Day #13: Call me Bender

Today was a good day. It kind of sucked that my arms were sunburnt. The morning was close to unbearable. It was warmer than normal, sunny, and not an ounce of breeze. We finished pouring the foundation that we had blocked out.

Barb and Dennis looking at our morning work.

When we were gone on Friday, Wegner and Wilber put a finish coat on the wall that was done. Only problem was that no one was around to water the wall to keep it from drying too fast. So what happened was that there were some areas that didn't stick like they were supposed to. So today, some of the guys got to knock off the unstuck finish coat. But it wasn't all for loss because they were then able to get two of the sections completely finished. It looks pretty good. I'm excited to see the finished wall. Unfortunately we're not going to be around when it is finished.

Wilber, Dan, and Wegner finishing the wall.

This afternoon we were lucky enough to get some cloud cover blown in and the wind picked up so it wasn't AS miserable in the pits. I spent the afternoon bending rebar to make yet another form for the wall. I got done with that and went to see what the rest of the crew was working on over at the wall. Where the footer was dried they started laying a couple rows of block. It was kind of cool to see the wall actually coming to fruition after days of digging and pouring in the trench. Tomorrow we'll probably be laying block all day (unless Wilber has other ideas, which oftentimes is the case).

I know it doesn't seem like much, but a lot of us were hoping to see this point.  Wegner and Dan laying the first row of block.

Most of the other projects that our team has been working on are coming to a close. The ceiling team (which if you remember, I was on for all of one day) has gotten as far as they can go. They got the ceiling up, mudded, and sanded.

The painting team is done with the areas that were alotted them at the beginning of the trip. Now they're on to "bonus" painting.

Clyde and Dennis put up the metal basketball nets that we brought down.

Jim Hvistendal and Steve are finishing up with their storage cabinets that they've been building. They're also going to get the First Aid cabinet and a recycle bin built before tomorrow, noon.

Vicki only has about an hour's worth of painting to finish her mural that's right outside our houses.

The sewing group has made drapes for all the windows in our houses and are in the process of fixing three sewing machines from Los Guidos. Los Guidos Methodist Church has a sewing ministry that they're just starting. Only thing is is that three of the four sewing machines are broken. So they brought them over and we're going through them.

Overall, we're accomplishing as much as we can in our short two week trip. No we're not going to see the completion of the wall. But we never came in thinking that we could get that far. We just wanted to be able to lay some block. And tomorrow that's what we're doing.

We're all starting the beginning processes of packing and getting organized. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get everything packed again. Either way, I'm going to miss Costa Rica, but I really miss being home. Maybe in the future my family will be able to come down with me. And then we'll see the finished playground.

 

The Southern Prairie District Crew in front of the Wall.

 

-Kyle