Down with Columbus Day!

Since we've personally been so affected by Columbus Day, I've decided to do a little research about this great holiday. In doing so I found out that Columbus Day actually has quite a bit of opposition. In fact, it is not even celebrated in the state of Minnesota. So, I have decided to join the opposition and try to convince as many as possible to join with me. First, the day that Columbus landed in the Americas was actually October 12th. If the government offices were observing the actual Columbus Day, they would not be closed today and we could have received our visa a day earlier and been home before the holiday even occurred. Second, and more importantly, Columbus was nothing more than an imperialist brute who sought to dominate anyone who was not European deeming them "ignorant and cowardly." In fact, here's a little piece of trivia for you. The first European settlement in the Western Hemisphere was actually a colony here on present day Haiti. It was a settlement started after the Santa Maria ran aground on Christmas day of 1492 while the crew slept (lazy, ignorant peasants). They named the settlement La Navidad and 39 crew members were left to man the settlement. At first the native Arawak people were friendly and helpful to the crew. However, once they realized that they crew was simply there to dominate and overtake them, they slaughtered them all and left their carcasses on the beach for Christopher Columbus to find when he came back the following year. So, in Haiti of all places, Columbus day should not be celebrated! I hope you have enjoyed my completely non-biased account of the true Columbus Day events. Ha!

Okay so really we had a great weekend with lots of great food. We had so much fun it went by really quickly. Right before I got here to Haiti four months ago, I had lost about 15 pounds. I really have no way of knowing what I truly weigh now but I think I have probably gained it all back again. So, in the last week or so of my being here, I decided to try to diet as much as possible with the limited foods available to me. I'd been doing pretty well until this weekend. Saturday we went up to the Montana and I had crepes made with pesto, tomato sauce and cheese. And they came with moist chocolate cake with a raspberry drizzle for dessert. It was the best meal I've has since I've been here. It was almost American except it was supposed to come with a salad which we never got (just to remind me it was Haiti). Then that evening, the Yoders came over to our hotel room to watch the Cubs game since they are big Cubs fans. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks completed their sweep of the Cubs that night but Jackie did make chicken corn soup served with fresh croissants. I had three helpings. Then Sunday after church we came back to the hotel and ate the buffet for lunch. It was very good and fresh. The highlights were the lobster tails in the seafood mix and the flan. Kerwin had a great time with the kids. We have very quickly reached the point where other kids are much more interesting than mom and dad.

Today we will have school and get Mike packed up and ready to leave tomorrow. We have decided that he will go ahead go back on Tuesday as scheduled since we should only be a day or so behind him and it would end up costing us a lot to change his ticket. We are hoping to all be together at home by the end of the week. I am hoping to be there to see the Cats take on the #1 LSU tigers on Saturday.