This one time (multiple times) in Haiti, we have people come to the back of the compound and harass us to give them stuff. Usually they asked for iPods, watches, bracelets, headlamps, or anything else that you might be carrying. The best offer I received though was some guy trying to give me the key to a motorbike for my Carey honor roll sunglasses.
This one time in Haiti, everyone celebrated with cheers upon the arrival of one bottle of Coke for each Racer.
This one time in Haiti, some of us played the game Chubby Bunny using Fruit Loops bought in the Dominican Republic instead of marshmallows.
This one time in Haiti, Team Monarch washed the dinner dishes for over 40 people in record time with a major rain storm bearing down upon us. Sadly, we still didn’t get them done in time and ended up being soaked.
This one time in Haiti, part of a palm tree branch fell out of a tree landing on and ripping through my squad mate Ben’s rain fly, tent, and puncturing his sleeping pad.
This one time in Haiti, a massive rain storm hit us unexpectedly and flooded where most of the tents were located forcing many people to move their tents to higher ground or under cover in the midst of the storm. Personally, I had a waterbed of about 3 inches under my tent before giving in and moving as well by a few feet. Everything for me stayed dry.
This one time in Haiti, during our biggest concrete pour of the month, it was decided that the Americans would race the Haitians since there were two sections to pour. We had probably a 1.5 hour head start, less concrete to pour, less distance to travel with buckets, and probably 15 more workers than the Haitians. They still beat us and then came to help us out. Once it was all done after 8 hours, we all together jumped around, celebrating, and chanting Haiti.
This one time in Haiti, we had a day to hike through some mountains that were hit by the earthquake. Apparently today there are still a lot of homes and lives/people lost in that area that have not been recovered even today.
This one time in Haiti, one person from each team was allowed to go with the Pastor’s daughter to the market to pick up a few things for their respective team. Though that did occur, they also returned with a new puppy that someone on the beach just gave to them. We named her Bailey.
Every day in Haiti, we took an old white school bus to the worksite which involves driving down a riverbed that is mostly dry for half of the year.
This one time in Haiti, a truck that several World Racers were in was hit by a motorcycle and we also witnessed a dump truck versus stationary motorcycle hit and run.
Every day in Haiti, we would be privileged enough to witness an incredible sunset each evening.
This one time in Haiti, I swam to another island with a few of my teammates where we spent the afternoon dodging sea urchins, finding huge colonies of tiny crabs, and a couple of sea stars.
This one time in Haiti, I was stung by a jellyfish.
A couple times in Haiti, we played on the beach and/or soccer with kids from the Hands & Feet Orphanage which was started by the former band, Audio Adrenaline.
This one time in Haiti, I finally accepted that my name is no longer Sam, but in fact “You You You.”
This one time in Haiti, I made a bet with my teammates Leah and Meagan regarding who would be the last to throw up on the Race within our team. The winner of this bet will have a blog dedicated to them and written by the two losers.
This one time in Haiti, we played Candy Land, and included a spaghetti noodle to signify one of the player pieces.
This one time in Haiti, we had a US vs. Haiti soccer match with some of the local kids and young adults we would occasionally play soccer with. Justin, Tyler, and I painted our chests with “U” “S” “A” for the game. Two local kids showed up shortly after with a card board box and a pop bottle attached to it with a strip of long black tape. They used it as a large camcorder, going around pretending to video tape and interview people. It was tons of fun. Also, in the same game, the ball hit a woman who was washing clothes in a river nearby. She got ticked, grabbed the ball, and threw it in the ocean.
