Through out a construction project you have a influx of workers needed for given days and activities. Today was a day that we needed about half of the volunteers that we had. On site we were plastering and building the bathroom. Plastering requires a great amount of skill. All of the volunteers were eager to help and work hard. However, due to the fact that we are not skilled laborers we were only allowed to apply the first layer of plaster. The skilled labor came through and fixed our sloppy mess and turnd it into a work of art. This process led to the team standing around and waiting for the professionals to do their work. This frustrated most of the group and made people feel anxious to start the next task. I personally enjoyed the plaster work over the brick laying and was quick to volunteer my services. This delicate dance of managing volunteers was something I was familiar with. I have great admiration for our Habitat leaders Gret and Bom. They skillfully translated and put as many people to work as they could. During the day I thought about how a habitat work site is very similar across the world.
similarities amongst my habitat experiences
1. Lunch is my favorite part of the day
2. Habitat "employees" number one job is keeping volunteers happy
3. You will often find me making sexual construction jokes in the corner of the work site
4. People constantly criticize my work ethic
5. Volunteers just want to feel valuable
6. 3 skilled laborers could do the same amount of work as 10 volunteers
7. A habitat team creates their own "habi" family
8. The connections you make with the community, families and other people make it all worth it
In my opinion life isn't about the money you make or the places you see. Life is about the connections you make and experiences you have! Today when I wasn't working I managed to make a few noteworthy connections. While most of the group was tripping over each other to build a bathroom I noticed Bom, a habitat leader, giving a Thai massage to one of the skilled laborers. As soon as I noticed this I sat in front of the lady receiving the massage insinuated that she should simontanisouzly give me one. Even with the language gap she quickly caught on and proceeded to massage my back. I then signaled one of the ladies who makes our lunches to come sit down in front of me. We formed a massage train and I proceed to give her a massage. This causes an up roar of laughter amongst all of us! The Thai people start to take pictures of the "white" boy in the middle of a bunch of Thai people.
Gret, our habitat leader from Thailand, has been a great in bridging the gap between the volunteers and the rest of the Thai people. He is self conscious about his English but without him the entire job site would be lost. Today I asked if I could see the blue prints for the habitat house. I briefly looked over them seeing the common formant amongst the ones in America but I was unable to understand much more then the basics due to the fact that I don't read Thai. Gret has been such a good interpreter for us he even helped negotiate a date for me with his coworker. Tomorrow Bom and I will be going to a movie! Apparently she is picking me up on a motor bike. Just another adventure in Thailand.
Everyone has talked about how great our team is and as a first timer I couldn't agree more. We have our own family that looks out for each other. That being said, two weeks of being confined with the same people has started to show wear amongst us. I find our group dynamic interesting. Most see me as a young naive man who is having the time of his life. People look at me as though I am the lucky one. For me I look at the successful people around me and I can only dream to accomplish what they have. I constantly think how lucky I would be if I was in their position. We have a world class architect, a Canadian prosecutor, a successful restaurant owner, and an independent film producer just to name a few. Everyone is highly educated and has great career and life for themselves back at home. All of us are the lucky ones!
Thai food is amazing and exotic, however after a week and a half I could really go for in-n-out. We have been eating a large amount of seafood and I would be delighted if I never had a steamed fish put in front of me again. People have one by one fell to some type of food illness and I'm just waiting for my turn. Thank goodness we have nurse Jenny!!!
We are now off to another dinner by the ocean. Life couldn't be better!!
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