What I love about sundays (Part 2)

The crossing from the popular market in Petion-Ville usually takes forever and a day but surprisingly on that Sunday evening it appear to be less chaotic. After we left the chaotic road behind, I was so excited to see the road that used to lead me to my secondary school; College Antillais, located in Nerette. Although we didn't go deeper to the zone, I was curious to see the face of the school that held the last chapter of my childhood. It's with a heart full of regret that I accept that the school closed its door due to the events of the earthquakes and to other that have been left unknown. After a short amount of time reminiscing, we arrived at the hotel and I was blown away by this big little jewel. I got out from my power purse my gear to start shooting everything and anything that spotted my eyes to later on share and print for my personal collection.  I've grown sick and tired of having people seeing Haiti in its broken stardom whether it was before or after the earthquake so my best way to market my country was to take the pleasure and shoot beautiful places as much as I could. Throughout my shooting Kell and I I went further inside of the hotel lobby where a mini fair was being held. There was a booth for make-up with professional make-up artists, clothing items, fashion accessories. Kell and I did some shopping at the fair but she however went further down with shopping more than I did. After our session of shopping inside Kell and I quickly grew bored of the lobby and we went on a explorations tour to visit the hotel while Tobbie and his friend were just among other people.There were parties within parties in the vast outdoors. Tourists and natives were enjoying that tropical breeze offered by Haiti whether they were inside or out of the pool with their fancy drinks and cigarettes along their reach. We sneak in to a wedding reception party held a couple of distance from the pool where that party theme was similar to the one of the Royal wedding that happened a month or two earlier than the party. Along that reception, Kel; who's an architect with a fine taste for interior design showed me one of the room that she designed for another part of the hotel that we didn't have access to go inside personally. Bummer! I thought because I wanted to see her work closely but afar was better than nothing.
 After the guys were done with their meetings, it was unfortunately time to go back home and leave the Hotel behind. Tobbie may have saw my fake frown when we were about to leave and so he treated all of us to go eat pizza which made this pizza lover girl nothing but happy.

After that great evening spent with the fantastic three (I am the fourth one haha) I was greeted by a little girl who ran out to me, shouting my name and threw her arms at me. Oh Lord this day was getting better because I was meeting Cousin Dorice for the first time. My little cousin Dorice is that energetic, confident, strong opiniated eight years old. She made me talk up a storm on our first official meeting but I was still happy to finally meet this little Missy. Then later on as the evening was slowly turning to night, cousin Dorice and her father said their goodbyes and I went back inside of the room to seat back my heels. That same night was also Tobbie's and Rodney (the twins) mom's birthday. Kell as their adoptive strong sister insisted that they threw a birthday party for their mother even if it was at the last minute...since the guys did too much of procrastination preparing that event. We were once again in the move to go out to buy last minutes party stuff so I went back in the room to change my little black dress for a lighter fabric short dress with ballet flat and hope in with the crew in case they needed my help...and because it was always great to be in the company of my new friends. As we were riding to leave our street Tobbie stopped by to get his twin to get in the care to help and make the crowd merrier. It was certainly last minute preparations but Kell made planning it so easy but leading and planning event were one of her to domain so we all got the orders of what to do from her. Our quick destination ahead was to that sweet but large bakery called "Epi D'or" located not too far from our house. "Epi D'or" can be compared to the popularity of Starbucks with a bigger space, broad option for deli sandwiches, specialty in all type of sweets, pizza, chicken nuggtes and ect...All four of us arrived embracing a large and noisy crowd. People were moving, eating and chit chatting,there were lovebirds present for their dates and such but really the crowd didn't surprise me considering it was a Sunday Evening. Tobbie and Kel had too much options on their hands as they were trying to narrow down things that were sweet at their mother's taste. The task became so broad that they decided to go further in the bakery while Rodney and I were standing in the big line in front of the register. I was very found of Rodney to this day I can't remember for the life of me what was our duty. I just remembered the start of something that would intrigue me for the rest of the trip...

To be continued.
It's All Love

Sophie :)

What I love about Sundays (part 1)

  The fast pace of my heartbeat kept me sleepless knowing that it was Sunday. Knowing that it would be the first time after seven years that I'd step feet in my home church kept me up all night. Although I was ready to see familiar faces from my past, I couldn't wait to see how Jacob grew up to be. Back in our glorious days of our teenage years singing in the youth choir, the girls and I seemed to have a love and hate relationship with Jacob. I knew deep down we were just being ridiculous obnoxious teenagers since in the end we all got along with him. Our Sunday morning started with breakfast and conversations around the table with Kell and Tobie. I would stop by the table not being able to hide my excitement to visit Karibe Hotel with them later that evening. After our breakfast my mom and I arrived twenty minutes before the 2nd service started. Even before our entrance inside of the sanctuary we were greeted by members of the church who remembered mom and could not believe that I was no longer that chubby child they knew before. As we made our way toward the bench to take our seats I heard someone with enthusiasm said "Oh It's Mrs Ch and Sophie wow" It was an understanding that I was excited to be there but that little lady comment made me more excited to be there. We finally sat down at the bench and my head went spinning in all direction to observe the atmosphere. With all these new faces I felt so much like a stranger staring at a place she knew well before. I reminded myself that after years of absence there's bound to be changes whether they were good and bad. When service started I was delighted to know that worship was lead by young people since May is the month of youth. At my big surprise it was none other than Jacob who was leading service in the company of the choir.

After service ended my mom was once again surrounded by people who were happy to see her. They were asking so much question from how she was doing, how our circumstance change from sickness to mortality. They were also curious to know if I was still that chubby kid forgetting that babies grow up to be young adults. As I am making my way out of the crowd I kept greeting and hugged familiar faces from the young to old with a sincere smile translating that I was happy to be among them. I finally reached Jacob and we hugged each other so tight that I almost lost my standing balance, surprised to how he held me and noticed how handsome he's gotten. He grew up to be taller from the last time I saw him, I complimented him to the improvement he made in his singing voice. After the first couple of conversation I head up to greet Marina at her sort of Coffee-shop located  by the church. Marina was actually among the first people I've seen upon my first week in Haiti during my second day in Haiti and in the funeral of my Aunt. She came to support us that day so it only made sense that I went to greet her after church. When I came in she was cooking and serving her customers, even so we talked about everything from my haircut, my life in the states, my studies and how fast the years have gone. As I am going upstairs, she suggested that I eat something before I head to watch a choir rehearsal. She was also among the people who thought that I didn't want to eat, in fact little did they know I had a big appetite. I just didn't want to lose my "sexy" silhouette gotten from a work-out that I did before my trip. Despite the stress that I was under during my previous week, Marina didn't fail to feed me (among my other lovely feeders lol) and spoil me with goodies. The evening finally approached when Kell and Tobbie came to pick me up from church. Though it was time for me to leave Jacob suggested that we set up a date to see each other outside of church to catch up and catch in with the about of our lives. I wave goodbye to everyone promising them that I would be spending time with them as much as I could and left to go on in my little evening out with Kel and Tobie at Karibe Hotel. When Kel and I were walking fast to go find Tobie in the car, I had no idea this Sunday evening held something that would change my life again.


To Be Continued...
It's all Love

Sophie :)

Lights will lead you home

Sometimes in order to appreciate someone, a place, or your hometown it's necessary to take a leave of absence from it all and you'll come with a fuller appreciations. At least that's how I made my own realization.
It's All Love

Sophie :)
All Photos in this blog are taken by me <3