New Things

           Every time I come here, I want to try new things so that I can feel more comfortable in my surroundings and become more independent.  Today's "new thing" was going to the Xerox place to print the therapy schedule and the therapy charts for the kids.  Doing these things forces me to use my language skills and teaches me how things work in Haiti.
          I was able to get the stuff printed without a problem.  It's watching how the system works that fascinates me.  Americans are all about self-service.  We have it at our gas stations, ATMs, and even in the grocery stores now.  So little in Haiti, though, is self-serve.  To get my stuff printed, I entered a small room and waited along with about 15 other people.  There was no real line, but everyone seemed to know in what order to go in.  As one person finished with a computer guy, someone would take the customer's place and then we would all shift seats.  It became apparent that the closer you moved to the front of the sitting area, the sooner it would be your turn, but even then there wasn't a distinct order like if you're in this line of chairs you go to this computer guy, and if you're sitting in this line you go to the other computer guy.  I've noticed that Haitians seem to struggle with lines.  I've seen it in the airport, on the streets, everywhere.
           Back to the self-serve concept.  In the States, if I wanted to print something at Office Max or make copies there, I could just go in and do it myself.  No need to have an employee do it for me.  But, in Haiti that's not possible.  I go in, wait my turn, sit at a computer guy's desk, and I tell him what I want to print.  He then prints it and gets it from the printer.  I then take my receipt and go back out into the hallway to pay the cashier.  She marks the receipt "paid," and I take it back to the computer guy to prove that I paid, and he gives me my papers.  He then stamps the receipt again.  Another thing I've learned is that Haitians love their stamps!  Everything gets stamped multiple times by multiple people.
          This system is incredibly inefficient, so I wonder why it still exists.  It must serve some purpose.  Over the years here, I've come to the conclusion that it exists so that more people have a job, which means that more people have an income, which means that more people have money to spend to stimulate the economy.  In the American model, this same work would be accomplished by one person instead of four.  But, then you have three more unemployed people.
          Yet, I see bits of hypocrisy in myself.  I point out the inefficiencies of the Haitian system because it "inconveniences" me, but in the States I intentionally choose a checkout line in the grocery store with a cashier because I feel that the self-checkout lines have taken away jobs from American workers.  Every time I use a cashier, I believe I'm showing the store that I value that employee and see a need for that person to be working at the store.  So why do I criticize the Haitian way when it's what I choose in an American grocery store?  I don't know.  I'm gonna have to think about that.

Tomorrow's New Thing 
          Abby and I are taking the pre-school kids to the beach tomorrow, and I get to drive the white truck there!  Gertrude gave me permission to drive--yea--but she does want to send a driver with us in case of . . . something.  While I know that I am capable of driving the truck to the beach, I am glad that we will have a driver with us in case the police question me at the check points, or I have to buy gas or something.  Wish me luck!