DAY 2

Day 2-

THE BEAUTY OF D'GLO

This morning Abe woke up at 6am and got half dressed. I barely noticed as it was finally cool enough to sleep. He laid in bed until we both heard the honking- Universal symbol meaning, “I am here!” He rapidly pulled on his shoes, grabbed four dollars and kissed me as he ran out the door. Back to the fray.

I rallied my spirits, and pulled myself out of bed. No Big Daddy Stink Bug to greet me in the bathroom this morning. The kids woke up one by one, each in much better spirits. Time for breakfast. After finding clothes I stumbled down the twisty stairs. The carton of milk was in the fridge and, true to Abe’s warning, was slightly above room temperature. The corn flakes were bug free but in small supply. I silently went through what food we had left and started the day long battle of weighing the consequences for and against braving a trip to the market. Which way down which street? The loud ring of sirens blazed by the house and the urge to go retreated. For a while.

Breakfast brought my hungry babes to tears. It appears milk that was processed and bottled two months ago and served at room temperature did not tickle the taste buds. And the corn flakes of two ingredients, Corn and ???; while I was delighted with with their organic simplicity, the difference in texture and taste was yet another disappointment. Isaiah proved to truly be a Sweet baby when he drank all the milk in his bowl and then requested more. Thaddaues, who had refused to eat the spicy peanut butter we had on bread last night was a trooper and ate all of his AND  Carol’s while making the most adorable “yucky” face. His tummy won out over his taste buds. Adam ate half a bowl and then tried to feed the rest of his to the poor gimpy pup, only to be loudly scolded by Melinda and two Haitians I had never met before. I suppose feeding the dog is off limits. How in the world did it get so fat? Several different fruits I had seen at the street market paraded their sweet juicy selves through my mind. Another wound on not braving Haitian streets.

A man is down stairs working in the basement with power tools and every time he uses the saw my fan slows and putters. A microwave is indeed, NOT as good of an idea as I had hoped it would be.  I am sure an air conditioning system here would drain power from  half the city. I am crossing my fingers for another fan.  After breakfast I went in to wash the dishes and the sink was completely stopped up. I got a coat hanger and snaked the drain with no effect. Melinda caught wind of what I was doing and rushed into her domain. She seemed to understand my intent and reached under the cupboard and started pushing  and yanking on the pipes as if to dislodge what ever dammed it up. Her astonishment was expressed in shrieks as nasty water and food fell out of the connector she pulled loose. I took a wire hanger and was able to remove a wad of sticky rice from the right sink drain-the culprit. She grabbed a bucket and rag and went to work mopping it up while I reattached the pipe. One side of the sink still didn’t drain. She roughly pulled at the sink and somehow loosened the hot water connection causing it to spray  everywhere. I twisted the main hot water valve off and she pointed to the valve while scolding away. I sighed and stated “Abraham” while pointing to it. Abe will fix it. For now at least we have one good drain. If only we could get a refill on our drinking water. It had run dry during the night and our little American tongues grow parched so quickly here.

Fan situated at the table. Crayons lined up in the center. We completed our first lesson and learned about the importance of the Bible. Now math books were pulled out. It did not take me long to realize that our school would consist of SEVERAL recesses and breaks. It was a struggle to get them to complete one lesson in one sitting, but we did it. Distractions as well as a lack of drinking water may have been an issue. Buddy (Melinda, our housekeeper’s son…we do not know his name so he has been dubbed Buddy.)  ran his cars along the edge of the table nearly the entire time, enticing the boys and silently asking with his big brown eyes for them to come play. And half way through, his mother Melinda came in with two buxom Haitian women and all three loudly laughed and cooed over my babes and touched Carol’s hair. They again  counted to four in Creole and smiled wide with amazement just as many strangers had done yesterday. Are American’s thought of as one child per family people? Or  I am to conclude that a family with four healthy children is a blessing here? J

WATER!!!! The guard,whom I have delightfully decided to call Ed, just opened the front door with two large bottles of delicious Dglo. I hope my babes’ choruses of delight were enough to show him how much we appreciated him. My visions of Abe coming home to five puddles of salty skin with clothes nearby melted away. One more point for NOT going to the market. But now our bellies were rumbling. The battle rages on.

   

Ed wanders around a lot of the time and tells my children to stop doing what ever it is they are doing. Climbing the wrong side of the stair banister, slipping food to the dog, yelling too loudly, or leaving toys on the floor. He always corrects  them in gently spoken creole while smiling which leaves my babes standing in a sort of stupor trying to figure out if they are being encouraged or reproved.  I wonder if we shall ever know Ed’s real name…

TO MARKET TO MARKET TO BUY….

Abe arrived home at seven thirty and was gracious enough to walk with us to the store and get us enough food to last until he is home again Sunday. Despite his promises to be with us during our first week in a third world country, he is going to spend the next 4 days across the island in Jacmel.  Melinda cooks one hatian meal a day- Rice, Beans, and Meat seasoned differently each time.  We managed to get to the nearby corner market without being hit by traffic-a feat that actually ended with a man on a motorcycle yelling angrily at us. I looked everywhere for a crosswalk. Perhaps a large white woman with four babies in tow standing in his lane of travel was just not on his schedule for the evening. I am eternally grateful to him for stopping traffic for us, though. Even if he was probably swearing at us.  There was a distinct walking path amongst the uneven gravel beside the road. One side of us was lined with concrete walls topped with barbed wire and the other lined with a black festering swamp of wet garbage and feces. We managed to make it without falling into either side, although I yelped a bit when Thaddaeus tried to walk on my feet to avoid the mess.  The store we went to was as small as a gas station and had a small variety of food available for what we discovered was rather pricey. There were no fresh fruits or vegetables as any sane Haitian would buy those on the street market. Abe promised he would find someone to teach me how to barter next week so we can save our money and get some fresh foods. I was able to find some peanut butter without chilis in it and the sacred ingredients to make peanut butter cookies. J