In church, last Sunday, the priest, introducing us:
"See these blan [white people]--do you know them already? No? See, they don't all look alike."
In a meeting, last Thursday, our coworker Frantzo, about me:
"She's a foreigner, so she expects meetings to start on time."
(Apparently my reputation has not preceded me!)
This morning, our day off, 6:10 a.m., Frantzo again, at the door:
"I called before I got here. Oh, are you sleeping?"
In a meeting, in front of 75 people, our coworker Jean-Remy, whispering:
"Can you say a little something now? Just tell them how much we like working with them."
This afternoon, the only other foreigner we've seen all week, shouting from his truck:
"Look! Two blan walking in the rain!"
Love. it.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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5 comments:
Blan???
I guess "blan" should be explained. Blan is the Kreyol word for white and as you walk through Haiti kids shout it, Older people say "Bonjou Blan" or "Good morning whitey". We've gotten pretty used to it, imagine a purple elephant walking down the street and everyone comes out of their house to look at it and calls their neighbors. That is almost what it's like to be white here.
Great quotes! I especially like the one about how you two show that all blan do not look the same. Just out of curiosity, did you think all Haitians looked alike when you first arrived?
No, all Haitians definitely don't look alike! I was actually thinking the other day how Haiti is one of those countries whose population came from lots of different other countries (mostly in Africa, mostly forcibly, completely unfortunately) and wondering: if I knew more about African countries, would I be able to look at a Haitian and think, "Oh, you look like a Guinean/Kenyan/ Cameroonian?" Do phenotypes usually follow national boundaries?
Loved the quotes guys. Made me miss Dezam a lot! Curious to know who the blan driving through was. There aren't many in that part of the valley, except the hospital of course. Also loved the early morning wake up call on your day off! We had a locked door policy on Sundays. Think about it. Hope to see you guys soon. M
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