Blancs have more fun

Thanks, Tara, for the title. I actually think it's hilarious. For those of you who haven't heard, a "blanc" is...well, it's not so clearly defined. Literally it means "white" in Creole. In practice, it often means anyone who's not Haitian and has some money.

Anyway, this is probably the last of the Haiti posts as I'm leaving for Minneapolis tomorrow and will have other things to post about.

So being a blanc in Haiti has its perks, like first class airline seats. But, it also invites some...interesting situations, particularly involving men. Let me give a few examples. First, men feel like they can walk up to you and just say "I love you baby, marry me!" I used to think this was just for blancs, but after watching "I Love You Anne," a Haitian movie, it may also be for Haitian women.

One night Charity and I went out for dinner at the restaurant at a hotel. While we were eating we saw a group of guys come in. We were laughing at them because they looked like they were trying to dress "American," and going just a little too far. And one of them had huge, disgusting muscles, like he was on steroids. So the muscley one sits down at the table next to us, and a tall one (probably 6'3" or something) walks over and plants his hands on our table. Oh, and he thinks he is smooooooooth. Here's his introduction:

Him: Hello. What's your name?
Charity: Charite. Char-i-te.
Him: Oh, do you do it a lot? (Confused stares from me to Char and back)
Charity: Do what?
Him: Charity. Like your name.
Him: I saw you Wed. night. I know where you were.

Uh....what? Okay, this was starting to get creepy. It turns out that he had seen us at the Petionville Club. You kind of stand out as a blanc.

So it went on. Introductions were made, and then he told us, seemingly as part of the introduction, that he is the director of special operations for the police force, as if that should inspire awe and fawning. Anyway, he was a total jerk and interrupted our dinner for about 10 minutes.

Strangely, the next day we were sitting in a burger place waiting for our order, and we saw him (the police chief), and the muscley guy on tv. It turns out there was a body building competition at the beach and the police guy was promoting the body builder. Haiti is strange.

Though I often find the...wooing tactics, to be slimey and humorous, all the attention is fun sometimes. But here's the point of my post--I think Haitian men have the best of the whole situation. From what I've observed and have been told, they get to go around wooing from woman to woman (and often much more than wooing), and most Haitian women don't blame the men--they blame each other!

If you ever want to see a cat fight, let me tell you...insinuate, in the slightest way, that someone is stealing a Haitian woman's man, and it's on.

Another reason blancs have more fun. :)