Build Day 4

Today was a mild and cloudy day with a lot of progress made on the house. At the beginning of the day there was only one layer of brick surrounding the entire house, and we were able to add two more. We made brick lines again to haul all the bricks into the soon-to-be rooms and stretched them over the vertical rebars in place. Then we could spread mortar in and around each brick to connect them and hold them in place. There were a total of around 85 bricks on each layer and so far we've finished three of them. We also filled all the trenches surrounding the rooms with sand, which means we've officially finished the base of the home. Tomorrow we'll continue working upwards to solidify all the walls with brick. 

For a snack today we had coconuts. They were served in a very tropical-looking way with a long straw sticking out the top. I watched as one of the Habitat workers cracked it open with a machete so I could eat it after I drank all the juice. It was my first time actually drinking and eating a fresh coconut. It doesn't have much of a coconut taste when it's fresh, but it must be more potent when it's stored. Attempting to eat the coconut was a little difficult because we used part of the shell as a spoon. I felt as though I was part of the movie Castaway. 

When we took a bathroom break after lunch I was able to bond with the kids a little more. We kicked a ball around and played in the yard. They begged me to take a photo with them and then put on their model faces. They asked to see the pictures and scrolled through my phone to look at them. Then the little girl asked if I had any games on my phone; she must've had this scheme in her mind the whole time, but I thought it was funny. Her and her brother continued to play with the ball until I had to leave. It reminded me a bit of my brother and I when we were kids. Her brother would be sitting down eating a snack, she'd steal it and eat it, and then he would cry. Of course she always got away with it because she was older (she was nine and he was only two). Isn't that how it always works?

I think this might be my last Habitat build wearing these shoes. The soles broke off when I was in the Philippines and I was able to get them back together with super glue, but now they've fallen apart again. I wrapped duct tape around them but there's no longer hope that they will be repaired. I will also be retiring my pants because they got caught on rebar today and ripped a hole in the butt. I had to duct tape that as well. I must say that it's not the most fashionable way to fix up your pants, but it certainly makes for a great story. 

Once the workday was finished we had the opportunity to visit a completed Habitat house. The family of four had recently moved in and was living right next to the father's parents. They have a living room / kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and wash station outside. It was pretty basic, but sufficient enough for them. They seemed to just be grateful that they had a home at all. When we left the house we saw another goat walker; a very common activity here. It's quite interesting because they seemed to pause every few steps to eat some grass on the side of the road. I think walking a goat would be even more of a chore than walking a dog with their obvious short attention spans. 

Tonight we ate dinner and then we made plans to go to a bowling alley. It's been a while since I've bowled so I'm excited to see how much worse I am than I was before. Hopefully it's not too much of an embarrassment. We just arrived so we shall we soon.