Days 213 to 215 and Language Lessons

Day 213 - A large roll of old linoleum inherited from previous owner and taking space in the garage (Throw)

Day 214 - Large terra cotta pot from the backyard which served mainly to be an unattractive place for maple seedlings to grow (Throw)

Day 215 - Jar of "holy" water somebody (danged faulty memory!) brought me back from the Jordan River years ago. (Dump and Throw)  I was going to recycle the jar - send it to Goodwill or whatever - but the water stain on it was inpenetrable.  I was never one who was big on the concept of "sacred" objects or places, so I don't consider this one a big loss. 

In other breaking news ... our friend Storly has been coming by a couple of times a week to give our whole family lessons in Haitian Creole.  Melissa and I have been very proud of our kids and how seriously they have taken these sessions.  We all sit around the kitchen table and take notes, practice pronunciation and ask questions.  

At one point, Storly asked each of us to come up with a sentence in English that we might be able to use in Haiti and he would give us the Creole.  So Storly was getting sentences like "What is your name?" or "Where is the bathroom?" or "I am thirsty."  Ida (age 7) came up with the following:  "Kill that fly!"  (Storly explained that we would have to be a bit more polite about the fly killing and gave us the Creole for "Would you kill that beast, please?"  Which is handy, because then we can use the same sentence to do away with snakes and spiders, too.)

At one point, Storly was trying to explain that sometimes you need to use the Creole "to be" verb and sometimes you don't.  When saying "I am thirsty", for example, you only need the Creole for "I" and "thirsty".  But if you want to say "I am a teacher", then you need the Creole for "be".  Dats (age 10) sat there and let that soak in and then offered this observation:  "Well ... SOMEBODY messed up a language!"

As far as foreign languages go, Storly assures us that Creole is one of the easier ones to learn.  It does seem there are some aspects of the Creole that simply learning; for instance, all of the verbs are regular.  The verb for a plural subject is the same as the verb for the singular and various tenses are created by adding various helping verbs to that same root verb. 

I confess that learning the language is number two on my list of things that make me nervous about moving to Haiti (right behind DRIVING there!).  But Storly is a good teacher and overall I feel reassured that I will GET it in time.  As the old saying goes: "God doesn't call the equipped - He equips the called."  I do believe that whatever path God calls us to in this life, He will make sure we have what we need for obedience.