Sent from my iPhoneAHAH base
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Update 6
Day 4
Up at 5 am as usual & in van around 6. Rog was assigned housekeeping & the rest of us to Site 1. B & J worked as a team leveling purloins with Jen in a harness straddling the roof boards. I worked on a team shoveling, raking & leveling the foundation. Luckily, I was mostly the leveler. At noon, those who wanted left to go shop in Nhamatanda. Ben was happy to stay to prove he could work a full day! I stayed too. Ben spent the whole afternoon on the roof harnessed & nailing on strappings in the 95 degree humid & sunny weather. I was cutting the strapping & had set up my operation in the shade. Around 3, the clouds rushed in & we quickly gather tools but not before we got soaked & covered with mud. I think you could hear the SSSSSsss as the rain cooled down our heated bodies. Felt so good. Back to base, showered and drank another cold Coke.
Rog & Jen got back from their shopping spree with fresh fruit, pasta, beans & eggs for tomorrow's meal as Sunday is a day of & everyone has to fend for themselves. Jen also found some gorgeous fabric—2 yards for $3.
After dinner, we headed to the tiny town, Lamego which is only blocks away. Kids now recognize us & shout Ole as we navigate the mud puddles. The thumb war boys find us quickly for a few games. Jen spotted a tailor sitting at his treadle Singer sewing machine on his porch. She showed him a picture of what she wanted, he took her measurements & she left smiling with her fingers crossed.
We went to the bar which was crowded with locals watching a soccer game with much enthusiasm. We went up to the 2nd floor where we had a view & a breeze. Several of our little buddies spotted us and started dancing & doing somersaults for us. We provided entertainment for each other!
Back at base, B & J got to FaceTime with their kids & I got to with Jake's & Bek's. A real treat!! Euchre, just chatting with others & enjoying the Brazilian dance party filled the evening. It's so fascinating & interesting to talk to people from other countries. On base currently there's people from Spain, Germany, England, Australia, Columbia, Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique and about 10 US states.
Favorite conversations:
Portuguese: We founded you guys! It interesting watching how that discovery is working out.
UK: Love watching the reality show: USA
To which we replied, what about the reality show your royalty provide us. To which they said: remember you guys hated the royalty not too long ago.
And a Japanese guy whose family joined the mass exit to Brazil in the 40's said everywhere will eventually look similar to Brazil where's there's such a huge variation of facial features due to so many different nationalities making babies together. Brazilians pay the most for passports cause of that.
As Mark Twain said years ago, traveling enriches the mind and minimizes prejudices.
Sent from my iPhone
Up at 5 am as usual & in van around 6. Rog was assigned housekeeping & the rest of us to Site 1. B & J worked as a team leveling purloins with Jen in a harness straddling the roof boards. I worked on a team shoveling, raking & leveling the foundation. Luckily, I was mostly the leveler. At noon, those who wanted left to go shop in Nhamatanda. Ben was happy to stay to prove he could work a full day! I stayed too. Ben spent the whole afternoon on the roof harnessed & nailing on strappings in the 95 degree humid & sunny weather. I was cutting the strapping & had set up my operation in the shade. Around 3, the clouds rushed in & we quickly gather tools but not before we got soaked & covered with mud. I think you could hear the SSSSSsss as the rain cooled down our heated bodies. Felt so good. Back to base, showered and drank another cold Coke.
Rog & Jen got back from their shopping spree with fresh fruit, pasta, beans & eggs for tomorrow's meal as Sunday is a day of & everyone has to fend for themselves. Jen also found some gorgeous fabric—2 yards for $3.
After dinner, we headed to the tiny town, Lamego which is only blocks away. Kids now recognize us & shout Ole as we navigate the mud puddles. The thumb war boys find us quickly for a few games. Jen spotted a tailor sitting at his treadle Singer sewing machine on his porch. She showed him a picture of what she wanted, he took her measurements & she left smiling with her fingers crossed.
We went to the bar which was crowded with locals watching a soccer game with much enthusiasm. We went up to the 2nd floor where we had a view & a breeze. Several of our little buddies spotted us and started dancing & doing somersaults for us. We provided entertainment for each other!
Back at base, B & J got to FaceTime with their kids & I got to with Jake's & Bek's. A real treat!! Euchre, just chatting with others & enjoying the Brazilian dance party filled the evening. It's so fascinating & interesting to talk to people from other countries. On base currently there's people from Spain, Germany, England, Australia, Columbia, Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique and about 10 US states.
Favorite conversations:
Portuguese: We founded you guys! It interesting watching how that discovery is working out.
UK: Love watching the reality show: USA
To which we replied, what about the reality show your royalty provide us. To which they said: remember you guys hated the royalty not too long ago.
And a Japanese guy whose family joined the mass exit to Brazil in the 40's said everywhere will eventually look similar to Brazil where's there's such a huge variation of facial features due to so many different nationalities making babies together. Brazilians pay the most for passports cause of that.
As Mark Twain said years ago, traveling enriches the mind and minimizes prejudices.
Sent from my iPhone
Update 4
Day 2: Ben woke up with a heart shaped blister about the size of a quarter. So he got a free visit to the local hospital!! Here's his description: The waiting room was outside with rows of old chairs next to a building 5 ft off it's slab & right in front was an old truck on blocks with all the wheels gone. Inside flimsy beds with visible dirt on them and broken tiles. The doctors were in clean white coats. The Chief Dr examined Ben and the diagnosis: peed on by a beetle. Orlundu tried to translate it that to Ben :). Now that's a story to tell...and exaggerate!!
He spent the afternoon working on and completing the base fix it projects.
Jen had housekeeping duties in the AM and taught English to locals in the PM. Jen described it like this: We worked on introductions and did lots of vocab building using picture cards. They spent much time trying to teach the difference between okay, good & great...cause they always just say "fine." There were about 25 pupils mostly young kids...6 yrs and up. About 5 adults too. It was really fun!
Roger went to Site 1 & Jane went to Site 2. It was HOT and humid! Probably in the 90s. For Jane, shoveling & raking and being the Goffer. I was too tired when I got back to ask Rog what he'd worked on.
After the nightly meeting & supper, most of the 25 volunteers walked to the local bar & got a cold drink. We took the plastic chairs outside & sat in a circle enjoying the friendly conversation and the shade of a tree! When my Coke —no Diet Coke :( —was gone, I walked over to where the kids had gathered to watch the "foreigners." I took a big boys hands to form a bridge & London Bridges was soon in full swing. Then we play Blue Bird & Ring Around the Rosie. The kids either knew the games or caught on quickly. Yesterday I'd taught a few boys to play thumb war & they found me and wanted to play with me...then Ben...then Rog. These are the experiences that make me keep traveling year after year!
Sent from my iPhone
He spent the afternoon working on and completing the base fix it projects.
Jen had housekeeping duties in the AM and taught English to locals in the PM. Jen described it like this: We worked on introductions and did lots of vocab building using picture cards. They spent much time trying to teach the difference between okay, good & great...cause they always just say "fine." There were about 25 pupils mostly young kids...6 yrs and up. About 5 adults too. It was really fun!
Roger went to Site 1 & Jane went to Site 2. It was HOT and humid! Probably in the 90s. For Jane, shoveling & raking and being the Goffer. I was too tired when I got back to ask Rog what he'd worked on.
After the nightly meeting & supper, most of the 25 volunteers walked to the local bar & got a cold drink. We took the plastic chairs outside & sat in a circle enjoying the friendly conversation and the shade of a tree! When my Coke —no Diet Coke :( —was gone, I walked over to where the kids had gathered to watch the "foreigners." I took a big boys hands to form a bridge & London Bridges was soon in full swing. Then we play Blue Bird & Ring Around the Rosie. The kids either knew the games or caught on quickly. Yesterday I'd taught a few boys to play thumb war & they found me and wanted to play with me...then Ben...then Rog. These are the experiences that make me keep traveling year after year!
Sent from my iPhone
Update 5
Day 3
Ben & I were on housekeeping duties which we knocked out in two hours, then we got to ride to the dump! We stopped & got a COLD 1 lt Coke and headed for Site 1 where Jen was. We did save some of the Coke for her. We picked up the shoveling & raking project for about 30 minutes and then the rain cloud burst. We took shelter & played Farkle till Cat, our site leader called it quits. We ran around in the blowing downpour locking up all the tools & dripping wet, we climbed into the van and headed by to base & with more rain in the forecast & all base jobs done, we had the afternoon off. Ben is getting accused of jinxing getting a full day of work in! He did spend much of the afternoon "working" in the office helping to create a brick fund raising option. I worked on catching up on writing, Jen read & worked on a puzzle. Roger was at Site 2 which had just a sprinkle so he worked all day mostly sawing. It's an hour away so didn't make sense to send us there. Believe it or not, the rest of us wish we were working on Site 2!
Sent from my iPhone
Ben & I were on housekeeping duties which we knocked out in two hours, then we got to ride to the dump! We stopped & got a COLD 1 lt Coke and headed for Site 1 where Jen was. We did save some of the Coke for her. We picked up the shoveling & raking project for about 30 minutes and then the rain cloud burst. We took shelter & played Farkle till Cat, our site leader called it quits. We ran around in the blowing downpour locking up all the tools & dripping wet, we climbed into the van and headed by to base & with more rain in the forecast & all base jobs done, we had the afternoon off. Ben is getting accused of jinxing getting a full day of work in! He did spend much of the afternoon "working" in the office helping to create a brick fund raising option. I worked on catching up on writing, Jen read & worked on a puzzle. Roger was at Site 2 which had just a sprinkle so he worked all day mostly sawing. It's an hour away so didn't make sense to send us there. Believe it or not, the rest of us wish we were working on Site 2!
Sent from my iPhone
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)