Zanglais Weekend Fun

We have just gotten back from a great weekend at the Zanglais Retreat Center which is operated by RMI. Those of you who have been to Haiti with us will, no doubt, remember this great spot of beauty. The Thompson family, Joanna (a friend of Tessa Thompson), and our family left Friday afternoon for the trip. Zanglais is a forty-five minute ride from where we live, so we loaded a twelve passenger van full of twelve people, two dogs, and all the things that we needed for the weekend. This was no small feat, for sure!!! Especially since the dogs were not initially to happy with one another; Tobi is just a little intimidating for anyone bigger than him, let alone for Jersey, a dog half his size. Both dogs were excited, however, to be able to join their families on this trip. Tobi sat right up front between Lee and Rob the whole trip, amazing passersby with his size. One Haitian phrase that we have learned very well over the past two weeks is “chen gwo”, which means “big dog”. It was fun for all of us to see the responses of people as we drove by. We arrived at the retreat center with no problems and while Becky and I took some quiet time for reading and preparing for dinner; the guys took the kids and the dogs to the beach for some fun. Tobi was in his glory since he grew up near the beach and had been able to visit the beach daily until he came to live with us almost two weeks ago. He enjoyed jumping the waves and playing with anyone who wasn’t intimidated by his size, but he also did a good job of standing guard to protect his family, as well.

Saturday morning, we packed lunches, loaded up all of our beach equipment, and tied the dogs up at the retreat center (which did not make them one bit happy), and headed to the beach where we met two men with their boats. We loaded up and headed to an island which we can see from Zanglais beach, called “Gwo Kay”, meaning “Big House”. We had a half hour or so boat ride to the nice little beach cove where we set up for the day and began playing in the blue water. Rob, Lee, and the older boys all decided to go for a hike, while the younger four children, Becky, and I stayed at our beach spot for some nice reading and play time. The guy’s one and a half hour hike turned into a three hour hike, but everyone came back safe and sound with only a few scratches and blisters to show for all the hard work that they did on their adventure. It was a beautiful day of fun in the sun and many of us look like we spent a day in the sun . . . lots of red cheeks and shoulders in this clan.

Sunday morning we had breakfast, visited with some new friends, had a little informal church service of our own, and then packed up and headed back down to Zanglais beach for some more fun in the sun. This time, Jersey and Tobi were more than happy to join us for the fun. Tobi, again, took his position of guard dog and playmate . . . he had a great time running and playing in the waves with everyone, but all the time making sure that everyone was safe, as well. He even helped with the building of some sandcastles and digging of holes . . . or at least he thought he was helping.

This was hands-down, a great time of relaxation, fun, and adventure, all wrapped into one great weekend. A huge thanks to Rob and Becky for all the work that they did to set this weekend up for us. Now, tomorrow we get back to work on our Creole studies, prepare for a couple of teams arriving in a few weeks, and make sure that we are ready for school which will be starting before we know what happens.