The Haitian Adventure Begins!

Bon jou! Koman ou e? Mwen tres bien, merci!
Wow, where to begin? I guess I'll start with the compound. So, we are livng on a compound that is owned by a group called World Outreach, but most of it is being leased by Samaritan's Purse, the NC Baptist Men, and a group called Friend-Ships (which brings supplies by ship to disaster areas). We've met a few people from other organizations but we are each very busy so there is little time to interact with them. The 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg left dozens of crates of water bottles on the compound when they left, which is kinda cool being a native of Fayettenam. The man sleep on the back porch, while the women sleep inside the house. A past time of enticing tarantulas out of their holes in the ground has developed among the men (us boys will be boys). So far we've successfully pulled out three, though the back yard is full of their borroughs (don't worry ma, I aint got bit yet!).
We have been working with the construction and medical teams that are here for this week. I go with the construction team, and so far we have finished 6 houses with one left to be tarped. We start at about 6 in the morning and work to 12 when we eat lunch, then head out to work again until 4 or 5 pm. It is hot! But that was to be expected...this aint nothing after 2 summers in Delhi! We've been working with a team of Haitian men and women on the medical and construction teams. I've become friends with a few of them who are teaching me Haitian Creole. Two in particular are Freguens and Laurent. There are also a few teenage boys from the village of Titayen that have been helping us. One of them, Pierre, has especially fascinated me; he is deaf and still works as hard as any of us. He's been deaf since birth and only makes noises instead of any intelligible speach (ironically enough the noises he makes sound kinda like the word "hammer" some times). He amazes me everyday because he is the friendliest guy you'll meet. He demonstrates that he clearly has a grasp of what is going on and what he's doing when we are building. I hate to say it, but I think he shows that language isn't everything (yes I cringed a little as I typed that). He is fascinating to watch and work with and I am looking forward to working with him for the summer.
Welp, I think that's all for now. I'll write soon!
Au revoir,
Matthew ;^)