So we have developed the first series of questions for a little game of “Haitian Trivia”. You can test your Haitian wits with the questions below. Post your scores in the comments section and the winner will receive a free prize upon their next visit to Haiti.

Before we begin, some basic ground rules:

1.  Answer each question honestly.
2.  Check the answers provided below only after you have completed all the questions.
3.  For each answer you get correct, you get the amount of points shown.
4.  Add up all of your points using general 2nd grade arithmetic. No funny math, physics, trigonometry, or algebra may be used to get higher numbers.

Now to the challenging part:

Question 1. (Category – Driving Rules) Does Haiti have driving laws that are enforced? (2 points)
A)   No.
B)   No.
C)  Yes. Definitely.

Question 2. (Category – Medical decisions) If you happen to develop “puss weeping lesions” on your foot, leg, neck, wrist, back, and arm, should you: (5 points)
A) take antibiotics because you have Strep Throat.
B) apply more “OFF” because you have mosquito issues
C) assume you have the black plague and give up all hope

Question 3. (Category – Cultural Sensitivity) When do most Haitians think Michael Jackson died? (4 points)
A)   Summer 2009
B)   October 2009
C)  September 11, 2001
D)   They assume he is still alive

Question 4. (Category – Names) What name do people in our village think is given to super-wealthy people in America? (8 points)
A)   Benjamin
B)   Madonna
C)   Obama
D)   Bill
E)   Wink

Question 5. (Category – Words) The word for violence in Haitian Creole is the same word for ______; causing confusion when simultaneously discussing rebellions and _______. (6 points)
A)   shipwreck … using a life-raft
B)   candle burning … midnight reading
C)   violins … music rehearsal
D)   lollipops … candy shops

[END OF EXAM]

See that wasn’t too hard. Now check your answers (below) and tally up your scores. Best of luck to all participants. Tune in again for the next round of trivia.

Answers: (no cheating recommended)
1.        A or B; They have some laws. But the key word in the question was enforced.
2.        A; If you have strep throat on your leg somehow. Seek medical attention immediately – as I have this past week.
3.        D; News doesn’t travel very fast here.
4.        D; many have heard of Bill Gates, and think he is named that because he is rich. Any Bill Haitians meet is assumed to be wealthy.
5.        C; which may mean when this language was developing, people had been listening to violin practice rather than recitals.

Yep, that’s right.  After marinating the chicken Haitian style,  a few lemon seeds crept into my chicken soup and flat out ruined it.  I was pretty proud of my soup,  (the first one I’ve ever made), until I took one bite that tasted like.. well, I can’t even say.  And then one after another, everyone else did too (Zack was spared with his veggie version!).  And finally Jeremy cracked it, pulling a chewed up seed out of his mouth.  As we say in Haiti, it tasted RAWFUL.  One thing is for sure, though, there’s nothing  citrusy about a cooked lemon seed.  Sorry Jay and Jeremy! 

Needless to say, learning to cook, in Haiti, makes for an interesting combination.

So while I’m on the cooking topic, does anyone have any great, easy, and/or quick recipes?  If so, please post me one here!  I’d love it!  I can get just about any ingredients I need here, so don’t worry about that.  Meci devans (thanks in advance)!

Please pray for my body that is falling apart.  For a while now, I’ve had plantar faciitis, which makes me walk like a 92 year old woman most of the day, especially in the mornings.  It is very painful to walk if I’ve been on my feet a while.  Also, I have a giant spider bite on the back of my leg that looks like a rotting sore.  And it’s kind of throbbing right now.  I had a similar one of my foot a couple weeks ago, and now it’s healed.  So don’t worry- it’s not a deadly kind!

A couple days ago, I almost lost an arm.  You see, our oven is very Haitian in the sense that just  to turn it on, you need to take it apart (Most things in Haiti don’t work quite like their American counterparts).  So there I was, with my entire arm inside the oven, and my dear friend WooWoo (40ish year old woman) was holding down a button for me.  She didn’t really know how the oven worked, so she  then proceeded to turn it to 350.  And it’s a gas oven.  And my arm was still in there.  And flames enveloped my arm.  Thankfully, I have quick as lightening reflexes (thanks mom and dad!) and came out unburned.  Amazingly.

After it all went down, WooWoo was panicking b/c 1-she felt so bad that she almost burned me, and 2-she was terrified that I would tell people.  She was so scared what people would think of her... basically, that her reputation was in danger.  I assured her that no one would care, and people would think it’s funny, but she just couldn’t let it go.  And it made me think about how often I live like I’ve got to earn my own reputation too.  And how it’s just downright embarrassing and sometimes even crushing when I’ve done something  that could “ruin” (so I think) my reputation.  And so I have to constantly be reminded, as I was by this experience, that JESUS EARNED A PERFECT REPUTATION FOR ME.  That He lived a perfect life so that title could be slapped onto each of us...so undeserved.  And completely Unmerited.  But that’s the beauty of it.  Because again and again it gives us an opportunity to run to Jesus, in thanks that we are not treated as we deserve.  I used to just believe that Jesus died for my sins.  But the “righteousness” part was kind of my job to figure out.  Now I’m seeing more and more that that’s the most ridiculous thing on the planet, b/c “those that focus on righteousness get neither righteousness nor Jesus.  People who focus on Jesus get both.” (Thanks daye!)  We can try all day to “get it together,” but it’s not until we get that we are ALREADY ACCEPTED that we can be freed to, well, be free!  And serve Jesus instead of focusing on our own reputations.