March 9, 2010: Arrived and the ball is rolling

We have our luggage and shows are going well.  SOS and Handicap International both seem all according to plan. Port Au Prince is the same except every fourth building is collapsed, there’s concrete everywhere and the open spaces are filled with tent camps. The level of street energy seems even higher and crazier and there are NGO folks all over the place. The kids love us.  The key to the old lady mask, after going through the learning process for the second time, is to have your young body well covered with a large shawl.  If your body is covered so they believe in the mask they go bonkers.   Amazing to do shows where the entire crowd holds their head, screams with laughter, and jumps up and down for the “sponge ball trick”. Experiences will be completely different depending on the sponsoring organization, but for anywhere we will be playing for very ragged groups of kids in hard conditions.  The second day care yesterday was 150 kids jammed, jammed under two blue tarps up for shade, crowded between sticker bushes, rubble, etc. We are staying in comfortable cots in comfy tents, water only sporadically, no showers for the first two days of shows. Headlamp and anti-bacterial hand goop a constant part of life.