Friendship

Today was fairly uneventful in many ways, but that was actually kind of nice. With my body being lobster-like in color it was nice to have a low key day. Tres bien.

But in some ways it was very eventful. I e-mailed Lisa about the next COR group and supplies needed for their next mission. I created a bank balance spreadsheet for Doug to use. I updated one of his current financial spreadsheets. Also, I helped my dad by running some diagnostics of the internet. Oh, and I chatted with Cayce and Lisa today about various Haiti stuffs. Good times.

I suppose that I do have one story for you today, though. After breakfast I was in the office with Doug and Mike just hanging out a bit before Doug and Mike took a trip to the bank. They advised that I not come along because the bank can be a fairly dangerous place to be. I figured that would probably be a good idea and I offered to stay behind and help with some of the budget sheets while Doug was away from his computer. Right about this time before Doug and Mike left, though, Jammes, the accountant for the Guest House came into the office.

Doug told me that Jammes is working on learning English. He speaks French and Kreyol fluently but really wants to learn English. I told him that he could teach me Kreyol and I would help him with his English. Shortly afterwards, Doug and Mike left and Jammes asked me, "You speak only English?" I said, "Yes, but I am trying to learn Kreyol."

He came over and looked at my little tablet of notes I had taken of certain words and phrases I wanted to remember and helped me to pronounce them. He also helped me by telling me what words to use instead of the ones I had written down. Some of the words I wrote down were more formal and he told me some more informal phrases. Although we could not speak very much to one another, it was fun to be around him and to let him teach me.

After the short Kreyol lesson, I spoke with him a bit in English. I found out he is 20 years old (Yeah, 20 years old and a full time accountant! Dang!) and he wants to come to America. He asked me where I lived in America and I told him "Kansas City." He did not know where Kansas City was, though, so I pulled up a map on Google and showed him. Later on, when I was helping my dad with the internet he said, "Oh, your dad is Clif!?" I nodded and showed him my dad's picture on Skype. He smiled and I could tell that he was very happy to see my dad's face again. I pulled up a picture to show him of my whole family and that made him very happy, too.

Although we could barely understand each other, I think a friendship began.

Also, in other news, I did finally get a cellphone today. If you want to call me, please let me know and I'll give you the number. :) Beyond that, I get to visit UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) Haiti tomorrow. I will be meeting Samuel who is the head of UMCOR Haiti and from what I hear, he's a very neat man with years of knowledge and experience. I am excited to meet him!

Anyway, I'm off! Au revior!

Beth

Here are some words and phrases in Kreyol if you care to learn!:
Hello - Bonjou! (or Bonswa!)
How are you? - Kouman ou ye?
I am not too bad. And you? - M papi mal. E ou menm?
I am good. - M bien.
What is your name? - Ki jan ou rele?
My name is Beth. - M rele Beth.