Today the road into the work site was too wet and we had to walk in. It was a slow go and I was surprised that no one ate it since the mud was very slippery.
I can’t imagine having to make that walk every day. The frame is now completely finished and we began the plaster. We carted the mud that we mixed so wonderfully yesterday into the house, added water and straw and used our feet to combine everything together.
We’ve been learning a little of Amharic. Water is my favorite to say, it’s ‘pronounced ‘wooha’. It sounds like the shark tank initiation scene in Finding Nemo and we started to circle up in the mud chanting “woohahaha, woohahaha” like in the movie.
We all wished we a had a portable stereo of some sort, but since we didn’t we started to sing to pass the time. I discovered Martie has a beautiful voice. I certainly don’t but that didn’t matter, as we busted out everything from the Beatles, to Spice Girls to the Rej3ctz, along with some dance moves.
Lauren and Seshia have mastered the Cat daddy. People gathered around the windows of the house to watch us and kept requesting more dancing!
Stepping in the mud felt wonderful in between my toes and afterward my feet felt so soft. Once enough plaster was made it was time to slap it on the walls.
It was another dirty day and we arrived back at the hotel caked in the plaster. Thank goodness there was hot water for the shower today.
My finger and toe nails are rimmed in black but there’s no point in picking out the dirt since there’s more plaster to make and walls to cover tomorrow.
I didn’t forget to pack anything super important but the evenings are a lot cooler than I expected and wish I had one of my comfy gymnastics hoodies.
Lucky for me, Brian packed enough clothes for a month in Ethiopia including three sweat shirts! Obviously his football hoodie was a dress on my gymnast frame, but it was great to actually be warm at dinner.
We were laughing so hard when Jonnie asked to borrow a t-shirt and Brian wanted to know if he’d like short sleeve or long sleeve, dry fit or cotton, black or orange.
It’s nice to be able to share so easily amongst the group whether it’s baby wipes, bug spray, Cliff bars or clothes. (I’m also sporting one of Sesha’s hats since mine got lost in the mud fight and Emily’s sunglasses.)
I love our morning and afternoon coffee and tea breaks. It’s the perfect caffeine and sugar fix to get me through the work day.
They are very generous with the sugar, I think that might be part of the reason the coffee and tea taste sooo good. Its great to be able to just sit and enjoy our drink, something I would never make time for back home.
I’ve found throughout the trip that I’ve been really engaged in the present and ‘in the moment,’ rather than thinking about the things that I usually worry about at home.
I think comparing our lifestyle to those in the village has forced me to put things into better perspective. For example, my frustration with behind schedule Achilles rehab is nothing compared to the difficulties I see everyday here.
Today I watched two men walk past the work site carrying a sick woman on a stretcher to the local health clinic. They must travel over twice as far as we walked today.
Tomorrow will be our last day working on the house so I expect it to be a hard one.
GO BEAVS!
Limited Internet access prevented Stephanie from posting these blogs while she was in Ethiopia. The trip was completed in late June 2012.
