After two days on the Habitat for Humanity build...

Everything hurts!

Another day starting very early, in hot sun (but not quite as hot as yesterday) with lots of hard labour, but we nearly got our walls finished.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I haven't told you about our arrival in Chiang Mai and the incredible organization that's gone into this whole build.

When I got on the flight in Bangkok, there were a number of people heading for the Habitat for Humanity site. And when we arrived, there were people waiting for us with signs for the different hotels - about five different hotels to house all the people coming for this event.

As they guided us toward the buses, beautiful Thai women dressed in traditional dresses put necklaces made of tiny jasmine flowers around our necks to welcome us, and a band of Thai musicians drummed us in.
We were driven to our hotels, and we had some time to get settled in. A few hours later, we got back into buses (there are five buses to carry people staying in my hotel alone) to take us to the opening ceremonies, which took place in a huge, beautifully manicured park of topiary and floral designs. Again we were greeted by Thai volunteers and staff who cheered and waved and gave us the traditional Thai greeting - putting their palms together in front of their face and bowing slightly.

Those who hadn't registered could do it there, and it was handled quickly and efficiently - you checked in at one desk, were sent to another desk to get your assigned house number (mine is 16) then you went to another desk and got a bag full of information and some goodies - a hat, hand sanitizer, stuff like that - and then you moved along to get a T-shirt in your size. Done.

From there, we continued along a broad pathway, where locals had set up some stands to sell their handicrafts. And then there were appetizers and eventually, once everyone was registered, we all sat down to dinner, with speeches from Thai dignitaries, Habitat for Humanity representatives, and of course, Jimmy Carter.

During the speeches I found out that this is the 26th annual Jimmy Carter project, that about 28 countries were represented, with the largest participation coming from the States (44 different states represented). New Zealand has the second highest number and Thailand the third. This project is a 5-year project with the goal of building 50,000 homes in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and China.

The speeches were followed by Thai entertainment and finally fireworks. In this picture you can see Jimmy & Rosalynn on the big screen looking up at the fireworks.

In the morning, breakfast in the hotel began at 5:00 and buses started off for the site at 6:00. Our buses were led by a "tourist police" car whose lights flashed and sirens whooped, stopping traffic to let us pass. When we arrived and got out of the buses, Thai volunteers greeted us and cheered us again. And the "partner families" (the people whose houses we were building) were also there to cheer and welcome us. We hadn't done a thing and were already being treated like heroes.

On the site, there were 82 buildings already begun, cement slab floors had been laid and the initial eight rows of blocks had been laid, plumbing set in, doorways set, etc. All these homes are to be finished by Friday.

We went to our assigned houses and met our house leaders. Ours is a woman from Seattle named Vajra, and she set us to work pretty quickly.

Before I arrived, I had this idea that I'd be mostly working as a gopher, getting stuff and holding things for the skilled people who actually knew what they were doing. That went out the window in seconds. Our first job was to mortar the blocks that had been laid. Ten minutes on the job and I was a mason!

Our crew is made up of young people, retirees, experienced, inexperienced, people from the States, Thailand, China - and Canada. There's one other woman from Vancouver, but she's been living in Hong Kong for the past 10 years.

Another woman is from the States but came to Thailand and married a man here. She's been a great asset because she speaks Thai.

Also part of the crew is the woman whose house we're building. She's been working alongside us the whole time.

We started off with a very small crew, so we got some reserves, some of whom work for Habitat and they've been great.

In fact everyone is great. The attitudes, the generosity, it's really impressive.

But the work and the sun have been pretty overwhelming. Our house has no shade, so we were in the blazing sun for the whole day. But we're well looked after. There's a trunk full of water and drinks at each house, and people in little carts drive up dropping off snacks for us, and checking to make sure we're all drinking our water.

And by the end of the day, we had made very real progress. Here's the whole crew standing in front of the house I suggested we call "Sweet Sixteen".
I've got lots more to tell but it's 11:00 and I've got a 4:30 wake up call!

More later....