Tuesday update -- Actualización del martes

Tuesday February 17 – at the work site all day – lunch break at the school/church

 

7 am: Breakfast

8:15 am: school bus ride to the site

8:45 am: arrive to the site

11:30-1 pm: lunch at the school -- see pictures of basketball and visiting with younger students.

1:30-5:45 pm: Finish at the worksite

 

Today’s main goal was to get all of the concrete done/poured – especially since we had the delay from yesterday (concrete machine breakdown – Mr. Lipman said “it’s got some faulty O-rings for the carburetor and this is causing oil to leak into the gas before it goes into the piston. All they need is some starter fluid.” The man was right, but humble, so the starter fluid took a while to appear and the delay set us slightly behind schedule for the start of this morning). But we ultimately finished the floor region.

 

Today’s secondary goal: trenching around the house for the step-up around the front/side of the house. The step-up trench was 12 inches wide and 12 inches deep and then fill with rocks (Students also abhor getting rocks – this was made more difficult bc the ants had a field day making their homes in our rocks). After the rocks came more dirt, then a layer of concrete, then another layer of rocks, then more concrete, then the one cinder block layer, then more concrete. Seams filled and blocks leveled. Tired yet?

 

Simultaneously, one of the Honduran counterparts, Merlin, was working on the roof. He had been measuring and nailing in the roofing supports yesterday. Today he laid all the sheet metal and roof ridge. My job for part of the time was to hand him the 15x4 feet wide sheets of metal from the ground while he perched on the edge and pulled them up. Anyone who’s worked with sheet metal knows that it can slice skin quite easily. What everyone might not know is that there’s a certain way the metal needs to layer in order to be water tight. That “certain way” was unclear to me – so I handed Merlin the sheets and he had to flip them over AND rotate them 180 degrees before installing them. This was a feat, indeed. Mad props to Merlin (great name, right?)

 

The work site is noisy. Also people (neighbors?) sometimes stop and watch the work – it’s exciting to see progress. But it’s all so overwhelming --- imagine the noise of the larger-than-life cement mixer combined with Merlin above our heads sinking screws into the corrugated tin with his yellow DeWalt drill. It was a lot. But I left all the cement mixing to Mr. Lipman and the kids. Mr. Lipman was the mixer boss with neighbor Ariell (no English – also didn’t want work gloves). They mixed and mixed and mixed. 100 pounds of cement powder, 8 buckets of sand. 2 buckets of water. I was thrilled to have him mastering that task……Until I volunteered to wheel some concrete up the ramp to dump in the house area. Mr. Lipman asked me “Posta, you got it?” and thankfully Kamryn had only filled it 2/3 full. “Your velocity is a vector” was the mantra in getting up the ramp (made up dirt, wood scraps, and rocks)…Of course I got it, Mr. Lipman – when I got to the bottom of the ramp and increased my momentum only to trip and take a full header into a wheelbarrow full of concrete. No harm, no foul (and no concrete lost). Pictures or it didn’t happen – photo credit to Mr. Lipman. BTW: I sent the picture to my mother and she responded: “Glad you’re okay, looks like you had your lunch. Picture is hilarious. Leave the clothes behind.”

 

Other random bits of information that I don’t know how to integrate chronologically….

1. The church hires a core team to build the houses. Our two contacts are Ray and Merlin. They speak no English but work their tails off. They don’t use work gloves (except with the corrugated tin roof materials) and really could probably do this faster without us. Except we’re need to fill those darn buckets. And move rocks. We also have a variety of other help (neighbors, friends, relatives).

2. The church has built enough houses that they have it down to a science. There is exactly enough of everything: it’s like the Sears/Roebuck houses that were built --- the church has it all delivered directly to the house -- a kit that has everything. There’s no waste. All the nails, wood, roofing tin pieces, cinder blocks…..all was there. (For reference: “Sears homes: via mail-order catalogs between 1908 and 1940. These pre-cut, ready-to-assemble houses were delivered by rail, containing roughly 30,000 components, including lumber, nails, wiring, and plumbing, designed for assembly by homeowners or contractor.” Thanks again, Wikipedia.)

3. Water here comes in bottles or bags. Bottles are what we’re used to – 500 ml, clear plastic, blue label – same as the US. But the water in the bags? This is something new to me: The bags remind me of the corn hole bags that you throw – they’re about the same size and weight. With the bags, it’s most common to bite off a corner of the plastic, toss bit off plastic on the ground (litter is everywhere), drink some water, then continue to dangle it from your mouth while working and sipping. It’s actually quite clutch because Merlin (nicknamed Spiderman bc I swear the man can walk on ceilings) can continue working on the roof while drinking. Then, when finished, the plastic is thrown on the ground. I still can’t drink directly from the bag. I’m like a toddler with a Capri Sun. The water goes everywhere – so I pour it into my water bottle and drink from there.

4. Sidebar note in reference to litter – which honestly, is everywhere: thinking about the overall picture: the infrastructure here is still developing – no city water, no standard sanitation, no Toledo Edison, no Columbia Gas, no trash pickup, no building codes. Think of this like camping. I do believe there was an earthquake here --- possibly 1998 – that’s googleable – but entire villages were wiped out.

5. People working with us are strong. Like STRONG strong. The brother-in-law of the woman we’re building the house for – his name is Hector – he’s got to be at least 60 years old – shorter than I am, thinner than I am, refused work gloves, carried two 5-gallon containers of water back from the river IN CROCS. Important point to note: The river is 1320 feet away. That’s about 4 and a half football fields. Carrying two 50-pound plastic jugs of water. Possibly uphill both ways. Mad props to Hector.

6. Also Merlin wears knockoff, falling apart Nike slides when he’s working here. Not OSHA approved. He wears them on the roof. On ladders. While skim coating concrete. Again, he's Spiderman.

7. Transportation/Traveling has been interesting. We have ridden in our 15-passenger van and also in the yellow school bus. There are no traffic lights but some roundabouts. Motorbikes everywhere. Pedestrians but no sidewalks. Bicycles. Lots of buses. No clear bus stops at regular intervals but somehow people know where to stay to get picked up.

8. We’ve seen lots of wildlife: frogs, scorpion (someone killed it – not me), tarantula (was underneath the stump), wild dogs, cats, red ants (beware), spiders, geckos.

9. The stump: prior to our arrival, a very large tree was cut down WITH AN AXE. The tree was about 24 inches in diameter. But the stump remained. It was located at the front corner of the house location and needed to go as it would have impeded construction. Somewhere I have a photo of four strong people using two steel pry bars – carrying it like the ark of the covenant from the Raiders of the Lost Ark (“I. Hate. Snakes.”) …but underneath said stump was a tarantula. I just asked the kids (who are playing UNO) “hey, who got a picture of the tarantula?” and I was just ANGRILY reminded that “you’re not letting us have our phones….how could we have possibly taken a picture of the spider?” Woops, well played, students. Well played.

10. Our accommodations at the Missions House – girls are divided two to a room and the three boys are sharing a room. The rooms have AC and the housekeeping service comes while we’re gone – removes trash, makes beds, tidies bathrooms. The food has been fantastic.

11. Kamryn Cunningham does handstand pushups. We’ll get a video next time.

12. Mr. Lipman does magic tricks. Apparently was a novice magician in his younger days.

13. Your students continue to be complimented by everyone who sees them. They have great appetites and are respectful and inclusive. Thanks for trusting us with them.

14. The young men are catching and naming geckos. They caught one and named him Lamar (Calvin did this) and put him in an empty water bottle. He was later released. They also saw Eugene in the hallway (another gecko) but didn’t actually catch him. They talk about these geckoes as if they’re friends with them. It’s certainly entertaining.

15. We’re all tired but having fun. A little dirty. Be prepared for some laundry upon our return.

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Martes 17 de febrero – Todo el día en la obra – Almuerzo en la escuela/iglesia 7:00: Desayuno 8:15: Viaje en autobús escolar a la obra 8:45: Llegada a la obra 11:30-13:00: Almuerzo en la escuela -- Ver imágenes de baloncesto y visitar a estudiantes más jóvenes. 13:30-17:45: Terminar en la obra El objetivo principal de hoy era terminar de verter el hormigón, sobre todo porque tuvimos un retraso de ayer (avería de la máquina hormigonera; el Sr. Lipman dijo: «Tiene unas juntas tóricas defectuosas en el carburador, lo que provoca una fuga de aceite en el gas antes de que llegue al pistón. Solo necesitan líquido de arranque». El hombre tenía razón, pero era humilde, así que el líquido de arranque tardó un poco en llegar y el retraso nos retrasó un poco para empezar esta mañana). Finalmente, terminamos la zona del suelo. El objetivo secundario de hoy: excavar zanjas alrededor de la casa para el escalón en la fachada/lateral. La zanja escalonada tenía 30 cm de ancho y 30 cm de profundidad, y luego se rellenó con piedras (los estudiantes también detestan recibir piedras; esto se hizo más difícil porque las hormigas se divertían mucho haciendo sus nidos en nuestras piedras). Después de las piedras, se añadió más tierra, luego una capa de hormigón, luego otra capa de piedras, luego más hormigón, luego la capa de bloques de hormigón, y luego más hormigón. Se rellenaron las juntas y se nivelaron los bloques. ¿Cansado ya? Al mismo tiempo, Merlín, uno de los colegas hondureños, trabajaba en el techo. Ayer había estado midiendo y clavando los soportes. Hoy colocó toda la chapa metálica y la cumbrera. Mi trabajo durante parte del tiempo consistió en entregarle las láminas metálicas de 4,5 x 1,2 metros de ancho desde el suelo mientras él, sentado en el borde, las sacaba. Cualquiera que haya trabajado con chapa metálica sabe que puede cortar la piel con bastante facilidad. Lo que quizá no todos sepan es que el metal debe estar dispuesto en capas de una manera específica para que sea impermeable. Esa "cierta manera" no me quedó clara, así que le di las láminas a Merlín y él tuvo que darles la vuelta y girarlas 180 grados antes de instalarlas. Fue toda una hazaña. ¡Felicitaciones a Merlín (¡qué buen nombre, ¿verdad?!). La obra es ruidosa. Además, la gente (¿vecinos?) a veces se para a observar el trabajo; es emocionante ver el progreso. Pero todo es tan abrumador: imagínense el ruido de la hormigonera gigante junto con Merlín encima de nuestras cabezas hundiendo tornillos en la chapa ondulada con su taladro DeWalt amarillo. Era muchísimo. Pero dejé toda la mezcla de cemento al Sr. Lipman y a los niños. El Sr. Lipman era el jefe de la hormigonera con el vecino Ariell (que no hablaba inglés; tampoco quería guantes de trabajo). Mezclaron y mezclaron y mezclaron. 45 kilos de cemento en polvo, 8 cubos de arena, 2 cubos de agua. Estaba encantado de que dominara esa tarea... Hasta que me ofrecí a subir un poco de hormigón por la rampa para verterlo en la zona de la casa. El Sr. Lipman me preguntó: "¿Posta, lo tienes?", y por suerte Kamryn solo lo había llenado dos tercios. "Tu velocidad es un vector" era el mantra para subir la rampa (tierra artificial, trozos de madera y piedras)... Claro que lo conseguí, Sr. Lipman, cuando llegué al final de la rampa y aceleré, solo para tropezar y estrellarme de lleno contra una carretilla llena de hormigón. Sin daño, sin culpa (y sin hormigón perdido). Fotos o no pasó; crédito de la foto al Sr. Lipman. Por cierto: Le envié la foto a mi madre y me respondió: "Me alegra que estés bien, parece que ya comiste. La foto es divertidísima. Deja la ropa". Otros datos curiosos que no sé cómo integrar cronológicamente... 1. La iglesia contrata a un equipo central para construir las casas. Nuestros dos contactos son Ray y Merlín. No hablan inglés, pero se dejan la piel. No usan guantes de trabajo (excepto con los materiales del techo de chapa ondulada) y probablemente podrían hacerlo más rápido sin nosotros. Solo que tenemos que llenar esos dichosos cubos y mover piedras. También contamos con la ayuda de otros (vecinos, amigos, familiares). 2. La iglesia ha construido suficientes casas como para dominarlo todo a la perfección. Hay de todo en su justa medida: es como las casas de Sears/Roebuck que se construyeron: la iglesia recibe todo directamente en la casa: un kit que lo tiene todo. No hay desperdicio. Todos los clavos, la madera, las piezas de chapa, los bloques de hormigón... todo estaba allí. (Para referencia: “Casas Sears: a través de catálogos de venta por correo entre 1908 y 1940. Estas casas precortadas y listas para ensamblar se entregaban por ferrocarril y contenían aproximadamente 30,000 componentes, incluyendo madera, clavos, cableado y plomería, diseñados para ser ensamblados por propietarios o contratistas”. Gracias de nuevo, Wikipedia). 3. El agua aquí viene en botellas o bolsas. Las botellas son a lo que estamos acostumbrados: 500 ml, plástico transparente, etiqueta azul, igual que en EE. UU. ¿Pero el agua en las bolsas? Esto es algo nuevo para mí: Las bolsas me recuerdan a las bolsas de maíz que se lanzan; tienen aproximadamente el mismo tamaño y peso. Con las bolsas, lo más común es morder una esquina del plástico, tirar el trozo al suelo (hay basura por todas partes), beber un poco de agua y luego seguir balanceándola en la boca mientras.