Question #3 - What has been your most challenging experience living in Haiti?

Anonymous (would love to know your name) asked me this question.

It's hard to name just one challenging experience - there have been so many (earthquake, cholera, outbreak, learning Creole, etc.). But one of the most challenging things for me on a daily basis has been learning to give up my independence and control. There are so many things that I just can't easily do for myself. As we don't have a car, we just can't decide to drive into Cap to visit someone or go out for dinner. I need someone with me to go to the market. If there is a problem with the water or electricity I have to wait for it to be fixed.I think that  I have come a long way and have learned to be more dependent on others.

Related to giving up control, with so many needs and poverty here its easy to get overwhelmed and want to fix everything. I think I have learned that it is not my place or responsibility to do that. I can do my small part, but in the grand scheme of things, only God has the power through his people to really change things.

Thanks for the questions! Keep them coming!

Question #2 - Can I see pictures of where you live?

Anonymous asked me to post some pictures of where we live and of daily life.

Here is the front of the house we live in. We live in an apartment in the walk out basement.

Our kitchen/living area

my office - i know you are jealous!

 For some pictures of daily life, check out this post.

Question #1 - What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

My Auntie Roxanna has the first question - "What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?".

Breakfast
We always have coffee, usually just a small cup each. My coffee consumption has dramatically decreased since moving here! Most Haitians only drink coffee in the morning, not throughout the day like North Americans do. Cal was just telling me this morning that he has just learned to "like" coffee since we've been married.
We eat eggs several times a week - boiled, scrambled or fried. It's a good extra source of protein for us. We occasionally have oatmeal or cornflakes. Cal often fries some salami. Sometimes we just have bread and avocado if we have it.
And we usually eat some fruit - bananas usually or mangos when they are in season.

Lunch
During the week, Marlene (our cook) makes us lunch. It's our biggest meal of the day and she normally makes something Haitian for us. We will have rice, bean sauce, beef in creole sauce, rice and beans cooked together, fried chicken, fried plantain, beet salad, beef and corn gratin, Haitian spaghetti, macaroni casserole, Haitian stew, etc. She usually makes us fresh fruit juice as well.
It's always good and basically fills us up for the day.

Supper
I've gotten really lazy with suppers. When we were first married, I tried to make supper everyday - soup, pasta, leftovers, etc. But, I soon realized that we really didn't need to eat that much. Now that we have the dinner portions under control (if we have extras, we usually invite someone to eat with us or give it away), we don't feel obligated to eat up the leftovers. If I have lettuce, I will sometimes make a salad. Usually, Cal ends up eating something at his parents' house (they still leave food set aside for him) and I'll snack on some fried goodness that we buy down the road!

Questions?,

With our time coming to a close here, you've probably noticed that I've been blogging more than before. There are a few reasons - our internet connection has been way more reliable lately (I can even upload photos), I'm not busy with groups and I partly just want to write down things so i will remember them - I gave up writing in my journal after about 4 months here!

That being said, since I haven't always been consistent, I haven't written about all aspects of life in Haiti. Many things that are everyday to me now, might be interesting to you. So, do you have any questions for me about life in Haiti? If so, leave a comment and ask me? I'll do my best to answer you!