Happy New Year 2009!!!

It was snowing last night!

I would like to start by wishing everyone a wonderful and certainly fruitful new year! It’s fun starting a new year, isn’t it? All the new resolutions, the parties, the gatherings with family and friends. This New Year I was obviously away from home and although I’ve been missing my loved ones even more during the holiday season, I had an amazing time stepping into 2009!

A few friends and I got together for a wonderful dinner which was followed by a relaxing gathering in an ethnic café downtown Gwangju. In addition to talking about work (it’s bound to happen: when EPIK teachers get together, we ALWAYS end up talking about school) and very random topics, it was fun to share our traditions with each other. A little background here: Lauren and Tam are both from South Africa, Sandra is from Australia and I’m from Haiti. I truly enjoyed listening to and sharing family stories (probably a few stories my family would’ve preferred stayed private—don’t worry, just funny stories about..mmm..Tante Nicole and Nannie and everyone really) as well as their traditions. Actually, every time Lauren and I talk about our cultures, we realize over and over how closely related Africans are to Haitians. And then, we start talking about history and the heritage we share.

Telling them about the traditional Haitian “Soup Joumou” got me thinking about the link which exists between myself and this country who watched me grow as she planted deep down in me love for her. I find it shameful to admit but for the longest time, I thought we ate the soup on January 1^st for the simple fact that it was the first of the year and that was simply how it had always been done. (Dad and Mom, you probably told me a long time ago, but I can’t remember) All I know is that Mr. Delatour, my Haitian History/Geography teacher back while I was a student in Haiti, would have been greatly disappointed in me for only finding out recently that the soup is traditionally eaten on the first in order to commemorate our independence on January 1^st, 1804. [Haiti was the first black country in the western hemisphere to win its independence and therefore end slavery.] Slaves were prohibited to eat pumpkin and therefore, after having fought for and won their independence, our ancestral mothers and fathers got together and prepared a freedom meal whose base ingredient was pumpkin. Wherever they may find themselves, Haitian families get together to share a wonderful bowl (or 2 or 3) of “soup joumou”, remembering (I hope) the struggles our ancestors endured and still today, the misery which devastates Haiti.

I truly feel that being away from home has been beneficial to me in many ways. For instance, having to represent my Haitian and American histories and cultures has given me the opportunity to further educate myself in both. If I haven’t learned anything else, I’m glad to have been able to learn more about my people and to realize how dear to me my roots, my family, my countries (lol) are to me.

I was listening to Luck Mervil’s song “Mezanmi”, coincidently actually, and found that he was talking about exactly what I was thinking about while cooking. If you don’t speak creole, I’m sorry! Or, I could translate it I guess! Below are the lyrics and also a few pictures of the cooking process! I seriously had a great time preparing the soup and tried my best to capture every moment of it, as you’ll discover in the Picture Gallery!!!!!

Lyrics from Mezanmi by Luck Mervil

200 ans pa ka pase konsa pou’n pa pale
200 ans pa ka pase konsa pou yo pa konen : ou se 1^er ki libere
Gen yon move pwovèb Franse ki di: “Les premiers seront les derniers”
M’paka kwe nou ta kite sa rive’n
Gen lè nou pa realize
Se pa chèn nan pye a selman pou'n te kase non
Comba a poko fini non
Revolution an poko fin fèt non lamitie
Te gen chèn nan pye,
Mè gen chèn nan kè,
Gen chèn nan nanm,
Gen chèn nan volonte nou,
Mwen di gen chèn nan bouch,
Gen chèn nan tèt,
Gen chèn nan vant,
Gen chèn nan fiète nou,
Gen chèn nan pawol nou,
Zanmi kraze chèn yo, tampri krazi chèn yo, toufounen yo, kalboso yo, dechalbore yo.

Translation

200 years can’t go by without us talking
200 years can’t go by and us not be aware: you were the 1^st to be free
There is a bad French proverb which states: “The first shall be last”
I can’t believe we would let that happen
It seems we don’t realize
It’s not only the chains on our feet we should have broken off
The fight is not over yet
The revolution is not finished yet, friend
There were chains on our feet
But there are chains in our hearts
There are chains in our souls
There are chains in our goodwill
I tell you, there are chains in our mouths
There are chains in our heads
There are chains in our stomachs
There are chains in our pride
There are chains in our words
Friend, break off the chains, please break off the chains, smash them.

Yes, everything in my fridge is going into the soup!
Minus the awesome Bustelo Grace sent me!

Longest celery I've ever seen!

Finish, finito!