The story of Josiah and the diesel

Dear my friends,

Thanks for reading my blog.  It's fun knowing you.  I liked getting the comments from my funny little cat story.

This morning my mom and my dad went to the doctor.  They are not sick, they just needed a checkup.  They do that almost everyday.  (Mom's editorial note:  we are in the process of trying to get a Haitian "certificate of health" for our residency and it is proving a bit challenging-- not because we are unhealthy, but because the system is pretty silly, so yes, we do go almost every day.)

Well, when my mom and dad were gone, Josiah started playing with the diesel container.  We use that to get gas for the generator.  And Josiah started playing with it and he figured out how to take off the top.  And he started spilling it all over the ground.  (Don't worry, it was outside.)  I quickly told Nahomi.  Don't worry, he didn't spill it all.  Nahomi took the diesel away from him and set it somewhere where he couldn't reach it.  And then my mom and dad came home and I told them what happened.  And they started cleaning up the ground.  And that was actually a funny thing, because we don't clean up the ground, unless there is garbage all over it.  

So that was the story of Josiah and the diesel.

Everyone has started calling him, "Josiah dezòd la."  That means "Josiah, the un-good boy." (Editorial note: it actually, literally means, "Josiah, the disorderly." )

And we are unhappy with him because of this story.

Love,

Nia

I ate a cat.

Dear friends,

Today my dad gave me some food. I didn't know what it was so I asked daddy. And he said, "a cat." And I ate it.

It was yummy.

Want to know what the joke is? Yes? Okay.

This is the joke-- I have vitamins and they are shaped like animals. And there are ones shaped like cats. And today I ate a cat vitamin. (I didn't really eat a cat... just a cat vitamin.)

Did I fool you?

Nahomi has actually eaten cats. Real cats. Really. It's not a joke, I promise.

Love,
Nia

How to make French Bread Pizza

French bread pizza is french pizza, but the crust is bread. I had it on my birthday, which is July 1. I am six years old now. French bread pizza is good. I made it. Here is how you make it. (Mommy took all these pictures since we can't find my camera again.)

First, I am crushing the cheese. (Editorial note from mom: we freeze cheese when we buy it in Haiti, so even shredded cheese sort of needs to be "re-shredded.")

I am holding the cheese I already shredded up. When mommy took this picture, I said "di fromaj" which means, "say cheese," just like my blog is called.

You need to have an adult cut up the bread for you. Then you can put sauce on it.

Next you sprinkle cheese all over it.

Then, you put it in the oven. This is me looking at the pizza in the oven.

Then it's done. This is me eating my pizza. Yum yum! I got to use the birthday plate because it was my birthday!

The Market

Dear my friends,

I had fun at the market, which means it was fun. That the same thing. The market is the place where we go to buy food. Today was the second time I went. It was big. I took pictures on the top of the mountain. We went to it. It was fun.

They sell cornflakes, the sell watermelon, they sell lots of sweets. They sell fruits and vegetables and Haitian grits. At one of the places we went to they even sell cornmeal that tastes just like grits. They even sell turtles. Some people eat turtles in Haiti. We saw live chickens and the first time I went I saw a cat chained up with a rope. They eat cats here too. I petted the cat to say goodbye. But we didn't buy it because my dad's allergic. I think you know that already. I wonder if he would be allergic to eating cats. When I petted the cat, it almost bit me. It was a little teeny kitten. I liked it. I wonder why it almost bit me. Maybe because it doesn't like petting. Or it doesn't want to be tied up or maybe it doesn't want to be eaten. I didn't know cat language to tell it I was just being nice to him.

There was a place there where there was all dead meat. Almost all dead meat. I did not like it there. It made me feel little bit scared and the smell made me cough. Naomi bought a bunch of goat because we're having company for dinner on Thursday. I didn't smell it after she bought it. And when she showed mommy and daddy it, I did not smell it. But I like to eat goat, it tastes good. But I don't think it smells good before it's cooked.

I hope you like my pictures. These pictures are great. They are of the market. This is all about the market.

Love, Nia

The market tops.

Turtles at the market.

A lot of food for sale at the market.The funny clouds. They look beautiful too.

A lady at the market and her peas.

Potatoes at the market.

More lots and lots of food at the market.

Fruits at the market

Live upside down chickens

People holding chickens

Grandma-- this is for you.

Grandma.

I have two pairs of glasses so I took some pictures with them both on like you wear. I hope you like them.

Love,
Nia

Hello Everybody-

Dear My Friends,

I hope you're having a good time and lots of fun. I think that's the same thing (a good time and lots of fun.)

Today and last night I played in the pool. It's a little pool. It's fun. I live in an apartment in Port Au Prince for mommy and daddy's language school. It's fun living in a new house and having a new mosquito net for my bed.

I realized my blog is named the wrong thing. I think it was supposed to be "di fromaj" that means, "say cheese" in Creole. I am learning more Creole. I am learning it by my mom and dad. And Naomi. Naomi is our "helper." Naomi helps clean our house and watches the kids while my mom and dad are in language school. She's Haitian. I like her. Especially her new hair. It's long and braided. I love it. Nico and Josiah love it too. Nico keeps saying, "Mom, Naomi is CUTE!"

There's bugs here tonight. It's a swarm. Swarm means a lot of bugs in each house. They are not biting bugs but I still hate them. They fly. They are all over. It's not fun having a swarm. Or funny.

Church in Haiti is fun. I went to church. Today I learned about helping and last time I learned about sharing. I get to go to children's church. That's where I leared about helping and sharing. There's other kids there. I have fun. You guys don't know this but, I know that they speak English at this church in Port Au Prince. It's my church. Well sort of my church. It's everyone's who goes there.

Maybe tomorrow I can post some pictures.

Love,
Nia

La bouyi

Dear all my friends,

Tonight for dinner I ate la bouyi.  It's like a milky porridge that sort of tastes like oatmeal.  The kids here eat it for dinner a lot.  I like it middlesized.  I don't love it but I don't not like it.  Josiah loves la bouyi.  Today for lunch we had a Haitian soup.  It had carrots.  It had plantains.  It had potatoes.  It had dumplings, which I like to call wipers.  I don't know why I call them that.  But I do.  I love wipers.  It also had spinach or something in it.  I had two bowls of it.  It also had a little meat in it. It was really yummy but I didn't care for the plantains in it.  Neither did my mom.  But my dad liked that part so he ate all our plantains.

We went to our new house today to unpack a little bit.  I was a good helper.

I had fun today.  I made a crown.  My dad helped me.  He cut it out.  It has hearts on it and it is red and pink.  In creole red is called wouj and pink is called woz.  I am wearing the crown right now.

This is my day.

Love,

Nia