Thursday, July 16, 2009

Lé vole (time flies)

I've been filling by days with kreyol lessons and conversations. Thank goodness it's coming so much easier than Spanish did!!! I finally got a hold of Jude, the translator extrodinare from my first trip here. His wife and kids are spending the summer with friends in St. Louis so he has some free time. He's been running with me each morning. We meet outside of Wings and run/walk up to the next town, Kenscroft, and back down together. It definally upped my milage and I really enjoy his company. He also took me dancing one night down at RAM in downtown PAP. WOW - The music was over the top and that man can dance! He's also started giving Sarah and I more formal Kreyol lesson after dinner. Alcindor, the cook here, has been kind enough to let me trade my skills peeling lay (garlic) for early morning conversations. So my days go something like this:
4:30 wake and do some yoga
5:00 meet Jude and run to Kenscroft
6:15 bucket shower
6:30 peel garlic and chat with Alcindor
7:30 my breakfast
8:00 play with kids (Mwen ede Josephine marche e vole ak Delmas and Dad.)
8:30 feed ti dejane to the kids
9:45 work in classrooms or help with paperwork
1:00 have my lunch
1:30 bay mange a ti moun yo (feed the kids)
2:30 teach Teddy and Lazar how to type using the IntelKey Board
4:30 read, study, rest
5:00 plis manje pou ti moun yo (more food for the kids)
6:00 hang out in the girls or boys rooms for pre-bed quiet time
6:30 my dinner
7:30 kreyol lesson with Jude
8:30 hang out with other volunteers, Alcindor, and/or the other guys who work here (I've learner how to be a really good loser at Mancala)
9:30 bed time!!!

Sorry my email and blogging have deminished. I'm definately feeling the sand in my little Haitian hourglass rushing away.

Tonight Sarah and I will go to a concert where Jude and his family group, The Union Brothers, will be singing. Tomorrow, the 4 other volunteers, me and Jude are going to start walking over the mountians to Jakmel at 5 am. The first day of the jouney to the little cabin/cottage that's about halfway there should take us about 7 hours. We'll stay Friday night there then finish the journey with another 7-8 hour hike on Saturday. The second leg is sposed to have stunning scenery. We'll have a guide for this section so that we'll get to see all of the waterfalls off of the beaten path. [Unfortunately, I was a dope again (I *knew* I should have brought a bag with a zipper closer rather than a flap) and my most valuable possesion here - my camera, now has a new owner. I hope they love it half as much as I did and really enjoy the photos that I'd taken.] We'll spend Satuday night at Trinity House, the third home in the St. Joe's family, wake for a sunrise service on Sunday and head back to Wings via tap-tap. Renee says very few people take the time to make this journey - I can't wait!

2 comments:

  1. Sounds wonderful Kelly - i have heard good things about the hike - look forward to hearing more about it!
    Peace,
    JD

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  2. It is great to hear about your adventure even if infrequent and now with no photos. If there is a way to send you a camera let me know. It really sounds like what you had hoped for.
    Henry

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