Archive for May, 2001

8:00pm

It’s been raining all day today. I don’t feel like doing much else besides sleeping when it’s like this. The temperature makes it nice for sleeping too – 70o F. Since it’s Sunday I went to Latiboliere for the Scout Chiefs meeting. Ernante went with me but just to buy meat – they buy a hunk of meat to eat each Sunday. She returned while I stayed for the meeting. It was a pretty worthless meeting, like almost all of their meetings, and hardly anyone came because of the rain. Each Sunday is now the big cockfighting day in Fourcan since they built a nice cockpit behind Meret’s house. Of course there wasn’t many people their today because of the rain. Ernante and I did get to see a few fights though. I also drank a couple of beers which was nice since I hardly ever drink beer and I haven’t drank for two weeks.

I’m going to P-au-P tomorrow for 5 or 6 days for our yearly Agriculture Sector meeting. Actually we will be at Le Xaragua which will be a nice little vacation. I’m not sure if we’ll actually go tomorrow though if it continues to rain; they don’t like to fly in the rain. I really don’t fell like going to P-au-P right now but I do have some stuff I need to do there. It will also be nice that at least one night I will have a chance to talk to my parents. I’ll rite more when I get back.

I don’t really feel I have a lot to say today but I thought I would write anyway. The fact that I haven’t written much in this journal will hopefully be somewhat clouded when the numerous “group” letters that I sent home are included.

Yesterday was Ernante’s 22nd birthday. I had hoped my parents would be able to send her engagement ring for me to give to her but it turns out it is not possible to send precious stones in the mail or with other carriers. They will try to send them with some one from Indiana who is coming to Haiti. Anyway, Ernante and I ate at Chez Patou. We had chewy T-bone steaks and afterwards I had a float while Ernante ate her first ice cream cone. She thought I was joking when I told her you could eat the cone part. After eating, we changed clothes and she took a motorcycle taxi and I rode my bike out to the beach at Anse D’Azur. We had a wonderful time laughing and splashing around in the surf. We threw the Frisbee around too, but only a few times. After we finished we rode back to Jeremie together (Ernante sat on the top tube of the bike). That was the second time we had done that. It was really fun and romantic. I told her I wanted to buy a tandem bike went we got to the States so we could ride together. She said she liked the idea.

I though it would be really easy for me to fill up this journal during my two years here, especially with how big I write but it’s proving to be difficult. And although I feel I really have a lot to say – because I have ideas and thoughts rushing through my head always – I think I’m just too damn lazy to write them all down. It’s unfortunate though because I would like to leave something behind of myself for my children and grandchildren to read. I know I would find it interesting to read some of my grandfather’s stories if only he had written them down. It’s also unfortunate that I really don’t write very many little stories about things that have happened to me in here. Stories, if anything, are probably what would make this journal interesting.

Ernante’s aunt, Aloud, came yesterday from France to visit her father who is supposedly ill. She is Ydalia’s half-sister since Ydalia’s father died. Anyway she lives in Paris. I really wanted to talk to her about what Paris is like but Ernante and I were in town all day yesterday and Aloud wasn’t feeling very well last night and so went to bed early. This morning they left early for Durantan, Ernante went with them (I miss her). I haven’t gone more than fifteen feet from the house today. It’s just one of those days in which I don’t really feel like interacting with anyone. Besides, there is really nothing for me to do today. I would go over to the Verrier’s but Only Nicole, Tita and Meret are there and in general they don’t make very good conversation, especially Nicole and Tita. I for got how difficult it is to converse with teenagers.

I was supposed to go to Ranja with the Scouts this afternoon but it’s been raining on and off and even if there hadn’t have been rain I still wouldn’t have gone. I am positive I have amebic dysentery as yesterday I had a stool with mucus and stained with blood. I am also experiencing frequent bowel movements and abdominal cramping. I have already taken the required medicine (metronidazole) for giardia and amebas but didn’t take a supplement of tetracycline for the amebas as recommended. Fortunately, I am going to P-au-P on Monday and hopefully I can take care of this at that time.

It’s been just another day in the slums of Haiti. I don’t know exactly what slums are like but I imagine them being somewhat like it is here, lots of babies crying, constant noise, people always talking way too loud for the situation, constant verbal arguments, etc… Today, one of the Verrier’s neighbors got in a fight with one of my neighbors over some money. After finishing his fight with my neighbor he went home and started a very heated dispute that has lasted all evening and from what I can tell is still continuing. It is a day like today that makes me want to leave Haiti just so I can hear some silence. What is very unfortunate is that, especially in the case of people fighting today, they are the ones who are producing more children, who are most likely to become like their parents. It will be a constant battle for humanity to offset this overpopulation of uneducated and ill-raised class.

Since I last wrote I have been engaged to Ernante. The engagement actually happened in March so it has been almost two months. There is really a lot to tell but I don’t feel like writing it all down. I have become somewhat concerned about the feasibility of our long-term relationship. Since our engagement we have had disagreement after disagreement. It seems that one of us is upset at the other at least every other day. Although I understand we have a lot of cultural differences to work out, among other things, I worry about our future. I also have to add that while we have many disagreements we also have many times when we play together and laugh hysterically. Nonetheless, I feel that we will have many difficult times while defining our roles in marriage and learning what the other expects. It should be interesting at the very least.

I would like to describe from, off the top of my head, some of my likes and dislikes of Haiti as I believe I have not done this thus far in this journal. One of the things that I like most and take satisfaction from is the way I live here. I feel that my lifestyle is very environmentally friendly. My transportation is almost exclusively by foot or bicycle. All of my water needs are supplied by rain. I use propane stoves to cook food and boil water. A good portion of my food, food that is grown in Haiti, is organically grown. My house lighting is supplied by kerosene lamps, which may not be all that environmentally friendly but are only used 1 or 2 ours every evening. I also like the fact that people interact with people much more here, as opposed to the U.S. And likewise, families talk much more than U.S. families. I can’t complain about the food either. While I enjoy most every Haitian dish my stomach cries out for more variety and chocolate.

What I don’t like about Haiti is that there are way too many people. I never seem to truly have a moment to myself. In fact, almost everything I dislike about Haiti stems from there being too many people using too few resources. Haiti could easily be a tropical paradise if you could only remove 75% of the population. If Haiti doesn’t do something to curb its population growth it will only become worse.