Nearing the end of the build...

First off, I want to start with something I forgot to write about in the last posting.

After our build day on Wednesday, we were treated to a dinner at a huge outdoor facility, where along with the food there was a show, featuring Thai dancers and performers from different regions of the country. Which was beautiful and fun to see.

But the highlight of the evening (and one of the highlights of the week) was the finale, during which they asked people to gather near the parking lots for the traditional lighting of the Thai lanterns.

These large cylindrical lanterns were built of lightweight flammable materials and had to be held by several people as the lamp was lit.

The heat would cause the lanterns to rise and when the pull was strong enough, they would let them go. Up they floated, until the night sky was filled with these lanterns drifting off in the breeze. It was magical to watch them float away, getting smaller and smaller, until they looked like groupings of constellations.

When I viewed this shot, I realized just how dusty my camera lens was. Gee I wonder how that happened...

I cleaned off the lens and tested it with a shot of one of the guides who was helping to ensure that we got on the right bus.
His smile and enthusiasm is typical of all the Thai volunteers who have been helping us all week.


The next morning we were back on the job bright and early.

Now that the trusses were in place, it was time to start attaching the green roof tiles. As we began this process, I noticed an interesting thing. For the first three days, the work site had been relatively quiet. People laying blocks, filling the holes with rebar and concrete and pointing the cracks with mortar don't make much noise.

Getting the trusses onto the rooves was a noisier process, as people had to call to each other to give orders, (especially our Thai team) and there was great excitement in accomplishing such a significant step. The next step in the process was that holes had to be punched in the roof tiles, so once you go to the stage where you were hammering, it was a sign that your trusses were up and you were starting to attach your roof tiles. Without anyone saying anything, you could sense the feeling of competition rising. You didn't want to be left behind, and if the crews around you were getting those tiles on their houses, you felt the pressure to be doing it too. (Some crews had had difficulty getting the trusses on because their walls weren't square - which could have been because they hadn't measured and levelled rows accurately along the way, or because the floor slab wasn't level to begin with)

As you can see, the roof tiles are about four feet long and a couple of feet wide, and made of some combination of concrete and fibre, so they're quite heavy, especially when you try picking up two at a time, which I generally did, in an effort to speed up the process.

The tiles needed to have two holes punched into them to accommodate J-hooks that held them to the trusses. (No pre-drilled Ikea-style tiles for us!)



So my job was to measure and punch the holes with a hammer and nail set, a certain distance from the edge, depending on which side of the house they would be on.

I was quite proud of myself for developing a template system that allowed me to punch holes for whichever tile a crew member needed, without stopping to measure each time. It worked quite well, and by the end of the day, we had nearly all our tiles up, and I had hammered every hole - over 200 by my count!

Meanwhile the rest of the crew was up on scaffolding and ladders, hauling the tiles up, setting them in place and fastening them with the J-hooks. As tired as my back, hands, and arms were, I was kind of glad not to be up there. It was still pretty hot and sunny. Abby, Jackie, Moo Yee, Carla and Aaron were troopers up there. And of course, our fearless leader Vajra was there the whole time, offering guidance, support and water whenever it was needed.

And while we did that, Victoria, Liz and Amy as well as Sriwilai, the homeowner, continued pointing with mortar - a tiresome job that was really tough on your hands, even when you're wearing gloves.

By the end of the day, our little house was looking much closer to being finished. And a good thing too - because Vajra announced that the next morning, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter would be coming by for our group shot, and we had to get the front of the house looking as good as possible for the photo op!

In the evening, we had a choice of restaurants to go to, and you had to arrange beforehand and make reservations. It was supposed to be an opportunity for the crew to dine together, but in my case, the crew seemed to be going in different directions. Which was okay by me, because throughout the week, I'd actually become part of two "families" - my work crew and my hotel friends, whom I met during the opening ceremonies. So we had dinner together at The Good View restaurant, where we didn't get much of a view, but had a good time anyway. Here they are from left to right, Debbie from New Jersey, Chris and Mike from California, Lisa also from California, and Corinth from Atlanta.

Tomorrow, I'll post the dramatic conclusion of the building of Sweet 16 (and yes Jimmy Carter does make an appearance).