We survived.

Brandon and I have been married for seven years, and have moved 9 times. I think it’s a sickness. Some moves were little-like the time we lived in an apartment in Carlsbad, and the one next door vacated. Most normal people would have preferred to not move, considering we had just moved in one month before, but we did. The new place was cheaper, newer, had a washer and dryer and bigger back yard. So, my ingenious husband literally removed the fence in between us and we walked all our stuff from one apartment to the next! The easiest move by far.

The most difficult move? Yesterday. As we were packing our things on an old beat Toyota, the realization came to me that we are moving across Haiti. We really are nuts. We had one truck that nwhcm was generously letting us use, but there was no way all our stuff would fit. I thought we could go Haitian and pile everything high and tie it together, but even that wasn’t going to work. We decided to pay a gross sum to rent a beat Toyota, so we could have two small trucks. It was way cheaper to do that, than to rent a large truck, plus we liked the idea of a caravan for safety. The plan was to leave Monday, but Brandon got a nasty case of “Haitian sensation” on Sunday, and we were out late with our OTB staff and friends the night before. I forced him to go to the party we had for our staff, and thankfully he felt much better once we got there. We had so much fun! It did take 2 hours after we ordered to get our food-a real “made to order” kind of place. You can almost hear the chickens screaming in the back a few minutes after you order.

We decided to post pone the move to Tuesday.  I think one of the best parts about waiting was we got to see more friends before we left. In addition, Curtis and Danielle (our friends from La Baie) came down to visit. They came with a group on Sunday, and stayed with us for two whole days! It was so fun! Well, I don’t know about fun for them, but it was so nice to visit and hang out with them. They helped us pack, the boys played tetras trying to get everything perfectly fit in the truck, Danielle and I hung out, cleaned, organized and packed.

We left Port de Paix at 6:30 am. By God’s grace we had four Haitian guys that we knew who came with us. One was Edril, who is our kitchen manager, but is also sweet friend. We had three more staff that we know and love, which made the ride not only more enjoyable, but we felt even safer knowing these guys would have our back if anything happened. Almost everyone got to sit inside the cab, a few guys had to switch off sitting in the back on top of our stuff, which was not very pleasant for them, and they got so dusty! It was nice to not worry about anyone grabbing our stuff as we drove by cause they were sitting right there. The road the first half of the trip was terrible, dirty and dusty with huge pot holes. The second half was paved, but still with huge potholes. It was a bit scarier when you start getting speed only to discover a hole at the last minute and he has to quickly tap the breaks or swerves to avoid it. yikes. Everyone made it, not one thing was lost, broken or stolen.

The Stats:

~ 10 hour drive

~2 Toyota pick up trucks

~1 flat tire repair

~3 people squished in each cab

~3 poor guys sat on top

~1 dead donkey in the road that we killed for a second time

~1 encounter with police. Praying the entire time, they thankfully only asked a few questions, and our guys had all the right papers, so they let us on by.

~103 miles traveled-yes it did indeed take 10 hours to go just 103 miles! ! !

We had to do this a year ago, and it wasn’t easy. It sucks to say good bye to family, to friends, to those you love and care about-and who love you back. For some reason, as I was packing up our place in Port de Paix, all those emotions struck me a fresh.I miss you guys! I was packing up photos, and found myself just having a little cry fest. When we left, some family and friends even made us photos and some even laminate them and put love notes, verses, and quotes on the back of them. I love to sit down and thumb through them, smiling and even crying when I think of the wonderful people we miss terribly. I stuck those photos to the wall, along with the verses hand written by them, and it makes me so happy to think of the amazing people we have in our lives..even though we don’t get to live by them right now. I also think my breakdown was coupled with the fact that we are now going to be leaving new friends we have made over the last year. God has been so good to us, in providing friends, community, and a even a few people we would consider to be our Haitian family. I can’t sit and write about how much I miss them without tearing up, so I need to stop. But, even though my heart is sad, it’s also very full. Because God blessed us with new friendships, and new people we have grown to love and cherish, we have people we’ll miss-and that I am so thankful for. I hope they will come and visit, and I am sure we’ll make our way back to Port de Paix someday…perhaps not soon cause I need some time to forget how bad the trip is!

1. We are waiting at the little airport, where there is a large Haitian woman. I mean she was almost wider than taller (bless her heart) all decked out looking like a million bucks. A Haitian gentleman walks by, eyes her up and down and says loudly in Creole, “You are a big girl, you lookin’ good”. And she smiles and says “mmmmhmmm”. Not only is this not an insult, here In Haiti, it’s a compliment.

2. Whenever we come back from the States, any Haitian who knows us greets us with the following two lines: “mwen contann we ou, and ou we gwo” “I’m happy to see you, and you look big”. Again, something they mean as a compliment. But, I did not know that at first. The first time we left and came back, and everyone was fawning over us saying you look big, you look very big, I was so offended. And I didn’t know people well enough to ask them why on earth would you tell me I look big?? I mean, I do always gain a few pounds when back at home, we both do, as we gluttonously divulge on all food we love, since we’ll be deprived of it for months at at time. But, it is meant as a compliment cause in Haiti everyone knows bigger people have money, cause they can afford to eat enough food to make them big. So, I’ve learned to not be offended, and offer a mild “thanks”, even though I still don’t like being told I look big!

3.All white people are called ‘blanc’ (white) here. It seems so insulting at times, when children and adults yell it at you all day long. When we drive along in a car, walk down the street, hang out on our roof, people yell it at us to get our attention. They don’t mean anything mean by it, it’s basically the word they use for foreigner, pretty much anyone who isn’t black. Of course, this just plain gets annoying.  But sometimes it just seems wrong when I think of what they are saying in english, ‘white, white, white!’ I mean really, can you image walking down the street at home and someone yelling that at you?

4. It is perfectly acceptable to be taking to someone, even a stranger, and in the middle of your conversation decide that you need to pick you nose. In Haiti, you don’t have to wait until you duck into a dark corner or turn your back to watching eyes to pick your gold. You can just go for it. In fact, keep talking while you dig, and really make sure you clean out all those nasty boogies.

5. You can go to the bathroom anywhere here. No one runs the risk of getting a ticket for indecent exposure. It’s just like in the states though, there are some who take advantage simply cause they can. I can’t even count the number of times we walk down the street and pass a guy who seems to be just leaning against the wall, until you see a small puddle form at his feet.(hmm, yes it’s just men who seem to take advantage of this!) while others still choose to find the bush off to the side to take care of business.

6. Meat in the US is certified in some way, whether it’s the USDA or Certified Organic…whatever. The goal is to make sure the meat is what is says it is, safe to eat, and has standards. We just discovered that our neighbors, the Dominican Republic, has decided they are going to make standards for meat too. They want the meat that comes from Haiti to be standardized, and the label? “Not cholera meat”. I guess that is all they ask, don’t give us meat with Cholera in it-we’ll take everything else though.

7. One word. Revival. In Haiti, they take their revivals seriously. They happen inside the church, and it’s quite an experience. I have yet to go inside and participate, but I have been a part of it from the comfort of my own home. It is perfectly fine that you use amplified music from 9am till about 4am, rocking songs, yelling about how much Jesus loves everyone. And, truthfully, no one seems to mind! Haitians love it, expect it, look forward to it-and if you don’t participate, you just silently put up with it.