At 9:45 Saturday morning my phone rang: "Good morning, Teacher Gross. We are waiting for you at the front gate."
My adult English class is a funny group this year. They like to party. At Christmas time, it wasn't enough for me to bring a cake for our celebration together - they had to turn the whole thing into a feast. Fried goat, plantains, pikliz.
So I wasn't surprised when, as our final class of the school year began to approach, they decided they wanted to organize a trip to the beach before we went our separate ways in June. Yesterday was the chosen date and preparations were made and we were to meet at 9:00 a.m. at the OMS office and I would drive us all together in the big OMS truck.
Unfortunately, heavy rains fell throughout the night and continued into Saturday morning. I had even walked through the drizzle to the front gates at 9:00 JUST IN CASE anyone was crazy enough to want to go to the beach ... and I had returned home greatly relieved to have seen nobody. I wasn't surprised, of course - people around here tend to avoid the rain. The streets empty with a downpour. And this rain didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon.
But now here they were 45 minutes later, waiting for me at the gate - about 8 die hard beach fans with three buckets of food and a couple of cases of soda. (I had anticipated around 30 students joining in - if the sun had been shining.)
They told me they understood if I didn't want to go with them, but they were determined to go. The ringleader, Abraham, explained that he planned to drive his pickup and everyone would simply crowd into IT if I decided not to go.
I HAD been looking forward to this trip, but now the weather was miserable and I could imagine driving all the way to the beach only to turn back home in disappointment at the lack of sunshine. Besides, Melissa and I had already made alternate plans for the morning. So I waffled a bit, but ultimately I ran back up to the house, grabbed my water bottle and swimsuit and joined the students in driving to Camp Louise, 12 miles (read:one hour!) away.
(By the way, at the last moment, Mikenn and Ruysdael showed up and they jumped in the vehicle to go with us, even though they had not packed a beach bag. They often hang around during my English class, so they are friends with many of the students now too.)
I was motivated partly by the impulse to explore a beach I had not seen before, but mostly by the desire to spend some unstructured time with my students. This year's class has been a real hoot. Besides, I figured the rain would let up soon. But as we drove, the clouds became ever thicker and heavier. In places, the road became a river.
So once we arrived at the beach, we had our choice of shelters! Not another soul in sight.
Judging from this photo, maybe half of us were quite happy to be at the beach:
The first order of business was to serve the meal.
Here you see boiled plantains on the top left, boiled potatoes on the top right and goat stew at the bottom:
When I asked Abraham who had cooked the goat, he said it was his cousin. Someone asked if it was "goat head stew" (which IS a thing here) and he replied, "It was a small goat, so we threw the WHOLE thing in."
When it came to the meal, Abraham hadn't held anything back; he threw the whole thing in the stew pot. And as my students pulled me to the front of the line and piled TWO Styrofoam containers with enough food to fill at least two men, I was humbled and decided that "All In" was, indeed, the theme of the day.
So when after lunch (which, by the way, was EXCELLENT!), half the group proposed going for a swim in the cold rain, I hesitated only briefly before changing into my swimsuit to join them in the water.
Who cared if it felt like it was 60 degrees and the wind was blowing and the rain was pelting us non-stop, we came to the beach and we were going to swim, doggone it!
We paused only for a few photos along the way...
And then went for a swim.
Jojo, Mikenn, Ruysdael and I after our cold swim. I am surprised this photo is in focus considering how much all four of us were shivering. I don't think any of us packed a towel.
The rain finally started to let up around 2:00. So after drying off and warming up a bit, these three guys and I went walking down the beach a ways, taking in the sights.
For instance, this fishing boat that was being repaired.
I was especially curious about this entire area because in front of us was the backside of the mountain behind my house.
There was a shoreline swamp that was gorgeous if you ignore the trash.
This little guy had just fetched a bucket for his dad to use in bailing water out of one of the boats.
Several fishing boats were anchored along the bay.
Another boat heading out to sea in search of a catch.
And a beached boat preaching the truth.
I ended the day so thankful that I hadn't stayed home out of fear of being uncomfortable or "being unproductive" when I had so much work I could be doing. Such good food, great company, gorgeous scenery and fun memories that I might have never known. I do believe it was the Lord who had nudged me forward and who reminded me throughout the day that I need to approach this crazy, unpredictable life with an "all in" attitude. (And I appreciated Melissa's flexibility in my absence and patience with my early waffling.) What a day I would have missed out on!
Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from Henry David Thoreau:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”
Or, more importantly, John 10:10 -
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
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One last picture. Various students asked me several times throughout the day how their Haitian beach compared to American beaches. I told them American beaches are very similar in most ways. But here's something you don't usually expect to see at the beach:
