Start Of The Week

As I am passing my time in Jacmel, I am understanding more and more about the Haitian way. They are just so incredibly friendly, and always seem to know how to enjoy each moment. Where ever we go, where ever we walk, everyone is all smiles- strangers, children, all exclaiming bon soir to us. It makes me so happy, and I wonder what makes some cultures so warm and welcoming while others are not.

I was supposed to teach 7 hours of lessons yesterday, but because of the huge storm, not many students were able to make it to the school. So I ended up only seeing three students. My second lesson of the day was a trumpet player named Charles. He loves jazz so much, and so we spent a lot of time just working on phrasing and expression on 'Autumn Leaves' and 'April In Paris.' He is such a tremendous player and musician, and with some direction around phrasing, emotion and dynamics, he was just beautiful. It was such an incredibly rewarding lesson for me to teach as well- to see right in front of me how the songs transformed with some guidance and direction.

After lunch I taught a sweet old lady named Miss Norma. She loves music so much, she hangs around school all day, taking music lesson from whoever she can. She plays violin, so she's learning from Heidi, and then always sits in on my voice lessons and will just stay for hours. There's something really adorable and childish about her, like some type of mischief in her eyes. She is such a musical zealot, and has all of these exaggerated hand motions when she speaks but then smiles sweetly at everything. It's so cute.

If we have down time in between lessons, we will just chill in the school's office, as they have wireless (albeit very slow). Alland, the student who took us on our crazy rainstorm adventure, was playing some sick Haitian music in the office, so we just all did some hip shaking and dancing. I implored Alland to put some Haitian songs on my flashdrive to bring back to America with me!

Since some of my students didn't show up, I decided to go back to my dorm and do some work. JD's younger son, Buck (he's nine), is a gregarious, adorable little mini person. He loves to hang out with us (his dad says he's a ladies man), and he will just spend hours just chatting, helping us, hanging out in our room, etc. He loves the ladies! Talks a mile a minute, sometimes so much that I have to tune him out, because he could probably talk all day, and I have to write this blog before I forget everything that happened. He is so much energy! Buck has been home-schooled this last year as he's traveled around the world doing aid work with his dad and brother. Like a true student, he's always finding reasons to not do his homework. But his dad makes sure he completes his work before he's allowed to play. Here's Buck diligently finishing up some work so he can come out with us.

He's quite precious and so thoughtful, we've gotten used to having him around. We are going to miss him too much when he leaves for Port Au Prince with his family on Wednesday.

That's me passed out, because I am hot and tired, and Buck is regaling us with long story straight out of his imagination.

I had many firsts for myself today. This is wash and dry a la Haitian style.

After my wash and dry set up was complete, it was time for dinner. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we eat most of our meals at this woman Mila's home. Mila has an arrangement with the school to prepare food on a daily basis for professors and workers of the school. Mila is an amazing cook, and makes some of the tastiest food I have ever had. It's also a kickass way for us to become aquatinted with some legit, authentic Haitian food.

Mila has a 10 year old daughter, named Fiame. Fiame is the sweetest girl, with a smile that would light up anyone's day. She's always there to greet us, with that smile that reaches from one ear to the other, and a small glisten in her eye. I wish I were able to speak French so we could communicate more, but we smile at each other a lot and that works!

It is customary in Haitian culture to eat the biggest meal of the day at lunch. Breakfast and dinner are light meals. We Americans are clearly not used to this. At Mila's for dinner, we had bread, mango and avocado. Heidi encouraged us to eat mango a la Haitian style. This means you bite into the mango with your teeth, rip off a little part of the skin, then continue peeling the skin with your hands until you see the actual meat of the mango. You sort of hold the mango almost as if you are eating chicken off a bone, and just bite into it. This mango might have been the most delicious mango I have ever had in my life - pure sweet, delightful, fresh sugar. I am still dreaming about it. I devoured the mango within minutes. Someone should have given me a bib because I looked like a 2 year old toddler learning how to properly eat but keeps dirtying himself and spitting up. Nevertheless, it was a blissful experience.

Aline even thoughtfully had a spool of dental floss waiting for us to remove the small strings that get caught in teeth from the mango.

It was a delightful meal with delightful company.

After our 'dinner' it became clear that we were not used to the Haitian tradition of a light dinner seeing as we were already making plans for our next meal.

We walked to the Florita with Buck, Jack and J.D. to finish our day with an evening of cards, blogging, red wine and peanuts. All in all, another great day.

Hurricane! (Kind of)

I didn't sleep at all last night. There was an insane downpour, so the mosquitos were out in full force. Between that and the unreliability of the power, it was very difficult to sleep. Nevertheless somehow I woke up this morning feeling recharged. The aftermath of the intense storm last night left it cooler today, and that was a much needed break for us from the intensity of the heat. There are no lessons on Sunday, which was a nice breath for me after the back to back day I had yesterday. Orchestra meets on Sunday, which Lauren, Heidi, and Diana would be helping with (the other three musicians from Boston I came with - all string players). I went to go watch. It was really exciting and brought a huge smile to my face to see all of these musicians, young and old, who came together wanting to learn. The children were all smiles playing their instruments, and you can immediately see just how much music is a necessity like air is, for the Haitian community.

After orchestra and lunch, we had the rest of the day free to do as we wanted. I have been dying to see the beach since I have gotten here (obviously) so Alland, one of the students at the school and also the secretary for the school, said he would take us.

The beach is not far, but certainly not walkable - about a 20 min drive from the place we are staying. We would go by tap tap, which is a small truck with a canvas roof and bench seats on either side- a form of public transportation for the Haitians. From the outside it sort of looks like the Mexican party bus my friend Erica used to rent for her birthday.

As we were waiting for the Tap Tap, the inhabitants next door started playing some traditional calypso/Haitian music. The streets are so calm and empty on Sundays, I asked Heidi if she would demonstrate the famous compa style of dancing, a sensual style of dancing Haitians are known for. So we all start attempting this dance in the streets, and the neighbors start cracking up at us as we are just failing to move in the way we should be. Heidi asks if the will demonstrate for us, and so the man grabs his wife and just does it right, and man is it sexy! I want my man dancing with me like that all the time. We start hooting and hollering at the couple, and they laugh- it was kind of one of those magical moments you can only have when traveling.

It started raining, and the girls became a little hesitant to go to the beach. I was adamant. So we piled into the tap tap, which no joke is like a Haitian clown car! It's like just when you can't seriously believe more people can fit, more people somehow DO fit. People just bang on one of the rods with a Haitian goarde and the driver knows to stop. Someone gets off, and like five more people get on!

We get to the road leading to the beach, and we realize we have to walk about a 1/4 mile to get to the beach. Now, I'm not a princess, but it was muddy as fuuuuuck, and I think at this point the girls started to curse me a bit.

We walk though the mud and the drizzle, around and about huge piles and piles of trash, until we finally make it to the beach. It's pretty dirty on the beach, but also charming and full of character.

A little further down some Canadians are playing ball with a group of young Haitian boys. These boys are fast!! And so friendly, showing off for us doing pushups and hand stands, smiling the biggest toothy grin they could make - it was really so cute!

We splash around in the water a bit

and suddenly the sky turns black. Just absolutely black. We know what's coming. We try to run as fast as we can, but it's chaotic and everyone apparently has the same idea as we do. You would think the end of the world is coming!

We don't make it far at all, and all of a sudden the sky opens up the hugest torrential downpour I have ever seen in my life. I literally thought a tornado was coming. We run and take shelter under this huge hut, when Haitians are eating and dancing their faces off. A live band is playing troubadour music and everyone is just living it up and having a great time despite the crazy storm outside. Clearly, we have nothing to do, no where to go, so we join the fun, just dancing and laughing under this torrential downpour.

Somehow Alland manages to get a hold of the tap tap driver by phone and so within 15 minutes time the tap tap driver is here, in the flood and the mud to pick us up. We wade into ankle deep water and climb up into the tap tap, and take off.

The tap tap is shaky, swaying from side to side in the wind and under the weight of the rain. Inside the tap tap, a group of Haitians are getting wasted off some strong ass rum with sugar cane, drinking right out of the bottle, which for them looks like one of those gasoline canisters. I guess they know how to enjoy a storm!

The ride back was kind of an exhilarating experience, and also hilarious- with haitians drinking In the corner and us huddled under big-ass blue poncho. At some point during the journey, it appears that one of the dudes on the tap tap has to take a piss, and apparently when duty calls, it calls. He stands at the edge of the tap tap, just getting a beating under the rain, unzips, and urinates off the back of the moving tap tap. I have never seen anything like it, but I commend the guy for his resourcefulness!

The whole experience was just enlightening and hilarious, and I feel like I just got a little but more insight into how easy going and chill the Haitians are.

The rain didn't let up all evening so we spent the rest of the day just listening to music, writing and exchanging teaching stories. When we finally became too hungry, we got decked out in our ponchos and tevas and heading to chandelier restaurant for some poissant gros sel. It was a good day.

Soaking it all in

June 17, 2012 Yesterday was the longest day of my life. There are moments in each day where I feel like it is too hard- the heat, the language barrier, and just the crazy disparity between the life I am used to living and the life I live here. And then there are moments where I just feel so taken by the gravity of this experience, and I feel so content and blessed to be here and to have come in contact withal these amazing people in my life.

I began my day at 8 am, teaching voice lessons. The first two lessons of the day were extremely taxing, mostly because we could not understand each other at all. Moreover, the streets are blaring with noise and mostly all lessons are taught in the same room essentially, so it was very tough to rise above all the noise when teaching. It was so difficult on so many levels, under the umbrella of the heat as well, and I just felt Iike crying.

My third lesson of the day was this charming, beautiful sweet girl named Linia. She spoke English. It was immediately so much easier. We did some vocal technique, and then we listened to several jazz standards...as she mentioned that she would like to learn and sing more jazz. We decided on 'Georgia on my Mind,' a tune she was familiar with from listening to Ray Charles' version.

Linia is so gifted, I got goosebumps when she sang. She took direction so well, internalized everything so quickly, and just had an innate knack for it all. For phrasing, emotion...everything. I wanted to put her in my back pocket and take her back to America with me. She was just beautiful in every way. You just realize how much talent is in this community, and how much you just want to give them the world, and these opportunities. As much is it made me happy, it made me sad as well to not be able to give such a talented girl everything she deserved.

The rest of the day was filled with more back to back lessons. 8 hours of teaching in the heat with language differences was a mental test of endurance for me. But some how I managed to bring energy to each lesson, and seeing the students so happily singing made it so worth it.

Towards the evening, Fritz, the man who's vision became the Jean Baptisse Dessaix Music School, invited us to a dinner of soup and wine to thank us for our time. He is an inspiring, generous, and humble man. Heidi, one of the colleagues that went with us, served as translator between us and Fritz. Listening to Fritz talk about his challenges, and his dreams and vision for the school brought tears to my eyes. He first thanked us profusely for giving our time, taking an airplane to come here, not necessarily always sleeping well, but nevertheless giving our time so generously. He then talked about so many of the problems they face at this school. They wanted to have a large orchestra but there is too much turnover to achieve this. Because there are no universities in Jacmel, most of the really talented and brilliant students of the school end up leaving to Port Au Prince, or the states to pursue opportunities.

The same plight exists with teachers- not much can keep them in Jacmel, so the school has a very hard time finding teachers that can consistently stay on. His dream is to be able to open a arts performance school that would host visual artists, musicians, and actors. He envisions a place with a theater,a huge rehearsal room, smaller classrooms, and a place of sound accommodations to host the professors of music. He estimates that he needs about 3 million US dollars to build this, which is actually not too much money to build an entire school, but naturally it is very difficult to get this money. Fritz has said that so many people come through, promising to help, but the majority of them do not stick to their promises. Still , he is hopeful. His work is so amazing and inspiring that he was invited to the white house in 2010 to accept an award by Michelle Obama, supporting all of his efforts at this school.

After Fritz finished speaking, he invited us to go up and get food. The food they prepared for us was a very delicious and tasty soup filled with spinach, plantains, doughy rolls of flour, spinach, potatoes and beef. It was so tasty, although it was a little rough eating something so hot, while it was so hot!

JD, whom I mentioned in an earlier post, is an American actor from LA, staying at the dorm of the school. He has such an incredible story and is such an inspiring individual. He has been traveling around the world for the last year with his two young sons doing various types of aide work in various countries all over the world. He created this organization called twelve and twelve with the vision being that he would choose to work for 12 different organizations doing relief work in 12 different countries, spending a month in each place. The types of work him and his sons have done is absolutely incredible. His sons are amazing and generous, so mature for their age, and it's amazing to me that they have traveled all around the world with their dad doing such incredible work.

JD had heard about the Jean Baptisse Dessaix music school and its mission through a friend of a friend, and came here to volunteer his time to shoot hours and hours of video, to create a documentary serving to generate awareness of the school and their needs. Both he and his children are incredible, dynamic and inspiring people, and I encourage you all to check out more about their organization at twelveandtwelve.org.

As I was leaving dinner and walking back to my dorm, I was just soaking it all in. The Haitian streets at night are quite dark and quiet, but there is ton of energy and vivacity emanating all over. A group of older men we playing poker out in the streets under dim lighting, while a family across the way was blasting tradition Haitian dance music, and a pair of young lovers across the way were walking arm in arm. It made me smile.

We're in Haiti!

Haiti is quite a place. I guess for me, it wasn't really a shock to see the crazy hustle in the airport, the sweltering heat. In many ways my first impression of Haiti reminded me very much of India.

Fabrice, one of the students and administrators at the school was ready to greet us. He traveled over 3 hours that morning from Jacmel to receive us. Fabrice is a sweet, adorable and jovial young man with chubby cheeks and a dimpled smile. He instantly put us at ease.

The drive from Port Au Prince to Jacmel felt like eternity. Port Au Prince, as you may imagine, is extremely overcrowded and dirty- people everywhere on the street, working, selling just about anything to make money, just utter chaos- but all the while a swagger, pride, and strength they maintain.

Where Port Au Prince was stuffy, sweltering and very stop and go, the next portion of the journey was extremely picturesque and serene- tiny, narrow, windy roads cutting across huge peaks and valleys of greenery and palm trees.

The drive was over three hours, and the heat made it unbearable at times. Finally, though, we made it.

The Jean Baptisse Dessaix music school is a small school nestled in a row of other businesses and houses. Most of these are very hut like, old dilapidated houses- nothing in this town is new, but there is a charm in the aging and wearing of these buildings. The colors down and around the street are vibrant- orange, green, blues, yellows everywhere.

One of the musicians, Heidi, who came with us from Boston, was actually born and raised in Haiti. She left Haiti when she was 18 and came back for the first time in 15 years with us. She said she was in absolute shock around how things have worsened in this country over the last 15 years that she has been gone.

Our conditions were definitely a bit of a shock to me at first. It's manageable but everything is minimal. The power goes out several times throughout the day and running water is not always available. Not gonna lie, the bathroom freaks me out the most but I am trying to adjust!

Once arriving at the school we were taken to a small home where we will be eating our meals for the time we are here. It's quite dilapidated and such, so at first it felt like an uncomfortable experience to be eating here, but the food is absolutely amazing, and I feel as though it allows me to get a better sense of Haiti.

After lunch our schedules were not set as of yet so we had some free time. The heat in the afternoon is unbearable and so I really did not know what to do- and I had a moment where I really wasn't sure if I would survive this trip.

Around 5 pm, Aline (one of the teachers at the school who came over from France for two years to teach, she's amazing and more on her later) asked if I would like to help out with the choir that comes every Friday.

This is when things started turning around. The choir, albeit small, was full of sweet music aficionados, both young and old - all excited to sing. I watched them sing this cute French song called Les Comediens by C. Aznavour and P. Martin- Bres.

After hearing them sing we did some warm ups and then Aline left the class to me. I wasnt really sure what to do- I didn't even have any choral music. So I played some jazz for the students and then we worked on summertime. It was just so fun to see them grooving out and enjoying learning. It was extremely difficult in moments to teach with the language barrier- If I ever come back, it's so important that I at least learn French. It just can be so frustrating at times and the worst part is that I can't even get to know some of my students because we can't communicate. But despite the language barrier I have been finding ways to make it work.

The rest of the girls had already left to go To this hotel in town JD had told us about. I said I would meet them as I was teaching until 7 pm. It was a bit scary walking alone to be honest- stray dogs everywhere, burning trash dotting the sides of some street, young boys darting around on scooters, getting every so close to you but just barely missing you. I finally found my way, entering into this very old bungalow style exposed brick bar with old straw bar chairs, straight out of 1950s Havana , Cuba or at least how I imagine it.

I can't find my colleagues anywhere but a guy approaches me asking if he can help in anyway. I am smitten immediately, he is SO sexy. Olive skinned, dark hair, tall, beautiful smile. I am a little tongue tied and nervous, he's just too sexy to look in the eye!

We talk for a bit and I ask him where he's from- turns out he's from Berkeley, CA, helping out on his dad's hotel. He says he hasn't seen the girls anywhere, so I decide to go exploring a bit as I can see the ocean nearby.

I walk around as the sun is setting and see some beautiful mural art as I stroll down to the beach.

The beach is alive - boys playing soccer, people sitting outside a cafe eating and relaxing.

The beach itself is dirty unfortunately - trash everywhere. But there is definitely an energy out here that I love. I take a look around and then walk back to the hotel, where I run into the girls.

We all get acquainted with the sexy man (his name is Eli), and he joins us and we just spend the evening chatting and chilling. He even brought us four beers for each of us as a Haitian housewarming - the beer is called Prestige, and it's the Haitian local beer. It's actually pretty delicious, and cool and refreshing under the sticky June heat. Beer, good people, sexy man, wall fans... What more can I ask for in my first night in Haiti?!