The Joy of a New Language

One of the greatest challenges here is communication. Little English is spoken, therefore Mateja and I often fall into situations which require us to "speak" Creole. It is usually a tag team effort when Mateja and I are together. I listen to words, while Mateja reads the body language. Combining these two powers we can somewhat come up with a meaning.

The culture plays into this as well; Haitians will speak at the same time. Miraculously they somehow understand each other. Many times when I am handing out supplies nannies will ask for something and I don't understand what they want. Then 2-3 other nannies will come to help the original nanny try to communicate with me. They don't realize that this does not help. Instead of not understanding one nanny, I now have a group of nannies all speaking at the same time creating even more confusion.

Another thing we deal with is the speed in which Haitians speak. They talk so fast that we can't hear the distinction between words. We will ask for them to speak slower, but many will ramble the same thing at the exact speed and ask, "Do you understand now?"

Although these scenarios can sound difficult, they turn out to be amusing and great stories for later.

One language story I will never forget occurred with our laundry ladies. When we first arrived, Mateja and I met Madam Sergow. She is quite the character. She heard my name and immediately lit up making the connection with Adam in the Bible.  Madam Sergow then pointed to Mateja and exclaimed, "Eve!"

We all laughed, but that was just the beginning. Madam Sergow proceeded to teach us some Creole by reenacting the beginning parts of Genesis. We were unsure of what she was communicating until she got to the flood. She pounded her fist on the cement wall showing how God was angry at the people. To further emphasize God's anger she grabbed my fist and pounded it against the wall too. Then to show us the flood, she grabbed the hose and sprayed everyone in the area. When finished, we walked away 30 minutes later with a whole new view of Creole and the adventure we stepped into.