Mid Week 3 Tanking!

More at our site, we're putting down bricks and laying cement now. I worked with Apasa first and I don’t think he was such a fan of my bricklaying.

I'm not sure what he said, but I did hear "malo" and "trabajar."

Joanne and I switched tasks and then Apasa was going on about how Joanne (aka Juanita to them) is such a fast learner, "Juanita's la jefa, la maestra,"blah blah. Later he wanted to say something to her and they both looked at me to translate. I said "nope, talk to your friend!" which got laugh.

I helped out this fella, he gives me less grief than Apasa and thinks my skills are just fine! ;-)

Not only did we lay bricks, we helped the guys mix cement,

which I was really excited about. I think it's because those are all the things we think about construction workers doing, we felt very official.

By the time we left for the day, the building looked pretty good. The guys stayed back to work a bit longer.

We walked down the street to the school where GVI volunteers teach, and the kids seemed so fascinated by Joanne and Michael, for some reason they love the Chinese and always make sure to mention they're Chinese! On the bus home Alice, our signature redhead, told me the kids fiddle with her and then all of a sudden she feels a yank, and when she reacts they tell her they take it because it’s such a pretty color. Yikes, stay her for a year and you might go bald!

In the evening, Joanne and I hung out in the Plaza de Armas and went upstairs to a rooftop restaurant our friend Sandeep had raved about for the sunset views. We looked like scruffs, so we each bought a drink to justify our standing in the way of paying customers and gawking at the scenery.

The views didn't disappoint, but the drinks did! You could get 3 at a place down the street for the price of one here! That's some expensive sundown!

On Thursday we continued our work and it looks like the tank is almost done!

Then went to volunteer Sam's desperdita (going away event) on his final day at the school. Volunteers have to sit in the middle of the room and the kids come up and dance for them, sing songs, and give them gifts. The volunteers almost always end up crying, but Sam was ok!