In the rain. Ok that’s a bit melodramatic, it was drizzle. It’s been raining pretty steadily here for several days, turning the dirt roads into treacherous areas where Habitat liaisons fear to tread.

I had a hard time understanding that. The dirt here is clay, which can be like grease. BUT it’s full of all kinds of rock. All sizes from tiny gravel to the ankle turning kind. One of my teammates was videoing the drive up the hill to the worksite and caught me telling the driver that the road “wasn’t anything close to as bad as he lead me to believe.”  Apparently I’m in the minority in that opinion though.

Today at the build site we stuck styrofoam insulation to the outside walls and started the stuccoing.  I was struck by the similarities between building a house here and being around various building projects when I was a kid. It made the day kind of surreal.  We met the family today. All very nice and friendly. Very helpful as well. At one point someone was doing something with the mortar and the mom came and shooed him away. Very clearly she was going to do that herself.  A great build day was had by all of us.

Tonight we were treated to a visit to a local orphanage where about 10 girls live. All about 13 and all reminding me of Holly.  We followed the visit to a local hangout where we had either pizza or pasta. The girl next to me got corn on her pizza. I’ve never seen that before. She offered to let me try it, but she had also gotten mushrooms and I really don’t like those, especially on pizza. I’ll have to try it when I come home.

Tomorrow we’re going to a different site and will be building out some of the walls. Different family, and the house just got the foundation poured a week or so ago.  After that we’re heading to the Bear Cave. Full days all around, the week will be over before I know it.

If you’d like to see some pictures, some should be showing up on Facebook soon. Look for Habitat for Humanity Beius.

Gnocchi tonight instead of brain. The zombies can rest assured that their favorite food is safe from me.