Day of Adventure

Today was a great day! It started out with cheesy egg casserole, fresh fruit, and French pastries! Such a nice change from rice soup! We then gathered our items for town. We all crammed into a van (6 visitors from Atlanta, myself, Katie, Kerin, Renee, and KC) and headed to St. Joseph’s for church. The trip was filled with fun and interesting conversation, everything from skydiving to religion. When we arrived at St. Joseph’s, a local shoe maker was there waiting for us! He measures the size of your foot and hand makes them to fit just right! I had my foot sized up for the pair that I like the most and might have ordered my favorite sister a matching pair! We then proceeded to service which was similar to last week’s, but filled to the brim with people to worship the Lord! It was a great worship filled with song and prayer. After worship we headed for lunch at a hotel which was fantastic! Katie and I opted to share a Club sandwich since we were still filled from breakfast and we knew dinner would be big again. It was one of the best Club sandwiches I have ever had; four slices of bread filled with turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and topped off with a fried egg! Such a nice touch! Some of the men from Atlanta joined Renee in a glass of rum punch (or two) with lunch, but I was a little afraid, and rightfully so, we came to find out. It was quite potent for punch! I think next time I’ll muster up some courage to get my very own glass of rum punch! During lunch, Renee gave us some tips on how to barter with the men selling artwork. I think her best advice was to select a price that we thought the piece was worth and to aim for a price that was less than half of what they were asking. Thanks Renee for the tips! After we all finished lunch, we headed to the streets to try out our new bartering skills! The streets were lined with Haitian artwork and men that were very ambitious about selling their product. I decided to sit back for a minute so I could make the proper selection on what to purchase. I skimmed the streets looking for just the right piece to take home for myself and tried to gain the courage to barter with these aggressive salesmen. Having Renee’s advice in mind, I found the piece I wanted to purchase. I told the man that I wanted it, and between many exchanges in price, I settled on 3 pictures for $25. I’m still not really sure how I ended up with three pictures, but I love them all! I only had $20 bills so I gave him $40 expecting $15 in return. Little did I know I would not see that $15 again; these men all work together to get the maximum profit. Once they had my money, I was swarmed by men trying to sell me more paintings for the remaining $15. Pictures were spread out all over the sidewalk, most of which I had no interest in. I tried hard to get my change back, but those salesmen are so great at what they do, and I’m a sucker. So, I found a few more pictures that I really like among the slurry of pictures being thrown before me. One man made a deal with me for 2 pictures for the remaining $15, which I thought was pretty decent and I was planning on taking him up on that offer. I carefully selected the pictures that I wanted, taking my time to pick the right ones. I guess the man thought that I was contemplating the deal, so he decided to change the deal to 3 pictures for the remaining $15! Even better! Made my decision process even easier! However, there was one picture that I had my eye since the beginning and I did not have that one in my collection yet. I said “How about $15 for that one?” and I pointed to the one I wanted. All I got was a laugh, which I expected because that painting was much larger than the ones I was bartering for. I said “OK” and returned to the other three that I had selected. Just as I closed the deal with that man, the other man offered me the painting that I really wanted for $15. I tried to change my mind and negate the deal that was just made. Bad choice! All chaos broke loose as the two men then fought over who would get my money! They were yelling and screaming at each other in Kreyole, and I just took a step back. One of the men from Atlanta, Tony, came over to make sure that I was alright and to be a male presence in case it was needed. Very sweet of him and it was much appreciated on my part. Even though the men were not fighting with me, I still felt really nervous and my stomach sank. After a couple of seconds, which seemed like minutes, of them arguing, they came to the conclusion that the first deal was the one that would stick, so I got the three pictures for $15. But now, the men knew which painting I really desired. I thought they were aggressive before, but I had seen nothing yet. The man knew I would most likely buy this painting, so he started high with the price. I wouldn’t have it, knowing he was about to sell it to me for $15. After a minute of going back and forth between price, I finally called Renee over to see if she thought the painting was worth $20. She pointed out that it was kind of poor quality and was dirty. She was right. Either way, I was still in love with the painting and I was about to purchase this piece from him for $20, when another man came to me with the same painting, smaller, but better quality. After going back and forth between the two, I settled for $15 for the smaller version! Score! I got the one I wanted for a reasonable price! But uh oh, I only had a $20 bill. I know what this means…who will give me the best painting for the remaining $5. More hounds at my feet sprawling pictures all over. I had them coming at me from every direction! I scoped them out and was flipping through them like I’d done it a thousand times before and finally found one that I had been looking at for a little while. I said to the man, “Five dollars for this one”. By this point, the men knew that this was the last of the money that I was going to spend, so he knew that it was that picture or nothing. He gladly handed over the picture and I announced “fini”, which means finished, to the men. With looks of disappointment and defeat, they rolled up their painting and let me make my way back to the van. Eight paintings and $60 later, I felt pretty proud of myself, I think. Did I get suckered into buying things I didn’t really want? No, in the end, I walked away with eight Haitian paintings that I absolutely love and I think I paid a fair price for them. The next best deal out of our group of people was made by Kerin, 4 paintings for $55...so I’d say I did fairly well, without even trying. Once I piled my gallery of art into the van, we were off to the market. Chocolate was on the list this week. We decided not to get food for a “special” meal since we are getting special meals until Tuesday! Chocolate and Cheez-Its successfully purchased, we then hopped back into the van to head to the best view in Haiti. We drove up and up to get to an overlook that showed off all of Port Au Prince and surrounding suburbs and of course, the ocean. By far then best view yet. Breathtaking to say the least. After many pictures, and a little more souvenir shopping, not by me, we were on our way home. The conversation on the way home mainly consisted of True Blood talk, a television series that is apparently pretty good. I’ve yet to watch any of it, but now I am intrigued and may have to jump on the True Blood train! Thanks Atlanta guys! We got close to our road to Wings, when the van driver stopped and said we had to walk the rest of the way because the road was not in very good condition to drive in. So, souvenirs in hand, we all ventured down the muddy road to home. Slip and slide but don’t fall! These were my sole thoughts as I was walking down the muddy slope! I cannot ruin my art gallery that so worked so hard to obtain! A few slides and about 150 yards later, we arrived safely to the road leading to Wings…all precious pictures in tact and mud free! We were greeted by the smiling faces of Steve, Frank Ely, Peterson and Sadraque. Always a pleasant sight and a warm welcome home. We spent some quality time with the children until our lovely dinner was ready to be devoured. Vegetarian tonight; eggplant casserole-ish with white rice and salad! A delicious end to a busy and adventurous day! Katie, Kerin and I were on dish duty again; just a small price to pay for the wonderful meals we get to share! All in all, a wonderful day! Thanks so much to Renee for her tremendous patience with all of us silly Americans!

 Talented boys at St. Joseph's

 Matching Safari shirts!

 Prom

 Muddy treck. Don't drop that beer!