Tuesday, Feb. 23

ok, last night, small freakout, a little earth shaking movement, and an episode that turned into one of the most hilarious of the trip so far. We woke up to something around 1:30 am, some movement, some noise, everyone was awake. An aftershock that apparently rocked the grounds here a bit. I didn't feel it but was awake. We settle back down, almost asleep and no joke, five minutes later I feel the floor drop... more movement. In that split second I see everyone sprint for the door as if they were sitting there just waiting for the gun to go off signally the beginning of a race. Lisa, our friend from Portland, sprinted to the door unbelievably quick. The next thing I know I smack the floor, slipping around on the tile, and Sara right ahead of me biffed it at the same time. She tried to run but forgot she was still in her sleeping bag! (we actually can't stop belly laughing about our gracefulness in the light of this potential disaster that proved to be quite benign). Once we were outside, the hilarity of the situation came out. All of us a little shaky, the reality of what had happened here a month ago still fresh, feeling the knots already forming on our knees... but then thought back to the image of Sara and I slipping and sliding on the floor still stuck in our sleeping bags and could not stop laughing. We spent the rest of the night sleeping under the stars and and can say we may understand why so many Haitians will not go back to live under their own roofs. We've since been able to move our beds into one of the big army tents on our compound. Did I mention AC? Thank you all you tax payers.