Lessons, Exams, and Kanaval

It's very dry here; it doesn't seem like there's been much rain at all lately. This IS the dry season, but just as in Massachusetts it's been a year of extremes. Four months ago there were raging floods (also similar to Massachusetts). As a result of the dryness, it's very dusty and everything is covered with a fine layer of dust. Each day we're wiping it
up and sweeping it up. Today we had to tackle a horde of teeny red ants, the biting kind, that were getting into our food. Greyson solved the problem by putting our tubs on a stool and putting the stools legs in plastic yogurt containers with just a bit of water. It's keeping the ants away!

It was also our first day of working over at AUC. It's final exam week, so the place was hopping! Greyson spent the morning down in the library looking for Audubon books - those that are part of the Audubon Library that
is supposed to exist at AUC. She found just two books but there are still three rooms of books to look through. I spent the morning researching student records so that we can glean the correct information as students begin to plan for graduation. Elke and I will be doing a lot more work on the records in the coming days. Tomorrow morning I have appointments with students.

It's official. President Michel Martelly has announced that Carnaval (Kanaval) will be held in Les Cayes this year instead of Port Au Prince. This is reportedly because he doesn't want Carvaval there as long as there are tent cities in the Champs de Mars -- who knows whether that's the truth of it or not. Les Cayes was instrumental in supporting Martelly for president, so that may have some bearing. The sleepy little town of Les Cayes will sure look different. There's lots of talk going around. They have less than 5 weeks to prepare for it -- that kind of event usually
takes months of planning. Les Cayes is also very much smaller than Port Au Prince, so it's questionable where all the crowds are going to march and party. Even more problematic is where they will house everyone.