The Work in Rach Gia Continues

March 24:

Our work days start early. The bus picks us up for breakfast at 6:15am and we leave for our work sites at 7am to try to beat the heat.

The other housing team got dropped off 1st so our team took the opportunity to see how their job was progressing. We took a rickety ferry (that I'm sure would never pass a US inspection) across a river and then walked to the work site. On the way we passed through a marketplace where vendors were selling fish, vegetables, meat, etc. Again, we turned heads everywhere we walked because this is not a foreign tourist area.

We arrived at our work site and found bricks had replaced the sand that was there the previous day. You guessed it! We had to haul the bricks by hand, in a bag, or by carrying them on a wooden board. (In case you don't recognize me in the photo, I'm the one in the conicle hat!) Just when we thought w2e were done, another load arrived!

After we finished hauling the bricks we had to mix cement to pour in the supporting columns of the structure. Since they did not have running water in this area, we had to hand pump it. One of the Vietnamese woman showed me how to work the pump. It took a lot of work just to get 1 bucket! We made enough to do 3 out of the 6 columns by 11am. We then went into waiting mode because we needed more supplies which had not yet been delivered. So we took a welcome break in a shady spot.

They brought lunch to us around noon. We ate it next door at a Buddhist temple courtyard. They were very hospitable and started bring out additional food that they had prepared - soup, fried sweet potatoes, and cut up fruit for us to enjoy.

The delivery was supposed to arrive at 1pm and didn't show up until 2pm. This is what they call Vietnamese time. Things are more laid back here and being on time is not as important to them as it is to Americans. We spent the rest of the work day hauling stones and embedding them in the sand .

A few people on the team had to dig a 4 ft. deep hole in the ground which will be their version of a bathroom - it will have nonflushing toilet - it will be flushed by pouring a bucket of water into the toilet.

Speaking of bathrooms, there are no port-a-pottys here. The 1st day we used a neighbor's bathroom - a back porch where you went on the wooden slats and then rinsed it down below with a bucket of water. Today we discovered the monks had a non-flusing toilet which was much better for us Americans.

Even though we had a break in the afternoon it was a very tiring day due to the heat. There were several times when I thought I just couldn't keep going one minute longer. But God truly helped me get through the day. When I felt I couldn't go on I prayed for the strength to continue and I would get another burst of energy.

Zach's team finished portioning the food in the morning then went in the afternoon to a location near the garbage dump to deliver it along with some bikes. Don't worry . . . he didn't go on the dump but he could see it from his worksite and he could efinitely smell it. The kids ate dinner when they returned from the site and arrived back at the hotel as we were returning from our work day.

We were exhausted again and in bed by 8pm.

Tomorrow I am being given a temporary reassignment to the distribution team. They have the day off and they have arranged a trip to the beach. One of the adults on the distribution team wanted to do housing instead of going to the beach so we are swapping for the day. I think I got the better end of that deal!