cross-cultural

When I was at the funeral this past week, Brian was telling someone how fun it was our first year in Haiti to see his childhood home through new eyes.

It made me realize how familiar Haiti has become, and how much I forget to show you.  So, the last few days I've been taking pictures of every day life.  Here it is...and these are just from the last 10 days!

I wish I didn't always get to see Haiti so early.  But this is the Nora season...and it is beautiful.

The bug-pets the girls collect are TOO huge...big enough to set of rat traps, and they are ALL named Jeff-Dot.  All of them. Sofie says.

So many weird pets.

No space is wasted in Haiti.  

Small businesses, like this block-maker, take over the sidewalks, just at motorcycles take over every inch of the roads.

No boundaries...all fair game.

This is the main road in Haiti, Route National #1.  It is a nightmare, something like driving on the moon.  

Once again, Lily's wonderful school sent home her child sponsorship photos, because they're never quite sure what to do with the one foreigner in the 1,500 students.  School was closed today for the new president's inauguration, and 12 of her closest friends spent the whole day.  Watching them all together is such a joy...she stopped being a foreigner long ago, even if she still has no sponsor :) 

This was from a few days ago, when the kids were watching Swiss Family Robinson, everyone's favorite.

It IS still the Carribean.  It doesn't often feel like it...but it is.  

Food.  It's a big deal here.

Having food is a big deal.

And getting food is a big deal.

Every Friday, Job brings us live chickens from the village, and Neline kills them and plucks them and keeps the feet and heads (to her delight and mine) and I have 65 different ways to cook whole chicken...and do.

The bread will kill you.  If you haven't started by 3 pm...it is too late to make bread for dinner.  It never ends, the bread.  But if you want pizza, you learn to make pizza dough.  Bagels? English Muffins? Rolls? Hot-dog buns, sandwich bread, tortillas, naan...we go through 20 lbs. of flour every 2 weeks when we're feeding visitors. 

So we start the girls young on kneading :)

We have a guard dog.  He barks when anyone comes near any of the houses, and bites anyone who turns to run.  And lets the girls baby him.

The staff and students know the trick and never, ever run.  The rare person who does get a butt-bite keeps up the reputation of the terrible evil devil dog and between Boone and all the fabulous relationships, security continues to never be an issue.

Trash just never stops being an issue.  Where to put it, how to collect it, what to do with it.

Don't throw trash here, it says everywhere.  

Almost every fence is cactus, doubling as laundry line, especially on Sundays.

It's gorgeous, Haiti is.  All hoed by hand, and mountains behind every image.

It might not be easy to find, but I'm pretty sure you could get almost ANYTHING in Haiti.  Haven't found Ben and Jerry's yet...but finding odd, bizarre, brilliant things is always kind of a game.

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There is always SO much to look at.  Up and up and up, she builds, and everywhere you look are children playing and ladies chatting and men listening to the radio.

Everywhere we go we see someone we know...a past student, a staff member, a friend, an acquaintance, the drink lady, the airport guy, the lawyer we met with once, the pastor of one of our students.  I guess we see the people now...and not as much the place.

If you'd told me 15 years ago this would be home and my kids would be going to school in a different language and that'd I'd be picking up chickens or making homemade yogurt or letting the my children house beetles and dobermans or that I wouldn't even see any of this as strange...I would not have believed you!

What sticks out to you?