It's Not Goodbye, It's See You Later

I got absolutely no sleep last night. A majority of the night was spent trying to get comfortable and making multiple trips to the bathroom. We are beginning our journey back to Iowa this afternoon, and I can't help but be excited because I just want to curl up in my own bed and be sick at home, but I'm extremely sad to be leaving Haiti. I had absolutely no appetite to eat breakfast or anything, but the cooks made me a drink that they swear by when you get sick. It was like fresh squeezed lime, salt and some other magical things because I will admit it did begin to help! It actually tasted pretty good which was an added bonus. Since 3 of us were sick, we left for the airport fairly early so that we could get there early and get us sick ones into the air conditioning to see if we could lay down and sleep there for a little while before getting on the plane. Thank god that Lynn was with us on this trip because I definitely felt better about being sick there since she was a nurse. After getting through 2 security checks, we were finally waiting in the terminal where I was able to lay down for a while and I started to feel a little better. I was able to drink cold water for the first time in a week and even kept some fruit snacks down. I took another step backwards though on the flight to Miami because it was just so rough that it was really upsetting my stomach.

In Miami we had a 3 hour layover, which goes by really fast when you have to go through immigration and customs, baggage claim and then recheck your bags in and then calling your parents to tell them everything, including worrying them by telling them you got extremely sick! In Miami though, I did get an appetite back for like the first time in 30 hours so I really supported the food industry in the Miami Airport that night. After boarding our final flight of the trip, we waited in the plane for an hour, before we were notified that due to mechanical issues, our plane was going out of service. I guess it's better to be notified while on the ground than in the air. So we all got off the plane and went through the airport to a different terminal, where we waited another 45 minutes to begin boarding our new plane. At this point, we were over 2 hours delayed which is very frustrating. We landed in Minneapolis just after 2 on Thursday morning and finally made it back to Wartburg just after 5 in the morning. It feels good to be finally back and in my bed, but I'm already missing Haiti.

While in Miami, we had to say our final goodbyes to John and Lynn, which was so sad, especially since it seemed like a day full of so many heartfelt and sad goodbyes. As much as I didn't want us to have to go our separate ways, I hope we continue to keep in touch, which I'm sure we will, and I hope we all meet in Haiti sometime again. So if you're reading this John or Lynn, I want to say thank you again for everything you've done throughout this trip and I am so glad I met you guys and I got to experience this with you guys! I will most definitely miss you guys!! :)