Arriving in Haiti

And so we arrived!

Friday, August 8, 2014

First off, thanks for checking out our blog. I will try to post as much as possible in here, b/c believe me...there are so many things to share!!!

We arrived Friday into Port-au-Prince (the capital).  The plane ride was a beginning experience in itself.  First time we've ever felt like the minority.  Didn't understand a word people said. We knew we were definitely in for an adventure.

We landed safe and sound and after we finally got our luggage, which took awhile, we ventured outside to find our people.  Mind you, we didn't know who was picking us up at the airport, just knew that a driver would  be there.  We also had read prior that you should not let anyone help you with your luggage and such because then they expect a tip.  So we were "no thank you-ing" a lot of people as we ventured out of the airport with four 50 lb suitcases, two carry-on suitcases, and each a carry-on bag.  It was a little scary venturing outside because there were so many people!  

Immediately, Brian spotted a sign with our names on it.  He made eye contact with the driver and the driver gave a head nod.  Phew.  At least we found our people.  We were then greeted by Marie, the director of the school (the lady that had hired us).  We got to the car and loaded up.  Marie explained that the guy driving was her driver and that the school has separate drivers.  We came to realize that people of wealth here in Haiti, have drivers.  We quickly learned why...

The traffic in Haiti is like nothing I've ever seen! Oh my gosh! I honestly can't even describe it besides:
1. no street lights (well there are street lights but they don't work)
2. people EVERYWHERE
3. no rules
4. two, three, sometimes FOUR people on one motorcycle
5. motorcycles zooming in between cars, etc.

I believe the entire ride to our apartment, Brian and I had our jaws dropped as we were staring out the windows.  The streets are dirty, but it is so interesting watching all of the people.  Our driver used his horn more times than I have EVER used my horn while driving.  But driving in Haiti is impossible without a horn. :) Since there are no rules - you have to tell people to get out of the way!! :)  The thing we were the most amazed by was the people caring baskets and boxes on their heads! Unbelievable talent!

Many people carry these bags - they are filled with bagged water they are selling.

Seriously, unbelievable talent! As Brian says, "they must have very strong necks."

The mountains here are absolutely beautiful! Here is a picture from outside of our house:

When we arrived at our apartment - we were shocked at how big it was! 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms,  huge living room/dining area, and a kitchen!  Originally we were told that we were going to be sharing with someone else or another couple, but now that is not the case.  This is the newest house the school has purchased/rented.  The other teachers live across the street.  They have a very nice swimming pool that we are able to use.  Two other girl teachers live above us in the house.

So, when the driver pulled up to our house, he had to get out and unlock the padlock!  Yes, we have a huge gate outside of our house. With a padlock.  And the most crazy thing of all.... we have an armed guard 24-7 outside of our apartment. YES, I said, 24-7.  It is crazy!  At first it scared me a little, but we soon realized that all nice places: houses, restaurants, grocery stores, the school, etc. have armed guards.  They work in 12 hour shifts.  Walson is our guard at night - 6pm-6am.  We like him, although we cannot speak to him because we don't speak Creole yet and he doesn't speak English.  It is a lot of "Bonjour" and "Merci", head nods, and smiles. :)

The path to our house.  The green gate is our house.  Check out the beautiful mountains in the background.

Our house!! It's beautiful!  You go in the main door there and go down some stairs, and you go through another door.  2 girls live above us. :)

View from our window inside our living room.

View from our window.  Our house is surrounded by that barbed wire fencing. 

Sitting on our table was 2 care packages that the PTA of Union School put together for us.  It was fun to venture through the bag of goodies! :)

Our care package! :)

The goodies inside the bag! Notice the Prestige beer (Haitian). Marie told us that Heineken just opened up a brewery here, but we should drink the Prestige Haitian beer instead! :) Also - the peanut butter they gave us has the oil on the top.  We were told to mix it up, so we did.  Um, their peanut butter is NOT good.  Has a spicy after taste.  Spicy - yeah, weird.  Not something you think of when you think of peanut butter.  Tim, one of the teachers, told us that they make their peanut butter spicy or sweet.  Apparently we got the gross kind. :) The orange soda on the far right is called Fruit Champaign - BG loves it.  I like it too.  It's a mix of cream soda with a bubble gum after taste (as BG explains it).

Anyways, after we got settled in, Marie took us to dinner at this really nice restaurant called La Reserv - or something like that.  We ate outside. It was nice, but took a long time.  We've learned from people that dinner can take up to four hours.  Haitians are on their own time schedules! :)

Anyways, our first day was beginning to look like it would end very smoothly.... (insert the suspenseful/scary music here).  We got dropped off at our apartment late and Marie made sure we got in.  All was well... until... I walked into one of our small hallways...

Now, that may not look big to you, but it was about the size of 2 half dollars. Fricken HUGE!  And this was after Marie just got done telling me at dinner that we would not find any spiders in our place!  I screamed, of course, and BG ran to the rescue.  Not going to lie though, he was a little freaked out as well. Thankfully, in our care package, was a little Baygon Bug Killer.  I obviously could not watch, as I was hyper-ventilating and throwing a fit.  I hear him yell "shit", then I'm thinking, "oh shit, he lost it, I'm getting back on a plane ASAP", and then I hear more spray and then a SMASH.  Then BG yells, "that thing was fast!!!"  Apparently it scurried down the wall super fast.  Hopefully this was our first and LAST experience with these creatures.  BG claims it had fur. AGHHHHHHH.

Although the spider was on the other side of the apartment from our bedroom we began spraying bug killer every where.  After picking up the mattress and spraying bug killer around our entire bed, we finally laid down to reflect on our crazy day.  The spider really did us in.  We were telling each other, "one day at a time", "we can do this", "we've got each other", etc.  Oh, and mind you, we had no pillows on the first night.  Didn't have enough room to bring them.  Day 1 in Haiti was an experience.  :)  No day here is going to be boring, that's for sure.

Saturday - August 9, 2014 

(Happy 80th Birthday, Grandma Nona!)

On Saturday morning Marie called us to ask how our night was.  She was shocked to hear about the spider extravaganza.  She said she will take care of that because that shouldn't be happening.  I hope she is right.  That is the only thing that will run me out of this country.

Saturday we ventured to the home good store with 2 other teachers.  They are Haitian and were very helpful.  We had to get an iron and some cleaning supplies.  Things  in Haiti are EXTREMELY expensive!  We spend $128 dollars at the home good store.  It probably would have only cost 1/2 that in the states.  For example - a big container of Lysol Wipes cost us $10.

Next we ventured to the grocery store - Caribbean SuperMarket. Apparently this is the nicest super market with the most selection.  The prices were crazy!  Spent a little over $300 for groceries that would have only cost us maybe $100 in the states.  The store was insanely busy!  I mean, everything is busy in Haiti.

Caribbean Super Market

Saturday we also met a lot of the other teachers.  Tim was the one we talked to the most.  He sat in our apartment and told us a lot of information about his experience here.  It is quite exciting and interesting. :) Can't wait for our adventures.  We scheduled to meet Tim the next morning at 9 am outside of our apartment to go to church.  He asked us if we wouldn't mind taking the local transportation.  We concurred and planned to meet him in the morning. :) Thankfully no spiders were involved Saturday night.  Still no pillows - because the home goods stores was out.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Today was awesome so far! :) We got to leave our little secluded apartment.  We met Tim at 9 am outside of our apartment and walked to the top of the hill and to the left to wait at the corner where the public transportation picks up. 

Picture is taken right outside the gate of our house.  This is to the left, outside our house.  On the left side is the Canadian Red Cross and to the right (where you can't see) is where the other teachers live. 

Ok, so incase you are unfamiliar with the Haitian transportation - they are known as Tap Taps.  Here is a picture I found off of the internet to give you an idea:

Tap Taps in Haiti - Basically it is a small pick up truck with added seats and a cover.  The one we took today was a little more packed than this. :)

Here are some pictures that I took today of Tap Taps that we saw while driving around:

We didn't take ours very far.  Maybe a 4 minute ride and it cost us about 20 cents.  The reason people take them versus walking sometimes is because the roads are so hilly, because we are in the mountains.  You can also hop on the back of "motos" which are guys driving motorcycles, however, we won't be trying that. :) We'll be sticking to the drivers and an occasional Tap Tap ride.  I let a Haitian woman sit on my lap on the Tap Tap b/c it was so crowded. :)

We walked the rest of the way to church and enjoyed a nice church service with other English speakers.  It's nice to hear English here because it is far and few between.  We will be learning Creole b/c otherwise there is no way to communicate with our guards, drivers and others. I'm looking forward to that though!

We hitched a ride with some Americans from church back to our place - here are some pictures I snapped while sitting in the back seat:

As you can see, we are witnessing things we never imagined or only saw on TV.  I already know that we are going to take away so much from this amazing experience and we are only 2 days in.  Tomorrow we begin orientation at the school and basically start up at school for good.  The kids don't start until August 21st, so we will have time to get situated.  This is definitely a huge adjustment, but we are truly looking forward to what's to come.  The Haitian population seem like very kind people. The Good Lord is keeping us safe under His watch.  We are so blessed to be here, although it is going to be a challenge at times. :)

Saw Pa Konnen Pi Gran Pase'W

"What You Don't Know Is Greater Than You"

                              -Haitian Saying