Day 3: Mixing Concrete

Early morning again today and off to the work site for another day of building.  This will be our second last day at this site, so we are eager to keep on schedule and finish the foundation before we leave later this week.  I spent the morning boat ride taking more pictures...of course.  Most of the time we pass boats that are either non-motorized or moving fairly slowly, so the wake is not that big.  On the rare occasion we pass one of the motorized taxis at high speeds and this morning was one of those days.  A few seconds after the boat went by we hit its wake and a huge wave came crashing into our boat and completely soaked Liz who was taken completely off guard.  The look on her face was priceless and I'm sure her initial reaction was about the dirty water all over her and in her mouth, but my god I laughed hard.  Wish I had been quick enough to get a few photos of it all happening.

Today seemed very hot, with little shade or clouds in the sky.  Before we could start any of the foundation pouring, we needed to finish up some of the rebar.  It was a huge team effort as almost all our team members were lined up along the rebar column twisting little pieces of wire.  I can not believe how bad I am at this.  After three wires and 15 minutes later, I moved over to bending metal.  By break time, we were ready for what turned out to be an exhausting and very labourous day of concrete mixing and pouring....10 buckets of sand, 2 huge bags of cement and 14 buckets of gravel mixed together and water added.

First of all we found out we lacked counting skills.  Half way through our 14 buckets of gravel we couldn't remember what number we were on.  For a brief moment we were completely staled and without much of a solution as to how to move forward.  Funny how such little things can cause such big problems.  Once we got back on track, the mixture was then put into buckets and we created a chain line to pour it into the foundation molds that were built over the cement we poured the day before. When concrete is mixed you can't stop, so this back breaking activity went on for about 1.5 hours until we were all beyond exhaustion...and almost reaching dehydration levels.  It's unbelievable how hot and sweaty someone can get.  We were all drenched through...even the face masks we were wearing to keep the cement dust out of our lungs were soaked through within minutes.  Our new saying today when asked what time it was, was "hot o'clock"...and hot it was!!!

Before lunch, we gathered as a group and took a photo with the home owners, Ngan and our foremen.... all dirt and grime included.  After our photo we headed over to lunch. Today's lunch included rat...yes you heard me correctly.  It tasted a bit like wild chicken...not my favourite thing, but not the worst either...better than frogs legs for sure!!  Every day after lunch we have about 30 minutes to lay down and rest.  Today, the women thought some of us didn't have anywhere to lay down since we were still sitting at the table and the next thing we know they are carrying in a huge hammock...got to love Vietnam!  After rehydrating, fueling up and having a bit of a nap we were back at the work site for another hour of concrete work.  All of use were nearing our limit for the day, but by the end we had a system down pat and finished half of the concrete forms by 2:30pm.

After cleaning up the work site, taking off our work shoes...the best part of the day...we boarded our boat and went to visit the local school.  When we arrived we were greeted by the school principal and teacher and told the students were in grade 2...only 16 of them.  One of them turned out to be one of the kids of the home we are building.  We had a bit of a chat with the kids...using Ngan as our translator...they sang us a song, we sang Happy Birthday to one student and then we went outside to sing some songs.  Everything from the Itsy Bitsy Spider, to Heads and Shoulders Knees and Toes, to the Chicken Dance.  They were absolutely adorable, everyone had lots of fun...with lots of giggles...and then we passed out pencils and crayons before heading out.  On our way out we had a few followers who were very interested in seeing us off and waving goodbye.

By 3:30pm we were on our way...not without a bathroom break of course...and arrived in Rach Gia by 5:15pm.  It seems like everyday, the traffic in the river gets busier and busier...today we actually had to wait to get under the bridge due to a huge boat shipping sand and gravel.  When we arrived back pier, we jumped in our taxis and headed back to the hotel...once again exhausted.  I must say one of the best things when we get back to the hotel is getting a shower and finally being clean...what a novelty I must say!!

For dinner tonight we headed down to a restaurant right on the ocean.  We are only about 2 blocks from the water, so it was quick and easy.  What we thought was going to be a relaxing meal along the water, turned out to be a crazy karaoke takeover.  For those of you who don't know, Vietnamese are obsessed with karaoke...there are karaoke bars at every corner here and the people get completely into it.  Apparently in the area of the restaurant where we were seated, was a large group of people celebrating with karaoke.  Although this might have been OK, it was the mind blowing volume they were singing at that took over the entire evening.  It was so loud we couldn't even hear each other across the table.  To be honest it was quite comical to watch them all dancing and getting into the music...and it was mostly men.  Once we finished eating and could no longer withstand the noise, we decided to go to the supermarket and get some ice cream.  It is so beautiful at night here...warm, with a nice breeze and lots of people out enjoying themselves.

I headed back to the hotel after we had ice cream and got a bit of rest and caught up on my blog...task accomplished.  I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday and the end of our first week of work.  It has been very busy and exhausting...yes you've heard me use that word a lot this week...but so rewarding as well.  On top of that we have a great team of people who bring their own skills and personalities to the group...that's what makes the whole experience that much better.

Looking forward to a great day tomorrow.

Until then...
Lisa