Sorry it has been so long!

Quick Update!

1.  Still in Haiti!

2.  Mardigan and Jonathan are doing great. We are all happy.

3.  No, we have no idea where we are heading yet. Don't bother asking. We will definitely let everyone know when we find out.  We're supposed to be done with our tour here in April.

4.  I'm on week 6 of weight lifting.  Had to throw that in for my friends that know I can barely lift 10 pounds.

5.  I started a business! Check it out and like it on Facebook.  www.balleness.com

Hope everyone is well! Now that Balléness has launched I am back and ready to post more recipes! Standby.

The Short Story of Mr. Broom

We came back from a short vacation and our housekeeper, Agnes (pictured in the bottom with Mardigan, they are inseparable) told us that she had to show us something.  She gets the broom and takes it over by Mardigans food bowl, sits down (like I am in the above photo) and sure enough, Mardigan starts snatching up his food! He usually waits and doesn't eat right away, it's super obnoxious.  She then tells me in French that she thinks Mardy is AFRAID of the broom.  I laughed and said okay, thank you, good idea! Of course, I know that he isn't AFRAID, he is being a brat and really just thinks 'Mr. Broom' is going to snatch up his kibble before him! He needs competition like that, haha. Anyhow - we have now progressed to only occasionally needed to get Mr. Broom out and setting him against the nearby wall.  These are some photos of the progression over the past few weeks...

Nearby against the wall...

On a further away wall! We're getting closer!

Just added this to show how ridiculous this dog is...

Mardy and his best friend, Agnes

Foreign Service Furniture! Yikes!

Here are some things to do with your cookie-cutter furniture! Doesn't it get old going over to someone's house and seeing the same bookcases? For people that are not in the foreign service, these are just general ideas to change it up.  Remember:  Change is good!

Lay your bookshelves on their sides to get a new piece! Great cubby holes.  I'm looking for baskets to put in the bottom ones! Will post pictures when I have those.

I covered with a long piece of burlap cloth for a little flavor. (and to cover up the bottom of the bookcases).

I'm not a fan of hutches in general.  Make yours unique with artwork instead of glasswork! :)

Yuck! That's all I have to say about this table. If I could DIY this government owned furniture I would definitely re-finish it, but I can't.

Put four together to make one larger unique table! Hide those nasty gold drawer handles on the interior of the square.

NEXT:  I'd like to use bookcases to make long benches/seats with homemade cushions on top. And add custom cubby buckets in the bottom for shoes and odds and ends.  Will work on this, but don't know if I have the space here.  Maybe next post!

Numbness

We've now been here over a year and I just wanted to update everyone. At this point last year, we were both relatively shocked with how depressing it is in Port-au-Prince.  Garbage, poverty, hungry kids, hungry dogs, goats hanging upside down on the sides of tap-taps (one of my biggest freakouts), people kicking dogs, dirt, etc. You name it, we've seen it.  It's very depressing.  And it is sad to say that time makes you 'numb' to it.  Someone who was departing post when we arrived told me "it is sad at first but after a while you don't really 'see' it."  That advice has totally come true. I don't know what I think about that but wanted to share. I guess it is just normal to us now.

On a funny note - this is what arrives on compound when you need your internet installed.

Jonathan really wants to buy one of these van/car/things locally and soop it up.  If any of you know my husband I hope you laughed at that because you know he is serious. "Come on, we would have the party van to take to anywhere!"  To my relief I don't think we can legally purchase one of those here and bring it back to the States with us - whew! And he has already researched them in the US - I don't think it is possible to find! But the guys that came were super nice and they had to climb all over the roof to install our internet, so I offered them d'leau and they were so respectful and washed their hands before touching our glasses and stuff. Which if they hadn't done that it wouldn't have even crossed my mind! So that was weird/respectful I guess.

Mardigan now rarely eats for me in the mornings and he waits for Agnes - his new best friend.  He loves her. That's all.

As most of you know, I work in the Medical Unit at the Embassy.  We do a lot of driver medical clearances and they are mostly Haitian staff.  It breaks my heart to do these exams.  Just like Americans, many Haitians either have high blood pressure, diabetes, or vision problems.  And we take a lot of things for granted, it is sad...for a lot of them they have to choose between their kids or taking medicine.  And most of them want their kids to go to school and learn English in hopes that they have a better future so they choose their children and don't take medicines. Or don't update glasses. Contacts are out of the question.  There are no optometrists here that US Embassy staff are referred to...we would have to go to Miami if there were any serious eye injury/problems. But it is very difficult/breaks my heart when we can't 'pass' someone and they are expected to get glasses. I guarantee you that buying a pair of glasses is a huge set-back and expense...and it just makes me sad.  Some of these employees that we have gotten to know a little bit are such great people and are so nice/genuine so it is sad.

No we do not not know where we are going next!  Stay safe Boston.

Hanover Snyder's Pretzels in Haiti

For all of my Pennsylvania peeps!! Somehow we got Snyder's pretzels out here in Haiti! They are obviously in a different language...hhmmmmm - any explanations how they got here because that is definitely not Haitian creole? Do my Hanover, PA relatives have any insight?

Posessed or High?

RANDOM Thoughts Blog
That is right! I asked posessed or high? My friend and I made our twice a month trip up to the grocery store, and recently we were in for a real treat! Or shall I say fright! Sitting in the normal traffic, cars bumper-to-bumper on both sides of the street, she is driving and goes "Oh My God that man is naked" and then double checks that our doors are locked. (which of course they were b/c we are super safe!) So this guy is completely naked and barefoot, walking down the middle of the street. He walks past the drivers side towards our side of traffic.  We are both giggling and we didn't look at his body but you couldn't NOT look at his eyes (yes, that was a double negative and completely necessary). HIS EYES were totally creepy! Big white eyes with small black slits. I swear he was posessed...or high/on drugs of some sort.  But posessed! Also it was 7:30AM! Like what? Who does that?

Jonathan and I have both had credit/debit card fraud within the past two months.

Yes, I started running because of the show The Walking Dead.  It is the BEST show and I want to be able to run and have the stamina needed in case something like that does happen.  I am completely serious. I recently started to do arm excercises and muscle strengthening so I can be badass like Michonne. Also completely dead serious.

Burning Corpses!
We run outside on our compound a lot. I can't imagine how many laps it will be for 13.1 miles, if right now I am running about 13 laps and that is a little over 5 miles. It is going to get boring! OH Sometimes it is so hard to breath I have to go back inside.  Little did I know that the nearby hospital burns corpses! EW! So much harder to run now if I smell anything, it really grosses me out!

NO JOKE there were peeps at the grocery store here! They had Easter stuff - so shocked!

How Mad Mardigan became MAD MAHLI

It started a long long time ago when we first got here and I let it go too long. Last June when our first housekeeper started for us she pronounced Mardy like "MAHLI." Me being too nice, I never corrected her. Then we moved into our house in Juvenat and she got all three of the guards to start calling him "MAHLI."  After I befriended the guards and was teaching them English...one night I had  some wine and finally corrected the guards, well two of them - Yvelson and Carline. The third wasn't there yet. When we moved down here to Canne-a-Sucre, our guards came as well.  The third guard, Gio still calls him MAHLI.  Our first housekeeper came here with us so she called him MAHLI to the other housekeepers and dog walkers that work here during the day.  Now we have a new housekeeper and she is great with Mardigan and he comes to her when she says "MAHLI COME."  She, by default has been conditioned by the other housekeepers and the guards, and calls him MAHLI.  He still listens to her so I'm just going to let it go. I give up! His day name can be MAD MAHLI!!

Gecko - 1, Mardigan - 0

Haiti recently hosted its CARNIVAL! No, of course, the Berryhill's did not go, but I've seen a lot of pictures. It looks fun if you are one of those types of people that would enjoy spending New Years Eve in NYC with a TON of people.  But I really enjoyed having two days off to 'celebrate' Haitian Carnival...if you want pictures you can google it!

Here is a picture of me donating blood for the first time! WHY IT TOOK ME to come to HAITI of all places to finally give blood is beyond me and somewhat an oxymoron...but enjoy seeing me nervous and worried! :)  It didn't take me long at all because I was so nervous and I'm positive my blood pressure was through the roof!

Nutcracker Performance
The Nutcracker performance was amazing.  I was extremely extremely impressed with what was possible in Haiti! Although it was very stressful and very LAST MINUTE (which is the Haitian way)...it was wonderful.  The performance was held at a PUBLIC High School in Petionville (L'ecole de Petionville). This is not one of the schools that Embassy children attend but it was a good location.  Thankfully the Director and her daughter both were very accomodating and moved the performance from the first proposed venue (which was located in a 'red zone' for US Embassy personnel).  So myself and the other Embassy students would not have been permitted to participate.  The school was located directly across from a flower market! How perfect! (and by flower market, I mean Haitians standing on the side of the street selling flowers). But they really are capable of putting together some nice bouquets - thank you Jonathan!

Day of the performance we were scheduled to do a dress rehearsal. I arrived at the school early (of course) and the stage was not even set up! There were people sweeping trash, no chairs set up or anything. I had to ask if I was in the right place. I was...I asked... "What is going on? Are we rehearsing?" and she goes "Megan, welcome to your first performance in Haiti. We're on curtain hanging duty right now and this is why my students are more experienced when they go to college than American students!" I had to agree with her, I never really had to set up a stage, hang curtains, set up chairs, paint and glue props, etc. the list goes on and on...and was all the DAY OF a performance!  Once the stage was built, the Haitian employees began cutting down part of a tree and then sawing off the basketball hoops that were in the way. (I hope they put them back up for the kids of the school).  Of course I drank a ton of tea that morning because I wanted energy for the dress rehearsal that was evidently not going to happen...There was nowhere to go to the bathroom.  We finally got someone to open the schools bathroom and geeesh! Let me just say, I got a good quad and ab workout.  I'll just let you ponder that on your own.  The school in the end was set up like a theater! With balcony seating and everything because there were classrooms on the second and third floors that overlooked the basketball areas.  Oh, this is all outside and outdoors by the way. There was no plan b, in case of rain.  We were cutting it down to the wire, and we never did get to rehearse before the first performance.  Overall it was somewhat stressful, but well worth the experience, and I was able to perform in the Nutcracker one more time!

Oh and thank you to two of our friends (who missed the performance) for decorating our house with streamers and signs!  And thank you to everyone who came to the performance and supported us/planned shuttles and carpooled etc. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

You can really see the two levels of the balcony in this picture.

Housekeeper and Driver
I have taken a break from driving up to the ballet school (because some days it would take me 2-3 hours just to get there) and that was exhausting me.  I am still teaching BalleNess at the Embassy though (my ballet fitness workout class).  I had hired a driver to take me up to ballet/grocery store and down the hill 5 times a week, and unfortunately had to let him go.  He did such a good job and was so nice and has a family of 5 children; he was great and it broke my heart to let him go, but I genuinely did not need him. Right now I am helping him to hopefully obtain employment as an Embassy Driver...please keep your fingers crossed for him, he got through ROUND 1 of applicants, so that is good!

We have also recently let our housekeeper go; another very stressful experience for me.  I'm not going to share all of the details, but needless to say we have learned a lot from this experience.  I also am very positive that the Foreign Service Institute should really teach the 'Tu' form in French, in addition to the 'Vous' form.  At the time I didn't realize how IMPORTANT that is and how serioulsy it is taken because we do not really have anything comparable in English.  To keep this story short, here is one phrase: I was too nice and friendly.

On a positive note! we have a new housekeeper and she is doing exceptionally! She interacts with Mardigan much better and definitely wants her job, because she knows what to do to make me happy.  She literally took Mardigan's entire box of toys the other day into the other living room and played with him for about 30 minutes until Mardigan was bored...haha.  Loved it - too cute.  I definitely was spying on them for a little bit - shhhh! Agnes (NOT PRONOUNCED in the old grandma way) it is pronounced AHN-KNEE-ESS, had a genuine smile on her face when she was playing with Mardigan. And she does a good job walking him and lets him know that SHE is in charge of him! Which is great! :) Very happy with her so far! It has been one week.

Random and funny: The cleaning people at the Embassy are locally employed Haitians, and they do a very good job, but man do I lose it with them sometimes! There are three guys that normally come in to clean the Health Unit (the office that I work in).  And I already am psychotic about using hand sanitizer EVERY 5 minutes because so many people are in and out of here, so when I see the cleaning people using this NASTY rag to wipe our counters and not using spray or anything I really get mad. But it is funny to think about...almost an oxymoron...these Haitians cleaning...haha. They are all very sweet though!  Ti Cout is my favorite - I do not know his real name, everyone calls him "ti cout" which in Haitian Creole means Little Man.  He calls me the little blonde girl (even though I tower over him).  I always make him laugh and I gave him a present once and he started crying! It was a hat from the Martin Luther King Jr. induction in DC...Ti Cout always loses his hats when hes on Tap-Tap's so I wanted to give him one. (Everyone has a bajillion hats that they rarely wear, if you think about it).  Sorry about that tangent, the point of that story is that every Wednesday I re-CLOROX Bleach wipe everything after they leave...

Running in Circles
I have never been able to run in my entire life! I recently started running and thanks to my friends here, I have now been able to consistenly run a 5K.  Please send any good music my way though, the scenery here gets pretty boring after the 10th lap...We run around the same loop over and over and over and over, which I loved at first! But now I am starting to get bored with it - hmm I wonder if Mardigan ever gets sick of it?....Nahhhh....Anyhow, running is going great and why not work out a lot here? There isn't a lot else to do! So that is a new fun hobby of ours!  I run very slow, Jonathan still runs faster than me but distance-wise I'm runing further than him so we are even :)  We usually run in the mornings or after work around 6/7:00 when it isn't too hot.  I know I've been here too long when I am freezing at 70 degrees! I had to put pants and a sweatshirt on the other day! Whew, brrrr! (All of you people in the snow storms, feel free to insert harsh language at me here).  After running the other day my friend goes "Megan! You have a new PR!" and me being equally excited just because said "YAY!!! Awesome!...What's a PR?"  (For anyone who doesn't know PR = Personal Record).  Mardigan enjoys running too! He usually lasts 1-2 miles and then wants to go inside and then stare at me from the window...

StareDown
Speaking of staring out the window! 16 minutes and a few seconds is how long this staring contest between Mardigan and the little gecko went on!! 16 WHOLE MINUTES, our dog sat still! (if you know Mardy, can you believe this?) and stared out the door because a gecko was staring at him inside.  Needless to say, I didn't want to see any gecko tails flopping around so I never let Mardigan outside. The Gecko Won! *Gecko's release their tails when they are scared, and the tails keep moving, ewww...gives me the heebie geebies.

Food
I think the Number 1 question while we were on vacation and seeing family and friends was "What do you guys eat there?"  Well...to answer the question, nothing very different from what we eat in the States. We definitely do not eat OUT as much, but the grocery stores here are surprisingly amazing (and from what I've heard, offer a lot more foods than other posts) because of how conveniently close we are to Miami.  I do think we have changed our fish eating to more Tilapia, as opposed to a lot of salmon and tuna. The local tilapia is great here and always available and inexpensive.  We do also eat the local shrimp! I've tampered around with the conch/lambi but go in and out of phases with that. (same with the small local lobster).  I'm definitely on an "off" phase from that after getting a rotten package of homards.  

The best thing about living here is knowing that all of the produce we buy at the market, is FRESH! Yes we have to clean it in bleach and rinse with our bottled water, and everything is REALLY small compared to what you would buy in the States but who cares if you have to use 3-4 onions instead of 1 larger onion? I know that the Haitians are not pumping the vegetables and fruit with chemicals to give them a longer shelf life!  AND the avocado's here are AMAZING! They are roughly about the size of my head, and at the market we can get them for about 20 HTG (Haitian Gourde) which is less than 50 cents.  They recently started offering a market connected to the compound where we live...it is every Saturday, which is awesome! It is local produce sold by Haitians and sponsored by USAID.  I think they make a good amount of money and they offer a lot, which is great.  There are a ton of mango trees on our compound, so recently I have learned to scavenge and gather for mangos.  I am positive that the guards are laughing at me and thinking "that blanc is crazy" but it is so worth it; they are delicious! I even made mango juice the other day! MM!  Now to order a mango pitter...that is definitely necessary. Thank you for the idea Bobby Flay.  And we are obsessed with passion fruit (called Grenadia here)! So delicious!  Very hideous on the outside, but delicious on the inside!

Note the size of it compared to my hand!

Gangnam Style
We recently did a flashmob at the Embassy to Gangnam Style choroegraphed by yours truly.  It was fun and I've heard many people say "That was great! Really boosted Embassy morale!" Go us! Good work everyone!  Once the video is compiled and launched I will send the link...I'm excited to see it.

Nightlife
Believe it or not there is some nightlife in Haiti! We just don't normally partake all that often because its a pain  to drive up to Petionville, but there is a new restaurant/bar opened called The Irish Embassy.  It is AWESOME! They are working on their service kinks etc. but besides that, the venue is just like any other Irish Pub you would go to in the States. It is really comfortable and fun! Very fun and I would love to visit that place or at least try to get up there once a month, it might help with our sanity! https://www.facebook.com/TheIrishEmbassyHaiti

Recently there have been two new hotels that opened.  One is a Best Western and thats all I know about that, it looks really nice from the outside, and the other is the Hotel Oasis.  The Royal Oasis apparently has ten little shops and nice bar/restaurant so we will need to go check that out.  I will let you know how it is!  Check out the website!  http://www.oasishaiti.com/royaloasis/index.html

Haitian Art
I'm not a huge fan of the metal work, but they did have TWO ballerinas out of nowhere at the vendors the other day!! Someone must have 'tipped' this guy off that I was at the Embassy...my loving husband surprised me with both of them for my studio someday :) 

We have been here a year!
I cannot believe it - time flies by here...we are about to hit the 1 year mark already! Craziness! Jonathan is doing great; he is very busy with work, as usual! Constantly on call and busy busy busy! It would be great if we headed to a post that was slightly LESS hectic and chaotic than this one after here...we are in the bidding process now for our next tour, so wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for a great post! :)  We will keep you updated.

Jonathan and I both won awards here at the Embassy (I mean so did like 95% of the employees) but it was still very nice and thoughtful and made us feel appreciated.  I forget the title of both of them, sorry, that was just a random thought. No details, haha.

I did want to throw in a welcome to the family Josephine Rouland! We have a new niece and cannot wait to meet her! Hopefully in August of this year!

Our first born, Miller Milfinigus, the long living beta fish has passed away. He had a good life.  I am hoping my grandmother gets a Milldawg2! (thats like an old AOL screename, HAH)  We will see...

Hope all of you readers are doing great! Let us know if you have any questions. Sometimes it is hard for me to think of things to write about because we are so accustomed to life here now...

It's official! Mardigan and Sadie have gone public! He's planning their real first date to the dog park right now!

Kidnapping = Reason for late delivery

The three of us are great. A lot has happened since I've posted on here!!  First things first! Feliz Navidad and Gangam Style were just on the radio here - LOVE IT!

No, but seriously, there is a small Domino's pizza here in Petionville...and because driving here is so ridiculous, the owner decided to put on the box "reasons for delivery delay more than 30 minutes: Traffic, Car Problems, Kidnapping, Other?" with a picture of what to me, looks like an alien spaceship (abduction?)...I don't know...but we all thought that was hilarious, yet sad at the same time. Blurry picture of the kidnapping box:

We have since moved from Juvenat to Canne-a-Sucre. For those of you who don't know, Juvenat was 45-1 hour commute both directions on a good day! and was up near Petionville, we now live directly across from the Embassy in a neighborhood-like compound. We are much happier minus the commute and we are able to walk Mardigan now too! We have also started to play tennis!  We have some really fun neighbors too and the pranking will commence soon! Definitely will post stories about said pranks...I have hired a driver/chauffer (I refuse to attempt to drive manual vehicle on the Peggyville shortcut) and go up to ballet four times a week - we are performing the Nutcracker here in December! So that will be so fun and it has really made me, a lot happier here to have that dance family to spend time with and rehearse with. :) and they really are like family to me and I know vice versa...they are moving the location of the ballet performance so that myself and another person can participate (due to security restraints). For my dance friends I'm doing party adult (and yes, I have Haitian children - haha), snowflakes (beaucoup de neige) (we don't have a snowqueen), and Dew Drop Fairy (VALSE! as they call it).  My BalleNESS (where Ballet meets fitness) class that I teach at the Embassy has been going well. I have my regulars, so tha'ts good!

Funny things recently seen in Haiti:  A bicycle pulling another bicycle with a rope (Napolean Dynamite Style), A Tap-Tap with Eminem's face painted on the back (pretty accomplished artist when you are painted onto a Tap-Tap), a Haitian Man wearing my sorority letters on his T-Shirt, a little Haitian kid wearing a t-shirt that says "I love Sushi" (because I doubt that...), Mad Mardigan gathering little baby mango's and thinking they are pieces of gold and then protecting them, Me playing tennis, Mardigan staring through the window at his new girlfriend Sadie (I will take a picture)...the creepy OWL that was staring at us at the CAS restaurant...Mr. Rouzier thinking it was Easter last weekend...and myself and Charissa fighting a constant battle with ANTS!!!!

But seriously, Mardigan is dating a dog named Sadie. She is definitely his type and they stare at eachother through our back doors; its cute.  Sadies brother is very cute too - Scipio.  Their owners are just so-so; we'll see how the next year and a half go with them living behind us (DREADING it).

...just kidding! We totally lucked out and are going to share a fence with them so the dogs can play and run around in the yard together.

I will post pictures of our house soon - I definitely have made this place very much more homey...www.wallsneedlove.com is amazing!!! I ordered some wall decals there and some online at other sites and they have really made the place that much more 'us'! 

Sad/Funny story - we had the ballet director and her family over for dinner and the Assistant Director (one of my best friends here in Haiti) she has a four year old son who has been born and raised in Haiti.  He thought that where we lived was Miami...and when they left the compound after dinner he started crying and was upset, because he didn't want to go back to Haiti. So this kid thinks that I drive from Miami to the dance studio, four times a week! So cute and sad at the same time...

Jonathan is good - very busy with work! He was recently up in Cap Haitien for quite a long time for the big visits with Hillary etc.  His phone is NONSTOP though...it will be nice to go without a phone for a while...We are both looking forward to finally going on our honeymoon and relaxing! We leave next Tuesday for three weeks. This is our quick list of stops: Miami, Denver, New Orleans, Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Baltimore! That is it!  Mardigan will be in good hands...our friend Renee is staying at our house and will be 'babysitting' the little mongrel (even though he thinks he is 'permitting her' to enter his kingdom)...and we know those dis-tasteful neighbors behind us will be there too :) so he is in responsible hands...PS. WHEN WE GET BACK we will be bidding on our next post soon!! Crazy!

Driving here still stinks! Thank goodness we moved, for my husbands sake.  It took me 2 hours to go less than 10 miles yesterday to dance, and then another hour to go home!! I lost track of time sewing shoes in the car, otherwise I would have turned around...and I turned down about 8 boulangerie guys! Do I look like I want to buy your bread??! No thank you.

K - That is all for tonight, need to go watch True Blood!!! Obsessed.  If vampires are reading this, please find me and turn me :) Thanks!  We're also into The Walking Dead so if you live at Handal Vilaj, I'd watch out - I heard it was over-run with walkers recently...Go Notre Dame!  Can't wait to see everyone in the States!  Recipes and pictures will be posted soon...

1 year later...

Our House

So we have finally moved into our house! A week after our one year of marriage anniversary – so that means our entire first year of being newlyweds we had about 8% of our belongings and we lived in temporary housing – woo! I think we can surpass anything coming our way in the future – go us. Our house is amazing! Tropical colors all over the walls – we have enough space that we don’t know what to do with (as we have only lived in small NYC apartments and the Oakwood apartments), Jonathan has his man-cave and I have a dance studio and we have a huge backyard/patio! Mardigan loves it – he thinks it is his kingdom and loves being out there chasing the rats, gecko’s and now playing with these almond pods (yes the nut) that fall from the trees.  We have a 12 foot wall surrounding just our house with a gate (we honk when we need to enter). We have guards 24/7 at our house. We take care of them and give them food and drinks etc and they are great with Mardigan! It took him two weeks to stop barking at them all the time but once he realized they were just “Charlee Bear Machines” (aka. They give him treats all the time) he has stopped barking at them! Even when they walk around every 30 minutes in our yard to check the perimeter, he doesn’t mark anymore which is great J

After all that being said, this morning Jonathan and myself showered from a bucket!! We get cistern water delivered routinely but either a)something is wrong with our pump or b)we are out of water…unfortunately I think it is option A which might take longer than just a refill, so wish us luck.  We used our Gulligan water (we get about 5, 5 gallon containers delivered once a week)…other than that our skylights leak and the stairs get covered with water (but I’ve heard from others here that their ceilings leak as well) when it rains but that’s it! Can’t complain about anything else – we are very happy about our new life in our house and to finally have some privacy, and Mad Mardigan is beyond ecstatic to have a yard for the first time ever in his life!

Gunshots

Brief story before I continue - the week we moved in there were demonstrations and protests up in and on the way to our neighborhood of Juvenat.  There is an IDP Camp (tent city) very close to where we live and something happened with the government that they were going to have to evacuate for whatever reason so the people went on a week-long protest with burning tires and throwing rocks etc. That same week (our third night at our house) I sat up in bed and hit Jonathan and go “Those were gunshots!” A house very close to us had an attempted break-in and there were four gunshots. A little scary.

Driving Update

Driving has not changed here - Still the same. The Tap-Tap’s and other Haitian drivers don’t understand the concept of merging and using mirrors or checking before you pull out into traffic so an SUV continued to merge into us while we were driving. Huge mark on the car. Driver sat there and hid until they thought we drove away but unfortunate for them, my husband pulled over into Belvil Entrance (for anyone who is here/knows) and we waited for them to drive by, pulled out behind them, and got their information. Now – in Haiti, there isn’t much that they will do about this, but it is good that Jonathan reported the incident for our purposes and also if this guy is ever caught again, because the time limit ended and he never reported it he will receive a ticket.

Lovely incident at a local gas station (we get our gas at the Embassy) but Jonathan’s colleague decided to get gas at the gas station convenient for our errand running in lieu of driving an extra hour just for gas…good decision until the confrontation! So about 40 gourdes = 1 US Dollar. I don’t remember what the issue was exactly but the gas pump guy tried to only give us about ½ of what we had paid for…then the security guard with the huge gun has to come discuss and it just turned into a big deal.  Meanwhile, the driver is out of the car – we are at a pretty populated intersection (the other day I called it the Metro Center stop for Tap-Tap’s and Motorcyles)…anyhow, stressful situation but we ended up with the rest of our gas!

Housekeeper

Our housekeeper, Marie, is amazing. She does everything for us and is sweet as can be! She loves Mardy too, which is tres importante.  Marie has a six year old daughter and considers herself the ‘Mom” of her sisters’ kids as well – her sister, Roseline, has two teenagers. I helped find Roseline a full-time housekeeping job so now they have double their income a month! Another unique story – as Americans there are many things that we view as trash and garbage that are useable and great finds for Haitians.  While we were unpacking it was not only Christmas for me and Jonathan, but also our housekeeper Marie. We gave her clothes, a small window air-conditioner, picture frames, containers…anything that was something we didn’t want or use anymore, she took it. She even takes things that I literally put in the garbage…it’s sad but it’s just a difference in our life and culture. I don't know if she keeps certain things or sells them but I don't care if they are benefiting her life...Now I know when I have empty Ziploc plastic baggies and empty sauce, oil bottles to leave them out of the trash. She is such a nice lady.

One of our guards Karline speaks little/very good English, Creole and French.  Karline is Mardigans favorite after Marie...he loves her, haha.  Marie and Karline call Mardy - "MARLY" instead of the D they say L - i dont care because he still somewhat listens to them.  I want to practice my French and maybe start Creole so after work on Wednesdays I am going to go out to the guard shed and practice with her. Wish us luck! She also has a little daughter and it is the splitting image of her, too cute! Maybe Mardy will start to be bi or tri-lingual!

Food

New obsession is Conch! Or as they call it here – Lambi! I absolutely love it…and I am going to attempt to make it/grill it at home so I will have a recipe coming soon for anyone in any Caribbean Islands or coasts and able to get Lambi…But another happy thing is that we started to buy the local seafood and don’t get sick from it. Very excited as it is about ¼ of price of the imported seafood, and just as good! Food hasn’t been too much of a problem. Fruit here is phenomenal and Marie makes us Creole dishes sometimes for dinner and it is delicious!!! She also makes us fresh squeezed juice all the time, she will rotate between Orange Juice, Passion Fruit Juice and some sort of fruit I don’t know…she also buys vegetables we’ve never heard of and cooks them for us - they are all good. One in particular is called Mirliton – very good! To me it’s a cross between a potato and an onion – sweeter and looks like an avocado, but I guess it’s like a pear squash/vegetable pear. Speaking of avocado’s – we have a steady supply of them and they are delicious here. Marie keeps us stocked up on all fruits and veggies so we never run out! J Love it! And it is usually only about 10-12 dollars a week.

I’ll end with Go Team Edward! (for any of my friends reading) – I know this is 5 years too late…If you got to the end of this I will add pictures later...

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.

Le deuxieme semaine

First let me just say that Haiti is nothing short of what I expected. Many people are asking me if it is a shock or cultural surprise and I say "no." I know we all hated Area Studies (if any of our fellow classmates/employees that are heading here in a few months are reading) but it was helpful.  It is a beautiful country but very sad and dirty. Regardless, we are here and appreciating and embracing the few pro's of the country...

For any of you who know my arm strength or should I say my arm limitations, this water pump is doing wonders for me! This should be on an infomercial for toned arms!

Food

Cooking at the moment is very difficult.  There aren't a lot of fresh herbs or food for that matter.  No, we do not shop at local markets because they are: 1. slightly dangerous and 2. not the most sanitary.  There is a decent grocery store in Petionville called the Caribbean Market.  I was dumbfounded when we went inside; it is like a normal grocery store in the US! They even have my favorite brand of Greek Yogurt and wonton wrappers (which were hard to find in the US!) however, it is really iffy what quality of food you get.  There are even Costco brand items but we can't buy everything we want...we learned this the hard way with some cheese (thankfully we didn't get sick from it) but you can tell when something appears to be frozen/unfrozen etc.  I looked at frozen shrimp and they were extremely freezer burnt and frozen pizza looks like it has been tossed around a lot...If there is an item you really want you have to just take a chance and then when you open it at home smell it and look at it...I guess we can't be picky but we also do not want to get sick.  Most of the food is imported from the US and some is driven from Santo Domingo, DR...but it sits in customs for a very long time...we are talking weeks.  Also the cost of groceries here is insane!  A bag of 21-30 frozen shrimp that looked sketchy were 50 US Dollars...nonetheless I was surprised at the variety of products at the store.  Items like beans, cornmeal, rice etc. are very prevalent and okay to buy because we cook them thoroughly.  So keep an eye out for a super delicious and super wallet friendly recipe that I made...also...I have to light the stove every time with a match AND it doesn't work when it is raining b/c there is a draft!   I'm scared of the oven...no baked recipes for a while...don't want to tamper with that.

We use the water from the water pump to brush our teeth and to cook with...we keep a Dasani bottle at the sink so we don't forget (we are still turning the faucet on out of habit).  We can cook with the faucet water but only if you boil it...I'd rather air on the side of caution and use the water pump.  All vegetables and fruit here you must remove the outer layer, boil, or wash it in bleach (which I find to be comparable to the nasty sanitation here)...so I remove the peels and anything sketchy looking.  The mango's and avocado's here are phenomenal!!! Best mango's we've ever had! I'm currently experimenting with the most efficient/least messy way to butcher a mango...let me know if you have any pointers.  The avocado's are the huge big green ones...not the little ones we find frequently in the US.  It is definitely more difficult for us non-meat eaters here, however there are a handful of nice restaurants that serve seafood.  And....drum roll please!!! There is a sushi restaurant that flies fresh fish in from Ft. Lauderdale and we didn't get sick from it!!  It is on the UN base, so relatively safe as well!  Everyone keeps telling us we will get food poisoning a handful of times...even from food at the Embassy...it all has to do with food preparation and thankfully we have both been okay so far!  I miss salads mostly because lettuce and spinach are the hardest to clean and prepare.  It is so funny to me that in the United States I avoided packaged food and we tried to buy local produce...and now it is a complete 180!...it is safer to buy packaged foods and to not buy locally! So bizarre...

Tap-Tap from behind

Driving

Driving here is absolutely insane.  The roads are so little with huge potholes everywhere.  There is a reason I haven't seen a single CAR here...you definitely need a 4-wheel drive.  And I may need some packages including Dramamine folks, WHEW!  It takes roughly 30 minutes to go 3 miles..and that is being generous.  We were placed in housing very far away (once we move out of temporary housing)...about an hour or more commute both ways...and there is a shortcut.  The shortcut is crazy.  I have never been off-roading but it seems pretty similar.  The culture here is just so laid-back...if someone has a flat tire they will stop in the middle of the road and fix it...nobody cares (except Americans). They don't think to put it in 'neutral' and push it to the side...They will put up a "haitian roadflare" which is a pile of weeds propped up with rocks to warn people...and then the cars will just drive in the opposite lane or on the shoulder (not that there is a lane or a shoulder, just trying to explain to you all)...There is no point in yelling at the Haitians ridiculous driving and lack of thought because you won't change them! This is all they know and it is a waste of your anger and ultimately you will end up the only disgruntled person.  Road rage is inevitable here but it is better to just remain calm and accept the fact that it will take you forever to get anywhere.  C'est la vie ici!

We visited a few places last weekend (refer to my pictures on Facebook).  One was the Karibe Hotel that is very close to our permanent house.  It was awesome!   It is a complete reality check when you are at these hotels and restaurants and then the second you leave you need to be 110% aware of your surroundings and people in the street.  We then went to the Montana which has phenomenal views.  From there we went to a Lebanese restaurant called Magdoo's.  We didn't eat much there but the atmosphere is great!  Parking was interesting...When you park your car kids run over and say "I watch your car" and then you must pay them.  These kids started fighting with each other about what spot was who's etc...We just moved spots.  Then you have to give them a little tip before you go in the restaurant and a tip afterwards for them to watch/for watching your vehicle.  Little weird but we will get accustomed.  You have to tip evvvvveryone here.  They are all super money hungry and I understand why but...just something else we need to get used to.  The other day we walked out (within the temporary compound) and some random worker here was washing our vehicle...We didn't ask him to do it and we weren't going to start that trend to turn into an everyday thing so we just got in the car and went on our way without tipping.   Reminder that we lived in NYC for two years and I saw my fair share of men peeing on the streets but omg! Never have I seen sooooo many people openly going to the bathroom.  Another thing we need to get used to is people swarming the car and coming up to the windows to sell us things...

Temporary Housing

Some of you might have seen my pictures about how our apartment floods. Haha! Oh well, we will have to deal.  Also skype doesn't work in the rain - just an FYI.  Temporary housing isn't too bad besides the flooding and caged animal feeling you get - haha.  I can't complain...there is a pool and housekeeping services and it is sad that I'm complaining about having a cleaning lady but she comes EVERYDAY! And okay, if it is so that she has a job, unlike 80% of the population of Haitians that are unemployed, that is wonderful and I support her, but she literally comes a few times periodically throughout the day.  First she comes to do the dishes, grabs our sheets and towels and leaves.  She goes to wash and dry the sheets and towels and then she comes again an hour later to put the dishes away, make the bed, hang the towels, clean the bathroom, mops the floor and dusts.  It is ridiculous.  In the long run I don't mind because it is supporting her and her family and I get to practice my French with her a little bit so that is fun!

So after about a year of having Mardigan he finally has learned to "Drop it!" and we can successfully play fetch.  He also has been nothing short of his usual self and SUPER PICKY about where to go to the bathroom.  In NYC and DC he would pee on evvveryyyythingg, every tree, every building corner, every telephone pole etc but here! Ohhh no, he holds it in until he finds the perfect coconut tree and then we stand there for about 3 minutes as he gets it all out in on spot - Haha.  He is still loving the Gecko's...some of you might have seen this on Facebook but for those of you who have not...Geckos release their tails when they feel threatened.  The tail continues to move and is aware of a predator; it continues to evade predators....DISGUSTING!  Jonathan emailed me with "Babe it is just a tail, step on it!" Haha. Thank you Mardigan for my first encounter with a Gecko Tail.

I cannot wait to move into our house!  We heard it is pretty big and that Mardigan will have a nice yard with a patio!  Our house will have three security guards that rotate 8 hour shifts.  And good thing for us (you all know Mardigan is an escape artist and he runs so fast it is impossible to catch him), there is currently a Jack Russel at the house who is also an escape artist and the guards right now are conditioned to picking him up every time they open the gate to let the owners/visitors cars into the house compound. Hopefully we will have the same guards. Regardless I will be telling them about him and his escaping anyhow.  We are interviewing a potential housekeeper/tire Mardigan out lady tomorrow.  I have not met anyone here who doesn't have a housekeeper here; some people even have live-ins. It is almost rude to not hire someone ; it is a great job for them. 

Jonathan is enjoying work so far and his office has some great people in it so it is a good atmosphere.  It has taken a while for IT to set up his computer accounts etc.  That is all I can think of for now...there hasn't been any progression on the job hunt for me as a lot of people are rotating our in July...keep your fingers crossed! I am working in a temporary position for a few weeks but it wont be my permanent job here...

Please comment with any remarks or unanswered questions!

Ps.  Got a local cell phone today (for emergency purposes only) and it was 20 US dollars including the minutes.  The company is Voila! and the store was in a trailer guarded by a man with a shotgun (as are most stores here).

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!