Still not in Haiti, though I should be.

I knew everything was going to smooth, I knew it!!!  I arrived at my gate in Fort Lauderdale, no problem.  Everyone at this gate was either a Haitian returning home or a relief worker or group.  I am still alone at this point, don't know a soul.  We board the plane on time and proceed to sit on the tar mac for an hour and a half due to a maintenance issue.  Then they announced the flight was canceled.  I was near the back of the plane and when we disembarked, I was in the back of a mile long line at the counter to attempt to re-route.  There were two people trying to re-route 200 people.  I knew this would take an eternity.  So I bought a beer and scanned my environment for other options.  I saw a group of people move away and I quickly followed, they had opened another gate counter to re-route people.  Yay!  I got near the front of that line and I believe I received the last seat left on the flights leaving on Sunday.  I believe they then started re-routing people on flights scheduled a full 2 days later!  I was very fortunate.  They set me up in a very nice Hyatt and gave me free food.  I am not complaining, this was fantastic treatment, but I do feel guilty because I should not be sleeping in a/c tonight. 

I was one of the first to arrive at my shuttle station to take me to the hotel.  I engaged in conversation with the 2 other people who were waiting for the shuttle.  They were both Haitians returning home.  The one girl was very Americanized and had lived in various parts of the US.  She had even lived in PA for a while!  Anyone know of Mooresville, PA?  Guess it's on the eastern side of the state.  I have no idea.  We talked about her first experience with winter in the Northeast.  The gentleman spoke very broken English and I struggled with his accent.  I, of course, do not speak a lick of Haitian Creole, or even French.  Madame Holt would not be happy to hear that given I took 3 years of French from her in high school.  I should have cared and paid attention to her!  This gentleman, named Ricky, had an exuberant personality.  He smiled alot and just gave off such a positive vibe.  He has three children and had been a musician in Haiti.  He lifted his right pant leg for us to see that he had a prosthetic leg.  He was a victim of the earthquake.  He did not only lose his right leg below the knee that day, he also lost his wife who died on that leg.  Ricky is moving on, he is still recovering, I can see he still has difficulty maneuvering with his prosthesis, but he is doing very well!  He was featured on CNN,  I think you can Google him, I haven't had the chance to yet.  His last name is Juste, so see if you can find him.  His children are staying somewhere in Florida as well for now until he gets well, I didn't have time to learn more about them.  Ricky had such a tremendous spirit, and I know that he will overcome all he has been through. . .

Hopefully, my following stories will actually be from Haiti!  Pray that I make it there on Sunday!!!