Day 2: Let the Digging Continue

It's hard to believe that each day on a Habitat for Humanity build you become more and more invigorated, even though you are exhausted at the end of each day.  Today we all met for breakfast bright and early and then headed on our way to the site along the river.  Each time I travel along these rivers I am amazed at what I see.  The colours are are vibrant, the people are beyond excited to see us...first staring and then smiling and waving...there are people bathing, working, swimming and even washing their clothes.  In the mornings it is so peaceful traveling up the river and a great way to get ready for a full day hard labour.

First stop at the build site today...the washroom!!  Apparently Ngan has caught on very quickly that we are a needy bunch when it comes to our bladders.  Once at the actual build site we picked up where we left off.  Most of the morning was spent finishing digging the trenches for the foundation and the other half of the group doing rebar.  I've come to believe I have a skill for bending metal and lack all skills required for tying wire....so bending it was.  When we left yesterday they were in the process of cutting up a coconut tree to make wooden planks...and voila this morning, all the planks where ready by the house to make the forms for the foundation walls.  Pretty efficient if you ask me...they actually had the saw mill come right to the build site on a boat the night before.

 

Right before lunch Savina and I decided to go to the bathroom, so they drove us both up together on the motorbike and dropped us off at the bridge.  We crossed over and headed up the road...like we did yesterday...only to realize we didn't know what the house actually looked like.  Once we walked for about 10 minutes we decided we must have passed the house, so we turned around in hopes of finding the rest of the group.  What we soon found out is that we were actually dropped off at the bridge right next to the house and completely missed it.  Not sure the two of use should be let loose on our own from this point forward...especially when the house we were looking for was bright blue with pink curtains....hard to miss.

For lunch today...we have a menu for each day...we had pork grip with fish source...I think there was a slight translation problem in this one....but apparently it was delicious.  I've also started to get a little better at using chopsticks...at least Liz doesn't need to get my food for me now!!  We still need lessons on how to actually prepare our food though.  This happens almost every time we eat somewhere and one of the wait staff, or at the build site Ngan, tells us what sauce goes with what, how to put together different dishes and even how to cook things when necessary.  Eating in Vietnam is quite a chore!!

Today didn't seem quite as hot...perhaps the humidity was a bit lower and there was some cloud cover...so we weren't so exhausted from the heat.  By mid afternoon we finished digging the trenches and started to do mix and pour cement.  First we needed to carry over large rocks, dump them into the trenches and then lay them out in a single layer...this was another thing I really enjoyed doing.  It felt a bit like gardening in the extreme heat.  Once we finished laying rock, the rocks were watered down and then a mixture of sand, cement and water was done up and we carried it in a chain line....not a Habitat build until there's one of those...and poured it over the rocks.  Then this mixture was tapped down with a large metal rod and left to dry.

Overall it was a very successful build day.  In fact a relative of the home owner actually told us he was so proud of our hard work and so appreciative of how far we came to help his relatives build their home...can't get better than that.  Before we headed back home along the river a few of us decided to do a bathroom break...lessons learned from the day before.  On our way back we came across a few kids coming home from school on their bikes.  Before we knew it, by the time we arrived back at our boat, we had over 10 kids following behind us...felt a bit like the Pied Piper.   The kids here are some sweet and love to say hi.

A relaxing boat ride back to Rach Gia and headed to dinner at 7:00pm...but not before having an iced coffee with milk at the local hotel bar.  I'm beginning to get addicted to these.  Ngan arranged for us to go to a BBQ restaurant around the corner from our hotel for dinner.  When we arrived, our table was set up right at the front of the restaurant...I'm beginning to think they place us in the most visible location in the room so that everyone can see us.  As usual the food came out...this time being cooked on an open fire grill on our table...and we were shown how to prepare and eat our food.  They have some a unique method of cooling your drinks here in Vietnam.  Your server comes around to your table and puts huge chunks of ice in your glass. Then they continually refresh your ice...in Jennifer's case however they actually put new ice in her glass and then decided it was too full, so they took the ice back out....hopefully here ice didn't land in my glass later on!!  Just when we were ready to finish up, a new round of food showed up at our table and the entire group put out a groan...I'm sure the servers were wondering what was the problem... don't westerners always eat this much food?!?!?!  Either way it was a great evening out, with great company, good food, and we were recharged for another day.

Everyone was a bit wiped from the day, so it was an early evening for all.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Until then...

Lisa