Update on Ayiti

(Ayiti is 'Haiti' in creole)

Belle Histoire made it to Haiti!Notice the three guys on the bike behind us - haha.

Palm trees and Pine trees together - is this normal?

The first thing that popped into my head was this story: yesterday, en route back to Handal Vilaj we literally waiting about 20 minutes for a school bus to do a 30 -point turn. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a while. It reminded me of the 'Austin Powers' scene where he is stuck in the hallway inching forward and backward for about an hour. People were getting on and off the bus while it was moving, that is how slow it was turning around. Hilarious.  Driving here is still interesting. If someone walks out in front of the car and puts their hand out that means they are immortal and you must stop. (Well that's what they think.)

View from the Hike to Baptiste Mission/Fort Jacque

We are doing well. We are counting down the days until we move into our house in Juvenat. Juvenat will be about an 1hr (on a good day) commute. It is only about 4 miles from the Embassy but the roads are so terrible and windy it takes that long to go 4 miles.  We will probably move in the third week of June (if everything goes well). We have a fabulous yard so we have bought a handmade Cornhole game from someone who is departing! We cannot wait to move in :)

Since the last time there have been about 2 really bad floods. In temporary housing we are a quick 5 minutes drive (normally) to the Embassy. About two Fridays ago - there was a crazy rain! I was cooking dinner and Jonathan goes "OMG Babe we need to eat QUICK and go in the bedroom." We made the normal barriers out of towels and sheets to block the flooding from coming into the bedroom but it managed to come in there! I referenced that scene on the Titanic where the couple is floating on the bed (so sad, that part always made me tear up). Anyhow, we survived that night and we drive to work with a third person aaaannnnnnd boom. Stand still traffic. That simple commute took 3 hours! We left at 6:50 and arrive at the Embassy at 10:00. Jonathan wished he had eaten breakfast...haha. It was crazy. The motorbike guys here are similar to Tap-Tap's in you can just put your hand out and they will drive you around. They must have made a mint that day! The cars couldn't get anywhere but the motorcycles etc. were weaving in and out, people even got out of their cars to walk because it was faster. We got so stir crazy in the car that we thought it was hilarious watching the motorbikes drive through a few feet of water. There are so many potholes they all would fall and collapse in the crater-sized potholes and the 3 Haitians piled on the back of the bike would just laugh at themselves. The highlight of the trip was a souped out Motorbike blasting "I CAN BE YOUR HERO BABY!" That guy was a legend. Lesson learned - when it floods that bad just wait to go into work - also, learn the back roads. Since that day, we have learned a back way to and from the Embassy, but it floods occasionally as well.

Mardigan is doing well. He has five favorite friends - the legendary Royal, Casper, Kumbu, Lucky and Wall-E. They all get along and love having house parties - haha. Mardigan recently learned a new, awesome trick! We put a floating device on the edge of the pool and he will step onto it and then surf and chill out in the pool on a floaty thing. When he is done he just jumps off onto the edge of the pool. He loves it! He just thinks he is a human. Meanwhile all the other dogs are being good and laying down and relaxing in the sun. Nope - not Mardigan - he needs to do whatever we do - always! Mardigan has had quite the life here so far - we can take him to many other peoples houses to play with their dogs and we even brought him onto the UN Base. We went to a Chilean Party, where we had to speak spanish!  Anyhow - Mardigan had a blast at this party. We were dancing etc. and then one of the Chilean's brought out a robotic dog! It moved its ears and mouth and barked and everything! Mardigan proceeded to sniff the robot dog's butt. Everyone laughed.

My temporary job is going well and thank goodness for it otherwise I would be going crazy at Handal.  Last week I had my first beach shuttle scheduled and we had to cancel it! Due to Haitian Flag Day celebrations and potential delays because the government of Haiti was having a ceremony in between here and the beach. Oh well - hopefully everyone that was signed up found something fun to do! We had great weather until the rain. Jonathans job is going well too. He is happy, which is all that matters.

The bread here is gross! I don't know if J and I are just being snobs but we don't like the bread selection. You can get amazing baguettes for 50 gourdes, however, you have to eat it all THAT day or you might as well throw it out. It gets stale in a second. We bought a breadmaker on amazon! And we actually have gotten it already :) So excited! So excited to the point that I was really disappointed to find that Belmart didn't have Yeast or Bread Flour. Oh well. I will check the other bigger grocery store when we finally trek back up there. We will just have to wait.

There are a handful of great restaurants here. Some that we really like so far are Haiku, The View (which really does have an amazing view), Mozaik, Karibe Hotel, and Magdoo's.  It's pretty expensive but really the only thing to do here is to go out to eat with others so it's worth it. If you just want something simple and cheap I recommend going to the Deck! Not that any of you reading this are here - just sayin.

Here's a fun story (NOT). If you eat enough Pepto Bismol it makes your tongue black!! True story. Google it. I won't go into details of how we know this...haha. I'll let you think what you want. Just remember, we're in Haiti.

We got our UAB (unattended air baggage) and our Consumables shipment. So exciting!! Mardigan was so happy the second we set up his crate and got one of his other beds out. We got some of his dog toys out and he sniffed them and started running around like an idiot! I swear this dog, is like a puppy at heart..and he probably will be until he is 8 years old (from what I've heard from other people).

We have hired a housekeeper! Her name is Marie and she likes dogs (which is hard to find in Haiti). She is super sweet and won't live too far from where our house is! She cooks, cleans, etc. whatever! She will be so helpful and a great way to tire Mardigan out. She will also be great to practice our French with her, she only speaks a little bit of English. I'm sure I totally butchered talking to her and saying that "Notre petite chien est comme notre enfant. Il va vous suivre tout le maison pendant le jour" etc. Whatever - she understood and laughed and was happy so that is all that matters! She hasn't met Mardigan yet...dunn dunn dunn. She starts on June 4th so I will probably take off that day to get her acquainted and talk with her. We're very excited to help her and her kids. We buy their health insurance and will probably be paying for her kid to go to school. She has a 6 year old and two teenagers. Can't wait :)

Mardigan has his first confrontation with a chicken! There are a few chickens that roam on the Embassy grounds and we take him there to walk him around and tire him out. He went crazy for one of the chickens! He still continues to chase the gecko's and I was disgusted that he actually got one the other day. He was very proud of himself and I was completely grossed out.

That's it for now - we are heading to the pool for a while with Mardigan, then to Flag Football game, then to a party with Indian Food! Yum! Caribbean Tilapia Burrito's, Homemade Haitian Mango Jelly, and Cornmeal/Bean concoction coming soon! All great recipes.