very chilly this morning, people were going around with coats and blankets to cover themselves. Al told me that down closer to the water where they are it got down to 68 degrees this morning......brrrrrrr! it was probably close to 70 for a low for us slightly further away from the water. :)
the new generator and batteries seem to be doing their job, the voltage on the inverter rarely goes below 24 now, which is a good thing as city power has all but disappeared. the transformer in our area (that apparently serves about 10x's more homes than it should) finally burned out...it had just been replaced about 2 years ago. also the power we had been getting sporadically prior to this was very low voltage and not useful for charging the batteries much at all. it will be pretty much generator power for us for the forseeable future (diesel is about $3 a gallon here right now).
school continues to present me with opportunities for growth (as in dealing with kids who are passive aggressive, or lazy, or so damaged they just don't care) w/o pulling my hair out.....well, you know what I mean. I realize more and more I am not a teacher, and I applaud those who do this for a living and do it well. I do fill a need for now and I am very glad to do so, but I believe my future in Haiti does not lie in a teaching position, at least today at 3:43 I believe that. I really do care for the kids and staff here, they are very interesting folks. :) oh, yes........I HAVE NEW PICTURES!!! shots of some of the kids, surrounding area, etc. I had a really good video that for whatever reason didn't keep on the camera (user error???)
first pic is of a few of the girls in school. these are Rutney, Ronid, Naika and Hulda. 4 girls from ages 9 to 12 who LOVE to make noise and feel like they own the school. These 4 are all for the most part hard workers, fairly competitive kids and they do pretty well.
(I haven't mastered the art of adding pictures, so if the text and pic's don't make sense, please forgive....the learning curve for technology get's longer in inverser proportion to the lenth of hair, I think)
the second picture is of the kindergarten class, where you may notice Sophonie, the young girl, is helping. she is a student of mine and pretty bright. the teachers on the right are Pierre and Elizabeth, who are trying to get the kids to look at the camera, as you can tell with mixed results.
third picture is of Evesner, our "Radar". company clerk type guy (ok, you would have to be older and remember the sitcom "MASH" to know this) He runs the office, takes care of grades and filing of the tests, deals with parents and such and translates for Gary when the going gets tough. AND, he is a genuinely wonderful person. very mild mannered, never raises his voice, rarely get's flustered. I am very happy I have had a chance to meet and get to know Evesner.
lastly in today's posting is the "gotcha!" picture that we all so want to get. Rose our cook, got caught with her hands in the sink and truly didn't expect the picture. don't you love it when you REALLY catch someone?? she cooks 4 day's a week for about 50 people...not just for lunch, but she comes to the house about 6am each day to make sandwiches for the kids and Haitian staff, either PB, tuna fish or egg salad. she prepares them, I take them over later. she goes to school after making the sandwiches carrying the rice and beans ans such for the lunch meal and starts cooking that. hard worker, and she likes to wear fancy hair nets, as you can see!
I hope that fill's in some gaps in the picture need. and even better news....I found the video's! later I will post some video rated PG so everyone can view. (not parental guidance......Pigs and Goats!) :)
I pray everyone is well in the bad weather and snow of central Illinois and elsewhere in the US. spend time taking care of each other, it really is a good way to live. bye for now.
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