Ashleigh and Katie, kicking it in Haiti: The Last Two Weeks (In a Nutshell)

The last two weeks-ish have been really great! They have been packed full of adventures and Katie and I have gotten lazy on the blogging. Sorry friends. I'll start with two Saturdays ago, the 3rd. The place where the kids go to horses was celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Of course all of the horse riders were invited to attend and naturally, Katie, Kerin, and I asked if we could tag along. The answer was "yes" so at 11am on Saturday, we headed down. The kids were greeted with their helmets and brand new T-shirts for the celebration. Little did we know, the kids were actually going to perform at the celebration! They had their own slot during the day where they got to show off all of their skills to the rest of the horse riding community of Haiti. I felt like a proud parent/ groupie. They were stars, and we knew them! They all did such a great job showing off what they know! While we were at the celebration, we met a man named Patrick who is a long time friend of Paco (the owner of the Equestrian Club). Patrick was talking to all of us and asked us if we would be interested in riding the horses. We all said yes, but we don't ride them here because that is the time for the kids to ride and we do not want to take away from their time on the horses. Before we could refuse, Patrick had made an aggreement with Paco to let us ride the following Thursday when we came with the kids. We would get our own lesson on Thursday! Needlees to say we were all pretty excited about this. After a long day at the Equestrian Club, we headed back home with ribbons and certificates for all the kids. Everyone was tired and the long drive home was made even longer due to a flat tire. We finally made it home after dark and went straight to bed; we had another big day on Sunday. We woke in the morning and headed to town for church, except this time, we did not head to St. Joseph's like we do every other Sunday. Pastor Jean Ristil (a teacher here at Wings and one of the original members of the St. Joseph Family) had invited us to attend his church. We accepted and made plans to meet him in Petionville at the Texaco and he would take us from there to his church. After a fifteen minute tap tap ride and a long, brisk walk up a hill, we reached a doorway that looked nothing like a church on the outside. We headed up a steep, narrow staircase to the roof of the building where there was a little covered area packed full of chairs with flowers adorning the walls and cieling and curtains of lace as walls. Pastor led us to our front row reserved seats. We were informed beforehand that the service would be about 2 hours long, so Katie, Kerin and I decided to ask for the restroom. "Okay, just one minute," was the answer we recieved from Pastor. After about five minutes he said "Okay, let's go." He led us down the narrow staircase, which seemed more treacherous on the way down, across the street, down an alley and into someone's home. We didn't realize that we would have to intrude on someone's home just to use the bathroom, but were glad that we did because the service was actually 2 hours long. When we got back from the bathroom break, service began. The church is Baptist, so there was a lot of singing and Halleluahs. Somewhere in the middle of service, we were informed that we needed to introduce ourselves, on the spot. I thought that God had come and struck me down right then! I despise public speaking, especially on the spot and in a language unfamiliar to me. I am even getting clammy and nervous right now just thinking about it. Luckily, I was the last to go and Pastor was our translator. I made a brief speech with a nervous grin smeared across my face the entire time. When I finished, I was given a reassuring "AMEN" from the congregation that made me feel like I wasn't quite the fool I thought I was. We clapped and sang our way through the rest of service and at the end gave nearly everyone a hug and thanked them for letting us join them in worship. Pastor then took us to a tap tap so we could make our journey home. Everyday of the following week, the students and teachers all gathered to practice their Christmas Pageant, so Katie, Kerin and I got to entertain the day students and some of the other kids who don't have a huge role in the Pageant. We have been working on Christmas decorations with them which all turned out beautifully! We had been anticipating Thursday all week knowing that we would get to ride horses, so Thursday morning, we all woke eager to get to horses. We got to horses and a few kids jumped on for their usual session and then Paco called me over. I thought I would just be leading the horse like I had done before, but I was wrong. It was my turn to ride! Yes! I felt a little guilty since not all of the kids had gotten to ride yet, but I wasn't about to argue in Kreyol with a World Class horse rider, so I hopped on. I went for a couple laps around the ring and then Paco called me over to him. Before I knew it, Lazar was sitting on my lap! I got to ride the horse around with Lazar! Such an awesome experience! Not only was I getting to ride a horse, but I was also getting to help Lazar ride a horse too! I thought I was going to cry, but then reality hit me that I was on top of a 1,100 pound-ish animal with a kid who does not have much control over his muscle movement. No time to be sentimental. Time to put those Insanity workouts to use! Tighten that core and hold on tight to Lazar and the reigns. We started walking around the ring and it became easier as Lazar and I got more comfortable with each other on the horse. By the time we were done, I was sweating and ready to relax for a minute. We got off the horse and Paco said that I wasn't finished yet. After all the kids rode, Katie, Kerin, and I would have our lesson. Ok, eat your salami and butter sandwich and chug that carbonated lemonade quick because you're up next! Katie, Kerin and I took to our horses and started walking around the ring. "This is easy," I thought to myself. I had been on horses before up and down a mountain, so this was cake. Katie was the first to tackle trotting. Paco took her horse by lead and started leading him around in a circle, trotting. The whole time he was trying to get Katie to sit, stand, sit, stand, with the movement of the horse. Now you have to understand that we were getting free horse riding lessons from a World Champion horse competitor, so to say that he had high expectations for us would be a major understatement! We could not do anything right for this man. He must have thought we were the dumbest blancs to ever walk the face of the planet! After Katie recieved a sufficient yelling session, she was released to trot on her own and then Kerin was led to her trotting lesson. I was still just sauntering around at a pace that was more that ok with me. My horse and I were bonding and getting comfortable with each other before the trotting lesson, or so I thought. Katie came up behind me trotting on her horse, and I guess that our horses exchanged some glares or something because before I knew it, Katie's horse was kicking at mine! My horse was sent into a frenzie and I could feel myself getting closer and closer to falling off with each movement of the horse. A brief thought of "Am I really about to fall off this horse?!?!" crossed through my mind and the next thing I knew, I was on my bum in the dirt, my horse towering over me. I jumped up real quick, half embarrased, half terrified. The first thing I remember was Josephine's sweet little voice asking me if I was alright. I was, and I jumped back on the horse just like you are supposed to do after you fall off. P.S. Katie was fine. She and her horse trotted off gracefully without a problem. Katie always comes out triumphant over me in any sport we happen to partake in. Needless, to say, this little incident did not improve Paco's perception of us. Oh well, I guess I was ready now more than ever for my trotting lesson. Paco led my horse to the open area and my horse started trotting. "UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN," Paco instructed. "Relax your hands." Relax was the last thing I wanted to do after the near death experiecne I just had, but I did my best. After Paco got tired of shouting at me, he released me to trot on my own. Katie, Kerin and I were all lined up trotting (kind of) around the ring together. We made it through the rest of our lesson with no more mishaps. We were even more sweaty than before and tired. That up and down business while riding a horse is not nearly as easy as those professionals make it look! This past Sunday was a day worth talking about! We headed to St. Joseph's for church in the morning. Service was wonderful, as usual, and it was good to see all our friends since we missed the previous Sunday. We hung around for a little after service since we didn't have to be back at Wings until around 3. We were invited to play darts with the boys and we stayed for lunch. One of the boys made lunch for everyone and it was wonderful! Hatian spaghetti is delicious, especially when you add chopped up hot dogs! We then headed home to meet up with Alcindor. We had been planning to go to a cock fight for the past few days, so when we got home, Alcindor was there waiting for us. We changed clothes really quick then headed down into town for the fight. Now when I think of a cock fight, I think of the stereotypical ring in the center with two cocks fighting and people packed around all sides shouting, yelling and making bets. Well, the stereotypes are extremely accurate. That is exactly what it was, only this time, three blanc women happened to show up. We were getting stares like usual and couldn't decide if it was because we were women at a cock fight or if it was because we were white. Probably both. The fighting was not nearly as bloody as I expected and of the 4 cocks that fought, only one of them perished. After the first fight, I went to Alcindor so he could explain the rules to us. The time limit in the fighting is determined beforehand between the two owners of the cocks fighting. If one dies before the time is up, the other wins. The winner gets money for his victory along with the defeated cock, and bragging rights, of course. The loser gets nothing. The people who place bets and win recieve double what they bet; losers again, get nothing. If it is a draw, meaning time runs out and both cocks are still standing, everyone who bet breaks even, receiving the money back that they bet. In general, those are the rules, at least the important ones. We watched two fights total, the second one being less dramatic since we knew what to expect and we had a little moonshine in us! Plus, both cocks lived in the second fight. After the fight we headed home to eat some chicken (yes, seriously. We get chicken for lunch every Sunday). This week has been filled with Christmas preparations. Yesterday we helped decorate the house and we put up the tree. Today we made pinatas for the Christmas party. Tomorrow we have Christmas Boutique where all the staff and kids get to purchase presents for eachother for Christmas. Thursday, we get to make and help decorate Christmas cookies for everyone and Friday we get to pass them out to the neighborhood children. It is a fun filled week! Katie, Kerin and I are anticipating our bittersweet return to the States. We are excited to see our family and friends, but sad to leave our new family and friends. We plan to cherish these last few days with the children and staff. I hope all is well for eveyone as you are in the midst of your holiday season! Love to all!