This note is likely going to ramble on a bit about how things are happening down here. I'm likely not going to say all that much so you might want to stop reading right here. There may be one or two good little tidbits though so perhaps you should read on.
Apparently, some appreciate my long stories - that go nowhere. You have been forewarned.
Let me begin be recapping a few driving rules.
Apparently, some appreciate my long stories - that go nowhere. You have been forewarned.
Let me begin be recapping a few driving rules.
- you have a horn - use it. A honk can mean watch out, get out of my way, or thanks. Interpret liberally. I get lots of thank-you's.
- the road has two sides, use them both
- if there is space - use it; and I mean any space at all - we are talking fractions of inches here.
- you have a steering wheel - use it (vigorously)
- never go in reverse - use all the above countermeasures first
How to judge how far to the right you can go - when you have pedestrians walking towards you, then you're in luck - keep going over until they begin to move out of the way, get excited, and/or provide hand directions. If there are pedestrians, but they are not facing you - then you need to be a little more careful.
I have been driving in Haiti now for 2+ weeks. What got the most attention - driving in reverse up the main street about as fast as you normally drive forward. I don't think you're supposed to use reverse except to get out of a parking spot. Strangest predicament - making a third (middle lane) on a left turn.
Average speed I'd say is about 20-30 km/hr. Fast is 40 km, and really fast is anything over that. This has a huge impact in time & space. For example I thought that it was a long distance from our place to the airport. It really is not. But because of speed , traffic congestion, etc, it just seems long. When you ask someone what they are doing this morning - I'm going to the airport - that's it, that's all - its a plan all in itself.
The really good news about time and space - fuel economy. You can drive "seemingly" far and it doesn't use all that much gas.
We have located a dog in Florida, and there is an incredible story behind the people that are providing us with the dog. It is coming as soon as we can figure out all the paperwork that we need to complete in order to bring the dog into Haiti. That's in progress. We are going to see another dog that is already in Haiti tomorrow. We were going to see the dog this afternoon - but guess what - the owner went to the airport this morning - he called me back this afternoon saying that we wouldn't be able to meet after all. So now we are going to do it tomorrow. My point in all this is that it takes time to go to the airport - it seems far even though it really isn't.
Language training is going well. The boy's name that is teaching us Creole is Lukinson. He is a great guy - just finished high school and is hoping somehow to go to university - not likely this year though. He wants to study political science and get a job in government. He has been at Pastor Michel and Louise's church for 8 years - and what a good kid. We went to his home yesterday, and it is typical of many who attend Pastor Michel's program. There house is in a ravine, its two rooms - no running water, sanitation etc. just two rooms with a corrugated tin roof. He lives there with his mother who only has one leg, 2 other brothers and a cousin. They all share what they have - which is not that much. Lukinson is very happy that he is teaching us Creole and able to make a some money. It is so hard to find any work. His older brother finished High School a few years ago. He also would like to go to university but cannot. He also would like to find a job, but cannot. The hard reality is that it is very difficult to get ahead in this country. The opportunities are limited but we can and do make a difference.
People say that Creole is a lot like French. I would agree - but LIKE is the key word. It is also very different - many words sound somewhat similar - but they are not the same - if you use the frrench word it often is not understood or is misunderstood. Simple example - Lundi - Lendi - are French and Creole respectively for Monday - they are not the same. Sentence construction is more like English than French. Usually adjectives precede the noun.
We have a very long way to go in our language training. We (I) have not been good students - we need to practice, practice, practice - but we've been so busy with other things - our new house, the minstry, and still tying up loose ends back in Canada,
Highlight of today is that we went furniture shopping with Julio. He works for Dr Ed and he took us shopping for furniture. We were successful. We went the long way and I was beginning to worry why Julio was taking us the way he did. Turns out I think that its kinda like following the bus routes. In this case tap tap routes. When across and down would work , we went way up, then across, then back down. We came back a new route - still way up, then across and down, just came down a different route. Totally lost - not sure how they navigate on these roads. Many of the roads do not have names - they just seem to know the corner to turn at. I have a good sense of direction - but the roads here are definitely very challenging. They go in all directions - up, down and lots of turns - and they have so many pot holes, your focused on the next 50 ft or so all the time.
Anyway the shopping was very successful. This is like market shopping - street corner - hand made furniture - I like to think of it as furniture with character. We negotiated for a kitchen table and chairs and eventually got to the point of going to buy it. Ah, but then we decided that we wanted one table and a set of chairs that were at another table. The deal was done. Ah but we couldn't bring it with us. No problem - they would deliver - right away. So we started to pick out the chairs from the other table - that caused some consternation. Turns out it was a problem. The chairs belonged to another vendor and they couldn't agree on the deal. So what do we do? After some discussion, we decided to sleep on it - maybe we'd be back, maybe not. As we drove away - about 1/2 a block - one vendor came running after us - they had worked it out. We talked a bit - decided to go back and they delivered. We are now the proud owners of a wooden kitchen table and chairs "with character". We also got some living room furniture - wood with banana leaves - nice, unique. But the story there is no where near as exciting.
We put the furniture into our house this afternnon. What a nice feeling. We still need to arrange for the guard and the guard dog. The one from Florida doesn't seem to be coming to quickly - hopefully tomorrow the one here in Haiti will work out. We need the dog. We have been calling the Guard company for over a week - with no luck at getting through. Think tomorrow we will need to visit them again. Language will be an issue; and they will only likely be able to tell us to call the director. This is who we are already trying to call.
I think I've shared my "new house" stories. Just one additional note on that one. Put the water pump on yesterday when we were there working. We have no hydro, so we used the generator - en Creole - delco. The circuit breaker kept flipping on the generator every 2-4 minutes - not enough power to run the water pump. THat's okay, after starting the delco - went to check the pump and water was coming out all over the place - the main water line from the pump to the roof had separated. No need to buy connectors here - you just heat the pipe and stretch it over the end of the other. Apparently no need to use glue when you do it that way either.
You have to improvise a lot here - the solution - wire it together. You work with what you have.
Okay so where do we stand. If we could get the guard thing happening that would wonderful. Everything else seems to be moving along. We have some furniture now and good potential to solve the dog problem. We do have internet and skype - but the service seems to have been downgraded somewhat after a good start.
Hopefully I can get this note out and maybe even make a couple of calls.
Keys are another storey. We'll get to that one some time.
Chow for now.
I have been driving in Haiti now for 2+ weeks. What got the most attention - driving in reverse up the main street about as fast as you normally drive forward. I don't think you're supposed to use reverse except to get out of a parking spot. Strangest predicament - making a third (middle lane) on a left turn.
Average speed I'd say is about 20-30 km/hr. Fast is 40 km, and really fast is anything over that. This has a huge impact in time & space. For example I thought that it was a long distance from our place to the airport. It really is not. But because of speed , traffic congestion, etc, it just seems long. When you ask someone what they are doing this morning - I'm going to the airport - that's it, that's all - its a plan all in itself.
The really good news about time and space - fuel economy. You can drive "seemingly" far and it doesn't use all that much gas.
We have located a dog in Florida, and there is an incredible story behind the people that are providing us with the dog. It is coming as soon as we can figure out all the paperwork that we need to complete in order to bring the dog into Haiti. That's in progress. We are going to see another dog that is already in Haiti tomorrow. We were going to see the dog this afternoon - but guess what - the owner went to the airport this morning - he called me back this afternoon saying that we wouldn't be able to meet after all. So now we are going to do it tomorrow. My point in all this is that it takes time to go to the airport - it seems far even though it really isn't.
Language training is going well. The boy's name that is teaching us Creole is Lukinson. He is a great guy - just finished high school and is hoping somehow to go to university - not likely this year though. He wants to study political science and get a job in government. He has been at Pastor Michel and Louise's church for 8 years - and what a good kid. We went to his home yesterday, and it is typical of many who attend Pastor Michel's program. There house is in a ravine, its two rooms - no running water, sanitation etc. just two rooms with a corrugated tin roof. He lives there with his mother who only has one leg, 2 other brothers and a cousin. They all share what they have - which is not that much. Lukinson is very happy that he is teaching us Creole and able to make a some money. It is so hard to find any work. His older brother finished High School a few years ago. He also would like to go to university but cannot. He also would like to find a job, but cannot. The hard reality is that it is very difficult to get ahead in this country. The opportunities are limited but we can and do make a difference.
People say that Creole is a lot like French. I would agree - but LIKE is the key word. It is also very different - many words sound somewhat similar - but they are not the same - if you use the frrench word it often is not understood or is misunderstood. Simple example - Lundi - Lendi - are French and Creole respectively for Monday - they are not the same. Sentence construction is more like English than French. Usually adjectives precede the noun.
We have a very long way to go in our language training. We (I) have not been good students - we need to practice, practice, practice - but we've been so busy with other things - our new house, the minstry, and still tying up loose ends back in Canada,
Highlight of today is that we went furniture shopping with Julio. He works for Dr Ed and he took us shopping for furniture. We were successful. We went the long way and I was beginning to worry why Julio was taking us the way he did. Turns out I think that its kinda like following the bus routes. In this case tap tap routes. When across and down would work , we went way up, then across, then back down. We came back a new route - still way up, then across and down, just came down a different route. Totally lost - not sure how they navigate on these roads. Many of the roads do not have names - they just seem to know the corner to turn at. I have a good sense of direction - but the roads here are definitely very challenging. They go in all directions - up, down and lots of turns - and they have so many pot holes, your focused on the next 50 ft or so all the time.
Anyway the shopping was very successful. This is like market shopping - street corner - hand made furniture - I like to think of it as furniture with character. We negotiated for a kitchen table and chairs and eventually got to the point of going to buy it. Ah, but then we decided that we wanted one table and a set of chairs that were at another table. The deal was done. Ah but we couldn't bring it with us. No problem - they would deliver - right away. So we started to pick out the chairs from the other table - that caused some consternation. Turns out it was a problem. The chairs belonged to another vendor and they couldn't agree on the deal. So what do we do? After some discussion, we decided to sleep on it - maybe we'd be back, maybe not. As we drove away - about 1/2 a block - one vendor came running after us - they had worked it out. We talked a bit - decided to go back and they delivered. We are now the proud owners of a wooden kitchen table and chairs "with character". We also got some living room furniture - wood with banana leaves - nice, unique. But the story there is no where near as exciting.
We put the furniture into our house this afternnon. What a nice feeling. We still need to arrange for the guard and the guard dog. The one from Florida doesn't seem to be coming to quickly - hopefully tomorrow the one here in Haiti will work out. We need the dog. We have been calling the Guard company for over a week - with no luck at getting through. Think tomorrow we will need to visit them again. Language will be an issue; and they will only likely be able to tell us to call the director. This is who we are already trying to call.
I think I've shared my "new house" stories. Just one additional note on that one. Put the water pump on yesterday when we were there working. We have no hydro, so we used the generator - en Creole - delco. The circuit breaker kept flipping on the generator every 2-4 minutes - not enough power to run the water pump. THat's okay, after starting the delco - went to check the pump and water was coming out all over the place - the main water line from the pump to the roof had separated. No need to buy connectors here - you just heat the pipe and stretch it over the end of the other. Apparently no need to use glue when you do it that way either.
You have to improvise a lot here - the solution - wire it together. You work with what you have.
Okay so where do we stand. If we could get the guard thing happening that would wonderful. Everything else seems to be moving along. We have some furniture now and good potential to solve the dog problem. We do have internet and skype - but the service seems to have been downgraded somewhat after a good start.
Hopefully I can get this note out and maybe even make a couple of calls.
Keys are another storey. We'll get to that one some time.
Chow for now.
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