What a Monday! I am getting more comfortable with living in a developing country. It makes you appreciate how much I have and how lucky I am to be an American!

Goodness, Monday! WHERE DO I BEGIN!?!

My very first adventure of the day was walking/running around Croix-des-Bouquets. It was so fun and so beautiful! I am living on the farm side of town which is very cool! So many farms and farm animals! I saw dogs, cows, chickens, and goats! It really was amazing! Even two of the dogs, that essential live with us, came along for the walk/run. It was really cool how they didn't leave us! But, they did get into a fight with a goat! It was pretty funny!

Later during the day, we had our orientation of HAC and learned about the organization and what they hope to accomplish. It was really a refresher for me because I studied the website before I came down to Haiti.

After the orientation is when the REAL fun began!
In Haiti, I am referred to as 'Teacher'. How cool is that?!!? Never in a million years would I have ever expected myself to be a teacher! Many opportunities and passions seem to seek you out rather than you choosing them. I never thought I would ever be a teacher, and here I am... Teaching and enjoying it!!! During class, the students seemed to not stop smiling! I don't know what they were smiling about or they were making fun of me. Either way, it seemed sweet! White or 'Blan' people are very rare down here and you get stared at, especially by the young children! We actually walked down to the '7/11' here to exchange money for gouds (Haitian Money), and on the way back, a young boy said to us "Good Morning!" and it was 7pm. Needless to say, it was very sweet and cute!

Before class had started I really did not know what to expect. I wasn't sure how the students would respond to me or if they would even listen to me. Much to my astonishment, they asked so many questions! They were very interested in me and where I lived and what the US was like. So many of them are really very good at speaking English, I just need to better understand their accent! At the beginning of class, I had every student say their name, say where they are from, and why they want to learn English. Most of them want to know English for better jobs and to go to the US. We went through the lesson plan and it is difficult to teach English. It's hard to teach something that feels "just because that is how you say it and write it." That part will probably be the most difficult! It is a great learning process for me as well!

During class, one thing that struck me the most was how they wanted to get rid of their Haitian accent when they spoke English. They really wanted me to help them with that! So I told them that I would help with that, but I also gave a small pep talk..... I told them that they will probably not be able to lose the Haitian accent when they speak English. I told them to embrace their culture and be proud of it. Hopefully they understood what I was saying. I spoke a little French to them and I tried to explain that I also will never be able to have a completely translucent accent when I speak French, no matter how good I became (and I am terrible!) They laughed a little when I tried speaking French, which made the classroom comfortable. I also assigned homework! That was fun! And intimidating as well! We will see if they do it and turn it in on Wednesday! I would be shocked f they actually listened. Although, they all really want to learn English.

My weekend and Monday was fantastic and I look forward to what else there may be. I know I will start to really love my students and more importantly, appreciate their effort in learning English, and being able to understanding ME!

I may go and play basketball with some of the volunteers and Haitians. I start learning Creole Haitian tomorrow! We will see how that goes!


"In a gentle way, you can shake the world"- Mahatma Gandhi