Introducing a new section of my blog...

A Limena is a common Creole word. A Limena is a woman of style that is smart, well-spoken and very determined. A Limena doesn't settle and knows her worth. She has high standards and is shown by her success. If you would like to be a Limena in the month, email me.

Getting back to the old me. Healthy, Beautiful and Confident

My beauty used to reflect the way that I feel. I used to be very confident and very outgoing.  After ending a one year relationship, I am at the stage of putting all the pieces together. After giving someone my all for a year, there was not a lot left. My savings, my self-esteem, my heart was basically gone. What about me? I am now left in the dark, with empty promises and a happy ending that never happened. The person that I trusted the most that I gave up everything for basically left me hanging during the most important time of my life. I was forced to explain to my family and friends, Where was I for the past year? Why did I let that happen? Where is he now?

In my journey to love myself again, I had to admit to myself that I was a weak woman that let a guy take advantage of me. That will never happened again.
My beauty is starting to reflect the way that I am now happy, independent, and resilient, in love and the smile in my face everyday says it all.

I'm just this nice girl from Haiti

What To Pack For College

I just recently went away for college. I know how stressful this process can be. Do not bring clothes that doesn't fit anymore. They will become clutter and in college, space is limited. Bring things that you uesed the most and make sure your dorm room reflect your personality. Do not bring things that you know are going to distract you like a TV.
 Essential Items

• Mini-fridge- if your school allows it.
• Rapid-Ramen cooker and a hot water kettle
• Full length mirror
• Hangers
• Clean underwear-lots of it
• Area Rug
•  Wall art and poster
• Laundry bag
• Jewelry organizer
• Alarm clock even if you have a cell phone
• Small dry erase board to leave notes and to remember appointments
• Adhesive hooks and strips (that come off cleanly)
• Disinfecting wipes
• Bowls, spoons and forks
• Air freshener
• Bath towels
• Shower caddy
• Washcloths and slippers
• Paper towels
• Comforter sets

Toiletries

• Deodorant
• Hairspray
• Lip balm
• Lotion
• Mouthwash
• Nail polish
•  Nail polish remover
•  Shampoo
•  Blow dryer
•  Bobby pins
• Headbands
• Nail clipper
• Nail File
• Razor                                              

School supplies

• Paper clips
• Ruler
•  Calculator
• Folders
•  Scissors 
•  3 hole puncher
•  Stapler
• Tape
•  Pens, pencils
•  Sharpeners
• Notebooks
• Headphones, flash drive

SN: Don't worry about having all these things at once. The longer you're there, the more stuffs you will have.

XoXo Sosso                                                    

                                                                                            

Our City School District Needs To Do Better

   As a city school district graduate and freshman at a private liberal arts college, I have beat the odds. Unfortunately, a lot of other students are unable to do the same, and it's not because city school students are not smart enough but because the standards are placed so low on the students that they doesn't consider college as an option. We need a wholesale transformation of the public school system from the old, rusty model that has been installed 50 and 60 years ago. Our school district has has not yet faced the fact that no matter how good the curriculum is, there is nothing to do when education is not being valued. The Truancy rate for kindergarden is 20 percent. The school disctrict should be able to fulfill our educational needs that is going to prepare graduates for college level work.
   The first is teacher quality, such a controversial topic. We all know the positive effects that teachers have on student achievement. On my high school experience, teachers such as Mrs. Hoover, Mrs. Awopetu, Mrs. Gilmore, Mrs Nicholas and Mr. Ocran are some of the teachers that helped me get to where I am today.  Paper qualifications, such as teacher certifications have little to do with what makes a teacher effective. A teacher that is effective is always accessible, whether it is after school, or Saturday school. A great teacher is caring, passionate and respects their students. A great teacher sets high expectations for their high school students and believe in them.
  Instead of focusing on the real issues that the city schools are facing which are poor attendance and low graduation rates, school officials blame the teachers and assess their performance unfairly based on pre or post tests that does not have anything to do with what we learned all year. Never mind all the articles, and the different books we read, and hours spend preparing lessons, they are bad teachers just because I was bored the day of the post test and now their jobs are in jeopardy. There is no such thing as an hero teacher that come to save the public school system, that is unrealistic and unsustainable.
Suddenly being a public school teacher is a bad thing, the negative stigma attached to being a public school teacher overshadow their hard-work and their true intentions of making a difference. The graduation rates are not going to improve by blaming teachers for lack of effort from the students.

Former Catholic School Girl is Now a Rebel

Most of the Haitian population believes in Christianity. We have the Catholics, Protestants,  Seventh day Adventists and the small percentage that does Voodoo. I went to an all girl strict private Catholic School in Haiti. I had to wear those ugly uniforms and those ribbons in my hair everyday , even on Sunday for our mandatory church masses. The strict rules and overbearing nuns really push me to my limits and all that did was make me do the things they told us not to do.
You couldn't chew gum, put your head on the desk. The tension was really high between me and my teacher, I could never forger Soeur Margaret, she was considerably young and wore glasses, she was smart, very shy and quiet but also strict. Because she knew my parents, she constantly singled me out. You will think that I would be respectful out of fear of her not telling my parents, I acted worse. The school did not know my phone number and every time she would send a note home, I would forge my mother signature.She would beat me for having a diary of love songs, for talking in class, for having less than a perfect grade and for talking back but her beatings did not have any effect on me because the next day I will show up with my skirt pulled higher than the day before and sit in class and daydream about boys.Although I was no stranger to beatings, she would make us kneel on the cement ground for an extended period of time. My stubbornness would not allow me to show signs or weakness so I would hold out the tears because that means she wins. I would often stay in this position for 3 hours and you wee not allowed to move.
Although those punishments were harsh maybe sometimes cruel but I learned a lot from her. Someday when I visit Haiti, I plan to thank her because the morals she instilled on me, I still use until this very day, I always sit on the front row in class and never chewed gum in class. I do not accept less than the perfect grade. I am no longer Catholic but I am studious and very determined. I still have an attitude and now make my own rules in life that doesn't really align with some Haitian traditions because this former Catholic school girl is now a rebel.

You Know You are Haitian When..

1. Your parents are talking loud on the phone when they are talking to people in Haiti.

2. When you would ask your parents for the latest clothing or sneakers and they would tell you that they don’t send you to school for “fashion”.

3.When you eat rice with every meal.

4.When your parents wake you up saying, " leve, leve, leve. get up, get up, get up".

5.When u say, “wap kon George”, but don’t who the hell George is.

6.When you eat spaghetti and hot dogs and put ketchup on it.

7.When you take pictures you always have to stand next to flowers or trees.

8. When you are eating meat and try to break down the bones.

9.When your parents use to conserve cremasse for weeks.

10.Your Mom would use to put your hair in braids every summer " vakans

XoXo, Sosso

My Unnormal Teenage Life

I told you guys that I was going to be very honest so here it is.
Sometimes I envy other girls with their perfect lives and their normal relationship. Why can't i be as normal as everybody else. I've had it tough, Maybe grew up to fast. I got my heart broken too young and started working at 14. I got a tattoo way before my time and had a lot of relationships failures. Am I damaged ? I left home at 16 and I am missing my Senior prom. I longed for stability and security. I missed structure and regular friendships, maybe that's why I am looking forward to College so much. I think it's time for me to dig deep and figure out the real me. Things happened in life, and maybe my struggles and obstacles are a blessing a disguise. Everyone have a different path in life, maybe this is mine and mine is unique. Me and my dad doesn't have a relationship and the guilt that comes from being a immigrant daughter makes me feel like there is nothing that i do that's ever going to be enough to compensate my parents for bringing me here. I am a work in progress and it's a journey loving me and coming to terms with my mistakes.
XoXo, Sosso

The reason I skipped senior prom

Hate starting over. When I moved here 6 years ago, I was really excited and young. I was the only Haitian girl at the school that I went to, I had to prove myself even tough, I beat up a couple girls in the process but I made it okay. Let me tell you, no body warned me how ghetto some of these American chicks really are. I got teased for my accent, the way I looked and even the way I dressed. I went to a private catholic school in Haiti, so I thought that I was better than these girls at the public school. I had to get over that my mother a former teacher and lawyer was working at the mall and my dad who always been respected was treated like crap at his job. Talking about being depressed and took my anger out any girl that wanted to fight. I was outspoken and pissed for giving up my privileged life.  Seeing my mother cry and unhappy just pushed me to be the best and get good grades. I was just starting to get over insecurities of my accent and had made a lot of good friends. Not every African American girl is ghetto; some of my best friends are black. Long story short, my friends graduated, my school closed, started over again in a new school, almost beat up a couple girls in the process but I’m mature now so I didn’t. My school is full of the girls we talked about earlier, I won’t have fun. Don’t feel sorry for me because my friends and I are renting a hotel in NYC  and go to Brooklyn and met Haitian people. That’s the reason why when we Haitian girls walked in the room, we turned heads. XoXo, Sosso

The Skinny Inside Me

The skinny bitch inside me would not come out. Excuse my french but I speak french. Anyway, she is ruining my life, she i hiding and taking over my confidence. I use to be happy, I use to have a life now this broad is ruining my life. I'm all about respecting and loving yourself but I am in seriously in denial on how my weight is. My pants won't fit anymore, the only thing that firts are my bras and i can't wear my half-shirts and shoe my bely button. Please HELP
XoXo, Sosso

I got a full ride to College

Senior year is bittersweet. I got fat, I'm stressed, my parents get on my nerves about which college they think I should go to and my boyfriend  want us to move in together after High School. What should I do?  What about what's good for me? Which is making my dreams come true and be suceesful. I got a full ride to Nazareth, a private school in upstate NY. I am grateful and exited.
Haitian girls are destined for greatness.
XoXo, Sosso

Getting my confidence back

My confidence is an all time low.
yes i said it, i might look confident in the outside, but I 'm struggling in the outside. I am struggling to love myself and my body. I always have trouble accepting my weight. At 160 pounds, everyone in my family told me I was fat and i believed it. What they didn't know it's that i was growing into a teenager, i was getting boobs and thighs and it was very hard to accept. Now I would kill to be 160. 30 pounds later , I am stressed afraid to take picture and even skipping my senior prom.  I have to be in college in 4 months and how I'm suppose to be this confident, Haitian girl, ready to takeover and represent my country when I'm feeling like this. I don't want to take pictures, i don't want to go shopping and hate getting dressed. All of this because of me letting myself go and being all into my boyfriend and focusing in him.
 what do I have to do? Emergency
XoXo

Welcome to my blog

My name is Shaina, but my Haitian nickname is Sosso. I take pride on being a true, authentic Haitian girl. I decided to start a blog because being the only Haitian girl in my school; I missed the real talk and true friendships that I used to have with my Haitian friends.  So this will be just like conversations that I have in real life, my real thoughts, so please don’t get offended. I will love to share with you about my experiences reestablishing my life in the states. We will gossip, talk about life, overprotective haitian parents, fashion, share recipes just like we will do if we was face- to face  and do whatever you want to do.