day two
The build today felt a lot harder than yesterday. It was hotter, and the tasks we needed to complete were more tedious. We spent most of the morning moving scaffolding in and out and around the houses, and trying to pound nails into brackets with holes that were too small. Someone told me to just focus on moving the nail just a little bit with every swing instead of expecting to do it all in a few strokes. That helped a lot. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to get some nails into the damn hurricane clips (and a few bruised fingers).
The afternoon picked up, after we ate our lunch in our bus to cool down. Alice, Fontaine, and I took over the roofing tasks for one side of the house. This was my favorite part of the Thailand build too — it requires more communication and measurement than brute force (thank god).
The president of Haiti came by the site today. We saw a lot of men in suits and a big entourage of black SUVs. Unfortunately we weren’t VIP enough to meet him in person haha.
Fontaine and I are also getting quite good at spotting the secret service. They’re always so conspicuously inconspicuous.
After dinner we got to attend an impromptu concert with Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood. We’ve seen them around since the first day, and we did hear rumors that he said he’d play if someone found a guitar.
He sang a few songs and invited his wife up. He was completely sunburned, and both of them were dressed down. I’m not a huge country fan, but I really liked how informal and private it was. Just Garth, a guitar, and his wife.
He messed up while playing the intro to one of her songs, and she stopped him and said, “Honey, I don’t think that’s my key.” And he replied, “I swear I’m not thinking of anyone else.”
I also want to remember how sweet it was to see Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter bopping their heads ever so slightly two rows ahead of us while Garth was playing.
Arms tired, iPhone autocomplete is starting to be a hindrance. Good night!
