THURSDAY JUNE 15 - T-minus 2
Today was the last day of work at the work site. It was also a 1/2 day at that. The previous day was also a half-day for, too, because not only did I go back to the hotel at 11 am, but our group was in the midst of learning how to make an Indian chicken dish, which to give a Cliff's Notes version of the lesson:
Let me describe the three Habitat houses on which we were working. The first one had its foundation poured, and walls were in the process of being put up when we got there on the 1st day. Most of our tasks involved carrying sand from the pile by the pre-school to the side of the house to be used for mortar for that house. There was also some masonry work to be done, and we had to carry buckets of rocks, but I have no idea what they were used for. By the time the last day rolled around, there was already work being done on the roof.
The second house had its foundation set, and some brickwork set for walls. Mostly we had to fill in the rooms with the dirt that made up the land that surrounded that house, which eventually made it tricky to get into that house because we used most of the dirt near the entrance to fill up the rooms. Once the rooms were filled (i.e. a floor was created which would eventually have concrete poured over it because its next to impossible to keep a dirt floor clean) that's when the bricks had to be moved into piles in the house to give the masons easy access to them, and this is where we started a chain gang go first pass the bricks (working the obliques and arms) and then later we started to toss them, working our shoulders. A lot of the work we did could've been seen as a very interesting exercise regime - when we'd toss pans of dirt, that worked the legs, abs, shoulders and for the catch: the forearms. The rest of the work on that house consisted mostly of masonry - mixing mortar, bringing pans of mortar to the masons and the volunteers who were helping to lay brick.
The third house was the house we worked on early during our trip and on the last day. For the first job we did, we had to fill up the foundation with dirt to eventually create a ground floor. The dirt was from the dirt that surrounded the house - but a lot of it had to be broken up, which was very hard. Aidan, one of the 3 20 year olds on the trip, was "one with the dirty" and was able to break up good chunks of the solid dirt with the dirt-breaking-stick. It wasn't until our last day, that we did more work on that house - brick carrying in buckets, masonry work. At 11:30 am exactly we had to install the door frames - there were only short walls in place - because of some sort of ceremonial reason. There was even flowers tied to the door, and pictures were taken with us holding onto the door. I don't know the reason for the exact time why that door had to be put up then.
The reason for the 1/2 day was so we could go to the beach. There was nothing to get excited about going to the beach because, India being a very conservative society, required the girls to wear shorts and t-shirts at the beach, even if they went in the water. Beach blanket bingo it was not.
Today was the last day of work at the work site. It was also a 1/2 day at that. The previous day was also a half-day for, too, because not only did I go back to the hotel at 11 am, but our group was in the midst of learning how to make an Indian chicken dish, which to give a Cliff's Notes version of the lesson:
- mix a lot of spices and spicy food (green hot chill peppers) together
- add chicken
- add salt
- add more salt. A. Lot. More.
- cook
- eat
- extinguish fire in mouth
Let me describe the three Habitat houses on which we were working. The first one had its foundation poured, and walls were in the process of being put up when we got there on the 1st day. Most of our tasks involved carrying sand from the pile by the pre-school to the side of the house to be used for mortar for that house. There was also some masonry work to be done, and we had to carry buckets of rocks, but I have no idea what they were used for. By the time the last day rolled around, there was already work being done on the roof.
The second house had its foundation set, and some brickwork set for walls. Mostly we had to fill in the rooms with the dirt that made up the land that surrounded that house, which eventually made it tricky to get into that house because we used most of the dirt near the entrance to fill up the rooms. Once the rooms were filled (i.e. a floor was created which would eventually have concrete poured over it because its next to impossible to keep a dirt floor clean) that's when the bricks had to be moved into piles in the house to give the masons easy access to them, and this is where we started a chain gang go first pass the bricks (working the obliques and arms) and then later we started to toss them, working our shoulders. A lot of the work we did could've been seen as a very interesting exercise regime - when we'd toss pans of dirt, that worked the legs, abs, shoulders and for the catch: the forearms. The rest of the work on that house consisted mostly of masonry - mixing mortar, bringing pans of mortar to the masons and the volunteers who were helping to lay brick.
The third house was the house we worked on early during our trip and on the last day. For the first job we did, we had to fill up the foundation with dirt to eventually create a ground floor. The dirt was from the dirt that surrounded the house - but a lot of it had to be broken up, which was very hard. Aidan, one of the 3 20 year olds on the trip, was "one with the dirty" and was able to break up good chunks of the solid dirt with the dirt-breaking-stick. It wasn't until our last day, that we did more work on that house - brick carrying in buckets, masonry work. At 11:30 am exactly we had to install the door frames - there were only short walls in place - because of some sort of ceremonial reason. There was even flowers tied to the door, and pictures were taken with us holding onto the door. I don't know the reason for the exact time why that door had to be put up then.
The reason for the 1/2 day was so we could go to the beach. There was nothing to get excited about going to the beach because, India being a very conservative society, required the girls to wear shorts and t-shirts at the beach, even if they went in the water. Beach blanket bingo it was not.
posted by kacob at 2:04 PM
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