Day 12: BEACHHHHHHH!!!

We woke up very early today even though we went to sleep very late. We wanted to wake up to eat breakfast at the hotel, and to finalize some plans for the day, before the Pye's left for the day to VBS. The previous day we had told the Cornerstone Highschoolers to come to the beach in Jacmel with us. We wanted to talk to Danny to make sure we had someone with us who could direct us where to go. We ate toast with peanut butter and bananas, drank coffee, and Becca had Haitian spaghetti as well. We taught the Alabamans how to eat the spaghetti with Ketchup. They thought we were crazy until Becca ate it and showed them, Then they tried it and loved it.

We then headed back to our room to...sleep. haha. We know its crazy we woke up to eat and talk then fell back asleep for a couple hours. We finally woke up when one of the girls from the orphanage in Leogane called us to see how we were, and check when we were coming back. We headed to the Pye's house when we were ready so Becca could post all our blog updates. Not long after Becca started our Leogane peeps arrived to take us to the beach with them.

We took a couple of the Pye kids with us. There was some controversy as to what beach we would be going to. Becca and I had worked hard to find the best beach for them to go to. The translators started arguing about which beach to go to. We asked what was up and one of them said to us we are going to so and so beach very angrily and matter of factly. We were very taken aback by his brashness. There was a lot of drama. Becca and I were upset because we invited the high schoolers there, made a plan, and then they didn't even care what we said. We had also hired a guy to help us find our way. We were concerned about how the high schoolers translator had spoken to us and how he treated the guy who was helping us. We decided it would be best for us to do whatever was easiest and not make it a bigger issue. The beach we ended up going to was lovely and there was no problem. We were still upset with the translator that yelled at us though. He kept giving me "dirty" looks and I was about to say something but decided it was better not to. Awhile later he asked me to speak to him. He apologized to me, which was very very unexpected. I told him I was sincerely thankful for his apology. I also told him I was upset that he yelled at me, that I would never speak to him that way, and then told him again thank you for apologizing. He also apologized to Becca. We hope that he decided on his own to apologize to us, rather than someone else asking him to do so. Either way I think it was very significant that he apologized.

We had a lot of fun swimming around with all the Americans and with the Pye kids. The beach we went to was a public beach that a lot of Haitians go to. There were a ton of local kids there and we were so happy to see the American high schoolers playing and interacting with them. I think they made a good impression. Becca drank delicious coconut water straight from a coconut. She also pulled out a loose tooth of one of the Pye girls who came with us. The girl is nine and her tooth was VERY loose. After a long time she eventually let her pull it out. We had to coerce her with an ice cream cone.

It was very cool to see how our little knowledge of Haitian culture and the Creole language has paid off. We have been working really hard to try and learn as much as we can about Haiti and we can tell that the Haitian people we interact with really appreciate it. They are always surprised at us when we try and speak with them even though it's very broken when we speak.

We were really tired after we got back to the Pye house and we hadn't eaten all day. We decided to head to the local hot spot/fast food joint called Jacbel where we ate American style fries. We saw a father and his daughter sharing ice cream together and we could tell that he really loved her. I told him that we worked at an orphanage and that we really loved seeing him loving his daughter. He seemed really happy and proud. (The guy who works at Jacbel totally looks like Tracy Morgan lolz.) We walked home, chatted up the locals and ate dinner with the Americans. We also witnessed Danny being crazy and splashing like five buckets of water on his wife Leanne. She's a really good sport. All the kids were standing around laughing and it was cool to see them acting like a family and having a good time.

That's all folks!

YAY WE'RE UPDATED!!!

Tomorrow we are headed back to Leogane. We have really enjoyed our time here and plan to visit in the future. It was cool to see a different part of Haiti and a different way to run an orphanage. I think we really learned a lot and now we really feel like part of the Pye family whether they need two more kids or not! (Pye blog: www.pyesinhaiti.blogspot.com)

-Amy (Pom de te)