You know you are in Haiti when….
- You are struggling to carry a water jug up the hill to your home and a random stranger takes it from you and carries it for you
- Every other home doubles as a convenience store
- Things that are left outside for as short as an hour still get covered with a layer of dust
- You see kids playing soccer on the streets with any round object they can find and goals made from readily available materials (sometimes actual nets and other times nearby large rocks)
- Every 10 steps you take is another “store” that sells packages of highly addictive cookies that only cost 20 cents USD
- The food market is located on the sidewalk of one of the busiest streets for automobile traffic
- You are walking down the street and people automatically expect you to give them money because you are white (this has a lot to do with the US aid culture that developed because of the aftermath of the earthquake. Many Haitians view Americans as rich)
- You are lost and you stop to ask someone for directions and instead of just telling you where to go, they walk with you up a mountain (literally) for 4 hours just to show you the way
- Getting hit by a speeding moped is a daily threat
- You are told the price of an object in fake money (Haitian money is called Gourdes; however to feel more American, and more sophisticated, they have created a currency called the Haitian Dollar. The Haitian Dollar doesn’t actually exist in the physical realm, but everyone knows how to convert it into Gourdes. 1 Haitian Dollar = 5 Gourdes)
- You hear drums playing in the middle of the night because the voodoo priests are meeting
- Goat meat is the most common meat of choice. The second type is fish
- Honking your horn communicates all actions while driving (I am turning, I am stopping, I am coming so don’t pull out, etc.)
- You commune with your neighbors by sitting with them on top of the roof
- Baptisms happen in the ocean
- Every house is protected by a large gate
- You eat rice and beans for literally every meal
- You look forward to just having an hour of electricity a night….and that’s if you’re lucky
- You walk down the street and you feel like Beyonce because everyone runs to say hi to you or just watch what you do
- Having sink water is a privilege
- You look down a road and can see both the ocean and the mountains
- People carry things on their head instead of in their arms
- The worship portion of the church service lasts for almost 2 hours
[we found an American flag painted beside a Haitian one…looking good next to that red, white, and blue huh]
