I still love Haiti

Haiti makes me laugh,
Haiti makes me cry,
Haiti has made me cry ALOT
Haiti makes me angry,
Haiti makes me happy,
Haiti makes me sad,
Haiti confuses me,
Haiti teaches me,
Haiti makes me strong
Haiti makes me weak
Haiti introduces me to myself
Haiti kills me.

I really think I could go on like this forever about this little nation. I have never had so many emotional ups and downs. Some days, I can go through them all within a 24 hour period. That, let me tell you is exhausing. But really, tonight, I just wanted to tell a story about how Haiti will forever make me keenly aware of all of my emotions, especially bewilderment and laughter.

One of the things you hear alot from people who are associated with Haiti in any way is "well, it's Haiti" or "only in Haiti" and that is what I thought tonight.

So, today, when I opened the gate to put my car in the drive way, I had an UN-invited visitor. A CHICKEN. Yes, I said a chicken. Now, in Haiti, people allow their animals to roam around, and if something happens to them, then well, someone is responsible. So, I was a bit freaked out that the two Great Dane puppies that are in the yard might devour this guest and all I could think, was "oh brother, how much will I have to pay some poor Haitian man for his chicken."

Well, the dogs chased the bird around the yard for a while and all I could do was stand there bewildered, wondering what would be the future of this bird and my pocketbook. But, this little chick was fast, she got away from both of those dogs many many times. Eventually, she made it to the porch (which the dogs are not allowed on, and amazingly, they didnt' come in) and she hid behind an old chair. Hmmm, I thought, this is interesting. I closed the door to the house, as I didn't want our UN-invited guest to invite herself into the house, and I shut the door to the porch so the dogs weren't tempted, and again stood there bewildered. How long can I keep this chicken hiding behind a chair on the porch???????

So, I called a Haitian friend, and he came over to help me. I was so excited for this chicken chase and all the drama that may follow, but, to my surprise, He walked up to the chicken, picked it up and put it out the door. All in less than ONE MINUTE. Seriously, how did he do that??????? All I could invision was what would have happened had I TRIED to catch that silly thing. It would have been the scene of the century as I would probably had chased the thing all over the yard, fallen many times (and probably landed in the dog poo), never really catching the thing and it probably would have ended up dead, then I would have had to find the poor Haitian who it belonged to and pay him some outrageous amount of money for his dead chicken. Since I have no idea what chickens are worth, I am pretty sure I would have been taken for a lot of money. I am grateful for my friend and his chicken picking upping abilities. :)

Well, back to all the opening emotions, today it was amazement and smiles, tomorrow we will just have to wait and see what is in store for me. Haiti will forever amaze me and well.......It's Haiti