First Day

Before we slept last night, we said we'd convene as a group at 7:30 am. (And we all would've taken care of our morning routines, had breakfast if we'd wanted it, and quiet times, and be ready to share and organize the things we needed to do that day.) Then I stayed up later than the others and posted to the blog, settled in my room, read a little, and finally fell asleep.

Hours passed (of sleep). Oblivion.

Then, a rooster crowing. I half-awoke, saw it was getting to be a litte light outside, thought I'd sleep more.

But then--another rooster (or maybe the same one?) crowing. And then another. And more and more crowing.

Ok, so maybe no more sleep. I looked at my cell phone, saw it was almost 7 am, and rushed to the bathroom. Too tired to remember if we said 7 or 7:30. Rushed downstairs, saw B, asked what time we said we'd be meeting, and he said 7:30.

"Great! Time enough for a shower then" (and I rushed back to the bathroom). Did so, and went back--and everyone didn't seem to be convening. And I found out why.

I'd had the impression (maybe from talking with R or S before?) that Haiti was on the same time as the Pacific time zone. And it turns out they were, but they don't observe Daylight Savings Time. So now they were on the same time as US Central Time. So in fact it was about 6:30am. Ok.

Leisurely morning quiet time, enjoying a view of the city and the morning breeze. Then at 7:30, spent a little time as a group (5 of us, R, S, B, Sd our Haitian translator/helper, and myself) sharing, then talking about logistics for the day. Some things needed to be done at the house/office (one of the upper rooms is being used as an office). Others needed to get done at various places in Port-Au-Prince.

Initial plan made. Then what was thought to be a short task (at the house) turned out to be a long one. And other phone calls made. New plans made.

I went with B and Sd to the company giving us Internet service. Now R had commented that with the work she had been doing, Internet was absolutely necessary. Documents and photos had to be scanned and sent to others (often in Texas, the headquarters of the foundation, or to Washington D.C., or to others). And also received from others. And lots of legal stuff that wouldn't be available to us in any other way than the web.

We wanted a higher allocation of access. The company installed and provided service for satellite internet access. We were getting 500 MB/day, and we needed more, a lot more. That 500 was total for the sum of all downloads and uploads. After this capacity was reached, we'd still have access, but a lot lot slower. And it's reset at midnight each day (so blogging here doesn't affect any of the allotment).

So we drove there, waited a little bit, talked to a guy there (who spoke English! yes!), and asked what higher allocations were available. 1250 MB/day. B then called R on the phone, then asked if an unlimited access plan was available. The guy hemmed and hawed a little, then said he could tell us the following week.

Well, ok, we'd upgrade today to 1250, and then talk next week. Then he took us to another room, with 2 women at a desk, and the next 30-45 minutes were then spent largely waiting for them to type up a modified contract and bill us. And credit card authorization. And then us asking that the modified contract state somewhere that it was for 1250. And questions on the phone. And then we were done.

In the midst of this, I leaned over to B, and asked whether those numbers (330/month) were in Haitian dollars or US or goud.

A few quick comments re Haitian money. $1 USD is about 7-8 Haitian dollars. Seems simple enough. But in fact, almost all normal business is done in goud (I'm guessing at the spelling). 1 Haitian dollar is 5 goud. So $1 USD is about 35 goud. Most prices are quoted in Haitian dollars, but actually paid for in goud currency. Why, you might ask? (as I did). S or R said, (and I think it was a little speculative), so that prices seem like low numbers. And all Haitians do their 5 to 1 conversions in their head. Ok.

So I asked what our monthly fees were, and B said, US dollars. Gulp. Wow, satellite internet is really expensive. But again, I guess we really need it, and I guess affordable Internet access isn't much of a priority for the Haitian marketplace. And B had called other companies, and it was either unavailable in our area or even more expensive at other places.

After our business was done, we went to get food. Sd and B saw a woman cooking on a sidewalk, with some big pots, and various utensils, and a small covered shelter nearby with a table and chairs. They said it looked good, so we bought food there. Which involved waiting about 10-15 minutes (we ordered for 6), and getting a bunch of styrofoam containers in white plastic shopping bag type bags.

Sd explained that the woman probably paid 50 goud a month to rent the space, likely owned a restaurant before the earthquake (since she had all the cooking stuff and other restaurant type stuff around), and now was undercutting the prices of a nearby "real" restaurant. But he also explained to B and I that if you were going to take a girl on a date, you wouldn't eat there, you'd go to the real restaurant and pay a lot more for the food, which would be probably of about the same quality, but would be in a nicer place.

B and I nodded. Yes, we understood.

And so, Sd explained, most of the customers would be single men, or maybe, just maybe, some certain girls might be willing to eat here. Or men might eat here for lunch by themselves.

And he was completely right. In the time we waited, various men came up, talked to the woman cooking, and joined us in waiting for food. No women.

We got our food and drove back to the house. Our conversation was fascinating to me. B is a guy from Los Angeles who's part of the same church S goes to. Sd, our Haitian translator/helper is about 21, was a college student (majoring in chemistry, nice!) before the earthquake. He made the comment that the educational system in Haiti is corrupt, very corrupt. (Later, I found out that there's about 50% illiteracy in Haiti). And so we were 3 guys in a car, which I think made Sd more comfortable in talking about girls, and how a guy can be romantic to a girl. Though their concept of dating is really not very analogous to the American one.

Anyway, we drove back, had lunch, which really was very good, and cleaned up. Then we needed to get to MOH, an established organization in Haiti that had helped our foundation tremendously for the last few months (and was where R and S had stayed before this house was rented). There were some legal documents that we needed to get, and also some people that needed to be visited.

The drive from the house to MOH was a very different one from the others I'd been on. MOH is located a bit outside the city, and we passed a few large areas of tents set up, and blue tarps. And the US military, which had established an area nearby. We didn't see many people there, which left my imagination to visualize what it's like for those living under the tarps/tents.

The weather is pretty humid, and feels hot to me, though I see that the men on the street are about 90% wearing long pants or jeans. Many wear long sleeved shirts. I wonder if that will change as the summer draws closer.

The folks in the tents probably aren't having it so good. And it's probably going to be worse.

Anyway, we draw close to MOH, and B and Sd decide to buy some drinks. We mostly get some sodas (B and Sd and I each get a "Ragaman" sort of like a carbonated biggger Bacchus-D, if you know what that is).

We get to MOH, and R introduces me to various important people: "he's an attorney who'll be here for 2 months". (The idea of living here for the next 2 months, now verbalized, impresses itself a little deeper in my consciousness.) We get paperwork, and I definitely get the sense that the relationships are very important. As they say, it's who you know, not what you know. Though I definitely feel (as does R) that we also do need to find out a lot more of that "what you know" as it relates to Haitian law. Still, lots of friends of R and S and B say hello and talk, some in simple English, and others in simple Creole.

S is by far the most advanced of all of us ex-pats (expatriates, those not from Haiti) in Creole. R also knows quite a bit. I struggle to catch words, phrases, the flavor/rhythm of the language, anything. The fact that R and S have learned as much as they have in the last few months gives me some hope.

We also meet a bunch of MOH ex-pat staff, and others who are staying at MOH temporarily (I think). It's nice to see more people than the handful of us at the house.

The plan is also for us to catch part of a worship service at MOH, then leave before it gets dark, since driving in the dark in this area is not fun, as B says. The worship service is beautiful. Lots of kids, teens, young adults. Lots of energy. A really full worship band, bunch of singers on stage, guitarist, drummer, trumpeter, keyboardist. R leans over and points out the keyboardist, and tells me that he and his brother (leading the music with a microphone only) switch off on leading, and that they've written many of the worship songs we're singing. Lots of energy, and enthusiasm. Also as some of the younger kids are bored or distracted, they wander away to the back of the shelter. (I feel that in the U.S., if kids of the same were bored or distracted in a comparable music set of a worship service, they'd fidget more, or feel compelled to stay in place, but then be more willing to make trouble. Here, they wandered to the back, but didn't talk, and mostly didn't leave the shelter entirely, but just walked around the empty aisles in the back while respecting everyone else singing or praying).

A few of the songs are familiar melodies. Which is nice, because we can sing along in English. Everyone else is singing and/or praying in Creole.

We leave a bit later than we'd planned, and I find out that R and S, in talking with various MOH staff, have found out a lot of really useful stuff, and gotten some important things done. My initial understanding of why we went to MOH has been revised.

We drive back home, which is I think made slower by the fact that darkness falls while we're driving, and the streets are clogged again with traffic. More young boys begging. More crazy traffic (optional lanes, U-turns, pedestrians everywhere). And at home--hurray, the city's electrical power is on. Which is great, since it means we don't need to run the generator (we're out of gas, so we couldn't have done so for very long anyway). And we can use lights and fans to cool ourselves, and not worry that the food in the fridge or freezer will go bad. B had been looking the whole day for a gas station selling gasoline, not diesel, and we haven't seen any. So we need to get some tomorrow, to run the generator when the city power goes out. Which B tells us could be 3 minutes from now, or 8 hours from now, or whenever.

But for tonight, no immediate worries, since the city electricity is running.

By the way, Sd will sleep tonight at MOH (apparently, he sleeps about 3 nights/week at the house), so it's the 4 of us ex-pats together for dinner and some conversation. With luxuries of lights, fans, the microwave oven running and the fridge/freezer all working at the same time. Praise God!