This Week's Adventures

by Jimmy

Lot's going on this week as we/I am totally blown away that within a few weeks we will have a BABY! Absolutely crazy to think about.

Becky has been nesting a bit, and by nesting meaning she has tons of energy, easily outpacing me, in working to get our new apartment ready. We have finished painting, and now are working on scraping the old paint (not all from us) off the floor. Tonight we were able to start installing some of the hardware we bought at Ecko Depot. (And Ecko Depot is NOT at all just like HOME Depot. Having the same selection, and exactly the same shade of orange. Even the same sign layout might confuse some. This Ecko Depot, posts NO prices, so you can enjoy your shopping until you get to the checkout line.)

Our shopping list consisted of several different projects to complete and Ecko Depot is my favorite store, though I did not want to drive back and forth there twice today, but that is what we did. Our supposed to be 3 hour trip to the store 3 miles away ended up being 5 and 12 miles. We are very grateful however that we can actually go to one store and find the majority of what we need.

On the way there, we were not surprised at the new signs posted on the airport walls. There is always advertising, and graffiti on them. But this new one caught our attention. This No Trespassing notice, posted every 50 feet down the wall, kept us laughing the whole way to the store and back. And then we got to pass it again.

I think something got lost in translation.

Something will always delay or surprise you in anything attempted in Haiti. Today it was our debit card. We checked out at the store, handed over the card, and it was declined. "Securite. Call your bank." Obviously I forgot our phone at the house, and could not. We asked that they keep our stuff together while we went home and would come back. (Miracle number one: They understood, and all our stuff was waiting when we got back.) (Miracle number two: We made it back just before 1:00 in the afternoon, when they close.) I always find it interesting how a home improvement store closes at 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon. Such is Haiti.

So we made it back just in time. Oh, and almost forgot - on the way there the first time, we got a free concert as we were driving down the road. A rap singer in a Jamaican hat and dreds down to his knees was sitting backwards on a motorcycle making a music video. They passed us first, then stayed in front for a good bit, so... check your local Haiti MTV station and you might just see our cameo. I was a little surprised at this unusual sight, but pleasantly amused as it took some of the boredom out of heavy traffic, but was more surprised that his dreds did not get caught up in the back wheel of the moto. Unfortunately we did not have our camera this time, and traffic was moving, slow, but fast enough to not allow us to get out and ask for autographs.

Life is ever changing in Haiti, and we are slowly learning not to be surprised by the surprising. It keeps life from being boring that is for sure. And when things go well, or even if they go half as planned, it is a time to celebrate. Like a trip to HomEcko Depot, or a guy in dreds, or signs that make you laugh, or like being able to go a farm in the mountains 3 months after you first tried to make it happen. But I will have to get into that later, as I am tired from a good half day of Port-Au-Prince traffic and another half day of work on our apartment. (and chicken coop.)