Last week Chris and Brynna went with us, but this morning, they went on down to the BHM to study and work. It was just me and Peterson against the world market... I've really been craving some sliced tomatoes and avocados for lunch lately... then Jon Acuff had a pic on his Facebook the other day and made my craving even worse. I guess this is my first fight with food cravings since we've been here. We've been here 18 days. I guess that's pretty good. Since our meals consist of mostly pastas, pate's and other starchy foods, my body has finally gotten tired of it and craves some good fresh veggies and fruits. Plus eating that delicious salad that our landlord's wife, Marie Carmel made Friday night sparked a war within my tastebuds. Did I mention how fabulous it was? It had avocados in it...
First, we had to take our US money to the "bank" and change it out with small bills. I took $40 USD and got change in Haitian gourdes. (Goo-ds - like gooey, gooey. And the "r" is silent.) In Kreyole "ou" makes the "oo" we hear in "hoot". I asked Peterson about the safety of a blah walking into the bank and changing money. I told him how I'd heard stories of how unsafe and unwise that was for us to do. I've read many stories of people being robbed, shot and etc on the ExPats Facebook page. He said definitely we would not do it down in Pettionville or Port-Au-Prince or Delmas. But, Fermathe is a much safer place to live. We are very fortunate to live where we do. We live on a paved road.
There was a man who was really making me nervous at the bank. He was staring at us as we waited for the change. I asked Peterson. He made conversation with the man and then told me that he had some mental retardation. It made me feel so much better that he would actually reach out to the guy to try to figure out what he may want from us instead of just ignore him. (Like I wanted to do). He was attacking the problem. (In Haiti they say pwoblem). It's the one word besides blan that I hear a lot of as I'm eavesdropping... reaching to hear any word that I recognize. The Haitians speak SO FAST!
So, what do you think we set out to purchase today at the market? I was not coming home withOUT avocados! And Peterson knew it because we looked through about a dozen different piles of them. We found good prices and good produce. We bought potatoes, onions, carrots, maggies (chicken bouillon cubes that really came in handy as I was sick this weekend...tasted great in noodles with a few diced up carrots... almost like Campbell's), red beans, black beans, pinto beans, bananas, garlic, and avocados... but NO tomatoes! We searched high and low. The biggest reddest tomatoes we could find were barely bigger than a golf ball. Seriously! The last lady we spoke to told us we were too picky - that they would only have big juicy tomatoes AFTER rainy season. She was upset we didn't buy the two little golf ball sized ones she was picking out of her pile for us, Peterson explained. I told him to tell her that I'd buy two from her if she'd let me take a photo with her for my blog. Y'all, she didn't want a photo. She wasn't in the bargaining mood. We'd apparently used up all her patience.
By the time we finally found 2 avocados to buy, we only had big bills left. The lady wanted 10 gourdes for them each. (Try to find avocados in US for that cheap! IMPOSSIBLE!) Smallest bill I had left was a 500 and she had no change. We had already picked out the two most perfect ones and had them in our hands. She told us to take them and come back with change. She trusted us. Earlier, I had asked Peterson about tipping people in the market and he said that sometimes if you wanted to do that, it would really bless them. So, I asked him if we could tip her since she showed us such trust. So, we gave her 40 gourdes for the 2 avocados. She bowed her head to us in thanks. I wish I would have got a picture! That's the only thing she was selling. Maybe we can find her again next week and we can trade blessings and maybe we can build a relationship with her and learn her story. For those of you who've been on a trip with us - she set right in crease of the crazy corner.
So, there you have it... our menu for the week. No fridge (well, really, no electric!). Rice, beans and pasta... :D Thankfully, Mark and Melanie drove down to town to a big store and picked us up a few things. We asked for Kraft Mac and Cheese, crunchy peanut butter, and nacho chips, oh, and maybe a couple rain ponchos if they find any... what were we thinking? We only brought ONE!
After we finished shopping, Peterson offered to walk me all the way back to our apartment to put up the groceries. He carries them all. He's a real servant. He stayed on the front porch while I put them away and then he walked me back to the BHM where Chris and Brynna were working. (They take our wi-fi hotspot down there and work...closest thing to a coffee shop we've got.) We spent less than $20 US.
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| Peterson and Me! |
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