I started with a good breakfast of cereal; a banana, a piece of French bread with locally made banana rum jam, and half a shaddock (similar to a grapefruit, seen in this photo which is not mine):
I met Jorge in the morning and he took me to a church officiated by a Haitian priest. This was perhaps the biggest leap forward in my research yet. First of all, the priest liked me a lot because he was from Cape Haitian, the very city in which the research I've been collaborating on for the last two years was carried out, so I was able to bond with him by speaking the way that Cape Haitians speak. So I started off well. He told me that not many Haitians speak the local creole, which made me briefly panic, since I'm here to study them. However, he happened to know someone who had to stop by who was one of these rare people. So he called the guy who came over a short time later.
And together they told me all sorts of stuff about how Haitians try to pass as being local by speaking the local language, how their kids don't speak Haitian but only understand it, and what local words get thrown into Haitian speech. Of course, these are all claims that need to be substantiated, but they are a great starting point! And the priest liked me so much, he asked me to be his English tutor, and we have a tentative agreement in place: I tutor him in English once a week and he gives me the use of a quiet room in his office space for my two interviews, which might be led by the man who speaks both creoles. He also introduced me to a man who speaks only the local creole and French, and he might be my consultant for the local creole. And all this happened before 12:30!
After that, I accompanied Jorge on a very long walk to the doctor, who wanted him to bring an interpreter to be able to explain the results of his ultrasound (he's pretty sure he's not pregnant though). Unfortunately after the long walk on roads with scenery like a tropical county/state road, we arrived at the doctor's office but he was nowhere to be found, so we'll have to return Monday. We hitched a ride back into town and got dropped off at the botanical gardens, one of the nicest spots I've seen yet (and finally I have pictures of me here).
After that, we had a relaxing day: ate some fruit and left over pizza (with smoked chicken as a topping--fantastic!), watched World Cup soccer in a Brazilian bar (I was rooting for Chile, but alas...), and then we just wandered around the city before finally splitting some Haitian take-out, which was artery-clogging goodness.
Tomorrow I go to the market for fruit and maybe some local libations. Weekends are days off for me, except for the preparation of Monday's English lesson for Father Jean-Pierre. And that's it for tonight! More pictures to come in the following days!
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