Ki sa, sa ye?

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen with the women. Olivia brought me with her so she could help translate for me and it was actually very fun!

The women wouldn't let me do anything because they were afraid I would cut or burn myself, but I watched Madame Pastor F., Suzette and the other ladies marinate chunks of goat meat with various spices, like cloves, garlic and sliced peppers.

Suzette is starting to learn English and knew just enough to introduce herself and tell me she was one son and one daughter. Which worked well because the most I can say about myself in Kreyol is that my name is Amy and I have a mother, father and brother.

Most of the conversation in the kitchen was me pointing to different items and asking, "Ki sa, sa ye?" That way, I hoped to learn some Kreyol words with conversations like:

Me: What's this?

The women: It's a carrot.

Me: What's this?

The women: It's a spoon.

Despite the language barrier, it was a nice time. The women enjoyed asking me and Olivia about foods in the States, as in "Do you have butter in the United States? Do you have rice? Do you have carrots? Do you have goat?" Olivia calls Madame Pas F. "Polis la Kreyol" because she's the grammar police! She definitely helps you learn because she always corrects you when you're wrong and makes you repeat what she says until you can correctly say what you mean. She would be a great teacher!

Madame Pas F. is amazing, by the way. She's only 29, but she runs Pastor Farrell and their two kids along with that kitchen. She's about five feet tall and is a little skinny minnie (and pregnant!) but nobody messes with Madame Pas. Not like you would want to, because she's so sweet and loving.

After dinner, we thanked the cooking ladies for feeding us all week by giving them each a gift bag with a cutting board, a knife, a can opener, lotion, and a fingernail kit. They've never seen can openers before (they use knives), so Jules promised to teach them to use the openers later. Then we Americans gathered up the cooks' kids and went for a walk up the street to watch the sunset before the debriefing on our exit trip from Plain Matin tomorrow. No church tonight means we get to relax a bit (but only a little bit).