Haitian Bits and Pieces

This will probably be my last or maybe one more if I can get through my pictures of Haiti until I go back again.  If my schedule works out I will try to get down there this summer but we shall see.

The kids won M&M's as rewards in some games.  For whatever reason they feel the need to let them melt in their hands and then take their fingers and dip them in the mess.  I gave them some gummies earlier in the week and a few stashed them in their pockets for later.  There is no later when it comes to snacks that dissolve when it's hot and humid.

The kids at Rotolo raised over $7,000. for a well up in St. Michel which is in the middle of the country.  Totally awesome!!!

If you can spell Prestige you win a new Toyota.  I really gave it a college try but was still a couple letter short.  There's no "T", I'm sure of it.

High End Art

I smuggled this out of the country from the airport.  I'm pretty sure I'm wanted at this point.  I drank it first though.  No "T" either.

Rhonda's tiny treasures.  I made this one big to see if anyone can find my teensy prizes

Rooftop from Chedner's looking east.

 This is like their version of London Bridge.  I was waiting for them to crash into the picnic table.
 

Here's Waldo.

A walk in the park

Example of a bank but not "the bank" we went to.

 So today we decided to go to the bank and get some cash.  When I say bank I say it in the loosest way possible.  It's basically like a shed sometimes with bars and you try to see what kind of money they have available to give you.  I took the picture of the bank below I think last year, for my dad since his name is David.  I just call him dad though.

So on the way to the bank, we looked into the schoolyard and saw at least 50 kids decked out like ninjas.  It was quite the site since I have never even seen a hint at martial arts here. They were getting ready for something.  While we were watching these future MMA stars, there was a band playing to the left.  We must have stood out or something because they started playing the Star Spangled Banner.  Seriously, they knew the song.  We were quite impressed.  We cheer and clapped after it was finished.  And then the up and coming martial artists started a little parade and they were heading towards us.  I don't know, I was thinking they are going to practice on us I bet.  They didn't they just had a big procession out of the school and headed down the street.  We cheered for them too.  I think we must have just been in a cheery mood.  Honestly, I think I was just a little dehydrated from it being in the upper 80's a little too long.  I didn't get really good pictures because I don't like taking them from my phone because I don't want to get jacked if it's flashed too long.




This band actually played the Star Spangled Banner.

Future Kung Fu Fighters

I always bring those plastic bags from home down here.  They really come in handy for everything.  I always take one with me so I can go play archeologist in the roadway.  I usually have a knife or some stick and start digging junk out of the dried up dirt.  I found a ceramic dolphin or whale or some critter that resides in the water.  I found a half a plate but I knew it wouldn't fit in my bag good so I just started beating it on the wall until I could get into little transportable pieces. This usually draws many more strange looks.  I really don't care though because I'm on a mission to find the most obscure items I possibly can.


So this is Gus.  And this is his  "Haitian Phone", really a piece of wood that really looks like a graham cracker.  I must have been hungry thinking it was food.  Anything to entertain me or them is a good thing.  Plus, he was out of data on his phone and couldn't make the call anyway.

The kids below were setting up a library with all their books.  They were very serious librarians, let me tell you.  Don't let the smiles fool you.

 Me and some of my little girlies hanging out.  See how tired I look.  I think it was because I was freezing the night before and didn't sleep.  Stanley is starting to fit in as a Haitian.

So that's it for today, more exciting news from Haiti on the way.

No gabbin' today

Prestige- this is good



Things I probably won't do in Haiti.

The start of a 20hr rainfall.

Maxo.  I love this kid!


Alvarez.  My other favorite who is a little evil like me.

I got busted by the Chef preparing my dinner.  She was putting in the secret ingredients.

Future Haitian Plumber

 Hey look, more rain.

It's not Monday but it was still a Funday

I'll just say that it really poured last night.  I tried to find three different places to write my blog but no success.  I got wet no matter where I went and mind you I had a roof over my head.  Finally I was forced to retreat to my room and it was just stuffy and too warm, but I didn't have anywhere else to go.  Seriously though, it takes a good 4-5 hours to get this stuff done.  I just don't understand it and it's enough to made a sane person lose it.  I'm not the person to actually vouch for this but I'm sure a normal person could attest to this fact.  I can't wait 20 minutes for three pictures to download and any blip of the system boots me out and I have to start again.  They should make this some sort of psychological test to get a job, because no one would have a job.  It also doesn't help writing two separate blogs and trying to get pictures off my phone and on to my laptop.  My electronics do not charge during the day because there is no power, so come evening I just go to town and wear stuff down.

As much as I don't sleep here, I have had good little bits of sleep as in like the best I've had ever down here.  I can't understand why though, I'm on a mattress that feels like a slab of concrete, noise galore but the three fans running in our room kind of help deaden the noise of people talking and kids screaming.  And for the record, Haitian people don't talk like normal people, they talk like that are having an argument and it's loud to say the least.  The kids wake up at I'm guessing 5am just like little roosters.  Typically when I'm down here I dream about bugs crawling on me and being eaten alive by mosquitoes, which in all likelihood might actually be true.  But this year, nope, only one night.  I think the fan blows the hair into my face and neck and it freaks me out and wakes me up.  I'm going to bring a hairnet next year and get those little hairs.

So today, Marg brought up Maxo to show us his progress.  He had eye surgery I think last year to correct cataracts.  He's a cute little kid with disabilities of an unknown type.  Maxo started talking.  I about flipped out.  It was the best and cutest thing ever.  The kids are so little down here as it is so they are just so lovable.  It was the best news yet.  I think I have a picture of him on my FB page from last year, but I just love him.

Today was a big meeting day for the board aka counsel at the orphanage.  They met pretty much for the whole day at the Visa Lodge.  I'm not sure where the Visa name came from but it was close to the slogan, "visa, it's what you want".  Is it five star, no, but is it doable, yes!  Jamie gave me instructions on how to get me there on a solo run.  I heard most of it except when it came time to actually execute this plan.  I think I was sleep deprived when I was getting the specifics of how this thing was to go down.  Hire a moto to three hands, get another one to visa or to the DHL building and get another one.  I couldn't remember.  I knew how to get to three hands by myself but since I have never been to the Visa lodge, I had no clue.  Everyone who was left at the orphanage by the time I wanted to leave didn't speak a lick of English.  Gabriel, who's I guess you say is a tutor here, came and I asked him because he speaks English.  I told him my plan and of course looked at me like I was nuts, which by the way, they all do.  He said he'd go find me a driver who had a driver's license and plates on his motorcycle.  I never really thought that they didn't have licenses but how stupid is that of me?  Ten minutes later, he wrangled me a young lad to drive me around.

I always crack myself up when I'm riding behind some Haitian dude.  I hug them like we got something going on.  Seriously, I do but it's mostly because I don't want to fall off because not only is it rough roads, it's driving into oncoming traffic, driving on the sidewalks, driving down the middle of the lanes.  I'm holding on for dear life, but I know I'm getting some crazy stares in the process.  Thankfully they haven't seen me go out in search of garbage aka art.  I made it safe and sound besides travelling with my roadie.  I figured I'd better drink a beer to lessen any pain if I crashed on the way.

They were very happy to welcome me to the Visa lodge.  The woman came from behind the reception area, grabbed my hand, put her arm around me and welcomed me like we have been best friends for a lifetime.  I felt obligated to get their lunch buffet since I was just there to hang out and wait until the meeting finished by the pool and drink beer.  Easiest task ever.  A six pack later, I was loopy, getting lots of sun and not caring one bit.

Finally I think they ended their meeting at 3 and then had to have a few more beers and then we had to head back home.  All in all, it was a great day.  When we got back, hung out with the kids and got abused by a few of them.  There's a few pincher's and hitters that do surprise attacks on you without warning.  I hate when that happens.

I didn't post any pictures today mostly because I can't wait 20 minutes for stuff to load and it's 10:30 at night.  Maybe tomorrow can be picture day and I'll just shut up for once.

I would like to add a disclaimer that I did not proof this post.  And for some unknown reason out of the blue, I'll be typing and it will jump to a different paragraph or sentence, so I apologize if that happens and I don't catch it.

Sunday Fun Day

Well I finally made it down to Haiti but not without a few bumps in the road.  When I went to do curbside check in I was told they couldn't process my ticket and I had to go inside.  I have got really good at packing for up to two weeks in a backpack.  I'm quite proud of my packing skills these days.  So I only intended on bringing a backpack.  I ended up buying a Rubbermaid tub and filled it with snacks, flip flops and some activity things for the kids to do.  It ended up weighing 63 pounds which I didn't find out until I hit the airport.

So anyway back to the story, one of the skycaps carted the tub to the ticket counter for me so I could learn my impending fate.  I was told that my flight was delayed and I wouldn't make my connecting flight and if I didn't make the flight either I would have to remain in Chicago or in Miami overnight.  After 30 minutes of finagling, I was able to get on a flight.  I didn't get a seat number though and was told to check in at the gate.  Needless to say, when it was all said and done I ended up walking on with the flight attendant who locked the door behind me.  I got the last seat at the last minute.  I was lucky that the woman at the ticket didn't really pay attention to my overweight bin.


Stan at Miami Airport enjoying a bloody Mary. 
Actually it wasn't that good

Made it to Miami without a hitch, a quick stop at the bar to perk me up and then met Jaime at the gate.  She came down the night before.  Of course at that point, our flight was delayed two or three times.  After we finally boarded and started taxing down the runway, we came to a stop.  The pilot told us that the tower's radar went down and we couldn't take off.  Great.  I was sitting next to a musty smelling woman.  She smelled like my basement but wearing clothes.  It made my nose run.

I already packed my jacket in the overhead bin and had a window seat, I didn't want to be a pain to my seat mates because they cranked up the air and I was freezing.  I rotated my arms in the window to keep warm.  I'm sure I looked like I was doing some sort of ritual or just a freak in general.  I was very close to cuddling with my musty friend, she was already halfway over in my seat anyway.

Stan is enjoying a peace offering ration so the
 natives wouldn't get restless waiting.

After like a hour or hour and a half we finally got underway.  We ended up arriving around 5ish instead of 2:30 like we had hoped.  Oh well, nothing we can do about it.  But we did find out Haiti now charges $10 to enter the country.  We only found out once we were herded down a special row and a new desk in place to take our money.  Honestly I don't care just as long as the money gets put to good use.    I did notice that the airport in Haiti looks like it's had some updates in the last year so that's a good thing as well.

Mind you people I just booked this trip on a whim as in now like ten days ago.  I was desperately waiting and hoping airfare would drop.  When I had been looking in the past, it was over $1000.  I do not want to pay $1000 to go to a 3rd world country that's only a couple/few hours away.  Airfare to Southeast Asia was $1500 when I had been pricing it for a summer trip.  Asia is a long way from Haiti so I can see the justification.

My sister in law Stephanie (I protect her by the way) gave me Flat Stanley to take down here.  Unfortunately, my niece decorated him a little too feminine.  Apparently, she wanted to decorate him like a girl.  I like to say he kind of looks like Pat from Saturday Night Live, sister.  You don't really don't what gender Stan (or Sally) is.  So my little side kick Stan is going to be my sidekick this week.  We'll have fun I'm sure.

We didn't really do anything overly productive today.  We spent a lot of time with the kids which was fun.  It freaks me out seeing how much they change every year.  There are a few new faces around her as well.  I'd say the highlight of the day was when I was doing some stuff at the little kids table and had one of  the kids sitting on my lap which was no problem.  It only bjjecame a problem when another kid thought there might have been 2 inches of room on my lap and proceeded to squeeze on in.  This was ok for about 30 seconds until the chair broke.  I heard a scream and I though, "Oh dear Jesus, I just crushed a kid!"  I soon realized that the scream was from laughing.  I came away mostly unscathed except I landed on a weird spot on my spine and hurt my foot.  I don't know how my foot got hurt but it's swollen on the inside.  I lucky kid who occupied most of my lap had a bouncy drop to the floor compliments of my body.  I was more embarrassed than anything and the kids were highly entertained by my misfortune.

Scene of the mishap

Lesson on China

 

One of the retired teachers down here did a awesome lesson on China to the kids.  Hopefully they remember some of it.  They were given a bowl noodles and chopsticks.  It was funny watching them look at us like we were nuts. 

My lucky lock find

My favorite daily find was a awesome lock!   I was like, score!  I got a few old cans of condensed milk I pick up off the road.  And you wonder why I'm out being Fred Sandford, it's for art projects that I do at home with all this junk.

We came back for Sunday Spaghetti night and came up to the roof to file my report.   It's going to rain soon and it's very humid.  I'm not complaining one bit though.  I'm so sick of cold weather in Illinois!!!  Tomorrow is another day...


As a side note, this posting took about 4-5 hours to complete.  It's maddening trying to get internet or things to load.