Mon-Thu, Aug.6-9th: Build, Build, Build...

Hey, Susanne back at it after Chelsea got to tell you about our amazing Andes weekend. Let's start with some noteworthy quotes heard over the last few days....randomly:
-Allie today in the van on way back home: "don't you see the siren?"
-Unknown: "she has everything you need, but it's not here"
-When Amy hit her thumb with a hammer: "good thing I'm not strong"
-Maggie after calling Steve "Paco".... "if I was in Canada, he'd be called Dave or Jim or Steve...." Group response "his name IS Steve ".
-Aaron "I need to stop eating, I can't breathe" (After our meat sweats) -Allie "sorry, I was distracted by the Andes"
-Susanne "looking forward to the Wike and Bine tour this weekend"
-"Unknown" commenting about how tight the space was in the truck "he shifted between my legs"

Monday saw us back at the work sites and it is usually on the second week that a bit of panic sets in as you always feel like you're going to run out of time. We had a few good work days this week and got way ahead past digging trenches and getting floors ready and making walls. We are now into finished roofs, walls that have siding and ceilings that are being built. Drywalls are up and mudding is happening. It is a really interesting build as my experience has usually been with brock builds, and to get our hands on a lot of wood, hammering, using a skill saw (LOVE iT!!!) and basically doing some things that will come in handy at home is really kind of neat. Our evenings continue to evolve around food and wine. Work days are long. We leave at 8:20 and are often not back until 7pm or so. Traffic in the evening is quite challenging as the work days here are longer so that people are on the road at 6:30pm versus 4:30 or 5pm at home. Our team is incredibly committed and everyone volunteered to go in early today and tomorrow, so teams left at 7:30 or so and one team did not get back around 7:30pm or so. Unfortunately you can only work so long as it gets dark around 6:30pm. We continue to have nice weather during the days, chilly at night but it is really nice working weather.

Wednesday afternhoon after work we got to visit Teleton which is a Chilean organization dedicated to helping disabled children. We got a little tour and were amazed at how progressive the centre actually was. They had everything from arts rooms to pools, to robotic treadmills, bracing shops, music rooms. Once a year they have a telethon and it is basically Chilean tradition and almost an expectation to give a donation to Teleton...likely a bit like the IWK at home. Chelsea and I told you about the three work sites and three different families we are helping. The family mteam is building additional rooms for is a family of a Mom, Grandmother, 3 daughters and a son who is quite sick with a lung disease. They believe it is likely cystic fibrosis...due to the condition of the home, he has to stay in a hospital and the Mom arranged for us to be able to see him in the hospical which is a special centre for kids with malnutrition who often have other more severe illnesses like our little Vincente. It was very special to be able to meet him in person. We had to get gowned up, and we got to be in the same room and interact a bit. He will be a year old on September 21st and will be allowed to go home for the night. It has been since March that he was last home. What a special half an hour this was...really brought home the whole reason for the build and our time here. And we could not have asked for a more grateful person and Mom in Francesca who joined us for dinner at the hostel after the hospîtal visit. And since we did not have an interpreter like we usually do obn the site, we had our i-phones and blackberries out with special apps which would translate etc. I had a little dictionary with me, but it was Spanish-German (yes, Mom, from wayyyy back) and it was not much use for anyone else :)

Wednesday was Allison's birthday and after some cake at the work site, and then some cake here, we went to Karaoke at a bar and had a great night out. Happy hour all nigfht, amazing Mohitos and very cheap drinks.... Who would have known we would have so much singing talent on our teram. Needless to say, after a big night out, it was a bit rough getting up today for our longer work day. But everyone worked super hard and we got a ton done!

Very grateful for our time here. Wonderful team. So committed, so helpful and just a great group of people who have bonded quickly, made some great friendships and I am pretty sure some of the newbies will be seen on future Habitat builds.... and PS: I can't find spellcheck on here, so: sorry! :)