Bienvenue en Haiti!

Mardigan waiting in Miami

The water pump that I dislike right now!

Outside our bedroom

The mountains

Goats!

*We are having trouble uploading pictures and using the internet here. We will add pictures as soon as we can. I have a few good videos as well but am unable to post right now...hopefully soon.

The Trip

Traveling went much smoother than I anticipated with just a few hiccups...aka. Mad Mardigan freaking out a little but when we got on the second plane but he eventually slept on both flights and slept while we were waiting in the airport!  We were so impressed with how well he did! It was his first time flying and especially with this psychotic breed he was wonderful.  We arrived around 12:15 in Port-au-Prince.  Landing was fun; Flying along the coastline looks so Caribbean and tropical; it was beautiful looking at all of the mountains and beaches etc.  Then as we neared the airport you see the tops of endless amounts of tents everywhere.  While we were landing there was a stray dog running alongside in the grass next to the runway...

After a week-long training I constantly remember that Situational Awareness is the most important! So of course if something doesn't feel right, I don't think it is right...REMIND MEGAN - You are in Haiti.  So of course once we exit the plane - we hop on a crowded bus to take us to the terminal where baggage claim is - I had been nervous about getting our bags this entire time.  We were walking to enter the terminal and there are live musicians playing drums and guitar - it was awesome and then I see a Haitian man holding up a somewhat tattered US Embassy sign.  Jonathan immediately hands him our personal information and our paperwork for Mardigan (which turns out was a big waste of money, totally didn't need it) then he says "Follow Me" and takes us in a direction counter flow to everyone else in a corner through a sketchy looking gate. RED FLAG raised in my brain. We were the ONLY people going in that direction; everyone else was heading into the airport building.  We get into a car with a Haitian driver etc. and we ask if we can let our dog go to the bathroom quickly, not knowing if he understood or not we just get out and did it anyhow.  I'm whispering to Jonathan what the hell is going on, I thought your boss was picking us up etc...just had the heebiegeebies a little bit (meanwhile some Haitians were catcalling either myself or Mardigan - HAHA - from the other side of the fence).  Thank goodness his boss and coworkers showed up a few minutes later as my nerves were getting up there! Then we left without our six bags! Apparently someone was getting them for us...yep, little nervous about that, but we just did what we were told :)

With our nerves a little shaky, well at least mine were, they wanted to take us out to lunch.  We pull up to a restaurant, which I've learned now was on the U.N. Base, and they say "You can leave the dog in the car with the driver!" OKAY People - if ANY of you know me at all you would know that I was thinking "Hell NO! I'll sit in the car, you guys go have lunch!" Haha especially after such a long trip for Mardigan, but of course I didn't say that and ended up leaving him with the driver.  I was so worried about him all through lunch but in the end Mardy was probably better off anyhow in the air conditioned van because as soon as we stepped outside I was dripping with sweat! Whew it is hot here.  The restaurant was great!  They had a ton of food options and even a sushi bar, though I am hesitant to try, we will ask around.  I was timid about the food so I got a grilled veggie pita (choked under pressure) and Jonathan something similar; it was great though.  There was some sort of purple vegetable, not still sure what it was; definitely wasn't a potato. I will do some research.  Of course as the van pulls ups, guess who looks as if he is driving the van - Mardigan! Haha.  He was standing on top of the poor driver as he was driving, thank goodness he laughed about it...

We had been up since 1:45am so we came to our temporary housing and then Jonathan had to go into the office on the first day! So I am writing this sitting here and unpacking our only one bag that we had carried on (thanks to Mardigan counting as a carry-on).

Housing

Temporary housing is great.  We are right next to the pool, not far from the embassy, close to BelMart (an okay-for-now grocery store) and this place is IKEA'd out.  Also this is probably about the same size as the Oakwood and it is our first 2-bedrooms place so for us, it is pretty awesome. I like it because it is very beachy!  Pictures to come soon.  Mardy is exhausted and was passed out after about an hour.  I'm content because the DirectTV here beats the Oakwood (well when it is working) because we have not one but two favorite channels of mine - Cooking and Food Network.

It rains / monsoons every night around 8 or 9ish and then from then on it will rain for a while and as soon as the rain starts - the TV doesn't work. That's okay we are super tired this week. I'm sure we will have to figure something out to do with our time next week :)

Mardigan is loving the Gecko's. I can't wait until we move into our house and he can just chase the Gecko's around the yard! He has never acted like this before with squirrels, maybe because he feels bigger than the geckos haha. It is cute though, he will just sit and stare at the wall once they beat him and climb the wall, he is so confused. Nonetheless it is keeping him busy and too occupied to go to bathroom. He will get used to it.

We have a Gecko friend in our apartment, and I don't mind because he eats the bugs! We couldn't think of a name for him because we wanted it to begin with "G" and be something similar to MAD Mardigan...ideas are welcome.

Real Life In Haiti

We will have more pictures of the other side of the "wall" this weekend. We have a lot of plans to go out and about and we will be seeing our house in Juvenat this weekend :) We have heard it is really big, colorful and perfect for us! So we are excited. There are tons of people everywhere on the streets.  Tons and tons of garbage and lots of dirty water. We can't even brush our teeth with the water that comes out of the sink. So when we are driving to the Embassy and I see kids washing their hands in the run-off water, it breaks my heart.

The Tap-Tap's are very cool. They are the local public transportation and pretty much run just like any other bus in the US except totally unorganized and the stops are wherever someone puts their hand out. And they don't obey driving courtesy. Well - there really aren't any driving regulations here.  People will pass and drive head-on into another car and that is completely normal! There are also huge crater size pot-holes EVERYWHERE and tons of people on motorcycles and mopeds who just sneak by you and in between the cars and moving traffic - they HAVE to get hit all the time...I will try and take a better video than the one I have and more pictures this weekend.

I love all of the roaming animals here! Morning One we could hear roosters! There are tons of chickens, roosters, cows, goats and pigs all over the place!

Side Story - We go out to dinner at a restaurant in Canne-A-Sucre directly across from the embassy.  It was good; they bring you bug spray and we ordered in French (totally unnecessary, yet extremely fun!) and the food was surprisingly delicious. There is absolutely no sense of time, it took a while. I loved one of the appetizers - it was a potato cheesy thing with picklees(not pickles) - I will research the correct spelling of it, new fave though!! So of course, Jonathan and I are the newbies and knowing our personalities we think animals are hilarious. This one bird would NOT STOP the entire time we were eating and everyone else is conditioned to it but Jonathan and I were cracking up non stop...I had to contain myself but this bird was crazy! Also good thing we were there with people that had been here a while because I totally would have asked for a wine menu. Nope - the option here is just Red or White - take your pick...haha. A lady had a child in her hand and came up to us at the restaurant and said "My baby is sick, we need to go to the hospital, do you have any money?" Guess we just need to get used to that sort of thing...

Still trying to figure out the prices of everything - most places take US Dollars and also Haitian Gourde's.  At the grocery store things are priced in Haitian Gourde's...so when your bill comes and it is 1054.00 it isn't as drastic as you think! Haha There are 40 gourde's per dollar - you do the math.

Also appreciate your water!!! I'm finally getting arm muscles thanks to this water pump; it takes forever!

I'll try to post again this Sunday with new updates! Love you all!