Oh, how I love these girls!

These four girls are in Seconde. (That means they are in 11th grade, but they have two years of high school left because Haiti has a 13 grade education system. Nothing is ever simple in Haiti, but I digress.) They're also in my after school computer class, so I've gotten to know them pretty well. However, in the beginning I could not get them to talk to me. They didn't attempt to talk to me in English, so if they needed something they would get one of the boys to translate for them. I was really sad that they wouldn't talk to me for the first couple months. But now it's a different story. 

For all of February and most of March they teased me saying they were coming to my house after school. They have an obsession with the food that I eat. The constantly ask me what I will make for dinner after I get home. Often it's a sandwich, and they think that's funny.  I've yet to figure out why.

One day a few weeks ago these girls asked me if I would take their picture. I didn't have my camera so I told them I would do it tomorrow. Well "tomorrow" turned out to be a no uniform day at school, for what reason I have no idea. Anyway, they chose special clothes for these pictures. I thought we were just going to take one group photo, but I quickly learned it was a photo shoot! First I took their individual pictures. Then a group photo. THEN they wanted to change shirts and take more individual pictures. I said, "Are you kidding me?!?" To which they said, "What does that mean?" 

 Ameline has an easy smile, is down to earth, and makes me laugh. While she's friends with the other girls, she is a bit more independent and doesn't feel the need to do everything with them. She also probably has the best English vocabulary of the four girls.

 Romanie is persistent, attempts to speak in English more than the other girls, and also speaks slowly for me in Creole. I appreciate that a lot!

Ogimene is the ring leader of this group. She's curious about everything, gets excited easily, tries to talk to me in English but often switches to Creole because it's easier, and she is a whiner when she doesn't want to do something.

 Tania is a punk, plain and simple. The girl has attitude, but it's generally not directed toward me. She has no problem telling others what to do, and she especially likes to boss the boys around. She also very rarely even attempts to speak English. She'd rather get someone else to do it for her.

Eventually we took this final picture where they look so happy to be alive. But don't let them fool you, they are definitely giggly teenage girls. It's just that Haitians don't smile for pictures.