Ups and downs

Yesterday morning, I went to what was supposed to be a round-table discussion on Haiti and French Guiana cooperating for movies. I arrived just after 9, when it was supposed to begin. Not only had it not started yet, but no one had even arrived. The reception was no help, because when I asked them where it was supposed to take place, they told me that it was at the reception (psh). They arrived 15 minutes later, and that wasn't even everyone. So I was there talking to someone for a little while when another woman came over and talked to him for about an hour. He was very nice and spoke to both of us, but for her, it was like I was invisible. Quite rude. Anyhow, by the time everyone had filtered in, there were all sorts of conversations going on, mainly about the problem of DVD pirating among Haitians. It would have been a total waste of time if someone hadn't mentioned a little film that had been produced recently about a Haitian immigrant in French Guiana. Then, after a brief stop in town, I went back to watch more movies. It wasn't that they were bad, but they just seemed to drag on, and everyone one of them was followed by interviews with the directors, but that sent them way off schedule. I would have been ticked off, except there was one movie that made up for all that, called the "Gold-digger" (L'Orpailleur in French). Really powerful movie that showed French Guiana in all its linguistic and natural beauty. This morning there was another round-table scheduled, but I decided to skip it and instead head to the Haitian consulate at the invitation of the consul himself. We had a long conversation (in Haitian Creole) about my study, how I'd come to decide on it, and what I needed. I also mentioned that I'd heard about that film at the round table, and he said, "Oh we have that" and lent it to me. I promised to return it tomorrow, when he'll tell me if I can use the consulate to do my study. After that, I went out to mail some postcards, and I ran into one of my interviewers and set up a training session. So everything should be in place by Wednesday to get the interviews done by the time I come home on the 28.