It's Prank Time!!

If you know me at all, I love to joke around. And I have ALWAYS loved a good prank (nothing illegal, that will damage or hurt someone's feelings obviously...just some good old fun). From the Busy Bandits in Forrer Hall to "decorating" our sorority's advisors' homes (on more than one occasion), a lot of my college years were filled with pranks.

So, like I said, if you know me at all, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I am filled with the "pranking spirit" here in Haiti. I have recently kidnapped a puppet from Miss Ashley's First Grade class. His name is Jackie Chan (yes, the kids named him Jackie Chan). I have left a couple ransom notes for the kids and they are in QUITE AN UPROAR about it! Hopefully, Miss Ashley will be able to use this as a "learning experience" for her kids and they can write letters back to me! (and yes, Miss Ashley knows I have him!)



Jackie enjoys chillin' on our front porch:



Jackie checking his e-mail with his friend Roger:

beautiful faces

There are no words to describe these beautiful faces. I love my babies!

Singin' in the Rain

Our fall semester here was EXTREMELY rainy, so when I was at home for Christmas, I decided to purchase some rain boots. And I have only gotten to wear them one other time, on a weekend...but today, the glorious day was finally here. I didn't even know it was raining until my roommates said something to me about it. So I put my rain boots on and got ready for school. Only to discover that our street was the only wet street. Once I turned the corner at the end of our street, everything was as dry as a bone. Such a disappointment.

Teaching Haitians to Teach Haitians

A few weeks ago, Miss Jen brought the seniors over to the preschool to help my kids with puzzles. My kids had SUCH a GREAT time! They absolutely LOVED it! And it was fun for me to be able to interact with students who speak better English! The older students were very helpful with my kids and seemed to really enjoy hanging out with them...which is our main goal at Sonlight. We are here to teach Haitians so that they will in turn reach out to other Haitians. I know I have only been here for a short time, but I am already excited and can't wait for the day when one of our graduates takes over my classroom and teaches preschool for the next 20 years!!!

Elie and Jean:


Adlai and Scott:

It's Limbo time!

Today Emilien and Josue came over for lunch. I know I have said it before, but I LOVE THESE BOYS! They are my absolute favorite Haitians! We ate and talked and had a good time with these sweet boys. After lunch we played some music so that Josue would start dancing for us. We played the Limbo and Ashley went to get a broomstick. After I showed them how to Limbo, they both tried it. It was so funny! Josue kept running under and hitting his head on the broom and Emilien leaned his head back so far he couldn't see where he was going!

the streets are flowing with milk and honey...and um....yeah.

as most of you know, there is no sewer system in haiti...and a lot of people don't have toilets in their houses (luckily this is not us...we are fully equipped with toilets, so mom, please don't worry!). but if you've "gotta go" you have a couple options. you can a.) go in the street, b.) go in a kivet, bucket, or pan and later throw it in the street...either way, it ends up in the street. luckily we have a ditch in front of our house where all the sewage ends up...it's not just randomly placed in the streets. at least it is all in "one place" to avoid.
and luckily we have nice man who works next door who always keeps our "ditch" flowing fairly steadily so as not to keep the sewage stagnant in front of our house. Sometimes I love living in Haiti and sometimes I don't. But, compared to some of the kids at our school, if the worst thing I face in day is jumping over a pile of poop on my way to school, I'm pretty lucky.

my replacement

I think they have found my replacement for when I leave Haiti.