We have gotten lucky and we haven’t seen rain yet! On the way to the site, today felt like one of the warmest days that we have had so far. Upper 80’s right from 10:00 a.m. on. Today we needed to finish the earth base foundation. With all of this, this still took an entire day! The framing looked great, and they were taking off the wood boards along the sides as we arrived. 
Right off the bat we began throwing the remained of the blocks and rocks into the frame to fill in the gaps around the side. As we were moving the crushed brick into the frame, there were others leveling it out. All together it was about one foot of brick and rock. The next layer was sand, which we again used a smaller passing system to get more accomplished. As we were throwing the sand in, the Thai men that were helping would walk around with a hose to wet down the sand so it would fall into any cracks that were missed. The sand layer was about five inches on top of the rock layer. Next, we used another layer of the gravel that we had been using for the frame. The house is a rectangle shape so all of this work seems easy, but it is very time consuming getting in to the ends of the house.
Right off the bat we began throwing the remained of the blocks and rocks into the frame to fill in the gaps around the side. As we were moving the crushed brick into the frame, there were others leveling it out. All together it was about one foot of brick and rock. The next layer was sand, which we again used a smaller passing system to get more accomplished. As we were throwing the sand in, the Thai men that were helping would walk around with a hose to wet down the sand so it would fall into any cracks that were missed. The sand layer was about five inches on top of the rock layer. Next, we used another layer of the gravel that we had been using for the frame. The house is a rectangle shape so all of this work seems easy, but it is very time consuming getting in to the ends of the house.
When we eat lunch at the site, our host Anne brings large amounts of Thai food in crockpots and sets them for us and we just eat around in the chairs. We also have several breaks throughout to get water and rest since it is so warm… they want to take precautions since our bodies are not as well adjusted to the heat and humidity. Our last layer of the earth base was bamboo that had been split into four long slices. This took a bit to lay out but once we got to nailing the bamboo together we had a good system down. They were to be placed down the entire house length and width wise to have the woven looking effect.
WE WERE DONE!!! It looked so good, we had done a 1 ½ feet of base in a day and a half which is good timing, but it felt like it took forever. The Thai workers and the men in the family were very thankful and clapped and we had a few “American hurrahs!”
We have all been wearing name tags and today the Thai workers began wearing them. One of my favorite guys is Mard, (Mod or Mahd). He is so happy and has been a huge help in showing us how to do things. It is such a different experience because he doesn’t speak English, only a few words every now and then, so he has been pointing at stuff and I just follow along. Mard is a jokester and LOVES to giggle. He always says my name – I have found that the Thai people we have been working with say my name often because it is so easy to say. It has words in it that they understand, like man! Haha
OH! On a side note, I don’t know how I haven’t mentioned this!! The bathroom…. Not a bathroom. It is a shack that has a hold toilet bowl in the ground. There is a plumbing system but you flush by dumping a bowl of water into the toilet and it pushes the other stuff out. No toilet paper in the bowl, it has to be thrown in the trash! Of course my question was wonder if you gotta poop!! We all came to the consensus that we think it will get clogged and it might be better to use the bushes!
Went to the ocean today with Ashley and Diana; the waves were so big that after about five minutes we decided it was probably a good idea that we got out! On the way up, Ashley and I had our first market experience with bargaining and all! She did the math, I did the bargaining! We ended up getting bracelets!
I know that this is a lot of writing and visuals would be nice! We haven’t had much time but tomorrow you will see that I will have added pictures up to each of the posts to coincide with what I have been talking about, which should also make it easier to understand what I am talking about!
Love you all and hope all is great back at home!
WE WERE DONE!!! It looked so good, we had done a 1 ½ feet of base in a day and a half which is good timing, but it felt like it took forever. The Thai workers and the men in the family were very thankful and clapped and we had a few “American hurrahs!”
We have all been wearing name tags and today the Thai workers began wearing them. One of my favorite guys is Mard, (Mod or Mahd). He is so happy and has been a huge help in showing us how to do things. It is such a different experience because he doesn’t speak English, only a few words every now and then, so he has been pointing at stuff and I just follow along. Mard is a jokester and LOVES to giggle. He always says my name – I have found that the Thai people we have been working with say my name often because it is so easy to say. It has words in it that they understand, like man! HahaOH! On a side note, I don’t know how I haven’t mentioned this!! The bathroom…. Not a bathroom. It is a shack that has a hold toilet bowl in the ground. There is a plumbing system but you flush by dumping a bowl of water into the toilet and it pushes the other stuff out. No toilet paper in the bowl, it has to be thrown in the trash! Of course my question was wonder if you gotta poop!! We all came to the consensus that we think it will get clogged and it might be better to use the bushes!
Went to the ocean today with Ashley and Diana; the waves were so big that after about five minutes we decided it was probably a good idea that we got out! On the way up, Ashley and I had our first market experience with bargaining and all! She did the math, I did the bargaining! We ended up getting bracelets!
I know that this is a lot of writing and visuals would be nice! We haven’t had much time but tomorrow you will see that I will have added pictures up to each of the posts to coincide with what I have been talking about, which should also make it easier to understand what I am talking about!Love you all and hope all is great back at home!
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