Al George

Al George is one of my students. He has a very political name!

He is very funny...and always laughing. He gets all the little hidden jokes inside of our stories (which is hard for my kids since they don't always comprehend the background) and loves to make up stories of his own.

It seems right now that Al George loves me. He has told all of the students around him...and in the past two days, I have received many small bits of paper with the following written on it...

"I want to cise cise Miss Ashley" (cise is translated in 1st grade language to kiss).

Its good to be loved...even by a 7 year old!

Where did our puppet go??

My roommate Cady is a professional prankster...from the stories I have heard...she became a legend in college! So it comes as no surprise that she has now begun her pranking in Haiti...the targets, my 1st graders!

Cady 'puppet-napped' our favorite puppet, Jackie Chan (my students lovingly named him). On Tuesday morning, she 'sent' us a note that said something is missing from your classroom. What is it?? After we decided that it wasn't Vasthie (who was out sick with chicken pox...as you can see below), we realized that it was the beloved Jackie Chan.

So I have taken this opportunity to use this time to teach...hard to believe I know! But we are writing letters, describing him, and working on our sentences. The students have been really funny about it, and are always asking me if I have seen Jackie when I leave the room for just a second! Even yesterday in the late afternoon, I saw one of my students who asked me if I had seen Jackie Chan, and then asked me if he was in the box that I was carrying! It will be a funny day once we find him! I will keep you posted!

Blame It On The Rain...

Today I had a flashback...with the help of a CD from Thom. Thom and Cara go through their CD's and then send them onto the White House girls...so we can see if we want them! Today, I had a sack full of CD's on my desk...and the first ones I pull out are burned, then I pulled out an amazing copy of Milli Vanilli...Girl You Know Its True. No joke! Now if my students are going around singing songs such as "Girl You Know Its True" or even "Blame It On The Rain"...its not my fault!

The Zipper Man

So there is this man that comes to church on Sundays that I have affectionately named the Zipper Man. He’s in his late 50’s (I am guessing) and is very involved in church. I noticed this last year, and really thought it was so funny. He comes to church with a little lunch box that zips around. In that lunch box, he carries his Bible, his hymn book, and another book. All three of these books are zippered around the covers to protect the pages. I am hoping that he has stock somewhere in zippers...

Suzy Homemaker...

I have been little Miss Homemaker today (Mom, Grandma, you would be proud!)
This morning when we got home from church, I decided to make some cupcakes. Then, Cady and I had to talk about lunch, and we were having Emelien and his brother Josue over for lunch. So I then made some baked spaghetti. I was proud of myself today!!
Having Emelien and Josue over today was so much fun. Emelien works with John at the school, doing construction. He is 14, and has picked up English with John's help. He works hard, is super responsible, and easily one of the sweetest kids I have ever met. His little brother Josue, is in preschool, although he is 7. Josue just started school this year, and so he is starting a bit late, but working really very hard. These two boys are just amazing...and after an afternoon of silly dancing, laughing, singing, and translating words from English to Creole and vice versa, I felt very satisfied as Suzy Homemaker!!

Birds...

I have a fear of birds...and not because I think they are scary, I think many birds are beautiful, I just get nervous that a bird is going to attack me and peck out my eyes. Dumb huh?? And I think I only watched the movie "Birds" once!!!

My students during recess like to be creative. Many imagination games are taking place all day...and they love to use anything they can find in their games. A few weeks ago, my kids found these pieces of a tree that had fallen off and were laying on the ground. They collected them, put them together, and made 'nests'. Then they came and grabbed my hands, pulled me over, and showed me how they were the birds and they had made nests. I think I can handle these birds!

Ti Paul (or Ti John...)

Walking is one of my favorite activities in Haiti. I have become a huge fan of getting out, getting fresh air, exercise, and just being with some of my favorite friends.
We walk many different paths, but there is one path that takes us past a place where a boy named Ti Paul lives. Ti Paul (which means Little Paul) is physically and mentally handicapped, and one of my favorite people to see on our walk. He gets so excited to see us, especially when we start speaking to him! Once when we went walking, I was loving on him, hugging on him, and out of excitement, he bit me (not very hard), under my arm. As shocking as it was, I knew this was his way of showing how much he loved us giving him attention.
There aren't schools or homes for people with special needs to go to, and so I shudder at the fact that I am not sure what happens to these special people.
Yesterday, Allison, Cady, and I went for a walk. We walked past Ti Paul's house, and he seemed happy to see us, but hesitated in stumbling up the side of the hill. We finally coaxed him up just to talk to him, and he was so happy that he didn't even mention that I called him the wrong name (I kept calling him Ti John!) His excitement and love is what I hope I have always for my students and the people around me, whether I am in Haiti or in the States...(I promise though, that I won't bite!)

Happy 100th Day!!

So here in Haiti, in the first grade classroom, we celebrated our 100th day of school. Now you may ask...what about eveyone else?? Here's the thing. Here at Sonlight, we don't have the ability to call in sick and request a sub. So, if we are sick, our children go home and have a day off of school. I like to think that they my students are going home, working, reading, and learning, and not being excited that their teacher is sick..(but then I remember the excitement of having a sub!)

In honor of the excitement, today we made 100 day hats, we wrote about what we could eat 100 of, stayed quiet for 100 seconds (yea right...) and did 10 sets of 10 exercises. At the end of the day, my students; got a lovely 1ooth day certificate and a big old kiss from me! Now that we have hit 100...its all downhill from here!

Love is...

With love in full bloom for my students, I decided I would ask them what love is. Of course, this was met with confused looks (remember, English is their 2nd language!) So I asked how do you know someone loves you or how do you show someone you love them?
Here are some of my favorites...

Love is...
-when my sister has a surprise for me (Timothe)
-when you write them and a letter and say I love you (Tracy)
-giving water and food and cake (Tanouchka)
-when he tells me he loves me (Berdjna)
-when you write 'beautiful' and smell good (Al George)
-when you kiss someone (Barbara)
-when you write a letter (Jeff)
-eating ice cream with someone (Samuel) -I agree wholeheartedly! :)
-because God loves me (Flore) -this one touches my heart!

Have a wonderful Valentines Day...and remember what Flore says...God loves us, which shows us love!

Breaking Bones...

So one of my students has broken a bone in his collarbone/shoulder area. I am not really all that sure where it is, but Carmen says its a small bone (she saw the very fingerprinted x-ray). It happened right before our break last week, and another student pushed poor Lud down. Lud fell and all day he was complaining about his shoulder hurting, etc...

He came to school yesterday with his arm inside his shirt, in a sling. It was his right arm, he is right handed, so it has been an adventure! He has been a trooper, writing with his left hand and trying his best. I can't help but giggle though when I see his right arm creep up through the collar of his shirt to scratch his nose or adjust his paper...so I think that he is going to be okay!

Lud, Yodh, and Marc

Also...as Valentine's Day approaches, my students are getting excited and are asking others in our class if they will be their 'valentines'! It starts early I guess! :)

The Citadel and Sans-Souici Palace

Cap Haitien was a great vacation. It truly was a good time to relax, think things through, lay by the pool, hang out with friends, but also have some adventure!

On Friday, Allison, Cady, Kala, and myself woke up early to head to the Citadel. We met our guide Mike in the lobby of our hotel, and our driver Papichou (Poppy-shoe). Now Papichou had a very nice Montero Sport that we were all looking forward to riding in. Until, we get out to the car and Mike is in the passenger seat and we realize one of us is going to be riding in the back. Being the nice person I am, I climb in the back. What was I thinking?? For an hour, I held on while we went over horrible roads, swerved massive potholes, and went straight up a hill. I was flailing around in the back...my legs were going everywhere, and I was even offered a seat in between Papichou and Mike, on the emergency brake. No thanks, I decided to just hold in all my sickness feeling and pray that I didn't puke.




We finally reached the highest we could go...got out (I was finding my legs again) and found a 'horse' to ride to the top. This really wasn't a horse as much as it was something that was short. But, it got us up the mountain! After a 30 minute ride up, we finally arrived at the Citadel. It was absolutely amazing. We walked around, looking at the intricate details they had put in, the systems that they installed while making this fort, and heard the story about King Christophe and why he wanted to build the Citadel. (To the left, this is a view of the Citadel while riding up the mountain on the horse).

It truly was huge, and amazing. There were still cannonballs there, some of the cannons that were stolen from Napoleon's ship, we saw the toilet that never had to be emptied, and saw an amazing view of Haiti from the very top.



After viewing the Citadel, we went down to the palace of Sans-Souici. This place was also very beautiful. It amazes me how ruins stay in tact, so much of them that you can tell what exactly it was going to be inside of the palace...and of course, I think we all did a little dreaming about what we would do if we lived in a palace! Who wouldn't?



The rest of our trip was great. We did some shopping (there are lots of little stores that sell to visitors that come in and people on the cruise boats that stop at Labadee. There was a man who was trying his best to sell me some bowls (i was looking at them of course!) He first told me I could pay 200 American, and I laughed really loud and said no. Then he tried 40 American. And I said no and walked out of the store. He came after me and brought me back...and asked me how much I would pay. So I said 200 Haitian (about 28 American dollars). He accepted, and now I am the owner of a really amazing wooden carved salad bowl and 6 little bowls to keep it happy!


Here's a picture of my other adventurers...and I will let you know of more stories when I think of them!

What Do You Do On A Day Off??

We have this whole week off because of Mardi Gras, and I bet many people are wondering what it is that we find ourselves doing. Are you ready for this??
Not much.

Not that there aren’t things for us to be doing, but when you are teaching, you can sometimes feel overworked and tired. So all you really want to do is rest! Definitely. It is Monday, and I have already found myself thinking of things that I can do to keep myself entertained but not worn out!! J
Yesterday, we started a 24 Season 4 marathon. This of course, was exciting. When watching a show like 24, you sometimes have to watch as many as you can to keep the suspense down. So that’s what we did!
I have decided, from watching 7 episodes of 24 in the last 24 hours, that there are many words that I should try to integrate into my vocabulary.
Schematics…Thermal Satellite Scan…Sensory Depravation Torture…Scenario (only if its pronounced as sin-are-e-o)…and more words that I just can’t even remember!!

Now don’t let my bumming around fool you…I do have plans to go walking, work in my classroom, and get ready for our Ladies Retreat…but it is also nice not to worry about what I am teaching tomorrow or if my copies are ready. Let’s just hope I don’t get too bored…because that happens too!

House of Hope, Mardi Gras, and Bathroom Breaks

One thing that I have been elected to do over the past couple of years is be an 'orientator' for groups that come in. I get them settled in at the hotel, help them understand the culture (well, as much as I do), and take them around different high points of Port-de-Paix.
The group that was in this past week was from Florida. They were a group of older adults (60's-70's) who were up for any challenge we gave them! Yesterday, Allison, Cady, Kala, Josh, John, and I went with them downtown to the market. Market can be an overwhelming experience, with Haitians stopping you, asking for money, or for you to buy something from their table.
After that, we drove out to La Pointe, to one of my favorite places, the House of Hope. This is an
orphanage/hospital for children whose parents can't take care of them, are malnourished, or have TB (on the well end of that). One of these babies, Oldina, has become my favorite. I immediately search for her when I get there, and then hold on to her until they make me leave!

This coming week we have a break. I know, we have been here for a month and already have a week off!! Here in Haiti...we get Mardi Gras week off and then we have Easter break as well. Anyway, this week I will be doing nothing but relaxing (so email me if you want!) and on Wednesday, 8 of us ladies are heading to Cap Haitian for a relaxing little 4 day retreat. It will be fun to get away, lay by a pool, go shopping at little vendors, and even go to the Citadelle! It will be fun, and also a time for me to get my 'ducks in a row' concerning my next year decisions. So...we will see!

Lastly...I am putting this on here for Cady (it is funny too), on Thursday we were preparing to go outside for recess. My kids were decorating their sponsorship envelopes, and were a little perturbed with me when I told them it was time to get ready to go outside. I heard a moan go across the room, so I told my class that they would be able to work on their envelopes when we came back in and they were having their bathroom break. Dimitri (who loves to bring me gifts) looked at me in all seriousness and said..."Miss Ashley, why did are you going to break the bathroom?" Oh the joys of literal meaning!!!