Today was divide and conquer at the construction site. Some dealt with the usual tasks of mixing concrete, stacking cinder blocks, and laying down concrete, only with the added fun of a necessary three stacked blocks to reach the top of the wall. Others started the large (12x12 ft) pit for three future outhouses. This consisted of endless shoveling and pickaxing of two at a time (because safety) while the rest watched and encouraged (or sat tiredly). Additionally every time someone landed a solid hit to the rock-hard clay/dirt patches, they were rewarded with a spray of pebbles and dust to the face. Dirt got everywhere. Despite the challenges it was rewarding, the weather stayed quite nice, and we made decent progress. Also noteworthy was Ethan teaching the local curious kids a new fitness routine and a plastic lid that quickly became a frisbee. We learned the kids know rock-paper-scissors, although the names a bit different and they throw on beat three (most Americans throw on beat four).
At Touching Tiny Lives the painters' main goal was to complete at least one of the children's bedrooms so that tomorrow the playroom could begin to be worked on. At the start of the day the walls of each bedroom had their main coating completed and the general outline of each design was on the walls, so our focus for the start of the day was to begin detailing each element of the day and night themed rooms. The day room's painters had finished trees, animals, rivers, mountains, and flowers painted around the room as well as a sun where the light is within the room. The night room's painters were focused on detailing the crescent moon, constellations, stars, and mountains. Toward the end of the day both rooms were near being completed so we worked together after finishing our individual projects to ensure we could finish up both of the bedrooms by the end of the day, allowing us to entirely focus on the playroom tomorrow. We got plenty of compliments on our work, and many of us want to spend time with and see the kids whose rooms we have been painting, which we are hoping will be possible in the coming days.
The exciting adventure of the day was a full group visit to two local supermarkets (wen Juan and shoprite) where we got to pursue foreign brands and purchase snacks, treats, and drinks to try. One of this blogs post authors (Cassie) is excited to try the Lemon Cream Biscuits!
Cheers,
Cassie and Trace