Showing posts with label (Haiti). Show all posts
Showing posts with label (Haiti). Show all posts

January 05, 2007

Updated pictures !!!!

In there you will find (just click on the pix to access the sets).:

- last pictures of Haiti (curtosy of Naya), including some sunsets and more shots of Moulin Sur Mer ;
IMG_0204

- Pictures of Baltimore, including a visit of the port of Baltimore and some fireworks at the Washington Monument ;
Baltimore monument fireworks5
Port of Baltimore 21

- Pictures of Toronto, mostly street scenes and cityscapes ;
In Yorkville (Toronto) 3

- Pictures of Montreal, street scenes and cityscapes mostly.
MTL by night Jan 2007 (34)
If you are my Friend on Flickr, you will also find pix of Nights out and holiday celebrations.

May 2007 be kind to you !



The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

December 21, 2006

Introspective Post and Season's wishes

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and I am not working. I just made eggs and toast for myself, jazz is playing in the kitchen, and the sun room where I am sitting is filled with the Toronto grey skies. It’s the first time I have in about a month to really sit down and reflect. It’s a scary thing. Last time it happened, I wrote a post called Cul-de-sac – and it was so very depressing and somewhat tragic.

This time – I am at peace. So much has happened between Cul de Sac and now. Last time I took the time to write an introspective post, I was in Haiti, sequestered, lonely, bored and depressed. This time, I am in Toronto, in one of my homes away from home, Pgwrox’s lovely townhouse where I have now been enough times to know my way around and feel at home. I am rested, sated, and somewhat content.

Meulaboh Sunset


Christmas is coming round and I feel no fear, for the first time in a long time. Dad won’t be there, of course. CQFD will not be there either. My mum, PG and I will be celebrating the family thing together, as the tightly knit family that we are, despite distances.

My mum and I will be the 2 widows that we are, her in her own right, me…. in my own way. Last year, at this time, we were decorating the Christmas tree, CQFD and I, at his parents’ house. I was at peace, happy, in love. I felt like it was a day of days. I felt like that moment was immortal.



Louvre, Le Baiser



But all moments are immortal. And so while my 4 years with CQFD are suspended in time, so are my memories of my Yankee lover immortal, his warmth, and how I felt happy and at home in his arms, though I may never see him again.



Louvre, La victoire de Samotrace



And so timeless are the memories of my friend Naya, grilling red peppers while chatting with her sister at the other end of the world, and so are those of the Peacekeepers of Haiti, whom I may never see again but carry forever in my heart.

The Belgian crew in Bujumbura and the Philippinos in Aceh, and of course the orphans in Sierra Leone, the staff in Liberia and CMR & Princess, whom I met in Pakistan, now scattered in Zambia and Australia, my family in France and Canada, all of you will stay in my heart for ever.


Fon Sail 4 (Ganvie)



All of my fellow officers are immortal. They are all unique and special and beautiful in their own way. And I love them all, in a way that is unique to them. I will miss them during this month of rest, and I will miss some of them more until I work with them again, sometimes 6 or 7 months from now.

This year has been a busy and eventful year. I have been ill. I have had my heart broken. I have also learned much and grown in wisdom and confidence through it all. Friends have died, and babies were conceived. Love was lost and friendships were found, built and nourished. Decisions were made, lessons were learned and through it all, the wheel of life kept turning, inexorably and timelessly.





So on the eve of Christmas 2006, may your time with your loved ones be rich, filled with love and may it remain suspended in time, shimmering and bright for you to remember, should hardship befall you. We are all immortal, timeless, evanescent. And all of you readers, may you find in this holiday season the power to love, forgive and to remember.

The Beaver

November 19, 2006

Magneto & Mystique

Last night, I danced with Magneto. The sweet, tall, blond swedish engineer twirled me around on the dance floor and held me tight. I rested my head on his chest, closed my eyes, took in the sweet smell of his body. I closed my eyes and let him take me to another world. For a short while that felt like forever, he lead me to another plane, where we were the only 2 beings in the world.

He kissed my cheek tenderly and left without trying to get to my bed, but promising to see me again.


I leave Haiti in 4 days. It's always about terrible timing. I will nevertheless cherich this moment. It was magical in many, many ways. Sometimes, a short moment of magic is all one needs.

Update: I was at the mountain cottage today - and bumped into him... on a double date. Turns out - the guy is charming to everyone - and potentially in a relationship.

Last night, I felt special. Today, I feel ordinary, and kind of like a fool for maybe seeing something that wasn't there. I mean - I get VERY little male attention usually, after all.

P.S. Today is Amias' birthday. Do pop in by her blog (although she is now retired) and enjoy her beautiful writing. And why not leave her a comment wishing her a happy day while you're there?

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

November 11, 2006

Welcome to Ayiti Cherie

It's a lazy day, it's 30 degrees outside and sunny, some light brazilian samba is playing. I am sitting on a sofa, outside. One of my friends is playing pool with himself, two others are surfing with their laptops. Casanova is playing in the background but nobody really cares.

Today, I woke up late, had room service for breakfast. I will spend the afternoon lazing away before the evening starts. Tonight is jazz night, and I have been asked to sing Hotel California for the hotel guests. I am not on vacation though. This is a well deserved rest from a long week of work.

This week, I spent 2 days out of PAP and I think it has a lot to do with my mood's improvement. I went on a site visit in a place called Deschappelles. (Full photoset can be found here. )This is a partner which I visited before, and truely enjoyed going back there.

The road was, as usual, very folklo. I had a blast taking pictures of the local public transportation and of the guys who get on at mid-flight.

Catching the bus

The place is gorgeous. The luscious vegetation is georgeous, the people are more laid back and less agressive then they are in PAP. I was sleeping in a guest house with no running water, but paradoxally, there was a pool in front of the guest house.

View of the campus

When I arrived there a 4PM, I paid a visit to my counterpart, settled down, and had some dinner (local food, of course). At 7PM I went over to Anne's. Anne is a French Canadian teacher who has lived in Haiti for several years. Coincidentally, she knew my father way back when, and is now working for this partner. So we spent 2 evenings in a row having Barbancourt rhum and chatting with our haitian colleagues.

It was great to laugh, and talk about home, and listen to her stories of the field. It was great to feel alive again, to swim in the pool at midnight, to float on my back and gaze at the Haitian night sky, counting the stars and feeling vibrantly alive.

Tomorrow, Naya and I have arranged to go back to the beach. Haiti has some of the most beautiful beaches I've seen.

Carribean sea-side

Too bad the country is a mess... and that it's so unsafe. Last night, two jordanian UN soldiers were killed in an ambush in downtown PAP. The ambush theory is not official yet, but it is a reasonnable one, since the 2 guys were shot right when they got out of their cars.

Blue Berets on the way to work (Casques bleus)

I'm always sad when violence that I can't understand happens. Deep down, it shatters my faith in man.

P.S. I also uploaded the last pictures I took on my Burundi Field Trip and there are some awesome shots... enjoy !
Burundi - Ruyigi FieldVisits 003
Full photoset for these last pix of Burundi is here.

The Beaver



My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

November 06, 2006

Ups and downs

Yesterday was a bad day. Today was a good day. It was uneventful, but good.

I think my favorite part of today was dinner. It involved a lot of girl talk and male-bashing. (Sorry boys, I know there are some decent men out there, but this is part of my therapy.) This Haitian girl we befriended here was so funny, I laughed so hard, I think I cried. It was like being in Sex & The City, Haitian-style.

Tomorrow, I am going to the field to visit a Hospital where we participate in the treatment of HIV-AIDS patients. I've been there before and will re-assess the project, 6 months later. This should be interesting. It will be nice to be out of PAP for a few days, even though the conditions there are ... rather uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

One of the reasons I'm happy to be going is that I will hopefully get once again a glimpse of the beautiful haitian coast, like I did last time I went in April:


Benedictine Monastery
(Click on the picture to access my set of Haitian
pictures from my first trip there 6 months ago.)

So anyway, I'll be gone probably for a few days... hopefully when I get back I'll have more pictures to share.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

November 05, 2006

Cul de sac

Port au Prince, 14:57


Je m’emmerde. Ca fait des heures que je surfe sur Internet. J’ai téléchargé des chansons, visite tous mes blogues préférés, pris un gros petit déjeuner, parle a une amie sur MSN… et je m’emmerde.


J’en ai marre de cet écran d’ordinateur. Pourtant, c’est ma seule porte de sortie, séquestrée comme je suis dans cet hôtel a 2 étoiles dont je ne peux m’échapper sans encourir les foudres divines des puissances, loin là-bas, aux Etats-Unis.


Pour la première fois depuis 3 mois, j’ai vraiment l’occasion de m’introspecter. Ca me déplaît profondément. Retourner au fond de moi, retrouver le contact avec le vide qui m’habite depuis que mon cœur a été fracasse comme une moule sur un rocher par le seul goéland en qui ma confiance était absolue.


Retrouver mes doutes, ma tristesse, mon absence de certitude. Replonger dans mon état névralgique, névrose de fille au cœur brise, a la carrière insatisfaite, a la solitude épidermique. Pas rigolo, tout ca.


J’imagine que c’est le moment pour moi de prendre le temps de mettre sur papier toutes ces questions qui m’assaillent et que j’ai tues ces derniers mois. J’imagine aussi qu’un bilan s’impose. Dans 2 semaines, je passe quelques jours à Montréal. L’occasion de revoir ma maman, mes amis. L’occasion de me confronter a ma ville natale, que j’identifie depuis 3 mois à l’amour de ma vie, celui qui m’a rejetée en prétextant que c’était pour le mieux. Cette ville dont chaque pierre, chaque rue porte le souvenir de lui, de nous.


Qu’est-ce qui a change en moi depuis le mois d’aout ? Suis-je une femme différente ? Qui rentrera chez ma mère ? Moi, ou une étrangère ? A la vérité, je suis devenue une étrangère des mon retour au Québec en Avril 2005. Partir a l’étranger, c’est un choix de vie. Ca vous change. Ca vous met à part des gens que vous aimez. Ca vous met a part de votre culture d’origine.


Mon nouvel état de célibataire m’a mise face a face avec cette dure réalité : je ne peux plus entrer dans le moule. Je suis irrémédiablement différente. Irrémédiablement solitaire. Irrémédiablement, inéluctablement seule. Une partie de moi savait que la femme que je devenais ne pourrait plus être avec l’homme qu’Il restait.


J’ai faim du monde. J’ai faim d’autres cultures. J’ai faim de découvertes. J’ai faim d’amour. Je ne me suis pas sentie si seule depuis des siècles. Isolée, abandonnée. Comment pourrais-je un jour rencontrer un compagnon de vie, moi qui suis maudite ? Maudite car je ne pourrais jamais me poser. Maudite car je suis incapable de rester chez moi. Maudite car je vais mourir célibataire, aigrie et déprimée. Maudite car aucun homme ne voudra jamais de moi, ne serais-ce qu’a cause de mon appétit vorace pour la vie qui me pousse à explorer, toujours explorer plus.


Pendant un moment, j’ai eu un moment de folie. J’ai perdu toute lucidité et j’ai pense que quelque part sur cette planète, existait un homme dont la faim serait aussi grande, aussi insatiable que la mienne. Mais ou est-il ? Je pensais l’avoir découvert, cache sous le manteau de l’amitié, masque par le temps passe à se découvrir. Mais j’ai été déçue, irrémédiablement, puisqu’il ne m’aime pas. Puisque celle que je suis ne lui a pas suffit.


Cul de sac. Voila le nom de ce post. Je me sens prisonnière. J’en ai marre de mon boulot. J’en ai marre de ma solitude. Mais j’y suis condamnée. Quitter et repartir a zéro ? Toujours cette foutue solitude. Toujours cette foutue impression d’être étrangère, de n’appartenir a rien ni a personne, d’être inadéquate.


Ca fait exactement 435 jours que je fais ce travail. Ca fait exactement 70 jours que je suis célibataire. Ca faisait exactement 1395 jours que nous étions en couple au moment de la rupture. Ca faisait 4068 jours qu’on se connaissait (plus ou moins). J’existe depuis 10819 jours. Je l’ai donc connu pendant 38% de ma vie. J’ai été son amoureuse pendant 13% de ma vie. Le temps dédié à mon emploi actuel représente 4% de mon temps de vie sur terre. Mon temps de souffrance actuel représente 1% de ma vie, et 25% de mon temps au travail. Les statistiques ne mentent pas.


De son cote, il existe depuis 10292 jours. Il donc m’a connu pendant 40% de sa vie, et aimée pendant 14% de sa vie. J’ai été absente pendant 15% de notre temps d’amour (en incluant mon stage de 6 mois). Les statistiques ne mentent pas.


Oui, il est important. Très important. Je ne peux pas me pardonner d’avoir perdu 15% du temps qui nous était alloue. Je ne peux pas lui pardonner d’avoir jeté au rebut 40% de temps d’amitié, de m’avoir force à abandonner 39% du mien.


Pourtant, c’est moi qui lui interdis de me contacter. C’est moi qui maintiens une distance. C’est moi qui maintenant refuse son amitié. Pourquoi ? Parce que ca fait mal. Trop mal. Par ce qu’au-delà des chiffres, il y a les émotions. Au-delà des statistiques, il y a l’amour. Et le mien est encore trop fort, trop grand, trop invincible pour être enferme dans les tiroirs exigus de l’amitié. Je l’aime. Je l’aime. Je l’aime et ca me fait souffrir. Je l’aime et j’ai envie de le crier. Je l’aime et je me sens capable de l’aimer toujours. Je l’aime et mon amour est immortel, il me transporte et me transperce. Je l’aime et il ne m’aime pas. Mon amour est la seule chose qui m’aurait permit de rester. La seule chose qui m’aurait peut-être assouvie. La seule puissance assez extraordinaire pour prendre le dessus pour mon appétit vorace du monde.


Maintenant que mon amour existe malgré moi, malgré ma volonté…. Qu’il me fait souffrir quel que soit ma vie… Qu’il me transporte sans m’apaiser… Qu’il me rend insupportable mon existence de vagabonde… Maintenant que je souffre quel que soit mon pays, mon destin, mon port d’attache… Maintenant que rien ne me satisfait plus…


Qu’est-ce que je vais devenir ?


Port-au-Prince, 15:57. Je pleure et je m'emmerde toujours autant.

November 01, 2006

About Security

What follows is a string of statements made to me about what security is like here and what I should expect.

"Please maintain a high level of caution. When you arrive in country, please stay close to the Hotel until you can meet with the staff. Please do not walk around town, or even the neighborhood around your hotel."

"Nationality is not an issue. Chances of being kidnapped can be largely diminished by staying out of designated areas of Port au Prince and not meandering around town without caution."


"Visitors these days are confined to hotels at night unless escorted out by a staff member. Even with escort they must return by 10:00 pm. Weekend sorties must be approved. All staff, national and international, are strongly recommended to be home by 11:00. pm."

"Anyone visiting the country must strictly follow the security protocols and procedures without exception as their lives depend upon it."

"It makes no difference what nationality, or economic status, the person may be. People are being kidnapped in high numbers, on a daily basis, all over the capital, and they are local and foreigner, poor and rich."

"While the entire city is a concern, they are definite ‘no-go” areas of the city to be avoided at all cost."

The first thing I did after I got this email was to file for Danger Pay.

The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

October 26, 2006

Lame

I'm lame.

I made a promise to give my loyal readers a beautiful update at the latest 3 days ago, but unfortunately, my schedule, work, the suckiness of the bandwidthe available here and my non-cyber life altogether have greatly interfered.

For this, I apologize.

Unfortunately, I must ask my gentle readers to stay patient. I am travelling tomorrow to Haiti, and will not be able to update (again) until another week.

Lame, lame, lame. On the positive side, it's an indication that I actually have a life.

I love you all. I will shortly upload my hundreds of pictures, movies and stories. Just hang on a little longer.

The Beaver


Thanks Caren, for posting on my guestmap! I'll email you shortly !

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 31, 2006

New Pictures !

I had dinner at the upscale Montana in Port au Prince. It's worth the price... just for the sunset ! Check it out !

Click here


The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 25, 2006

Light-hearted... or at least trying...

With work closing in, and stress reaching a max, I'm letting my friend Coffee Addict inspire me to dream......

I'm taking this opportunity to apologize for any non-answered emails. I will try to get caught up this weekend.

So here goes, if I were a Billionaire, I'd maintain the following 13 cribs around the world:
1) A studio in Montmartre (Paris, France) ;
2) A cabin by a lake in the Laurentians (Quebec) ;
3) A sanctuary on a quiet Caribbean Island ;
4) A house in Cape Town (South Africa);
5) A villa in Tuscany (Italy);
6) A trendy appartment in Montreal (Quebec) ;
7) A palace on a remote Pacific Island ;
8) A town house in Barcelona (Spain) ;
9) A fully-equipped residential yacht ;
10) A mezannine in Tokyo ;
11) A suite in Rio de Janeiro ;
12) A skying lodge in Chamonix ;
13) A ranch in Camargue (France).

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 21, 2006

Conundrum

Recently, I've been faced with a moral dilemna. Out of personnal interest, I visited an orphanage.

If you're not familiar with humanitarian or charity action, here's a vital piece of information you need to know: money does not grow on trees. And institutions face that reality every day.

The moral dilemna I face is this one:

In Haiti, street kids are a common sight. These kids' life conditions on the streets are anything but safe. They starve, get beaten, raped and otherwise abused. In the process, these kids contract all sorts of STD, including (and particularly) HIV/AIDS. And, of course, they have nowhere safe to sleep at night.

These children are faced with a limited set of options:

1) Stay on the street. Endure. Survive the horror.

2) Go home. Some of these kids actually have a home to go to. It's just that their parents can't feed them, or abuse them.

3) Go to a kid shelter.

The kid shelter I visited had the advantage of offering a safe place to stay at night and access to education.

However, when I visited the orphanage, this is what I saw:

1) Hygiene conditions were *unbearable*, as I couldn't even inspect the toilets because of the *stench*;

2) Sleeping conditions for the children were uncertain. Although the kids claim they share a bed (at three in a child crib), and bed sheets were DIRTY apparently full of coodies;

3) The children are homeschooled. Cool! But they were sleeping on their desks - I think they hadn't eaten in 24 hours. I found out late that to make matters worse, a caregiver had been stealing food from the children.

4) A little boy, maybe 6 years of age and obviously sick since several days, had not received any care at all. He was feverish, so when I asked the care-giver what she would give him, she claimed she would give a 6 year old boy some medication for children aged 0 to 24 months!

Interestingly enough, the manager of the center was outraged of these observations, which makes me thinks she hadnt visited the place in a long, long time. She fired the theiving caregiver on the spot, and assured me that she would fix the other problems, but I'm sceptical. To me, the main problem was ignorance and lack of education that led to utter and complete child neglect. Given that these people have already been trained by a competent Haitian care-giver, I wonder WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE ?

One of my friends visited a similar orphanage, where the conditions were worsened by the fact that the center's manager was abusing the children.

"There are an estimated 1.2 million orphans and at-risk children in Haiti. That's approximately 15-20% of the country's total population! Over 200,000 children live in orphanages or institutionalized group settings that do not meet the minimum standards of child care." (Statistics from At Risk Children Foundation)

This makes me wonder. Are the kids still better off in a center, or on the streets?

The Beaver

Thanks, Michelino en France, for posting on my guestmap! My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 15, 2006

Wahoo Beach!

Beach and Mountain

Wahoo Beach, a beautiful resort on the Caribbean, just 45 minutes from Port-au-Prince, greets all visitors with an arm-band to ensure the beach remains safe of loiterers and unauthorized visitors.

Although the image one has in mind of Haiti is that of poverty, violence, and political turmoil, none of them find their way to Wahoo Beach, as the only reminder that Haiti has been on the international map is the presence of UN peace keepers playing beach volley ball on their day off.

Should Haiti stabilize under the rule of Prezidan Preval, the country could enjoy an influx of foreign spenders, intent on enjoying the many pleasures of Wahoo Beach!

No amnesty for you!

Sunday, may 14th 2006. Rene Preval is sworn in as the President of the Republic of Haiti.

The stakes are high for President Preval, as expections are getting higher and higher within the population of the poor neighboudhoods of PAP, Cite Soleil and Bel-Air. While in the troubled region of Gonaive, the UN peace keepers did well in stabilizing the insecure environment, the blue helmets have been the target of much cynicism in Port-au-Prince, as the insecurity in the poorest zones has been hovering without a final solution.

The president has a lot to do
Hence the high expectations put on the shoulders of Prezidan Preval and his newly elected flick of ministers and deputees who are left with a limping infrastructure, sky-rocketting unemployment rates and heightened insecurity to deal with.

It's well understood in PAP that these are all tied in together in a vicious circle of despair, and that Haiti will have a long way to go before it stops being the poorest country in the sub-region and one of the poorest in the world with a rank of 153 out of 177 on the UN's Human Development Index.

So it's with great interest and a good dose of scepticism that the world now looks at Rene Preval, the heir to a long tradition of despotism and terror reign in Haiti. His decision not declare amnesty this time around arouses intersting questions, as it is beleived that many prisonners who would have benefitted from the measure have been held without trial for years or may even be political prisonners.

Alas, we can only watch and wait...

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 13, 2006

Change of plans...

I was so tired, that yesterday my Team Leader decided to let me off the hook and to replace me for the second round of field visits. I'm very grateful, because I think I was on the brink of exhaustion. I need some ME time. I need to ALONE time. I need to sit back and take it all in, write it down, and incidently share it with you guys.

There is so much I need to share, to talk about. Since I've been in Haiti, I barely had the energy to sit down and write my impressions. I haven't really written any substance articles since Pakistan in January. I feel that my inner life is dwindling, fading away, eaten up by the insane work hours, the lack of sleep, the stress, the loneliness despite the team's presence and companionship.

I feel that I am disconnected from my family, my friends, my bloglife, so important to me in times like this. You may not realize it, but for me who is always on the road, my blogfriends are very important, because they are the only ones who are always around IN THE SAME WAY. Blogging brings some consistency to my life. When I don't blog, I feel empty.

Anyway, I'm not travelling until I leave PAP *for a few weeks* and I expect to have some "ME" time while the crew is out on the field. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to sit back and digest all this, and write some more...

By the way, I posted some pics of the BEACH (taken 2 weeks ago) and of Gonaives (taken this week).

I love you all. Thank you for being around.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 11, 2006

D.E.A.D.

Hey Guys, I just got back from the field, and am going again on Saturday....

Just wanted to say I'm alive. I'll do my best to post some pics (I'm SOOOOO Late).

Anyway, I probably won't be able to update until may 19th or so... (good news is - plenty of pics and stories to tell...)

Thanks to all who played the Tag games !

Love and stuff !

The Beaver



My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 06, 2006

Addicted to Coffee (tag tag tag)

I was tagged by Coffee Addict in Denmark ... I always enjoy that stuff !

If you have been tagged, you are to come up with 4 of each of the below items. Then list down, and tag, four other bloggers on their pages. If you've been tagged, you need not do this again.


4 jobs i have had in my life

* Assistant VP business development for a Hassidim family business (Quebec)
* Law intern for a Senegalese business lawyer
* Internal auditor for an international organization on 4 continents
* Donor address verifier and envelope licker in Canada

4 films i would wtach over & over & over

* Moulin Rouge (ahhhh Ewaaaaan!!!!)
* Independance day (ahhhh Wiiiiiill!!!!!)
* La belle histoire (ahhhh CQFD!!!)
* Troy (ahhhh Braaaaad!!!!)

4 places where i have lived (as in not at the hotel)

* Montreal, Quebec
* Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
* Dakar, Senegal
* Argenteuil, France (surrogately - went on vacation at my aunt's for years and years)

4 TV shows i love to watch

* In Montreal: Angel (ahhhh David !!!!)
* In Johannesburg: Isindigo (love the triligual subtitled series)
* In Freetown (Sierra Leone): Children of Dune
* In Conakry: La vie devant soi

4 places i have been on vacation (among others)

* Paris, France
* North Truro (on Cape Cod)
* Madrid, España (I was 5, only remember being on an elephant's back!)
* Shanghai, China

4 websites i visit

* www.blogger.com
* www.google.com
* www.monster.com
* www.msn.ca

4 of my favourite foods

* New-York style cheesecake
* Pate Chinois 'sti!
* Salmon Sushi
* Imperial rolls

4 places i would rather be right now (so many places, no money and no time)

* Montreal, snuggling in bed with CQFD
* Dakar, dancing on Cool Graoul Night or singing Karaoke at the Papagayo
* Paris, exploring the Louvre (again and again and again)
* Tokyo (just because I've never been there)

4 people i have tagged

* 007 in Africa
* Salt Water
* Saurkraut
* Victoria





I am an Espresso
At my best, I am: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic.

At my worst, I am: anxious and high strung

I drink coffee anytime I'm not sleeping.

My caffeine addiction level: high





The Beaver



My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

April 29, 2006

Backlogged in Haiti

I haven't put anything up in a while... I know...

It's just that after the dream week I spend in Paris with CQFD (did you see the pics?), it was... difficult to write again and to get back into the spring of things...

So I left Paris on the wings of British Airways at 7AM on a sunday, to fly to Miami where I would stay one night before I hooked on an the early monday morning flight to Port-au-Prince (PAP for friends).

When I got to Haiti, I made straight for the office where my 4 teammates were waiting for me to start the audit. It was nice to see C. again, a gentleman I worked with in Guinea and who (coincidentally) was my neighbour way back when in Burkina Faso in the early 80's when I was a toddler and he was a little kid...

Getting to Haiti means a lot of hard work, but it also means loads of fun: my team is young, dynamic, eager to go out and do things. I'm sure I won't have to many B.O.R.E.D. moments here.

PAP is a nice city, and slightly messy, but nothing quite as bad as Conakry in Guinea. I am amazed that they have public lighting here.

Our first week here was also the week of the legislative elections in Haiti. Thankfully, it was a peaceful political event and the planned hunker-down week-end turned out to be a weekend of visiting the nearby mountain village of Fermathe, where we had the opportunity of buying and tasting local cakes, of visiting an old fort.

Fermathe, view from the Mission
This is just an example of the beauty of Haiti....

Later in the night last saturday, 2 of my teammates and I went to a "concert" with a fellow co-worker who had free tickets from one of her friends. Amazingly, it turned out to be...

STARMANIA (TYCOON) .... an all haitian cast of singers, actors and dancers, on the original text and music of the Plamondon/Berger duet, with bouts in Creole.

I'm very optimistic about my stay in Haiti.

Tonight, our local counterpart is taking us out to play pool, and tomorrow to the Beach. Also,
Haitian art is very colorful and lively. I look forward to digging more on that.

More pics to come !

Cheers !
The Beaver



Thanks, Cindy and Son's in Southern Utah for posting on my guestmap !

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

April 21, 2006

Alive !!!

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know I'm still alive.

I have plenty of pics and stories to share about Paris, and about my present location : Port au Prince, Haiti.

Will put some stuff up as soon as I can !

Salut tout le monde, je voulais juste vous dire que je suis toujours en vie !

J'ai plein d'histoires et de photos a partager a propos de Paris, et de ma location actuelle : Port au Prince, Haiti.

Je mets tout ca en ligne des que je peux !

The Beaver



My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

May 21, 1990

Places I've been

It dawned on me that for new readers, this blog is not an easy one to follow... So here's a little guidance...


I started blogging in September 2004 when I was in Senegal where I was an intern at a local lawfirm. In the process, I made friends with whom I still keep in touch : 007, Adeline.

I eventually went back to Montreal in April 2005, where I got my attorney license and tried to find a job (and failed.) I was nevertheless very happy to be back with my significant other and to hang out with my friends, among other JP, Mymy and Krishna. During that time, I also made my first blog friends such as Salt Water, Xolo, Victoria, Amias, Tina, Kate and Lewis (these two stopped blogging, unfortunately). This is when I truely got addicted to blogging.

At long last, in September 2005, I was hired by an international agency for a position that requires intensive travel. Since then, I have been on the road and went to, (in that order):
- Guinea
- Paris
- South Africa
- Lesotho
- Montreal
- Pakistan (where I met my friends Chris and Michelle)
- Ghana
- Sierra Leone
- Liberia
- Benin
- Paris
- Haiti (current location)

My next destinations until the end of 2006 are:
- Montreal
- Kenya
- Indonesia
- Burundi
- Baltimore
- Montreal (where I will finish the year.)

What's next? I don't know... stay tuned !!!

The Beaver


Thanks, DCver in Portugal and John Fiorenza for posting on my guest map! My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !