The Countdown

We are down to weeks before we return "home". 

We are fearful of the great reverse culture shock that is going to occur. 

The things we are looking forward to
Justin
1- Sleeping in my own bed
2- Drinking water out of the faucet
3- Running
4- Cooking on the grill
5- Teaching CT how to mow the lawn

Me

1- Costco, yep that is how shallow I am

2- Brushing my teeth with sink water

3- Showering in water that does not make my hair fall out in clumps, literally clumps

4- Not wondering if the latest mosquito bite my children have will give them Malaria
5- School, for all 6 of them!

CT

1- Seeing relatives

2- Playing with friends at recess

3- Holding Sunshine, his lizard.

4- Going to school

5- Going to the park/pool
6- Electricity all the time

IS

1- Getting braces

2- Going to our Family Reunion

3- Taking Roxy to training school

4- Going to school

5- Bringing Roselie to visit

TJ

1- Getting a turtle

2- Going to our Family Reunion

3- Ride in an airplane

4- Seeing my Family

5- Play Legos with Ryan

Babies

1-To buy a pool (clearly there has been a miscommunication here)

2-Play legos, animals, toys (naming all the things on our toy shelf here)

Bottom line, these kids don't know what "home" is

Things we will Miss
Justin
1- Chauffeurs
2- My news paper selling friend I see every day on my way to work
3- Sights on the street
4- Being stared at from people in the back of tap-taps
5- The feeding clinic and orphanage  kids

Me

1- Seeing Gods hand daily, literally daily (I know this is still possible at home just harder, for me anyway)

2- Really good quality time with my kidos
3- My kidos not having friends to play with which has forced them to be best friends
4- Buying produce without ever getting out of the car
5- The oh so yummy bread

CT
1- Getting bananas off the street
2- Going in our backyard to see a waterfall, TIC
3- Dancing and gathering seashells at the beach
4- Going to the orphanage and throwing stuff at rats
5- Johnny, who is a giant kid

IS
1- My room in this house
2- Home school
3- The beach
4- People visiting us and bringing surprises
5- The orphanage kids and Johnny

TJ
1- No seat belts
2- Having a soccer field in my back yard
3- The beach
4- Sleeping in my mosquito net
5- Kinley, the cat.

Class Notes

So school is out. I told the kids I am sure there were people who would still like to read a note from them every week. There were a little weirded out about having it on the internet for all to read, little do they know this is not new. I hope someone will enjoy Haiti from their point of view. Sometimes it is so different from the way we view things. And sometimes it is too much the same, have you seen how some of these kids spell, whoa!

Hi my name is CT. I am the oldest child in the Henwood Family. I am writing about the last two weeks. The first thing I want to talk about is the physical therapist that came here. I thought she was really nice. In fact the only thing wrong with her was she was scared of tarantulas. I don’t really understand girls how there so scared of such gentle giants. Next I want to talk about the assassinated chicken. I did NOT agree with that choice. In fact I tried changing my mom’s opinion about it. But she was stuck with the dumb idea of assassinating the poor chickens. Again I tried another one of my strategies…jumping in front of the chickens. But then I considered jumping in front of the chickens would get my neck snapped so I decided to not. Alright lets move on before I get mad and throw the computer. To walking down the creek bed.  So we walked down the creek bed and found a 2 foot deep and 10 feet In perimeter lake. I wanted something cooler so I went searching for a lake. I found a curve in the creek bed so  we went down it. Then IS kept saying there’s no water there no water. And a bunch of other things sisters say. But finally we got to a giant water fall And IS was like ow I knew there was water here, I knew it. And a bunch of other girl stuff. 

                       PEACE TO THE WORLD! 


Hi my name is IS. We had a girl named Hannah and she left. I really miss her. My Nana and Grandpa came. It was so cun. We went to the beach and did puzzles. And Adrah came. We went to orphniages and we went to the beach. We are hoping to brig Roselie home. We are watching a little boy named Velo. He is four. We gave the higean kits to the feeding clenick. IT was like a war. The shoes were gone in like 1 seckand. We are going to a lot of orphaniages, it is soooo fun. I really miss my frends, but is is still really fun. But, I still have to do my home work when my class i out. We went on a big hike to the creackbed, it was so fun. We played in the water adn went on an even longer walk. We have grate Haitian food that Roselie makes like rice and beains and saus pwa. And I do not like soup joumou. Are house is very big and we have close lines inside. As you can see we are having a fun time.
Love, IS
              

Hi how are you doing, are you having a good time? What are you doing?
We slaughtered a chicken. I had a disgusted face. I ate it and it was really hard to chew. I do not want to do it again because it was disgusting. Nana and Grandpa came to visit us, and Adrah. We showed them Epidor, it is like McDonalds except that is how they spell it. They tried to spell McDonalds but they could not so instead they spelled Epidor. We showed them the broken down houses, when we were driving across the airport we saw a tap tap, a tap tap is when you get in a car and when you stop you tap. It is exactly like a taxi or a bus. we showed them the beach. I found one of those big sea shells, conch shell. We went to the orphanage, I kind of like to go there. We always bring suckers. There is this place called the snack shack kind of like at the pool, you can get candy there. We have a new kid and his name is Velo and we did not adopt him and he does not like our dog and our dog is Roxy. We used to have another dog and her name was Tally, but we gave her to our guard named Johnny. We went on a hike that is called the creek bed, and there is a bunch of water there. There is a bunch of giant rocks and a pit with water in it. Mom thought there was a landslide, but there was just a waterfall. We saw some lizards, we saw some big rocks that we could dance on. CT wants to be like Michael Jackson.
Good Bye-
TJ

Class Notes

This will be the last week for class notes as the school is out at home now. Maybe now we will start writing grandparents notes...

Dear class,how are you? What have you been doing. I jumped of a waterfall that was 20 feet high so that's what one of the pictures is of.  Then you will not believe this you know beaches? Well i went to one and guess what? After we went to lunch and I had like 500 rolls. We went back and I saw the DJ that they usually have and i thought well i should ask him to play Billie Jean so i asked but he wouldn't play it so i asked again and then the third time he let me ad he said "Man listen a lot a people ask me to play songs so I've gotta play their songs" and I was all well can you play mine next I asked. Will you dance? And I was like sure for you guys? And they were like ya us. And I was like ya. So then I started dancing. and I did a move where I turned around and right in front of me the whole beach had came to watch. All over there were Haitians staring at me cheering go Micheal Jackson, go Micheal Jackson and I was like wow I've gotta dance better. So the song ended and i went to go find my family and people were coming up to me saying hey Micheal Jackson or good dancing Micheal.and so i went to go see my family and right when I was about to leave a my dad came up to me and said someone wants to meet you so I came over and saw this man and looked at his badge and it said manager. And I almost fainted because this man owned this beach that was like 10 miles in perimeter. And he said man you did the peep of a job out there. Come get some ice cream. So he let me chose a large ice cream and I choose chocolate cookies and cream with sprinkles. then we went to Rosalie house and wait tell you here this 8  people sat in one bed. and we tried coconut juice it was horrible but i had to pretend I liked it, you know Moms.

                                                                                    sincerely,

                                                                                        CT

Dear Class-

I miss you so much. I am going to miss you so much when you go on break. We got a little baby named Hannah. We were her foster parents. She stayed with us for a long time. And now she had to go and I really miss her. We went to Roslels house, it was very small. And we had coconut and sugar cane. We went to the beach by her house. We went to a giant waterfall, CT jumped off it. Also, we went to another beach and there was Michael Jackson playing and CT danced in front of every body that was there. And my Nana and Grandpa are here. It was Breckins Birthday, we got party poppers. As you can see I am having so much fun. 

Love, IS

Ms. Lee-

I miss you so much. I want to come home and be in first grade and give Ms.Lee a hug goodbye. 

The picture is of Hannah of me sleeping next to her. Hannah was so cute. I miss her so much, because she was so cute. We were being her foster parents now she is with her forever family. The tadpoles were so cute and fun, we got them at the feeding clinic. They growed big, then they got dumped out or ate by Kinley, we don't know. Kinley is our cat, she is so nice. The other picture was a scorpion it was so giant Mom had to step on it with two shoes. Another picture is a guy cutting sugarcane with a machete. We were at Roselies house, it is like a Haitian house. They have a sheet covering their door so they don't get all the bugs in. The cops here look so weird, because they have little tiny armor and big giant pistols that can shoot through 18 people and the 18th would just get injured. My Nana and Grandpa came, I've been playing with them. 

Love, TJ

Class Notes

Dear class how are you? What have you been doing? I really miss you. This week we went to the beach. I saw like 50 jelly fish I took a picture of one. And then we went to the feeding clinic. There food is REALLY good. The beans and rice is so crezy good. We touched the jelly fish. Then when we were about to leave I saw some tadpoles. They were really cool. When they grow up were going to sell them to a local pet store. Ill show you a picture of them there really cool. Then we went to TIC (abrevation for TJ, IS, CT) I climbed in a tree above a waterfall.then we went to a orphanage called a crush. There was a babby how had I desease that made her head tice thesize of ours. then there is a picture of Nathan my friend here holding a Docter pepper in his hand. I really miss you.

                                            Sincerely,

                                                  The funkey monkey

Dear Class-

I miss you so much. We went to the beach. We are going to get a baby today and my Mom is going to watch her. Her name is Hana. She is verry little. We went to the feeding clenic yesterday. We went on a big hike it was so fun. I went by a water fall. 

Love, IS

Ms. Lee-

Hi guys! How are you doing? I miss you. 

The picture is of a jelly fish that CT caught and Dad found. We were at the beach. I almost ran into a jelly fish, and it was swimming towards me and it hit the tube I was riding in. Those jelly fishes don't sting. I got to touch one. 

Another picture is of tadpoles, people were surrounding us and we got to catch some and they are at my house and my Nana and Grandpa are coming here. The tadpoles are going to turn into frogs and we are going to sell some to Mr.Medor. Mr.Medor is a vet.

The other picture was me up in a tree on our hike by a waterfall. Our hike was at TIC. TIC is a place where we got our water for the tadpoles. We hike there a lot. I love it. It is my best friend. I have a raccoon hat that I always wear there. 

Another picture was a sick baby it was so skinny because his Mom drank alcohol when he was in her tummy. I touched it and I holded it. 

Kinley is my cat and I love her. That is me sleeping in my mosquito net.

The other picture is of goats hanging off the side of the truck, they were alive and they were pooping. 

Bye Bye-

TJ

Class Notes

(Sorry, we lost power on Monday and just got it back tonight so I am late posting and I can not find Tates note)

Dear Class-

How are you? What have you been doing? I have done a ton as usual. And guess what I got my own email address so now you can send it to Callumthenwood. That kinda looks weird callum the nwood. whats a nwood? A piece of wood with an n engraved in it. Alright enough bliber jabber. This week we went to the beach and I got bit by…………………a…red spider! Then I played volley ball and made this awesome save where the ball was bound to go out of bounds. Then we did the feeding clinic and we got to eat again. We did some pictures and one is of me playing vollyball,at the beach with adults. another picture is of TIC the forest behind our house there is naked people doing baths there.another picture is of a school in haiti.  I really miss you. And am excited to see you.

                                                             Sincerely,

                                                                    CT   

Dear Class-

 I miss you so much. Are you having fun? I wish you are here. I did the feeding cleick yesterday. I fed a little girl she was 3. We brot my dog Roxy. I went to the beach Saterday. That was so fun. It had a pool. My gards wife had a baby, he is so tiny. I got to hold him at there house. The house was one room and all it had in it was beds. It was really tiny. Rachels sister is here to. As you can see I am having grate time. 

Love, IS

Class Notes

Dear Class-

How are you? What have you been doing since I left? I really miss you. And am excited to come back. This week I have been learning Michael Jackson moves.I'll keep them for a surprice you for when we have facetime. This week we started our feeding clinic. It was really good and we even got to have some beans and rice with them. Then they played music ad I danced the hula with an old man (don't ask). And I shook his hand and his fingers didn't bend. It made me feel happy to be there. I really miss you guys and can't wait to see you again.

Sincerely

CT

Dear Class-

I miss you so much. I am having a grate time heir. I wish you were heir. We did a feeding clinic yesterday. That was so fun. I got to put the medisin on. I fed a little girl. She was 3 years old. Johnny our guard and his daughter came too. My bishops wife came, Roselie and her sister came and my whole family, it was a lot of people in the car. The kids at the feeding clnic were really hungry, cuz they ate very quick. It took an hour for them to get there. We waited and waited and then Johnny told them a spirital message. And then they ate. I ate some of the food too, it was very good. It was rice and sauce pwa. 

I go swimming a lot heir. I will see you in 3 months. 

Love, IS

Ms. Lee-

Hi! I miss you. I want to come back. 

We started a feeding clinic. We served rice and beans. The kids liked it. I saw a kid as fat as Mom who had worms in her belly. (Does he seriously expect me to transcribe this?) I ate the food, it was good. It was an hour away. 

Bye Bye-

TJ

Class Notes

Dear Class-

I am so excited I can be back in Haiti even thought I miss you guys already. It feels a lot like home here. Even through it does not feel as much as Colorado. I’m excited to get started with school here and I am really excited for when it ends to see you guys. I am so happy I can be back here, because I like it here. This week we have not done very much because we have only been here for a few days. We went to the orphanage and we went swimming at a pool.

On the way here we went to NY, we got to stay for ½ day. We went to the worlds biggest Toys r Us. It probably had like 5 floors. And there was a ferris wheel in the middle I got lost in there and could not believe how many toys there were. We went to a big M&M place, they had all flavors of M&M’s in all colors. They even had a big one with strawberry in it. Then we went to a Hershey place.

The pictures I sent are from me in NY in front of the police department, me acting like Steve Urkle at the zoo with all my cousins (what a nerd), my puppy with her "baby", and my brothers learning to swim.

I really miss you guys and am excited to come back in about 3 months.

Sincerely-

Houdini

Dear Class-

I miss you so much. We went to NY and we went into a lot of stores. There was a giant Toys R Us. I wish you could be with me. We got back to Haiti and we are about to start school. We went to a pool. And we went to church. I am really happy to be in Haiti. Because there is a lot of fun things. We went to the orphanage, so that was really fun. The kids barely remembered us since we were gone so long. They were very happy to see us. I was VERY happy to see them. We brought our dog Roxy. She is a Rottweiler, she is so cute.

The pictures are of me at the American Girl Doll store, at the zoo with all my cousins, me holding my new little cousin Isaac, and me with most of the babies from the orphanage.

I was really happy I got to see you.

Good Bye-

IS

Dear Class-

I miss you. I am back in Haiti, we went to the orphanage. On the way here we went to NY we went to the candy store and you can make a tool box or a bucket out of chocolate. My cat has grown a lot and my dog is getting skinnier.

Good bye-

TJ

Haiti through a child's eyes

(Sorry, this is a very long post)

We asked each of the kids to put together some thoughts to share with their classes as they will be able to visit while we are home. Here is what they wrote that they wanted to share about their experiences in their first 3 months in Haiti.

CT-

Things that are different

- Animals on the road

- Everything is not cheap

- No electricity

- People are very different.

- We get water for showers from rain

- Bananas on trees

- Pom Pom tree

- Language (Creole) sounds like Bonswa, Sava

- There’s other white people

- There is jungle everywhere

- People pee on the street, when they gotta go they go

- There are rats running everywhere

Most similar things

- is it is beautiful

Also

-We go to the orphanage and play with the baby’s

-We walk on paths that no cars could ever go on

-It is kind of like a rainforest

-Haitians eat rice and beans and chicken and use lots of pots and pans and a weird mashing thing

-People are either light brown or dark brown.

-People have to walk a ton every day

-People have to walk around to find a Clearwater lake to drink from

-People sell stuff on the street so if you wanted bananas you would just step on the street

-Our house is GOOD compared to other houses in Haiti and horrible compared to US houses

-Haiti kind of reminds we of the three little bigs. The 1^st little Haitian made his house of hay, then the second little Haitian made his house of twigs then the third little Hasian made his house of cinderblogs. Then the big bad earthquake swept the houses down on the Haitians.

-People steal from us. Like someone stole $45 from me

-We go to beaches since we live on as island.

-I like swimming in the ocean, there are fish and seaweed

-There are good buffets and food at the beach

-There are also swimming pools at the beaches so you are basically in water paradise.

My least favorite thing here is that I don’t have friends at homeschool, and I miss you guys.

Conclusion: Haiti is really cool even though I missed you guys so much!

IS-

My favorite part of Haiti is the waterfalls. They are by the house we walk there on a little path. It is like a rainforest. They eat rice and beans. Is it verry good. Rosily mashes up the spices to make the food. She buys the food on the street. At a market. There is a lot of people. They sell frute and vechtibols. We go to Gint supermarket to get other stuf. Up stars it is toys and stuf like that, down stars it is food. It is like Walmart. Stuf cost a looooot of mony. Stuf on the street does not. My house is verry big and it is a real house. Others are tents, they got runend in the earthqwack. They live at a tent city. We visit them, it is fun. Our house does not have carpet. We go to the beaches and orphanages and feeding clenecs. We are going to bild one. And maby a school. They beaches are verry far away we see cow and hourses and dogs and goats. My mom ran over two goats. There are water melen by the beaches. There are pools at the beaches too. The pools are fun too. At the orphanage there is a little girl named Mica, she is nice. I like that we can live in a house. I miss my friends.

TJ-

-Swimming Turtles

-There are other white people

-They speak a different language, but Cops speak English

-Beautiful waterfalls behind our house. We call it TIC

-People pee on the street

-We visit the orphanage

-Lots of nice people

-When I say “bonswa” people laugh

-We go swimming a lot

-The weather is steaming hot it never snows, it always rains

-Eat mostly beans & rice

-We buy food at the marche

-Pigs walk around and eat garbage

-Bulls are tied up everywhere

-Playing soccer with big kids, they play with popped balls and bamboo goals

-Our car is a beast to turn around

-We sit in the back & don’t wear seat belts

-We have a deck and a baby swimming pool

-We swing in hammocks

-We sit at the kitchen table to do homework

-We see lots of pigs, but no deer. Lots of flies too

-My Mom ran over a goat

-Sometimes the power goes off

Least favorite part, people laugh at me and I don’t have friends to play with

Favorite part, we have a cat and a dog and rats to catch.

Class Notes

Dear class, How are you? What are you doing? We have done a lot this week. First we went to the baby house and bathed the baby’s. We threw rocks at the rats that are running everywhere. Then we went on the roof and threw paper airplanes in the fire. Then it was SIANT PATRICKS DAY. We made a leprechaun trap but didn’t catch any. Then we went to the beach. On the way back my mom hit two goats and killed them both. It was so sad I cried.

Sincerely,
CT
Dear Class-
How are you doing are you having fun? I miss you. I am coming home soon. I went to bathe babys. We saw puppies. They were Jennas puppies. We might get one. It is SF Birthey. She is three. We went to the beach. There was a pool. I swam in the pool a lot. I did londry with Roselly. We made a lepercan trap, we did not catch any lepercans they out smarted us. The runed our house.

Au Re Voir
Love, IS

Dear Class-
What are you doing this week? That is SF by the doggies, they are Nathans doggies. They are so little and cute we are maybe going to get a boy and a girl puppies from Nathan and Jenna and Jan and my Mom's friend. I miss you. That was a picture of Nora in the bathtub. They have tiny bathtubs they just use a bucket. Nora is tiny she can fit in a basket. We take Haitian showers with a bucket and a little bucket. That was all the food in the truck at a feeding clinic I saw a guy that ate two plates. We went there yesterday. We still have cake left over from SF Birthday. That was me and Dad at the beach I like Dad a tiny bit more than Mom (mind you Mom is transcribing this note, nice).

Bye Bye-
Sincerely- TJ

Class Notes

Dear class,

How are you? What are you doing? We have done a lot as ordinary. First we went to a pool and danced to ice ice baby. Then my mom took a hilarious photo of TJ sleeping with the cat. Then when we were driving I noticed how much the people like Micky mouse, Dora, and Barney. The only problem is they drawl Micky mouse with sharp teeth. It is so funny. Then we went to a different feeding clinic. They sung a song to us. It was really beautiful. Then I went to were they were cooking and a parent handed me a cute little new born puppy it was as small as my knee. It was so cute. Well that’s what I thought. But when we had to leave the Hatains kicked it. Then our Bishop asked us to build a school. So we went to go look at the land. The people there did not have electricity. It was really cool to see the people that we can serve.They lived up in the mountains where it was nice and cool and where I want to go again. And they had paths down into the jungle, not the kind of jungle you would think of. No tigers, just goats, pigs, turkeys, chickens and cows. Kind of like a farm, they were growing corn. There I found a big seed as big as your stomach! I really miss you and look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Houdini Henwood

Dear Class-

I miss you so much. I am coming to viset in 23 days. How are you doing? I am having a fun time in Haiti. Our Bishop and his wife want us to help them bild a school. It is going to he hard. We went to a nother school to learn how to. It was very cool. They want to bild other stuf too. The next day we went to were we want to build a school. I relly like it. It is verry big and the peple that live by the school really want a school. And maby we are going to bild a day care. I went to a feeding clenic and girls sand and i held a little puppie. He was so cute. We are going to bild a feeding clenic to. I hope you are having fun.

IS

Dear Class-

They have a lot of pictures of characters here. This one is a picture of Mickey Mouse.

The other picture is of my tiny cat, Kinley, sleeping with me. Kinley is so tiny and Kinely is scared of BJ and right no he is holding her very nice.

There was about 60 kids in the Kindergarten and they only had one chalk board and their school was outside. They had yellow uniforms on, they start going to Kindergarten when they are only 3. They stay in Kindergarten until they are 6.

We are thinking about building a school out of cinder blocks. We went to visit another school out of cinder blocks.They have little desks.

Sincerely, TJ

Class Notes

Dear Class-
I really miss you and wish you could be here. How are you guys? Is school good? What are you learning about? Are you having fun? What do you do at recess?
We have done a lot this week like rapping in the rain. We also went to the pool with my friend Nathan, we played a game where you hide something in the pool and you have to find it. We did not play it long so he ended up winning 6-4. Then we went to order lunch, I got spaghetti and everyone said mine was the best. Then we went and told each other secrets.
Right now we are about to go to the baby house orphanage. The owner said not to come early because all the babies were stinky.
We also made a rope swing and we swung on it in the rain.
I really miss you and look forward to seeing you in a month.
Sincerely, CT

Dear Class-
I miss you so much. How is school? Are you having fun? My family had to stay home all week cos our car was brokin. When it was fixed my we went to the pool with my friend Jenna. My family got sick with a cold. We got a new gard named Jony, he is very very nice. As you can see I am having a grate time.
Love, IS
P.S. Write back soon

I miss you so so so so much. I love you.
That picture was the upside down American Flag. It makes me feel sad that it was upside down.
That picture was CT swinging on the rope swing. Me and CT and IS made it.
And the other picture is my hammock. I like my hammock and I got it for my birthday. It is upstairs on our deck and we can go on our roof.
The other picture is a picture of our view when we were on the roof, we took the picture and then we went back downstairs.
We have 3 floors in our house, counting the roof.
Bye Bye-
Sincerely, TJ

Class Notes

(I forgot to post last weeks notes, so scroll back if you want to see them)

Dear class,

How are you? Is school good? What are you learning about? My Aunt Katie left and its 3 days after my b day[February 23]. I’m at church ad I can feel the spirit so strongly in these people. Right now were singing Hymn #3. In Creole it’s called Vivons Ce Bonheur. Aww, a cute baby just walked by. Alright now what I have done this week, after my Aunt Katie left, my grandparents came and we went to a hotel called Moulin Sur Mer. Here are the 3 funniest things: 1^st we went canoeing in the ocean and Breckin threw his crock in the ocean. 2^nd when we went canoeing BJ shouted “I’m freaking out.”3^rd TJ told BJ the deep blue sea swallowed his shoe. I really wish you could be here.

Sincerely, CT

Dear Class,

I am having a grate time. My Aunt Kaitlyn left and my Grandma and Grandpa came. I got some presents. We went to a beach for 3 days that was verry fun. We went to Fort Jacques there was a pond they took bathes and drank it. It was 16 feed verry deep. There was a lot of dark rooms. We went to an orphanage that was relly fun.

Love, Izzy

Hi, I miss you, I am coming back in 40 days.

I got a cool wood turtle that has a top that is wood and I put my key in it and a wood machete for my b-day from Haiti.

The rhino beetle we had for a pet, but Roselie dumped it out. Then we caught a leaf bug, but we let it go.

That is what our car looks like. It is like a truck and it is a beast to turn around. That is our only car.

The picture of my by the tunnel, was an army tunnel and soon I am going to send you a picture of BJ by the army door.

The other picture is a view from the top of Fort Jacques. It is a view of the prettiest sky in Haiti.

I went to the beach for like 3 days. I had a shower, it was the first one I had since I was in Haiti.

Soon I am going to send you a picture of the sunset.

Bye Bye-

TJ

Class Notes

Notes to their school classes-

Dear class,

How are you? Is class good? What do you have to learn about? We have done a ton of stuff this week. Like it was my brothers birthday. We also went to the feeding clinic. They had the same things beans and rice, sausage and a vitamen .they made bracelets. Then we went to indigo there was a buffe that you could eat all you want for free. It was awesome. I miss you so much.

Sincerely

Houdini

Somehow we missed IS this week.

I miss you. I don't want to come home, I want you to come here. We went to a new beach called Indigo and we saw green fish. We saw a naked man and a bunch of naked babies onthe way home from Indigo. I had my Birthday I got a turtle and a machete. I had a really good cake we lit all 6 matches because we did not have candles. My Aunt Katie came to visit. We made braclets at the feeding clinic this week. Sincerely, TJ

Notes to their church classes-

Church is really different everybody speaks French or Creole. The Sacrament is in French and the talking is in French. Everything else is incredible. You can really feel the spirit. They sing really fast and the people there are all black. It is about 3 miles from our house. It starts at 6am and finishes at 9am.
Sincerely, CT

Dear Class-
Church is very fun. I was going to go to primary today but we woke up late because the power was out again and it was still very dark. So we did not. My Mom is the Piano player. It is very small. Baby's just walk around. It is weird. The piano is very quiet, but the do have a microphone and it is loud and working. Everybody wears nice clothes. As you can see church is great.
Love, IS

Church is different from Colorado church because it is smaller, it is made of cinder blocks, and all the people here are black. We were squished today because lots of extra people were on our seats. I hope I see you next Sunday.
Love, TJ

Class Notes

Dear, Class sava[how are you]?is school getting harder?Im learning a
lot of French and Creole. Creole is really hard but French is easy.
What do you do at recess. When I come back I’ll do the most amazing
escape yet from ropes, handcuffs , and my straightjacket. hope Your
doing good. we have done a lot of stuff this weekend. we went to one
of the best hotels for a swim. The food was tremendous. Rachel came on
Saturday. She is really nice. She knows a ton of French and creole.
Sincerely,
HOUDINI

dear class
How is school? we went to top of the montin. we went to the feeding
clenic with my friend Jenna and Nathen .we went to a very nice
swimming pool .it was very fun .
Love IS

Dear Class-
We went to the nicest place in Haiti called the Karibe Hotel. We went
swimming.and ate American food. We went to the feeding clinic. I
played soccer. It was a dirty soccer game. We went on like a 2 hour
drive. It was on top of the mountain. I was so scared. Our tires were
like hanging off the road the whole time.
I miss you-
TJ

Class Notes

The notes may get a little hard to understand as the kids are answering questions from their classes.

Dear,class

i have done a ton this week. first of we got the most annoying cat in the history of the world.Next we wet to the beach it was so awesome even though it took 2 hours to get there.At the beach there was a swimming pool, food,and a giant red thing that was floating that you could go 7 feet in the water.We also went swimming in a different swimming pool that was like the one in Stonegate across the school.I also figured out how to open the double lock on handcuffs without a key.I miss you so much and it feels like it has been 10 years in Haiti. but i still like it here.

sincerely,

Houdini

Dear Class
I miss you so so so much .I got a cute little little cat we named it
Mckiley .But it dose not eat or drink or go potty .We wet to the beach
on Saterday.It was grate!!!There was a pool there to. As you can see I
am having a grate time
Love, IS

Ms. Lee-

that wuz svanu fot bii the trathlu wee got a cat naad Mckiley (that was SF foot by the tarantula. We got a cat named McKinley).

(My writing, Tate's words) I hope you do good with the kids in your class. We have trees around out house, the leafs are bigger than my Mom and Dad. They grow banannas. No the tarantula wasn't disguisting. How come you did so much exciting marks? We can not understand church becuase they speak Creole. We went to the beach there was a big crab in the sand. And then someone threw it in the water. I swimmed in the water. The water had seaweeds in it. The water tasted disguisting!!!!! (Mom, write five exciting marks).

Good Bye-

Love TJ

Class Notes

Dear Class-
We have done a lot in Haiti. Here is the things that really stuck out.One time a kid that looked like he was 11 came up to my Mom and shouted something weird in Creole. I miss you guys a lot. My
brother saw a tarantula. Also we got a puppy. Her name is Tally. She is really, really cute. She is a black lab. We went on a walk yesterday I offered to carry a bucket for somebody. It was a Haitian lady. It was getting really heavy in my hand so I put it on my head it was harder than it looks. We have to take a Haitian shower here. I'll explain how it is done. You a heat a bucket of water over the stove, you grab a smaller bucket, put it in the big bucket and pour that on your head. I'm going to teach our dog how to get out of handcuffs or at least try. I have a locked box in my room it is where I keep all the good stuff, like my handcuffs. Clearly you see I have had an awesome time in Haiti.
Sincerely- Houdini
P.S. there is a soccer feild by our house every once in a while we watch the kids play.

Dear Class-
My family bought a puppy her name is Tally. Tally's read name is Talkeetna. I miss you so much. We have a big house for Haiti. We are buying a cat to eat the mice around our house. My brother found a dead tarantula, it is by my sisters foot in the picture. I got a bug bite bigger than a penny. I have been to the orphanage 3 times, I got to hold lots of cute babies. As you can see I am having a fun time.How is school going? Is it still snowing?
Love, IS

Dear Ms.Lee and full day kindies-
You know the picture with the tarantula, I found the tarantula. Wecaught a lot of lizards. The car ride to my house is VERY bumpy, and when I ride in the back I don't even have a seat belt. In the
front I do. There are three couches at my house and some pictures. Our house is big, we have a fun back yard. This is a picture of the view from my house. We got a new dog, her name is Talkeetna, we call her Tally. We can't undertand their church. We go to a lot of orphanages, I like
the orphanages.
Sincerely-TJ

Class Notes

I forgot today was a holiday and the kids sent notes to their classes.

dear class,how big was the snowstorm?It has been really hot here.I eve
forgot all about snow it is so hot here. Yesterday we went to a
orphanage there were fifteen baby's that were so cute.Also yesterday a
tiny lizard bit me on the finger!OUCH!!Don't think i'm not doing any
school work because i am.Are new house is giant it has a bunch of
locked boxes to lock my strait jacket,handcuff, and all that good
stuff. I wish you were here.As you can see i'm having the time of my
life.
your friend,
CT

Dear Class
Haiti is great. I wish you were here. I went to an orphanage and I
held a qute little babby.We are moving to a new house today .It is a
grate house .As you can see I am having a grate time .Love IS

Ms. Lee & Class-
Here is a picture a boy from the orphanage, he looks like Spencer. I
miss you. I hope you have a good week. It is steaming hot. It has not
rained. I hope you like the picture. The road to get to our new house
is very bumpy. I miss you. I hope you have a fun time with your full
day kindies.
Sincerely, TJ

Notes to their classes

The kids are each going to try and write a note to their classes each week. This week they were short and included pictures that are on the blog.


Dear class, I miss you already. So far I have caught 3 lizards and seen about 25
lizards.When we were driving home from the airport, I saw a lock store with about
400 locks and 800 keys! Also, when we were driving home from the airport I saw a
fallen down building and BJ made such a big deal about it. Today I saw a
girl police officer.This is a picture of her.
Sincerely-
CT
aka Houdini


Dear class, I miss you all ready. There is a lot of damage. I went to a
petting zoo. There is a picture of me and my brothers and my driver Vlad. As you
can see, I am having a great time.
Love IS


"Ms.Lee-
Thank you for being my teacher. I miss you. I hope you don't get sick. I
hope you will miss me. I like you.
I hope you like the pictures of a building falling down, me and Vlad and IS
and CT, and me by our house gate.
I miss you.
Sincerely, TJ.