Franse

While my Creole listening comprehension in certain situation is still at least sometimes still a struggle, I often find myself in situations where it seems I am expected understand a language I do not know.  Nearly all of the time, in most of Haiti, Creole is the language used for everyday communication.  French is the language often used by government, most schools and in many formal situations.  The sisters here are committed to ensuring that the younger sisters can speak French well, so often at the dinner table French is used.  If I listen intently for words that are the same as Creole or English and most of the time I do have a sense of what the general topic is, sometimes I actually understand a complete sentence and rarely even a few details, and of course at other times I am quite clueless.  One day I can more or less follow a conversation about autism in French, and soon after needed to ask just to get a sense of  the topic of the conversation is, when someone was talking about a car accident.  

In the convent, liturgy and prayer are typically primarily in French.  When we go to the cathedral for morning mass, it is in french.  Sometimes we go to daily mass at church in a nearby neighborhood, where the liturgy is mostly in Creole.  I am glad when we go there; I prefer smaller neighborhood churches to big cathedrals anyway.  The other morning, though I did have a little difficulty understanding some of the liturgy even though it was in Creole, because the roosters crowing outside were  drowning out the voices of the readers and priest.  

I have learned a very little bit of French, like the most common mass responses.  In fact one morning when the priest started in Creole, I was not all of the way awake (it was 6 am and still dark out) I actually responded with"Et avec votre spirit" (French for and also with your spirit), when I should have said, "E avèk ou menm tou",  (Creole for and also with you.)  A year ago, when I first arrived in Cap-Haitian, I would frequently do the opposite (respond in Creole when the priest was speaking French.) 

The sisters here had an assembly over the weekend.  On Saturday evening I went to their mass and had supper with them; I always enjoy connecting with the larger community and seeing some of the sisters who I neither live or work with.  

The children are doing well.  I continue to enjoy my work with them; it is a privilege to watch them learn and grow.  This living arrangement is working out well.  Hopefully all is well with you.  Take care.  Many Blessings!