this up. Lisa Simpson's voice is a donor for the Grameen Foundation. Last week she and GF president and CEO visited Fonkoze clients in Boukan Kare. Ben (along with fellow MCCer Josh) is working on a short documentary film of their trip for fundraising purposes.
- Watching the biodynamic garden he planted behind the MCC office become a biodynamic JUNGLE. Beware of the unrestrained pumpkin vine.
- Broken boots and chacos in the SAME WEEK. He's practically barefoot now. Dad, send ShoeGOO.
- Being the proud new owner of a Trek road bike from the 1980's, purchased on the street in Saint Mark. Also, getting bicycle tires and parts from home last week (Thanks T and A!)

Lexi:
- A bout of something that seemed an awful lot like giardia
- Gorgeous albeit rainy weekend backpacking trip to Seguin. I'll post photos as soon as I can retrieve them from the depths of my husband's photo archive. Anyone who has ever asked Ben for a photo knows what I'm talking about...
- Transitioning into a new job! By August I will be the policy analyst and advocacy worker for MCC Haiti. I'm very excited.**
- Watching my sunflowers and nasturtiums bloom.
- An amazing package from our moms and Karen: tea! trail mix! lavender Dr. Bronner's soap, rice paper, funnies clipped from the Charlotte Observer and more!
- Taking T and Ben with me to yoga. This, thankfully, turned out to be a highlight
- Re-experiencing the beauty and challenges of Haiti through the eyes of our visitors

T and A (Ben's brother and nephew aka our current month-long house-guests):
- Sleeping on our floor and washing our dishes (despite our disdain for food-for-work programs, this is working out quite nicely)
- Actually not sleeping on our floor, but in a hammock under the stars on our lovely porch (T)
- In the middle of the night: Barking dogs and the church across the valley with the insanely loud sound system (lowlight, not highlight.) As a matter of fact, said church is producing some eardrum popping sound as I write this at 11:15 PM.
- Helping to vaccinate 300 goats in Boukan Kare and practicing Kreyol with the CLM case managers
- The incredible mountainous view from our hike to Seguin
- Playing ping-pong (A)
- Sorting TB samples at the Gheskio Clinic for two days (T)



* inspired by my sister's "things we love about our new ap't" blogpost. If you're ever bored reading our blog, skip on over to hers. It's much funnier.


** more on my new job coming soon.