What a great day!

Today was an all around great day. There wasn't anything that made today oustandingly fantastic, but all the little pieces of goodness add up to one satisfying day! First, I ate breakfast with my new Canadian friends. The guys have really made me feel like a part of their team. I really appreciate how they've included me and loved me this week. After breakfast, they took me up the mountain to school. I was able to witness the meeting of sponsors and their sponsored children. A couple of the Canadians sponsor some preschool children, so the kids were pulled out of class and given some gifts. The first two kids did a great job. They were a little curious about the tall white guy who was talking to them in a foreign language, but they let us take some pictures of them on Helmut's lap. However, Frank ended up traumatizing his kids. The first girl was close to tears as she sat on his lap and the other girl started crying before she even got near him. She wanted nothing to do with the goofy white guy!

After the traumatizing of preschool children was over, I went to 7th grade to watch the Haitian English teacher. He was reviewing mass nouns and counted nouns. It was very, very boring, but it helped me know what to practice with the kids during my hour with them later in the day. I was planning to follow Mr. Gary to 12th grade to see what he would teach the older kids, but I needed a break. Instead of going to 12th grade, I headed up to my computer room to get organized and maybe do some cleaning. My Creole tutor came shortly after I arrived. I taught him to play Jenga because he heard that the kids liked it. I really wanted to win Jenga because it's an American game and I was the one teaching someone else, but the weirdest thing happened! We took out every possible Jenga piece, but the tower was still standing. That has never happened to me before. It was so strange I took a picture of the tower at the end of the game.

After the Jenga game I decided I should probably go watch the end of Mr. Gary's 12th grade class. I am sooooooo glad I didn't sit in on the entire hour. He was teaching them that the third person singular (he, she, it) version of verbs ending in o, sh, ss, x, and ch need an "es" instead of just an "s." I was there for only 15 minutes and I wanted to go to sleep! And the students didn't seem to be learning anything new. Some of them even stopped the lesson to ask me about goosebumps. It was really funny trying to figure out what "chicken flesh" was (that's the literal translation of what they say in Creole).

Oh, this is becoming a long post. I suppose if it's too long, you'll just stop reading. Anyway, last week my grade 7 class was horrible. They talked while I was talking, they wouldn't listen, and they didn't even try to understand me. Today some of the girls were kind of snotty at the beginning, but they shaped up eventually. I had an activity where they were able to get out of their seats and they seemed to enjoy it.

After I finished teaching, I had a Creole lesson. I learned some words for family relationships, and then Arold taught me some songs. I really like learning the songs we sing in church. I'm getting pretty good at the chorus to "I Surrender All" in French, and I hope to add some others to my repertoire soon. Today I was introduced to "Nothing But the Blood" in Creole, but I left my paper at school. I won't be able to practice until tomorrow.

After school was out, I had my computer class. I really enjoy this group of students, probably because it's 15 of the best English speakers in the school. The kids are smart, and they really try hard to understand me. More of them have also been walking with me after class, which I like because it gives me an opportunity to get to know them. The girls typically take off right after class is over and walk so fast I can't keep up. Today, however, I walked with them instead of the boys. Actually, it was kind of nice to walk with them because they are a lot quieter than the boys. The girls aren't as comfortable with English, but they tried to talk to me a little.

Plus, the walk from school to the guest house took me exactly 30 minutes, which is a personal best. I am pretty proud of myself!

After school, Willem harassed me about all the boys asking for my phone number. A couple of my students have asked me for number recently, and one even admitted to some other kids (that came and told me) that he has a crush on me. Isn't that fantastic? (I hope you caught the sarcasm in that!!) To finish out the night I ate a final meal with my Canadian friends and then said goodbye. They all gave me hugs and wished me well. :) Now, I have some time to clean my little apartment and maybe study some Creole before I head off to bed.

It really has been a wonderful day.

My Boyfriend

I've known for a while that this particular guy really likes me.

He finds ways to be near me--it's quite endearing! He's very helpful and frequently volunteers to carry things for me. He sings songs to me, and holds my hand whenever I will let him.

Today he made it pretty clear that he wants me all to himself: he told one of my students, in no uncertain terms, that he was not to talk to me anymore. Homeboy is jealous!

Isn't he cute?

Just for the record, this little guy is NOT my boyfriend. He just wishes he was. He's one of the little guys at Laboule Children's Home, and for whatever reason he has latched on to me. He's also the one who sang at church a couple weeks ago. You can even watch the video.

After School Class

I have a computer class after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. It is my favorite class to teach because it is small and the students all speak enough English that I can communicate with them. It doesn't hurt that it's a more laid back atmosphere and we joke around quite often. The boys are talkative and always have questions. The girls are still a bit shy, but they are attempting to speak with me more and more. There are only 7 working computers right now, so the students work on the computers in pairs. Today I split them into two groups, so they could work independently on the computer. While one group worked on the computer, I taught the other group how to play Jenga. They loved it! You can view pictures on my Facebook album.

Senior Citizens

In the past two months I’ve been surprised by how many older people have come on the various teams. And by older, I mean over 60 years old. Both the medical teams that have come have included 2 or 3 seniors. I am impressed by their courage to leave the comforts of home for the rough terrain of Haiti!

Currently, there’s a four man construction team here from Canada this week. Three of the guys, all over 60, have been here numerous times. The other guy is in his 40’s, and is a race car driver. I’m still trying to figure out how he got connected with these other guys. Anyway, they are a really fun group of guys, and they’ve included me in their joking around. They even babied me yesterday when I wasn’t feeling so well (just a sore throat).

In addition to the construction team, we also have an older couple (both are right around 70 years old) from Northeastern Indiana here. They were supposed to arrive on Wednesday, but due to some passport issues and the hurricane they were delayed. They finally arrived on Saturday morning. I met them this summer at the MTM banquet, so it was nice to see some familiar faces. Plus, John is baking 36 loaves of zucchini bread and 55 dozen cookies while he’s here. He’s definitely in the running to become my new BFF!!

Being in Haiti has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of different people, and the senior citizens (I say that lovingly) have been some of the most inspiring new friends I’ve made.

Only God Knows

Every team that comes in is curious about my role here at MTM. They want to know what I do and where I live. When they find out I’m teaching English, they want to know how I get to school each morning (I walk or catch a ride with the teams that are here), if I’m learning Creole (I have a really good tutor and many others willing to help me practice), and how teaching here is different than teaching in the States (that’s a whole other blog post!). Inevitably, they also ask me how long I’m staying in Haiti. If Willem is around he tells them I am going to marry a Haitian man and stay for the rest of my life! I just laugh and tell him that I’d like to meet the guy. My standard answer is that I have committed to being here until July, and only God knows what will happen after that.

But this question of how long I will stay weighs heavy on my mind. I love working with the kids from Laboule. I hate to think about what it will be like to say goodbye to them. I also really like my high school students. The boys that are my escort home from school have become some of my favorite people here. They asked me last week why I didn’t want to be their teacher again next year. It hurt my heart to hear their question and I wanted to promise that I would be here again next year!

But I can’t make my students any promises because my heart also hurts when I think about my family, friends, home church, and dog in the United States. I miss them! Facebook and Skype have provided avenues to connect, but they’re not the same as being there. I can’t make library runs with Jen or attend impromptu game nights at the Shipes’ apartment. I can’t go shopping with my mom or call my dad to fix something at my house.

I guess what it boils down to is this: Only God knows what the future holds. So instead of being distracted by questions of where I’ll be a year from now, I am choosing to rest in the knowledge that God will let me in on the plan when I need to know. Until then, I need to spend my energy on the here and now—loving and investing in the people God has put in my life.

More funny school conversations

Remember the student who wants my phone number so he can listen to me talk? Well, last week he was preparing to sing a song in church. He wanted to sing part of it in English, so he asked me for help on the words to the song "He Touched Me." I think it was originally sung by Elvis, but I don't really know the song. I had to look it up online. Anyway, he sang the song at the close of service on Sunday and it was fantastic.

Wednesday was the first day back to school after our November 1-2 holiday. As we were walking home after our computer class, the boys were talking about the song Wesley sang during church. They were congratulating him on singing so well, and also teasing him a little about the way he was standing during the song. I wasn’t involved in the beginning of the conversation because someone had asked me a different question. The first thing I heard one of them say about the topic was, “He touched me.” But it was implied that Wesley touched the speaker. Now, I know they were talking about the song, but I couldn’t just let them say that without telling them what Americans would understand that to mean!

I explained that when they are in church and they say, “He touched me,” most people will understand that you are talking about God. But when you are on the street and you say, “He touched me,” people will think you are talking about a person touching you… in a bad place. So don’t say, “Wesley touched me” if you mean his song made your heart happy because people will think Wesley is touching you in bad places. My explanation was followed by an uproar of laughter and many shouts of “Yes. Yes, I understand!” They thought it was so funny that they continued to talk about Wesley “touching” them. They wanted to nickname him “Mr. Touch Me,” but I finally convinced them that was not a good idea.

Later on in our walk, one of the boys called Shnider a girl. Everyone thought this was hilarious as well. Basically his response was “okay whatever,” so A. said something really fast in Creole. Then they really started laughing.  Rosias shouted, “Say that in English!!” I was nervous about what I was going to hear, but basically what A. said was that Shnider should deny being a girl and prove his manhood by showing everyone his… Well, I'm sure you can figure it out.

I suppose it doesn’t matter what language they speak, boys will always be boys!

Digits

For your enjoyment, here's an actual converstation that took place today on the school yard.

Student (21 years old, in the highest grade): Miss, do you have a ph...?

Me: Do I have a what?

Student, acting shy: Do you have a phone?

Me: Yes. Why?

Student: You give me please your number.

Me: I don't know my phone number.

Student: I don't understand.
Me: I can't give it to you. I don't know my phone number.
Student--now he's so shy he asks his friend to come and translate for him. 
2nd student, 23 years old in the highest grade: He wants your phone number.

Me: I know, but I don't know it.

2nd Student: You don't know your phone number?

Me: Nope. 

2nd Student with a shocked look: Oh.
The two boys talk for a minute in Creole.
2nd Student: He wants for you to call him.

Me: I know. He gave me his phone number on Sunday. 

2nd Student: But you not call him.

Me: I know. It's not gonna happen. Why does he want me to call him?

2nd Student: We like the way you pronounce words. We want to sit in our house and listen to you talk. Why can't we have your phone number?

Me (laughing): Do you have other teachers' phone numbers?

2nd Student sheepishly laughing now: No!

Adult English Classes

My job here is to teach English, but I never imagined I would be teaching so many classes! I have six regular high school classes, one special high school class that meets after school, and a class with the kids from Laboule.

A few weeks ago Johane asked me if I would be interested in practicing English with a couple ladies from our neighborhood. I met them and since they speak better English than most of my students, I agreed to work with them three times a week. I really wanted to have class just once a week, but I don’t have anything else to do so how could I say no?

The first class was quite intimidating. When I arrived home from school there were double the amount of people sitting under the tree than there are normally. I was nervous I they were all coming to my class, but it turned out most of the guys stayed outside. However, there were still 7 or 8 people who trickled into my apartment to learn English! Fairly quickly we learned that about half of them need a beginner’s course in English, so I said I would teach a class for them on Mondays. Since that was one of the days I was going to teach the more advanced class, my initial students made me promise to practice with them another night.

I was really nervous about the initial beginner’s class, but it turns out only Windy and Taina are serious about learning English. Thankfully, I’m back to having just one neighborhood class! Our class was canceled for most of last week because of the team being here and my unpredictable return from the guest house each night. Then yesterday I looked for them a couple of times around our designated meeting time, but they weren’t out by the tree. That was fine with me because I really needed a nap after my Creole lesson, but I wondered if they still wanted to have class.

Tonight, however, Windy and Erika came to class. Taina’s husband is here visiting from the United States, so she came a little later. She ended up bringing her husband, and it was nice to meet him. I’m still curious as to why he lives and works in the States and she lives here, but I didn’t really feel like tonight was an appropriate time to ask.

Fall Break

The last week has been a whirlwind of activity! Last Monday a team of 23 people arrived. They hosted a very successful medical clinic on Tuesday through Friday, but they wore me out! Some nights I didn't get home until 6 or even 7 o'clock, so I didn't have much time to wind down before I went to sleep. I traveled with the team to and from Gramothe, so I spent more time at school than I normally do. I was able to help in the clinic some, but mostly I tried to stay out of the way. They were an awesome group of individuals with some incredible skills, so they didn't really need my help. In the afternoons I was able to sit with my friends Arold and Nalouse while we waited to go down the mountain in the truck. It was really nice to get to know them a little better.

Two downsides to having the team here were that I missed my Creole lesson on Wednesday and I didn't get to spend much time with the boys who normally walk me home. The kids came and found me during their breaks, and we still had our after school class. Yet, I missed the conversations we have walking home from school. (And don't tell anyone I said this, but I think I missed the exercise too.)

November 1st and 2nd are national holidays in Haiti, so there is no school today or tomorrow. (Can anybody say Fall Break?) One day is All Saints Day and the other is the Day of the Dead. I'm told Christians do not celebrate these holidays, but that's about all I know. About two weeks ago some people in Gramothe (not anyone who goes to church) pulled all the grass out of the cemetery and did some general cleaning in preparation for the holiday. Tomorrow when I go to the guest house I'll be able see if they are doing anything over there.

My Creole tutor offered to have a lesson with me today since there's no school and neither of us had anything to do. He give me a lot of words I had been wondering about, and then he gave me the French and Creole words to songs we sing in church. I am very, very excited about being able to sing along in with the rest of the congregation. However, he made me sing the songs after he had given me the words, and now he's convinced more than ever that I need to sing a special song for church!

Tonight I'm supposed to have an English class with some ladies from the neighborhood. I really enjoy talking with them. They speak pretty good English already, they just want someone to practice with.

Ugh.

I've shared about my early to bed, early to rise sleeping pattern before. This week though, my body has decided 4:30am is the appropriate time to wake up. It doesn't matter that I stay up until 10pm or that it is still pitch dark or even that the roosters are fairly quiet at 4am. My body just wakes up and refuses to go back to sleep. After tossing and turning for 45 minutes this morning, I finally decided to just get up at 5:15am on a Saturday morning. Now that's what I call ridiculous.

UPDATE: Today and tomorrow are holidays in Haiti, so there is no school. Although I went to bed before 8:30 last night, I'm very happy to report that I did not wake up this morning until after 6am!