It’s time that we share some of our most amusing moments in Haiti and favorite Kreyòl phrases thus far:

He must really love you!

One night, during our home stay in Dezam, we sat on the front patio with our host parents and a 19-year old friend, Vernard, a flashlight faintly illuminating our faces from its position on the ground in the middle of our circle. We were having a ti koze (a small chat) in the cool nighttime breeze. In the conversation, Ted mentioned that he is 29 years old, and I asked the others to guess my age (not thinking that they would guess I am one year older than Ted.) I was right; Vernard started off by saying, “Well, you must be younger than Ted, so…” and I think they may have guessed 26 in the end. When I revealed my true age, Vernard’s jaw dropped; he let out a loud laugh and clapped his hands in surprise, exclaiming “Wow, he must really love you!”

Our friend Vernard, pictured on the right.

Fè Dezòd

"Fè dezòd" is an expression that means literally “to make” (fè) “disorder” (dezòd.) Children often do this: “Ti moun yo ap fè dezòd!” (Those children are making disorder!)

One friend, also in Dezam, was a 6-year-old boy named Migerson who was often engaging in the activity of “fè dezòd,” so much so that our Kreyol teacher and distant relation to little Migerson also gave him the nickname “Tet di” (hard head) – this also came about because Migerson continued to climb on the grape vine from which he had fallen one morning, bumping his head pretty badly on its roots.

Migerson

"Radyo 32"

This is one of my favorites. Over staff lunch one day, we came across a term for gossip called “teledjòl.” Ted had heard it before so inquired further about its meaning. It’s apparently not a very nice way of saying “hearsay” or to refer to unreliable news you simply “hear on the street.” A young co-worker of ours, Fania, had another great expression for it: Radyo (Radio) 32. The 32 refers to the number of teeth in our mouths, and so Radyo 32 is her way of referring to gossip - love it!

Our great Port-au-Prince ekip - team

There is a dead chicken in your yard

Last Monday morning, the woman who works at our house two times per week - Madam Amid - came to me in the kitchen and said, "You know, you have a dead chicken in your yard..." I did a double take, as I was attempting to track carefully with her Kreyol. "There's a what in our yard?" She took me out back to show me. Sure enough, along our back wall and in plain view is a chicken hanging from a string attached to its foot, dead as a door nail. I asked her, "Poukisa li la??" (Why is he there??) This made absolutely no sense to me. Madam Amid explained that it, surely being a neighbor's chicken, had attempted to fly away but its string got caught on the nails and glass bottles protruding from the dividing wall between our yards. Oops! She then commented, "I tried to take him down last week but the smell was so horrible I couldn't go near him." Again, I had to do a double take. "The chicken was here last week, and I didn't see him??" "Yes," she tells me, "he's been hanging there for about two weeks!"

In memory of the departed (note: this photo was taken by Ted this summer of a chicken
that still lives, happily settled in her home in Davis, California)

Celebrating 5 years!

Our 5th wedding anniversary was commemorated in some unexpected and unforgettable ways :) It was August 15th, and we were still living with a Haitian family in the countryside. We were not expecting fireworks for our special day!

It happened to come up during the lunch the day prior. Our host sister, Lovely, and her cousin Rose-Angele asked what we were up to the following day and we mentioned it was our anniversary. Rose-Angele jumped on the news, "Oh, and what are you planning? What are WE going to do?" She instantly started planning something, in cahoots with Lovely, that we weren't to know anything about. All that was decided, was that we would all walk to a local river basin to swim, something that Ted and I loved to do under the hot, hot Dezam sun.

Friday came, and we were instructed to stay outside of the house for about 45 minutes. They were all like schoolgirls, coming in and out of the house with unrecognizable bundles in their hands. We had some idea of what they were up to. . .we could make out some flowers and fruits passing hands from the garden to the kitchen area.

At long last, they "let us in." Amazing! Our bedrooms was adorned with flower petals. They nearly stripped their hibiscus tree to spell out "Happy Birthday Ted & Katharine" on our bed (the covers for which they changed that morning to a silky, white sheet - perhaps their family's favorite). The petals continued to the floor, where a large red heart laid at our doorstep. So cute!

In the kitchen, a beautiful bouquet and an array of delicious fruits awaited us. Grapes, mangoes, avocados, bananas, kashima, and veggies too. They cut the fruit for us, as a hearty snack on our way to the basin. 

Our friends who were behind it all - Rose Angele in center, Lovely to her right;
Tadjini to he left and Lens in front (who was really just there for the picture :)

A lovely chalkboard design by our friend Rosie.

It would be hard to top that, but we definitely had some romantic dinner plans once we got back to Port-au-Prince! :)

Quartier Latin is one of the most unique spots we've seen here in Port-au-Prince. If you come visit us, we will probably take you! While there, you feel like you're on the bayou - mystical candle lighting, and chandeliers made from wrought iron and dangling silverware. We love their Saturday night jazz band and their amazing patio atmosphere, with kerosene lamps on each table and ornaments hanging from the trees. The singer dedicated a few songs to us, and the saxophone player kept making eyes at our table (I think he wanted to see some salsa action on our part buuut that didn't quite happen; not this time!). The chocolate desserts were amazing :)

Ready for our night out to Quartier Latin.

That same week, we even got to see a London Globe Theater performance of HAMLET, as a part of their Globe-to-Globe two year tour. I happen to be obsessed with this play. (More on this later.) You never know what you will come across here in Port-au-Prince!

Finally. . .drum roll please. . .Ted comes into our bedroom on Saturday night and presents me with this. Ted has never given a "regular" card in his life, and this one took the cake. As a final treat in commemoration of our anniversary, we got to play The Game of Oswald, 5th edition.

Opening the card, you are presented with a storyboard with special highlights from our 5-year journey marked along the way (I have showcased our three "homes" together below, along with the "game pieces"). :)

Behold:

As our pieces moved along the game board, different scenarios caused us to take steps forwards and backwards. It can feel that way in life or a relationship, but the point is that we are always hand-in-hand, and that God has us in His loving care.

Happy Anniversary!

Country to city, city to country

Haiti's countryside and its capitol city feel like two worlds apart. In Dezam, the countryside lokalite (somewhat like a village) where we just completed our three week home-stay, the surroundings are lush and green. Homes sit perched atop a steep hillside leading down to a clear flowing stream. Accommodations are sparse. We lived in a simple grey cinder-block home surrounded by a garden of fruit trees and hibiscus. A latrine and bathing area sat nestled in a corner where chickens can walk by as you do your morning or evening "business." There was no running water or electricity. Our host family fetched water from the neighbors spigot for cooking and for bathing.

Now, back in Port-au-Prince, the differences in this city and country life come into sharp relief. In the MCC guest house, where we are currently staying, there is electricity all the time. I can bathe using an overhead shower nozzle. I can look in a mirror that reflects my whole face at once. This morning, we went to a Supermarket where we saw a gallon of Kirkland extra virgin olive oil (which had a price tag of $60!), soy sauce, and the Thai Bistro brand of coconut milk that I'm used to seeing at stores in the U.S. I can wear earrings here and not feel ostentatious.

But this is part of the dynamic and structure that is Haiti. Resources are centralized in the bustling, overcrowded capitol. People still live precarious existences here. Slum-like communities abound. There is a greater level of suspicion (like in any city.) In Dezam, neighbors wander into your yard at nighttime after you've gone to bed. They call out your name, wanting to chat, and will carry on a conversation with you as you lay in bed, laughing and talking until they feel like walking back home. There are always people around, but all the people are family (literally, they were all related to our host dad somehow.)

You would think that these two places exist worlds apart. Instead, they are two and a half hours apart by car. The two exist in the same country, and both are fully Haiti. This seeming contrast and divide will come up again and again as we do our work. It is a huge country, and yet a small country all at the same time.

Dezam. A flower in our lakou, or garden

Me digging into my favorite (though kind of gross looking) fruit - kashima
(or 'apple custard' in English.)

Our wonderful host parents - Sengadyen and Madame Filomen.

A busy market corner in Port-au-Prince